A Thesis Theater from Galen Miller-Atkins
Several early runic inscriptions exhibit alliterative patterns, broadly reminiscent of later alliterative verse patterns; however, previous work has failed to definitively conclude whether these inscriptions are poetry, alliterative prose, or elevated speech. Previous scholarship has typically compared the Early Runic inscriptions to verse categories described by Eduard Sievers, highlighting the ways in which these inscriptions do (or do not) scan properly into the known categories. The Early Runic word stress patterns, however, do not easily conform to the verse patterns described by Eduard Sievers. Recent work by Nelson Goering and Geoffrey Russom demonstrates how the correspondence between the stress patterns of a language and its poetry can help generate expectations for verse structure. This thesis analyzes three runic inscriptions, the Strøm whetstone, the Tjurkö bracteate, and the Tune runestone, for their poetic qualities given their linguistic context, comparing them to known and predicted verse patterns. Ultimately this thesis argues that the Strøm whetstone, the Tjurkö bracteate, exhibit poetic features predicted by word-foot theory and cannot be discounted as verse; the Tune runestone, however, may be better characterized as an alliterative legal document prepared for public display.
Galen Miller-Atkins is an archaeologist based in Ellensburg, Washington. He holds an M.A. in Anthropology from Washington State University and works as a cultural resource management archaeologist across Washington and Oregon. He has recently published work Tolkien’s Old English adaptation of the Atlakviða poem and presented a poetic analysis of a late medieval Icelandic grimoire, the Jarðskinna manuscript. His current research interests focus on metrical analyses of runic inscriptions and late medieval Icelandic poetry.
