Middle English Verse Punctuation: A Sample Survey

Author / Editor
Killough, George [B.]

Title
Middle English Verse Punctuation: A Sample Survey

Published
Text: Transactions of the Society for Textual Scholarship 3 (1987): 183-209.

Description
Analyzes mid-line virgules as punctuation in a number of manuscripts of Middle English verse, concluding that the practice was neither tied to native alliterative meter nor strikingly unusual. The practice was erratic, and seems to have been scribal rather authorial; its occurrence in the Hengwrt and Ellesmere should not be attributed to alliterative influence, should not be attributed to Chaucer, and should not be considered particularly unorthodox. Includes tables of data.

Chaucer Subjects
Manuscripts and Textual Studies.
Style and Versification