wereda wuldorcining | wordum hērigen. Gen. 2.
mōdum lufien | he is mægna spēd. Gen. 3.
æsc bið oferhēah | eldum dȳre.Run. 26.
on andsware | and on elne strong. Gū. 264.
or in early Modern English:
For myschefe will mayster us | yf measure us forsake.Skelton, Magnif. 156.
How sodenly worldly| welth doth dekay.ib. 1518.
I am your eldest son| Esau by name.Dodsl. Coll. ii. 249.
The history of the primitive alliterative line follows very different lines of development in the various Teutonic nations. In Old High German, after a period in which the strict laws of the verse were largely neglected, it was abandoned in favour of rhyme by Otfrid (circa 868). In Old English it kept its place as the only form of verse for all classes of poetical composition, and continued in use, even after the introduction of Romanic forms of metre, during the Middle English period, and did not totally die out till the beginning of the seventeenth century. The partial revival of it is due to the increased interest in Old English studies, but has been confined largely to translations. As an occasional rhetorical or stylistic ornament of both rhymed and unrhymed verse, alliteration has always been made use of by English poets.