In
prosody,
alliterative verse is a form of
verse that uses
alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying
metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as
rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of the
Germanic languages, where scholars use the term 'alliterative poetry' rather broadly to indicate a tradition which not only shares alliteration as its primary ornament but also certain metrical characteristics. The
Old English epic Beowulf, as well as most other
Old English poetry, the
Old High German Muspilli, the
Old Saxon Heliand, the
Old Norse Poetic Edda, and many
Middle English poems such as
Piers Plowman,
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the
Alliterative Morte Arthur all use alliterative verse.