The Genre of Old English Macaronic Verse

Abstract This article considers a particular poetic form, historically known as macaronic verse. Surveying the three extant examples of verse of this type in Old English, this article argues that there was an established macaronic verse form known in early medieval England. This genre of verse appears to have been used primarily as a framing device where its conspicuous mixed-language style likely encouraged close reading and drew attention to the constructed nature of the text. The extant examples also suggest that this form was used especially to emphasize the importance of piety for salvation and where a broader message was personalized to an individual reader. Finally, the article considers whether this form of verse could have arisen alongside or in response to a mixed-language Old English prose tradition.