Germanic Alliterative Verse

Germanic Alliterative Verse is a form of verse, common to all the ancient Germanic cultures that uses  alliteration of stressed syllables as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as  rhyme.

The most intensively studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic languages. Alliterative verse, in various forms, is found widely in the literary traditions of the early Germanic languages. The Old English epic  Beowulf, as well as most other  Old English poetry, the  Old High German  Muspilli, the  Old Saxon  Heliand, and the  Old Norse  Poetic Edda all use alliterative verse.