New Perspectives on Alliteration in Poetry and Cultural History
1 September 2025, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, and Online
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Illustration by Howard Trafton in Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation (New York: Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 1936).
Alliteration is a deceptively simple poetic feature: one of the first which students learn to identify but enduringly difficult to assign motive or meaning. This conference invites papers which reflect on alliteration's role in anglophone poetry and poetics, but also how alliterative practices are embedded in wider cultural movements and historical debates. Interdisciplinary and multilingual perspectives, as well as contributions from graduate students, are especially welcome. We invite papers of up to 20 minutes, to be delivered at UEA or online.
Confirmed plenary speakers: Professor Joseph Phelan (De Montfort), Professor Chris Jones (Utah).
Please see the call for papers for further information. The deadline for abstracts is 25 May 2025. Registration will open in June.
Please send abstracts and enquiries to Dr Timothy Anderson at alliteration.conf@uea.ac.uk.
This event is generously funded by the British Academy and UEA.
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