This book attempts to build a complete theory of stress in Old English. In particular, the author tries to elucidate the relation, in that language, between stress placement and syllable weight. Eventually, he finds that the syllable should be abandoned as the central notion of Old English metrical phonology and replaced with the mora as an independent unit of phonological quantity. These findings are then applied to a new, phonologically-based analysis of the rhythm of Old English poetry.

This collection unites 21 papers mainly presented at the 21st IAUPE (International Association of University Professors of English) Conference held at the Valetta Campus of the University of Malta in mid-July 2010. Most periods of world-wide literature in English from Anglo-Saxon to the present day were represented as well as many aspects of language and linguistics. One section "Writers and the Mediterranean" was of particular local interest.