Old English Grammar & Reader

Front Cover
Wayne State University Press, 1970 - Foreign Language Study - 304 pages

An excellent introduction to learning Old English.

This book makes learning Old English easy. It contains a simplified grammar, a minimum of phonology, well-chosen selections from Old English prose, and rich selections from Old English poetry. The texts are in regularized spelling, based on Early West Saxon, so that beginners will not have to wrestle with a shifting orthography. All texts come with facing-page literal translations.

The prose selections include: "The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan"; "The Story of King Cynewulf of Wessex"; "The Wars of King Alfred against the Vikings"; and King Alfred's Preface to Cura Pastoralis. The poetry includes: Caedmon's "Hymn" from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Battle of Brunanburg; The Battle of Maldon; The Dream of Rood from the Vercelli Book; The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife's Lament, The Storm Riddles, The Panther, and The Whale from The Exeter Book.

 

Contents

PREFACE
6
More about Strong Verbs
31
OLD ENGLISH METRICS
46
A SELECTIVE LIST OF HELPFUL WORKS
68
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

References to this book

About the author (1970)

Robert E. Diamond was a professor at Wayne State University.

Bibliographic information