Companion to Old English PoetryHenk Aertsen, Rolf Hendrik Bremmer This companion contains original essays by scholars in Britain, the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. In addition to general surveys on the nature of old English poetry and its material context, there are detailed discussions and interpretations of individuals poems: ''Beowulf'' in its Germanic and Christian backgrounds, ''The Wanderer'' and ''The Seafarer'' as wisdom poetry, ''The Dream of the Rood'' and the related religious poetry, the shorter heroic poems, the personal lyric, Biblical narrative poetry, saints' lives and riddles and maxims. The purpose in each case is to stimulate a critical engagement by providing a literary approach and some historical context. |
Contents
Preface | 1 |
Old English Poetry in Its Material Context | 19 |
The Case of Germanic | 45 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abraham Aldhelm Anglo Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon Poetic appear ASPR Battle of Brunanburh Battle of Maldon Bede Bede's Beowulf Beowulf-poet Bradley Brunanburh Byrhtnoth Cambridge century Christ and Satan Christian Chronicle church context copies Corpus Christi College critical Cross culture Cynewulf death Deor Dream early editions Egill elegiac elegies Exeter Book exile Exodus Frantzen genre Germanic Greenfield heaven Heliseus heroes heroic hwelp interpretation Juliana Junius Junius Manuscript king Lament Lapidge Latin Library lines literary London Lord manuscripts maxims meaning medieval Metrical narrative Old English Literature Old English poems Old English poetry Old English verse Oxford pagan passage Plate poem's poet poet's poetic texts prose Psalter reading reference riddle Rood runes saga saints Saxon sceal scholars scribes script Seafarer sense Shippey Solomon and Saturn solution song speaker suggest surviving tion tradition translation University Press Vercelli Book Wanderer Widsith words Wrenn Wulf and Eadwacer þæt