“The Battle of Maldon” (Transl. S.A.J. Bradley) Beowulf (Transl. Roy

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

“The Battle of Maldon” (Transl. S.A.J. Bradley) Beowulf (Transl. Roy

EARLY AND MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION READING LIST SELECTED BY THE GRADUATE FACULTY THE DEGREE CANDIDATE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HAVING READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING WORKS: WORKS IN TRANSLATION FROM THE OLD ENGLISH: “The Battle of Maldon” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) Beowulf (transl. Roy Liuzza) “Dream of the Rood” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) “The Ruin” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) “The Seafarer” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) “The Wanderer” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) “The Wife's Lament” (transl. S.A.J. Bradley) WORKS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH: Geoffrey Chaucer. Book of the Duchess; Canterbury Tales; House of Fame; Troilus and Criseyde Everyman John Gower. Confessio Amantis The Harley Lyrics William Langland. Piers Plowman (B text) Thomas Malory. Morte D’Arthur Pearl Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Orfeo Early and Middle English Literature 1 Rev. 1 August 2014 The Wakefield Master. The Second Shepherd’s Play; Noah and His Sons One Middle English Romance. (Suggested: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Athelston, or The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell) WORKS IN TRANSLATION FROM THE OLD FRENCH: Chretien de Troyes. Erec and Enide; Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart; The Story of the Grail; Yvain, or The Knight of the Lion Marie de France. Selections from The Lais: “Prologue,” “Guigemar,” “Lanval,” “Bisclavret,” “Eliduc” Song of Roland A candidate may also submit a list of readings to supplement, but not replace, the readings from the core list above. The supplementary list should be submitted for approval with the declaration of intent to take the comprehensive examination form. Early and Middle English Literature 2 Rev. 1 August 2014 .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Widsith Beowulf. Beowulf Beowulf
CHAPTER 1 OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE The Old English language or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The period is a long one and it is generally considered that Old English was spoken from about A.D. 600 to about 1100. Many of the poems of the period are pagan, in particular Widsith and Beowulf. The greatest English poem, Beowulf is the first English epic. The author of Beowulf is anonymous. It is a story of a brave young man Beowulf in 3182 lines. In this epic poem, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a band of warriors to save the King of Denmark, Hrothgar. Beowulf saves Danish King Hrothgar from a terrible monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel who sought vengeance for the death of her son was also killed by Beowulf. Beowulf was rewarded and became King. After a prosperous reign of some forty years, Beowulf slays a dragon but in the fight he himself receives a mortal wound and dies. The poem concludes with the funeral ceremonies in honour of the dead hero. Though the poem Beowulf is little interesting to contemporary readers, it is a very important poem in the Old English period because it gives an interesting picture of the life and practices of old days. The difficulty encountered in reading Old English Literature lies in the fact that the language is very different from that of today. There was no rhyme in Old English poems. Instead they used alliteration. Besides Beowulf, there are many other Old English poems. Widsith, Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wife’s Lament, Husband’s Message, Christ and Satan, Daniel, Andreas, Guthlac, The Dream of the Rood, The Battle of Maldon etc.
[Show full text]
1.1 Biblical Wisdom
JOB, ECCLESIASTES, AND THE MECHANICS OF WISDOM IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY by KARL ARTHUR ERIK PERSSON B. A., Hon., The University of Regina, 2005 M. A., The University of Regina, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (English) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) February 2014 © Karl Arthur Erik Persson, 2014 Abstract This dissertation raises and answers, as far as possible within its scope, the following question: “What does Old English wisdom literature have to do with Biblical wisdom literature?” Critics have analyzed Old English wisdom with regard to a variety of analogous wisdom cultures; Carolyne Larrington (A Store of Common Sense) studies Old Norse analogues, Susan Deskis (Beowulf and the Medieval Proverb Tradition) situates Beowulf’s wisdom in relation to broader medieval proverb culture, and Charles Dunn and Morton Bloomfield (The Role of the Poet in Early Societies) situate Old English wisdom amidst a variety of international wisdom writings. But though Biblical wisdom was demonstrably available to Anglo-Saxon readers, and though critics generally assume certain parallels between Old English and Biblical wisdom, none has undertaken a detailed study of these parallels or their role as a precondition for the development of the Old English wisdom tradition. Limiting itself to the discussion of two Biblical wisdom texts, Job and Ecclesiastes, this dissertation undertakes the beginnings of such a study, orienting interpretation of these books via contemporaneous reception by figures such as Gregory the Great (Moralia in Job, Werferth’s Old English translation of the Dialogues), Jerome (Commentarius in Ecclesiasten), Ælfric (“Dominica I in Mense Septembri Quando Legitur Job”), and Alcuin (Commentarius Super Ecclesiasten).
[Show full text]
Redeeming Beowulf and Byrhtnoth
Redeeming Beowulf: The Heroic Idiom as Marker of Quality in Old English Poetry Abstract: Although it has been fashionable lately to read Old English poetry as being critical of the values of heroic culture, the heroic idiom is the main, and perhaps the only, marker of quality in Old English poetry. Considering in turn the ‘sacred heroic’ in Genesis A and Andreas, the ‘mock heroic’ in Judith and Riddle 51, and the fiercely debated status of Byrhtnoth and Beowulf in The Battle of Maldon and Beowulf, this discussion suggests that modern scholarship has confused the measure with the measured. Although an uncritical heroic idiom may not be to modern critical tastes, it is suggested here that the variety of ways in which the heroic idiom is used to evaluate and mark value demonstrates the flexibility and depth of insight achieved by Old English poets through their apparently limited subject matter. A hero can only be defined by a narrative in which he or she meets or exceeds measures set by society—in which he or she demonstrates his or her quality. In that sense, all heroic narratives are narratives about quality. In Old English poetry, the heroic idiom stands as the marker of quality for a wide range of things: people, artefacts, actions, and events that are good, respected, desirable, and valued are marked by being presented with the characteristic language and ethic of an idealised, archaic warrior-culture.1 This is not, of course, a new point; it is traditional in Old English scholarship to associate quality with the elite, military world of generous war-lords, loyal thegns, gorgeous equipment, great acts of courage, and 1 The characteristic subject matter and style of Old English poetry is referred to in varying ways by critics.
[Show full text]
University of California, Los Angeles Invisible Labor In
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES INVISIBLE LABOR IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS BY ANGIE RODRGUEZ ADVISOR: MATTHEW FISHER LOS ANGELES, CA MARCH 11, 2020 ABSTRACT INVISIBLE LABOR IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD BY ANGIE RODRIGUEZ This thesis explores invisible labor, which is a conteMporary term, as written in Old English literature. This thesis contends that invisible labor refers to labor that is ignored, underpaid, oftentiMes spans across social hierarchies and is socially constructed. The first part of this thesis goes into the conteMporary understanding of invisible labor, how this understanding leads to recognition of invisible labor in Old English literature and shows that this labor is not gender specific. The second part of this thesis goes into peace-weaving as invisible labor, which had been culturally considered women’s work and economically devalued, as depicted by the actions of Wealhtheow when she serves mead and speaks up for her sons in Beowulf and heroic actions of killing Holofernes by Judith in Judith. The third part of this thesis explores peaceMaker as invisible labor, as depicted by Wiglaf serving “water” in Beowulf, Widsith taking Ealhhild to her new king in Widsith, Constantine taking advice from the Angel as depicted in Cynewulf’s Elene, the soldiers standing by King Athelstan and defeating the Scots in “The Battle of Brunburgh,” and the men being faithful to AEthelred against the Vikings in “The Battle of Maldon.” In analyzing invisible labor as depicted in Old English literature, what may be viewed in conteMporary terms as “ordinary” work of service that is easily disMissed and unrecognized, will bring insight into how invisible labor was seen in Old English literature.
[Show full text]
Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi………………………………………
CBÜ SOSYAL BİLİMLER DERGİSİ Cilt:13, Sayı:3, Eylül 2015 Geliş Tarihi: 11.06.2015 Doi Number: 10.18026/cbusos.32235 Kabul Tarihi: 25.06.2015 RECONSTRUCTING THE HERO: REPRESENTATION OF LOYALTY IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE Şafak NEDİCEYUVA1 ABSTRACT Danish attacks on the British Isles in the 9th century had considerable political consequences for the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms reigning independently at the time. ‘The Great Heathen Army’, as the Anglo-Saxon called it, began a series of invasions in Britain and their advance was unstoppable until all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms but Wessex were conquered. Emerging as the rulers of only surviving Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Alfred and the subsequent monarchs of Wessex began a slow process of unifying the subjugated Anglo-Saxons under their banner and they desired to be acknowledged as the kings of England, rather than Wessex. By adapting traditional heroic values to contemporary political needs, literary works of this period similarly attempt to channel former tribal loyalties towards the monarch and propagandize absolute devotion to the survival and construction of ‘England’. This article discusses the ideological role literature played in late Anglo-Saxon era during the formation of England. Keywords: Anglo-Saxon, Viking, hero, heroic code, military organization. KAHRAMANIN YENİDEN KURGULANIŞI: GEÇ DÖNEM ANGLOSAKSON EDEBİYATI’NDA SADAKATİN TEMSİLİ ÖZ Dokuzuncu yüzyılda Britanya Adaları’na yapılan Viking saldırıları burada hüküm süren yedi bağımsız Anglosakson krallığı için önemli siyasi sonuçlar doğurmuştur. Anglosaksonların ‘Büyük Dinsiz Ordu’ adını verdikleri ordu Britanya’yı istila etmeye başlamış ve Wessex Krallığı dışında tüm diğer krallıklar yıkılana kadar durdurulamamıştır. Alfred ve ondan sonra tahta çıkan Wessex kralları ayakta kalan tek Anglosakson krallığının hükümdarları olarak Viking buyruğu altındaki Anglosaksonları kendi bayrakları altında bir araya getirmeyi ve Wessex değil İngiltere krallığı olarak tanınmayı arzulamışlardır.
[Show full text]
Old English Literature: a Brief Summary
Volume II, Issue II, June 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 Old English Literature: A Brief Summary Nasib Kumari Student J.k. Memorial College of Education Barsana Mor Birhi Kalan Charkhi Dadri Introduction Old English literature (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon literature) encompasses literature written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Cædmon's Hymn", composed in the 7th century according to Bede, is often considered the oldest extant poem in English, whereas the later poem, The Grave is one of the final poems written in Old English, and presents a transitional text between Old and Middle English.[1] Likewise, the Peterborough Chronicle continues until the 12th century. The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history.Alexander Souter names the commentary on Paul's epistles by Pelagius "the earliest extant work by a British author".[2][3] In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works ongrammar, medicine, geography; and poetry.[4] In all there are over 400 survivingmanuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered "major".[5] Besides Old English literature, Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works.
[Show full text]
Beowulf Thesis Final Draft
“WHAT KINSHIP SHOULD MEAN:” AN EXAMINATION OF THE ETHNIC AND NATIONALIST THEMES WITHIN BEOWULF ADAPTATIONS An Undergraduate Research Scholars Thesis by CLAIRE NOWKA Submitted to the Undergraduate Research Scholars program at Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation as an UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLAR Approved by Research Advisor: Dr. Britt Mize May 2017 Major: History TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................1 Thesis Statement ...............................................................................................................1 Theoretical Framework .....................................................................................................1 Project Description ...........................................................................................................1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................5 A Question of Kinship .......................................................................................................4 Why Study Adaptations? ...................................................................................................6 Methodology ......................................................................................................................7
[Show full text]
Iron-Clad Evidence in Early Mediaeval Dialectology: Old English Ïsern, Ïsen, and Ïren
Iron-Clad Evidence in Early Mediaeval Dialectology: Old English ïsern, ïsen, and ïren Nearly a quarter of a century ago, Helmut Gneuss argued that the standard variety of late West Saxon Old English originated at Winchester. In discussing his methodology, he predicted the direction of future research. In the future, I think, one may confidently expect significant findings … from the study of word usage and word geography; the project of a new, comprehensive Old English dictionary, to be based on computer-made concordances of all Old English texts … is a decisive step in this direction.1 Gneuss identifies two major developments in philological and linguistic research: the exploration of ‘word usage and word geography’ and the adoption of new research methodologies and techniques. Both of these issues are relevant to the subject of this paper, an examination of the usage and geographical distribution of the three forms of the Old English word for ‘iron’: ïsern, ïsen, and ïren. The aim of the study is to provide a contribution to the canon of new dialect criteria which will become available as a result of the increasing use of electronic text searches and which may, once it has grown large enough, provide a new basis for our understanding of the Old English dialects. Although a number of early studies have looked at word dialectology in Old English, the greatest body of evidence in the philological canon is phonological and morphological.2 However, since Gneuss’ prediction, a number of tools have become or are becoming available which are set to place a new emphasis in research on the lexical history of early English.
[Show full text]
Words for Wood: the Lexis of Trees in Old English Poetry
WORDS FOR WOOD: THE LEXIS OF TREES IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY by MARY ELIZABETH WARD A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham May 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Contents Introduction: p.1 Methodolgy p.2 The Context of the Old English Poetic Corpus p.3 The Context of Life in Anglo-Saxon England p.7 The Critical Context p.10 Structure of this thesis p.10 Chapter One: Words for Wood: p.12 Collective terms p.13 Individual terms p.17 Development and usage p.22 Formula p.27 Chapter Two: Case Study of ‘æsc’: p.29 The Ash Tree p.29 The Ash Wood p.32 The Artefact p.34 The People p.35 The place and the action p.37 The Attributes p.38 Chapter Three: Case Study of ‘wudu’: p.46 Compounds p.47 Wood in the landscape p.50 Wood as material p.57 Wood and wordplay p.60 Conclusion p.64 Appendix p.70 Bibliography p.79 Introduction This thesis had its origins in an attempt to discover and consider the role and significance of the tree in the Old English poetic corpus.
[Show full text]
King Beowulf and Ealdormonn Byrhtnoğ
CHAPTER FIVE KING BEOWULF AND EALDORMONN BYRHTNOÐ When writing about The Battle of Maldon, George Clark warned against “analogical error,” or comparing Maldon “by conscious analogy or unconscious assimilation with other literary texts.”1 Made to support a heterodox reading of Maldon that contradicted a prevailing inter- pretation, this extravagant protest alienated the poem from its heroic corollaries: The Song of Roland, for example, or Niebelungenlied. Few today would seriously credit the “analogical error” that Clark sensed in Maldon criticism, and many would in fact argue for (and have argued for) the most congruent parallels. Here I propose an analogue in Beowulf’s dragon fi ght. For most readers the accusation of Beowulf’s potential oferhygd will recall Byrhtnoð’s ofermod in Maldon, even though the words are etymologically (but not morphologically) distinct. Not only are the mental categories identical, I will argue, but the mises-en-scène of both works correspond in analogical detail. Simply put, Maldon replicates the dragon fi ght in Beowulf. While critics past and present have compared Maldon and Beowulf,2 J. R. R. Tolkien alone made a convincing case for a generic affi nity. Unfortunately, his oft-cited study of ofermod which confi rms Byrhtnoð’s rashness, is mostly disregarded in favor of positions that make the ealdormonn sound less culpable.3 Some of these opposing positions are implausibly fl amboyant. The Christian allegorists like W. F. Bolton or, most recently, Richard Hillman propose that Byrhtnoð represents a type of Christ, either (for Bolton) a refl ection of Christ in the wilderness or 1 “Heroic Poem” 56.
[Show full text]
Dating Beowulf
8 What the raven told the eagle: animal language and the return of loss in Beowulf 1 Mo Pareles Whatever its flaws, Old English literature continues to rebuke the humanist narcissism that denies non-human animals possession of symbolic language. Like us, the early English knew that in singing, birds speak. As Susan Crane notes, at least one strain in medieval Western European thought held that birds composed ‘a society with a metaphoric relation to human society, in which birdsong fills the function of human language’,2 and recent critics have heard welcome eruptions of interspecies intercourse in the avian voices of Old English literature.3 In this vein of ecocritical optimism, I too read in the bird language of Beowulf a profound moment of interspecies connection. But I argue that within Beowulf the human is excluded from and indeed denigrated by the intimacy of wild creatures; when birds gossip about human corpses, this intimacy thematises the breakdown of socially embedded human knowledge. Beowulf is an ideal site for those creatures and readers drawn to dire human straits, since far from a celebration of heroic achievement, the poem is a relentless chronicle of human failures. The most abject and notorious of these include queens’ failures to weave peace; fathers’ failures to protect and avenge their sons; Danes’ failures to defend themselves; pagans’ failures to communicate with the divine and achieve salvation; human failure to control objects and make things work, as in the cases of both swords and gold; Beowulf’s failure to ensure peace and security for his people; and the ultimate failure of the heroic ideal of lordship, which impossibly requires both wise statecraft and martial recklessness.
[Show full text]
A Metaphor in "Beowulf"
University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications English Language and Literatures, Department of Fall 1996 A Metaphor in "Beowulf " 2487a: gūðhelm tōglād Scott wG ara University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/engl_facpub Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Publication Info Published in Studies in Philology, Volume 93, Issue 4, Fall 1996, pages 333-348. Gwara, Scott. (1996). A eM taphor in "Beowulf" 2487a: gūðhelm tōglād. Studies in Philology, 93 (4), 333-348. ©Studies in Philology 1996, University of North Carolina Press This Article is brought to you by the English Language and Literatures, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Volume XCIII Fall, 1996 Number 4 A Metaphor in Beowulf 2487a: gfthelm toglad by ScottGwara IN many respects the Beowulf-poet'sart defies comparison,as few authors from pre-Conquest England match his linguistic sophisti- cation.' Perhaps one failing of readers has therefore been to define words without serious scrutiny where the sense seems obvious. The poet's depiction of Ongenpeow's death serves as an object lesson, for one half-line in the episode has been misconstrued in dictionaries, glos- saries, and translations. Line 2487a, gi0helm toglad,occurs in a scene describing the death of Ongenpeow, king of the Scylfings: Pa ic on morgne gefragn maegoberne billes ecgum on bonan staelan, PaerOngenpeow Eoforesniosao; guOhelmtoglad, gomela Scylfing hreas <heoro>blac; hond gemunde faehbogenoge, feorhswengene ofteah.
[Show full text]