Widsith, Beowulf, Finnsburgh, Waldere, Deor. Done Into Common
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
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. -
Postcolonial Anglo-Saxon in John Haynes's Letter to Patience
‘No word for it’: Postcolonial Anglo-Saxon in John Haynes’s Letter to Patience CHRISTOPHER JONES University of St Andrews This article examines a number of allusions to Old English, especially to the poem The Wanderer, in John Haynes’s award- winning poem Letter to Patience (2006). A broad historical contextualisation of the use of Anglo-Saxon in modern poetry is offered first, against which Haynes’s specific poetic Anglo- Saxonism is then analysed in detail. Consideration is given to the sources – editions and translations – that Haynes used, and a sustained close reading of sections of his poem is offered in the light of this source study. The representation of English as an instrument of imperialism is discussed and juxtaposed with the use and status of early English to offer a long historical view of the politics of the vernacular. It is argued that Haynes’s poem, set partly in Nigeria, represents a new departure in the use it finds for Old English poetry, in effect constituting a kind of ‘postcolonial Anglo-Saxonism’. ohn Haynes’s book-length poem of 2006, his Letter to Patience, is J noteworthy for its use of Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English) and its allusions to literary works in that language.1 In part, therefore, Letter to Patience constitutes an example of Anglo-Saxonism, a phenomenon which can be defined as the post-Anglo-Saxon appropriation and deployment of Anglo-Saxon language, literature, or culture, an appropriation which is often difficult to separate from the simultaneous reception and construction of ideas about actual Anglo- 1 John Haynes, Letter to Patience (Bridgend, 2006). -
A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf
<36609035.8800 18 /\ - <36609035.8800 18 Bayer. Staatsbibliothek A TRANSLATION OF THE ANGLO-SAXON POEM OF B E O W U L F WITH A COPIOUS GLOSSA R Y PREFACE AND PHILOLOGICAL NOTES BY JOHN M. KEMBLE ESQ. M. A. of TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE LONDON WILLIAM PICKERING 1837 Bi is LIOTHECA l{FGLA ViONACENSIS. c. whitti Ngh AM, rooks court, CHANCERY i.A.N.E. TO JAMES GRIMM. ABBREVIATIONS, &c. MADE USE OF IN WOLUME II. AElf. Gen. ......... AElfric's Genesis, &c. in Thwaite's Heptateuch. Agricola............. German Proverbs. Alt Platd. Ged. ... Bruns. Alt Platdeutsche Ge— dichte. Anal. ............... Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, by Thorpe. A. S. ............... Anglo-Saxon. B. F. Bat. F. ...... Battle of Finnesburh. Bed. ............... AElfred's Beda, by Smith. Ben. Beyt. ......... Benecke. Beyträge, &c. Bibl. Publ. ......... MS. in the Cambridge University Library. Boet. Boeth. ...... Alfred's Boetius, by Rawlinson. Caed. Caedm. ...... Caedmon, by Thorpe. Cod. Ex............. Codex Exoniensis, from the copy among the Additional MSS. of the Brit. Mus. Cod. Verc. ......... Codex Vercellensis. Poetical frag ments at Vercelli. Cöln. Reimch....... Reimchronik der Stadt Cöln, by van Groot. D. G. ............... Deutsche Grammatik, by Grimm N.B. this work is sometimes re ferred to by the name Grimm. D. H. S. ............ Deutsche Heldensage, by W. Grimm. ABBREVIATIONs, &c. D. M. ............... Deutsche Mythologie, by Grimm. D. R. A............. Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, by Grimm. Diut. ............... Diutiska, by Graff. Ed. Sam. ......... Edda Saemundar hinns Froda. 3 vols. 4to. Ed. Snor............. Edda Snorrii. the prose Edda. Falck ............ ... Staatsbürgerliche Magazin, by Falck. Fornald. Sög. ...... Fornaldar Sögur. edited by Rafn for the Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen. Fornm. Sög. -
Richard Wilbur's 'Junk'
15 Recycling Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Richard Wilbur’s ‘Junk’ and a Self Study Chris Jones University of St Andrews Ever since scraps, both literal and metaphorical, of Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English) verse began to be recovered and edited in more systematic fashion, modern poets have tried to imagine and recreate its sounds in their own work.1 Often the manuscript materials in which Anglo-Saxon poetry survives show signs of having been uncared for and even mistreated; the tenth-century Exeter Book of poetry, for example, which preserves many of the texts now taught in universities as canonical, is scarred with the stains of having had some kind of vessel laid on it, as if it were a drinks mat, with knife-scores, as if it were a chopping board, and with singe marks, as if some red-hot object was temporarily rested on its back (Muir 2000: II, 2). Such treatment is scarce wonder, given that changes in both language and handwriting must have made such manuscripts unintelligible to all but a few until the studies of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century antiquarians began to render them legible again. But it is salutary to remember that fragments of the past which we hold valuable now have often been the junk of intervening ages, waste materials for which only some alternative function might save them from disposal. Recycled, however, fresh uses may be found for Anglo-Saxon poetry, uses that generate for it new currency, in addition to whatever independent value its stock possesses. This essay sets out to examine some of the generative possibilities of recycling Anglo-Saxon poetry, both from a critic’s perspective and a practitioner’s. -
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. -
Constructing Anglo-Saxon Sanctity: Tradition, Innovation and Saint Guthlac’, in Images of Sanctity: Essays in Honour of Gary Dickson, Ed
207 This is a preprint of an article published as Alaric Hall, ‘Constructing Anglo-Saxon Sanctity: Tradition, Innovation and Saint Guthlac’, in Images of Sanctity: Essays in Honour of Gary Dickson, ed. by Debra Higgs Strickland, Visualising the Middle Ages, 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp. 207–35. The pagination and text of this preprint match those of the final publication. To cite this preprint, please cite the URL <htpp://www.alarichall.org.uk>. ___________________________________________________________________________ CONSTRUCTING ANGLO-SAXON SANCTITY: TRADITION, INNOVATION AND SAINT GUTHLAC Alaric Hall “I became a historian,” Gary Dickson told me when I met him at a dinner of the Late Antique and Early Medieval Postgraduate Seminar series at the University of Edinburgh, “because I love literature.” The desire to analyse texts without having to dismantle one’s favourite literature is an understandable one, but Gary’s comment was intended to be provocative. This study responds to the provocation by focusing on the cult of the Anglo-Saxon Saint Guthlac, but not on historians’ usual preferred source for his life, the Latin Vita Guthlaci. Rather, I focus primarily on the Old English poem, Guthlac A, traditionally viewed as a ‘literary’ rather than a ‘historical’ text. I argue that the poem affords insights into Anglo-Saxon constructions of sanctity which are not usually available from the Latin material; most notably, it illuminates ways in which tensions between traditional and Christian notions of ideal male behaviour were constructed and played out in Anglo-Saxon Christian discourses. Saint Guthlac has enjoyed increasing attention in recent years. He has had some catching up to do: Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum does not mention him, so it was not until Bede’s dominance as the source of choice for eighth-century England was brought seriously into question in the 1980s--coincidentally with the rise of new, more culturally-orientated research questions--that the Latin evidence for Guthlac’s life and cult began to enjoy extensive scrutiny. -
The Significant Other: a Literary History of Elves
1616796596 The Significant Other: a Literary History of Elves By Jenni Bergman Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy Cardiff University 2011 UMI Number: U516593 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U516593 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted on candidature for any degree. Signed .(candidate) Date. STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. (candidate) Date. STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed. (candidate) Date. 3/A W/ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date. STATEMENT 4 - BAR ON ACCESS APPROVED I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan after expiry of a bar on accessapproved bv the Graduate Development Committee. -
Beowulf: God, Men, and Monster
Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato Volume 10 Article 1 2010 Beowulf: God, Men, and Monster Emily Bartz Minnesota State University, Mankato Follow this and additional works at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Bartz, Emily (2010) "Beowulf: God, Men, and Monster," Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 10 , Article 1. Available at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol10/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research Center at Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato by an authorized editor of Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. Bartz: Beowulf: God, Men, and Monster Emily Bartz Beowulf: God, Men, and Monsters The central conflict of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf is the struggle between the decentralising and supernatural ways of the ancients (Shield Sheafson, Grendel, and Grendel‟s Mother) and the centralising and corporeal values of the modern heroes (Hrothgar, Beowulf, and Wiglaf.) The poet traces a definitive move away from the ancient‟s pagan heroic values to his own Christian heroic values. However, as in the poet‟s contemporary culture, certain pagan traditions, such as familial fidelity, persist in Beowulf due to their compatibility with Christian culture. The poet‟s audience, the Anglo-Saxons, honoured their pagan ancestors through story telling. The Christian leadership discouraged story telling since the Anglo-Saxons‟ ancestors were pagans and thus beyond salvation. -
Beowulf As Epic
Oral Tradition, 15/1 (2000): 159-169 Beowulf as Epic Joseph Harris Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been home to two translators of the Kalevala in the twentieth century, and both furnished materials, however brief, for an understanding of how they might have compared the Finnish epic to the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. (The present brief Canterbridgean contribution to the generic characterization of Beowulf, taking a hint from the heterogeneous genre make-up of the Kalevala, focuses chiefly on a complex narrative structure and its meaning.) The better known of the two translators was my distinguished predecessor, the English professor and philologist Francis Peabody Magoun (1895-1979). In his 1963 translation of the 1849 Kalevala, Magoun’s allusions, still strongly under the spell of the early successes of the oral-formulaic theory, are chiefly to shared reliance on formulaic diction, though he does also point out certain differences in the two epics’ application of this style (1963a:xvii, n. 1; xviii, n. 3). Magoun’s reference to “the Beowulf songs” (xviii, n. 3) in the plural, however, alludes to his belief that different folk variants on the life of the hero can still be discriminated in the epic. By the time of his 1969 translation of the Old Kalevala Magoun seems not too far from the current standard view (xiv): . such a semi-connected, semi-cyclic work as the Kalevala or the received text of the Anglo-Saxon Béowulf, however oral in its genesis, cannot possibly be the product of oral composition. Unlettered singers create in response to an immediate, eagerly waiting audience; they do not compose cyclically, but episodically . -
Beowulf to Ancient Greece: It Is T^E First Great Work of a Nationai Literature
\eowulf is to England what Hcmer's ///ac/ and Odyssey are Beowulf to ancient Greece: it is t^e first great work of a nationai literature. Becwulf is the mythical and literary record of a formative stage of English civilization; it is also an epic of the heroic sources of English cuitu-e. As such, it uses a host of tra- ditional motifs associated with heroic literature all over the world. Liks most early heroic literature. Beowulf is oral art. it was hanaes down, with changes, and embe'lishrnents. from one min- strel to another. The stories of Beowulf, like those of all oral epics, are traditional ones, familiar to tne audiences who crowded around the harp:st-bards in the communal halls at night. The tales in the Beowulf epic are the stories of dream and legend, of monsters and of god-fashioned weapons, of descents to the underworld and of fights with dragons, of the hero's quest and of a community threat- ened by the powers of evil. Beowulf was composed in Old English, probably in Northumbria in northeast England, sometime between the years 700 and 750. The world it depicts, however, is much older, that of the early sixth century. Much of the material of the poem is based on early folk legends—some Celtic, some Scandinavian. Since the scenery de- scribes tne coast of Northumbna. not of Scandinavia, it has been A Celtic caldron. MKer-plateci assumed that the poet who wrote the version that has come down i Nl ccnlun, B.C.). to us was Northumbrian. -
Judith: Poetry and Critical Commentary
Judith: Poetry and Critical Commentary Ashley Joy Owen A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF PhD ABERYSTWYTH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND CREATIVE WRITING 2016 CONTENTS Declarations …………………………………………………………………………... 3 Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Publications Form ……………………………….. 4 Summary ……………………………………………………………………………… 6 Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………….... 7 Judith: A New Verse Translation ……………………………………………………. 9 An Artist’s Re-creation: Critical Commentary for Judith ………………………... 63 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….... 64 Historical Fiction: Collective Identity, Cultural Authenticity, and the Myth of the Anglo-Saxon Scop ..... 70 Violent Femmes: Cultural Translation and Gender Representation in Beowulf and Judith ..……………. 79 Unlocking the Wordhoard: Old English Prosody in a New Age …………………….... 107 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….. 131 Bibliography – Works Cited …………………………………………………………... 132 Bibliography – Further Reading ………………………………………………………. 136 Appendix 1 – Prose Translations of Judith ……………………………………………. 137 2 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ……………………………………………………………………………. (candidate) Date ………………………………………………………………………………..................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ……………………………………………………………………………. -
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.