1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996216690903316

Titolo

The Cambridge companion to Old English literature / / edited by Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 1991

ISBN

0-511-99958-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiii, 298 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge companions to literature

Disciplina

829/.09

Soggetti

English literature - Old English, ca. 450-1100 - History and criticism

Great Britain History Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066 Handbooks, manuals, etc

England Civilization To 1066 Handbooks, manuals, etc

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Nov 2015).

Nota di contenuto

Anglo-Saxon society and its literature / Patrick Wormald -- The Old English language / Helmut Gneuss -- The nature of Old English verse / Donald G. Scragg -- The nature of Old English prose / Janet Bately -- Germanic legend in Old English literature / Roberta Frank -- Heroic values and Christian ethics / Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe -- Pagan survivals and popular belief / John D. Niles -- Beowulf / Fred C. Robinson -- Fatalism and the millennium / Joseph B. Trahern, Jr. -- Perceptions of transience / Christine Fell -- Perceptions of eternity / Milton McC. Gatch -- Biblical literature : the Old Testament / Malcolm Godden -- Biblical literature : the New Testament / Barbara C. Raw -- The saintly life in Anglo-Saxon England / Michael Lapidge -- The world of Anglo-Saxon learning / Patrizia Lendinara.

Sommario/riassunto

This book introduces students to the literature of Anglo-Saxon England, the period from 600-1066, in a collection of fifteen specially commissioned essays. The Companion is aimed at students encountering Old English literature for the first time, who require clear guidance and orientation in an unfamiliar field. The first chapters describe briefly the political, social and ecclesiastical history of the period and how poetry and prose developed and flourished. A succinct account of Old English language provides beginners with a guide to grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Subsequent chapters explore such



topics as Germanic legend and heroic ideals, paganism and fatalism, the cult of saints and responses to the Bible. Important prose texts, such as those by Bede, Alfred, Aelfric and Wulfstan, are covered under these thematic headings. Poems such as The Battle of Maldon, The Wanderer, The Seafarer and The Dream of the Rood, are discussed in detail, but in association with related texts, in prose as well as poetry. A separate chapter is devoted to Beowulf, but aspects of the poem are also discussed in other chapters. Finally a bibliography lists essential editions, reference works and critical studies.