The Earliest English Poems

The Earliest English Poems PDF Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520015043
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description

The Earliest English Poems

The Earliest English Poems PDF Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520015043
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description


Reading Old English Biblical Poetry

Reading Old English Biblical Poetry PDF Author: Janet Schrunk Ericksen
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487507461
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Reading Old English Biblical Poetry considers the Junius 11 manuscript, the only surviving illustrated book of Old English poetry, in terms of its earliest readers and their multiple strategies of reading and making meaning. Junius 11 begins with the creation story and ends with the final vanquishing of Satan by Jesus. The manuscript is both a continuous whole and a collection with discontinuities and functionally independent pieces. The chapters of Reading Old English Biblical Poetry propose multiple models for reader engagement with the texts in this manuscript, including selective and sequential reading, reading in juxtaposition, and reading in contexts within and outside of the pages of Junius 11. The study is framed by particular attention to the materiality of the manuscript and how that might have informed its early reception, and it broadens considerations of reading beyond those of the manuscript's compiler and possible patron. As a book, Junius 11 reflects a rich and varied culture of reading that existed in and beyond houses of God in England in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and it points to readers who had enough experience to select and find wisdom, narrative pleasure, and a diversity of other things within this or any book's contents.

The First Poems in English

The First Poems in English PDF Author: Michael Alexander
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141918764
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
This selection of the earliest poems in English comprises works from an age in which verse was not written down, but recited aloud and remembered. Heroic poems celebrate courage, loyalty and strength, in excerpts from Beowulf and in The Battle of Brunanburgh, depicting King Athelstan’s defeat of his northern enemies in 937 AD, while The Wanderer and The Seafarer reflect on exile, loss and destiny. The Gnomic Verses are proverbs on the natural order of life, and the Exeter Riddles are witty linguistic puzzles. Love elegies include emotional speeches from an abandoned wife and separated lovers, and devotional poems include a vision of Christ’s cross in The Dream of the Rood, and Caedmon’s Hymn, perhaps the oldest poem in English, speaking in praise of God.

The History of English Poetry

The History of English Poetry PDF Author: Thomas Warton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 654

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Book Description


The Complete Old English Poems

The Complete Old English Poems PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812248473
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 1248

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Book Description
Includes the Junius manuscript, Exeter book, Vercelli book, Beowulf and Judith, metrical psalms of Paris Psalter and the meters of Boethius, poems of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, riddles, charms, and a number of minor additional poems.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Anglo-Saxon Poetry PDF Author: S. A. J. Bradley
Publisher: Everyman Paperback
ISBN: 9780460875073
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Anglo–Saxon poetry is esteemed for its subtle artistry and for its wealth of insights into the artistic, social and spiritual preoccupations of the formative first centuries of English literature. This anthology of prose translations covers most of the poetry surviving in the four major codices and in various other manuscripts. A well–received feature is the grouping by codex to emphasize the great importance of manuscript context in interpreting the poems. The full contents of the Exeter Book are represented, summarized where not translated, to facilitate appreciation of a complete Anglo-Saxon book. The introduction discusses the nature of the legacy, the poet's role, chronology, and especially of translations attempt a style acceptable to the modern ear yet close enough to aid parallel study of the old English text. A check–list of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry enhances the practical usefulness of the volume. The whole thus adds up to a substantial and now widely–cited survey of the Anglo–Saxon poetic achievement.

English Literature: A Very Short Introduction

English Literature: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Jonathan Bate
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199569266
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
English Literature: A Very Short Introduction discusses why literature matters, how narrative works, and what is distinctly English about English literature. Jonathan Bate considers how we determine the content of the field, and looks at the three major kinds of imaginative literature - English poetry, English drama and The English novel.

The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature

The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature PDF Author: Clare A. Lees
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131617509X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 910

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Book Description
Informed by multicultural, multidisciplinary perspectives, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature offers a new exploration of the earliest writing in Britain and Ireland, from the end of the Roman Empire to the mid-twelfth century. Beginning with an account of writing itself, as well as of scripts and manuscript art, subsequent chapters examine the earliest texts from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the tremendous breadth of Anglo-Latin literature. Chapters on English learning and literature in the ninth century and the later formation of English poetry and prose also convey the profound cultural confidence of the period. Providing a discussion of essential texts, including Beowulf and the writings of Bede, this History captures the sheer inventiveness and vitality of early medieval literary culture through topics as diverse as the literature of English law, liturgical and devotional writing, the workings of science and the history of women's writing.

Old English Poetry: An Anthology

Old English Poetry: An Anthology PDF Author: R.M. Liuzza
Publisher: Broadview Press
ISBN: 1554811570
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
R.M. Liuzza’s Broadview edition of Beowulf was published at almost exactly the same time as Seamus Heaney’s; in reviewing the two together in July 2000 for The New York Review of Books, Frank Kermode concluded that both translations were superior to their predecessors, and that it was impossible to choose between the two: “the less celebrated translator can be matched with the famous one,” he wrote, and “Liuzza’s book is in some respects more useful than Heaney’s.” Ever since, the Liuzza Beowulf has remained among the top sellers on the Broadview list. With this volume readers will now be able to enjoy a much broader selection of Old English poetry in translations by Liuzza. As the collection demonstrates, the range and diversity of the works that have survived is extraordinary—from heartbreaking sorrow to wide-eyed wonder, from the wisdom of old age to the hot blood of battle, and to the deepest and most poignant loneliness. There is breathless storytelling and ponderous cataloguing; there is fervent religious devotion and playful teasing. The poems translated here are meant to provide a sense of some of this range and diversity; in doing so they also offer significant portions of three of the important manuscripts of Old English poetry—the Vercelli Book, the Junius Manuscript, and the Exeter Book.

The Routledge History of Literature in English

The Routledge History of Literature in English PDF Author: Ronald Carter
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415243179
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
This is a guide to the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature, charting some of the main features of literary language development and highlighting key language topics.