The Origins of Beowulf

The Origins of Beowulf PDF Author: Sam Newton
Publisher: DS Brewer
ISBN: 9780859914727
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
A detailed and passionate argument suggesting that Beowulf originated in the pre-Viking kingdom of 8th-century East Anglia. Where did Beowulf, unique and thrilling example of an Old English epic poem come from? In whose hall did the poem's maker first tell the tale? The poem exists now in just one manuscript, but careful study of the literary and historical associations reveals striking details which lead Dr Newton to claim, as he pieces together the various clues, a specific origin for the poem. Dr Newton suggests that references in Beowulf to the heroes whose names are listed in Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies indicate that such Northern dynastic concerns are most likely to have been fostered in the kingdom of East Anglia. He supports his thesis with evidence drawn from East Anglianarchaeology, hagiography and folklore. His argument, detailed and passionate, offers the exciting possibility that he has discovered the lost origins of the poem in the pre-Viking kingdom of 8th-century East Anglia. SAMNEWTON was awarded his Ph.D. for work on Beowulf.

The Origins of Beowulf

The Origins of Beowulf PDF Author: Sam Newton
Publisher: DS Brewer
ISBN: 9780859914727
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
A detailed and passionate argument suggesting that Beowulf originated in the pre-Viking kingdom of 8th-century East Anglia. Where did Beowulf, unique and thrilling example of an Old English epic poem come from? In whose hall did the poem's maker first tell the tale? The poem exists now in just one manuscript, but careful study of the literary and historical associations reveals striking details which lead Dr Newton to claim, as he pieces together the various clues, a specific origin for the poem. Dr Newton suggests that references in Beowulf to the heroes whose names are listed in Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies indicate that such Northern dynastic concerns are most likely to have been fostered in the kingdom of East Anglia. He supports his thesis with evidence drawn from East Anglianarchaeology, hagiography and folklore. His argument, detailed and passionate, offers the exciting possibility that he has discovered the lost origins of the poem in the pre-Viking kingdom of 8th-century East Anglia. SAMNEWTON was awarded his Ph.D. for work on Beowulf.

The Origins of Beowulf

The Origins of Beowulf PDF Author: Richard North
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191525731
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
This book suggests that the Old English epic Beowulf was composed in the winter of 826-7 as a requiem for King Beornwulf of Mercia on behalf of Wiglaf, the ealdorman who succeeded him. The place of composition is given as the minster of Breedon on the Hill in Leicestershire (now Derbyshire) and the poet is named as the abbot, Eanmund. As well as pinpointing the poem's place and date of composition, Richard North raises some old questions relating to the poet's influences from Vergil and from living Danes. Norse analogues are discussed in order to identify how the poet changed his heroic sources while four episodes from Beowulf are shown to be reworked from passages in Vergil's Aeneid. One chapter assesses how the poem's Latin sources might correspond with what is known of Breedon's now-lost library while another seeks to explain Danish mythology in Beowulf by arguing that Breedon hosted a meeting with Danish Vikings in 809. This fascinating and challenging new study combines careful detective work with meticulous literary analysis to form a case that no future investigation will be able to ignore.

The Transmission of "Beowulf"

The Transmission of Author: Leonard Neidorf
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501708279
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Beowulf, like The Iliad and The Odyssey, is a foundational work of Western literature that originated in mysterious circumstances. In The Transmission of Beowulf, Leonard Neidorf addresses philological questions that are fundamental to the study of the poem. Is Beowulf the product of unitary or composite authorship? How substantially did scribes alter the text during its transmission, and how much time elapsed between composition and preservation? Neidorf answers these questions by distinguishing linguistic and metrical regularities, which originate with the Beowulf poet, from patterns of textual corruption, which descend from copyists involved in the poem’s transmission. He argues, on the basis of archaic features that pervade Beowulf and set it apart from other Old English poems, that the text preserved in the sole extant manuscript (ca. 1000) is essentially the work of one poet who composed it circa 700. Of course, during the poem’s written transmission, several hundred scribal errors crept into its text. These errors are interpreted in the central chapters of the book as valuable evidence for language history, cultural change, and scribal practice. Neidorf’s analysis reveals that the scribes earnestly attempted to standardize and modernize the text’s orthography, but their unfamiliarity with obsolete words and ancient heroes resulted in frequent errors. The Beowulf manuscript thus emerges from his study as an indispensible witness to processes of linguistic and cultural change that took place in England between the eighth and eleventh centuries. An appendix addresses J. R. R. Tolkien’s Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, which was published in 2014. Neidorf assesses Tolkien’s general views on the transmission of Beowulf and evaluates his position on various textual issues.

Beowulf

Beowulf PDF Author:
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486111105
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
Finest heroic poem in Old English celebrates the exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of southern Sweden. Combines myth, Christian and pagan elements, and history into a powerful narrative. Genealogies.

The Story of Beowulf

The Story of Beowulf PDF Author: Ernest J. B. Kirtlan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description


The Beowulf Manuscript

The Beowulf Manuscript PDF Author: R. D. Fulk
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674052951
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
R.D. Fulk is Chancellor's Professor of English at Indiana University, Bloomington. --Book Jacket.

Beowulf

Beowulf PDF Author: Janina Ramirez
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 1405935952
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES 'This accessible illustrated guide is a great introduction to the story, its origins and its enduring legacy' BBC HISTORY - Which is more terrifying - a monster or its mother? - Why did Berserkers run naked into battle? - How was the story of Beowulf almost lost forever? PLUNGE into the adventures of Beowulf, the 6th Century hero who defeated the monster Grendel, became king of his people, and slayed a tremendous dragon. Surviving in a single, burnt manuscript, Beowulf continues to entrance readers and inspire major works of fantasy today. WARRIORS. MONSTERS. DRAGONS. GOLD. Janina Ramirez's Beowulf is an accessible and authoritative guide to the spellbinding world and daring feats of a poem remembered through the centuries.

Interpretations of Beowulf

Interpretations of Beowulf PDF Author: Robert D. Fulk
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253206398
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Interpretations of Beowulf brings together over six decades of literary scholarship. Illustrating a variety of interpretative schools, the essays not only deal with most of the major issues of Beowulf criticism, including structure, style, genre, and theme, but also offer the sort of explanations of particular passages that are invaluable to a careful reading of a poem. This up-to-date collection of significant critical approaches fills a long-standing need for a companion volume for the study of the poem. Larger patterns in the history of Beowulf criticism are also traceable in the chronological order of the collection. The contributors are Theodore M. Andersson, Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, Jane Chance, Laurence N. de Looze, Margaret E. Goldsmith, Stanley B. Greenfield, Joseph Harris, Edward B. Irving, Jr., John Leyerle, Francis P. Magoun, Jr., M. B. McNamee, S. J., Bertha S. Phillpotts, John C. Pope, Richard N. Ringler, Geoffrey R. Russom, T. A. Shippey, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Beowulf

Beowulf PDF Author: Andreas Haarder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134970935
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
Beowulf is the oldest and most complete epic poem in any non-Classical European language. Our only manuscript, written in Old English, dates from close to the year 1000. However, the poem remained effectively unknown even to scholars until the year 1815, when it was first published in Copenhagen. This impressive volume selects over one hundred works of critical commentary from the vast body of scholarship on Beowulf - including English translations from German, Danish, Latin and Spanish - from the poem's first mention in 1705 to the Anglophone scholarship of the early twentieth century. Tom Shippey provides both a contextual introduction and a guide to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scholarship which generated these Beowulf commentaries. The book is a vital document for the study of one of the major texts of 'the Northern renaissance', in which completely unknown poems and even languages were brought to the attention first of the learned world and then of popular culture. It also acts as a valuable guide to the development of nationalist and racist sentiment, beginning romantically and ending with World War and attempted genocide.

The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction

The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: John Blair
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019157838X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Blair's Very Short Introduction to the Anglo-Saxon Age covers the emergence of the earliest English settlements to the Norman victory in 1066. This book is a brief introduction to the political, social, religious, and cultural history of Anglo-Saxon England. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.