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


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 Earliest English Poems

The Earliest English Poems PDF Author: Michael J. Alexander
Publisher: Penguin Classics
ISBN: 9780140441727
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Anglo-Saxon poetry was produced between 700 and 1000 AD for an audience that delighted in technical accomplishment, and the durable works of Old English verse spring from the source of the English language. This work translates the best of the Old English poetry into modern English. Table of Contents:IntroductionA Note on the TranslationPreface to the Second EditionPreface to the Third EditionThe RuinCaedmon's HymnBede's Death SongHeroic PoemsDeor and WidsithBeowulf and the Fight at FinnsburgWaldereElegiesThe Wanderer and the SeafarerThe Wife's Complaint, the Husband's Message and Wulf and EadwacerGnomic VersesRiddlesThe Dream of the RoodThe PhoenixBrunaburhThe Battle of MaldonMap of the Site of the Battle of MaldonNotesAppendixes: A. The RunesB. Suggested Solutions to the RiddlesC. Anglo-Saxon MetricGlossary of Proper NamesFurther Reading.

The Complete Old English Poems

The Complete Old English Poems PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812293215
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 1248

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Book Description
From the riddling song of a bawdy onion that moves between kitchen and bedroom to the thrilling account of Beowulf's battle with a treasure-hoarding dragon, from the heart-rending lament of a lone castaway to the embodied speech of the cross upon which Christ was crucified, from the anxiety of Eve, who carries "a sumptuous secret in her hands / And a tempting truth hidden in her heart," to the trust of Noah who builds "a sea-floater, a wave-walking / Ocean-home with rooms for all creatures," the world of the Anglo-Saxon poets is a place of harshness, beauty, and wonder. Now for the first time, the entire Old English poetic corpus—including poems and fragments discovered only within the past fifty years—is rendered into modern strong-stress, alliterative verse in a masterful translation by Craig Williamson. Accompanied by an introduction by noted medievalist Tom Shippey on the literary scope and vision of these timeless poems and Williamson's own introductions to the individual works and his essay on translating Old English poetry, the texts transport us back to the medieval scriptorium or ancient mead-hall, to share a herdsman's recounting of the story of the world's creation or a people's sorrow at the death of a beloved king, to be present at the clash of battle or to puzzle over the sacred and profane answers to riddles posed over a thousand years ago. This is poetry as stunning in its vitality as it is true to its sources. Were Williamson's idiom not so modern, we might think that the Anglo-Saxon poets had taken up the lyre again and begun to sing once more.

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.

Beowulf and Other Old English Poems

Beowulf and Other Old English Poems PDF Author: Constance Hieatt
Publisher: Bantam Classics
ISBN: 0307434826
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Unique and beautiful, Beowulf brings to life a society of violence and honor, fierce warriors and bloody battles, deadly monsters and famous swords. Written by an unknown poet in about the eighth century, this masterpiece of Anglo-Saxton literature transforms legends, myth, history, and ancient songs into the richly colored tale of the hero Beowulf, the loathsome man-eater Grendel, his vengeful water-hag mother, and a treasure-hoarding dragon. The earliest surviving epic poem in any modern European language. Beowulf is a stirring portrait of a heroic world–somber, vast, and magnificent.

Collected Poems in English

Collected Poems in English PDF Author: Joseph Brodsky
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374528381
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 565

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Book Description
With nearly 200 poems, several of them never before published in book form, this is the essential volume of the Nobel Laureate's work.

The Earliest English Poems

The Earliest English Poems PDF Author: none
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141945435
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Anglo-Saxon poetry was produced between 700 and 1000 AD for an audience that delighted in technical accomplishment, and the durable works of Old English verse spring from the source of the English language. Michael Alexander has translated the best of the Old English poetry into modern English and into a verse form that retains the qualities of Anglo-Saxon metre and alliteration. Included in this selection are the ‘heroic poems’ such as Widsith, Deor, Brunanburh and Maldon, and passages from Beowulf; some of the famous ‘riddles’ from The Exeter Book; all the ‘elegies’, including The Ruin, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Complaint and The Husband’s Message, in which the virtu of Old English is found in its purest and most concentrated form; together with the great Christian poem The Dream of the Rood.

The Penguin Book of English Verse

The Penguin Book of English Verse PDF Author: P J Keegan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141941871
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 1184

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Book Description
This ambitious and revelatory collection turns the traditional chronology of anthologies on its head, listing poems according to their first individual appearance in the language rather than by poet.

The Exeter Book

The Exeter Book PDF Author: Israel Gollancz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780341945420
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.