The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

319 Pages·1991·16.85 MB·English

by  Malcolm Godden

This page intentionally left blank
The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature

The Cambridge Companion to
Old English Literature
Edited by
MALCOLM GODDEN AND MICHAEL LAPIDGE
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521374385
©CambridgeUniversityPress1991
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 1991
isbn-13 978-0-511-22177-4 eBook (Adobe Reader)
isbn-10 0-511-22177-0 eBook (Adobe Reader)
isbn-13 978-0-521-37438-5 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-37438-3 hardback
isbn-13 978-0-521-37794-2 paperback
isbn-10 0-521-37794-3 paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
List of contributors page ivi
Preface ix
Note on the text xi
Abbreviations xi
Chronological table of the Anglo-Saxon period xii
Fig. 1 Map of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Age
(c. 400-c. 600 AD) xiv
Fig. 2 Map of Anglo-Saxon England xv
1 Anglo-Saxon society and its literature 1
PATRICK WORMALD
2 The Old English language 23
HELMUT GNEUSS
3 The nature of Old English verse 55
DONALD G. SCRAGG
4 The nature of Old English prose 71
JANET BATELY
5 Germanic legend in Old English literature 88
ROBERTA FRANK
6 Heroic values and Christian ethics 107
KATHERINE O'BRIEN O'KEEFFE
7 Pagan survivals and popular belief 126
JOHN D. NILES
8 Beowulf 142
FRED C. ROBINSON
V
vi Contents
9 Fatalism and the millennium 160
JOSEPH B. TRAHERN, JR
10 Perceptions of transience 172
CHRISTINE FELL
11 Perceptions of eternity 190
MILTON MCC. GATCH
12 Biblical literature: the Old Testament 206
MALCOLM GODDEN
13 Biblical literature: the New Testament 227
BARBARA C. RAW
14 The saintly life in Anglo-Saxon England 243
MICHAEL LAPIDGE
15 The world of Anglo-Saxon learning 264
PATRIZIA LENDINARA
Further reading 282
Index 292
Contributors
JANET BATELY, University of London
CHRISTINEFELL, University of Nottingham
ROBERTAFRANK, University of Toronto
MILTON MCC. GATCH, Union Theological Seminary, New York
HELMUT GNEUSS, University of Munich
MALCOLM GODDEN, University of Oxford
MICHAEL LAPIDGE, University of Cambridge
PATRIZIA LENDINARA, University of Palermo
JOHN D. NILES, University of California at Berkeley
KATHERINE O'BRIEN O'KEEFFE, Texas A&M University
BARBARAC. RAW, University of Keele
FRED C. ROBINSON, Yale University
DONALD G. SCRAGG, University of Manchester
JOSEPH B. TRAHERN, JR, University of Tennessee
PATRICK WORMALD, University of Oxford
vn