Reading Old English Texts, first published in 1997, focuses on the critical methods being used and developed for reading and analysing writings in Old English. The collection is timely, given the explosion of interest in the theory, method, and practice of critical reading. Each chapter engages with work on Old English texts from a particular methodological stance. The authors are all experts in the field, but are also concerned to explain their method and its application to a broad undergraduate and graduate readership. The chapters include a brief historical background to the approach; a definition of the field or method under consideration; a discussion of some exemplary criticism (with a balance of prose and verse passages); an illustration of the ways in which texts are read through this approach, and some suggestions for future work.

Essays bringing out the crucial importance of philology for understanding Old English texts.

First published in 2001. With the decline of formalism and its predilection for Old English poetry, Old English prose is leaving the periphery and moving into the center of literary and cultural discussion. The extensive corpus of Old English prose lends many texts of various kinds to the current debates over literary theory and its multiple manifestations. The purpose of this collection is to assist the growing interest in Old English prose by providing essays that help establish the foundations for considered study and offer models and examples of special studies. Both retrospective and current in its examples, this collection can serve as a "first book" for an introduction to study, particularly suitable for courses that seek to entertain such issues as authorship, texts and textuality, source criticism, genre, and forms of historical criticism as a significant part of a broad, cultural teaching (and research) plan.

Bibliography and guide to scholarly literature on the genre of Old English wisdom poetry. Wisdom literature played a crucial role in the evolution of traditional societies, contributing to the structure of society and to the acceptance of new ideas within a culture, a function that has become increasingly understood. Old English wisdom literature is the focus of this volume, which offers an bibliography of the scholarly criticism between 1800 and 1990 of a group of largely secular poems comprising the metrical Charms, The Fortunes of Men, The Gifts of Men, Homiletic Fragments I and II, Maxims I and II, The Order of the World, Precepts, the metrical Proverbs, the Riddles of the Exeter Book, the Rune Poem, Solomon and Saturn, and Vainglory. A General Introduction investigates debates between scholars and establishes overall trends; it is followed by the bibliography proper, divided into chapters, each with its own introduction, focusing on a major text or collection of texts, with entries arranged chronologically. Dr RUSSELL POOLEteaches in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey University, New Zealand.

This review of the critical reception of Old English literature from 1900 to the present moves beyond a focus on individual literary texts so as to survey the different schools, methods, and assumptions that have shaped the discipline. Examines the notable works and authors from the period, including Beowulf, the Venerable Bede, heroic poems, and devotional literature Reinforces key perspectives with excerpts from ten critical studies Addresses questions of medieval literacy, textuality, and orality, as well as style, gender, genre, and theme Embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the field with reference to historical studies, religious studies, anthropology, art history, and more

A comprehensive introduction to Old English, combining simple, clear philology with the best literary works to provide a compelling and accessible beginners’ guide. Provides a comprehensive introduction to Old English Uses a practical approach suited to the needs of the beginning student Features selections from the greatest works of Old English literature, organized from simple to more challenging texts to keep pace with the reader Includes a discussion of Anglo-Saxon literature, history, and culture, and a bibliography directing readers to useful publications on the subject Updated throughout with new material including the first 25 lines from Beowulf with detailed annotation and an explanation of Grimm’s and Verner’s laws

The Anonymous Old English Homily: Sources, Composition, and Variation offers important essays on the origins, textual transmission, and (re)use of early English preaching texts between the ninth and the late twelfth centuries. Associated with the Electronic Corpus of Anonymous Homilies in Old English project, these studies provide fresh insights into one of the most complex textual genres of early medieval literature. Contributions deal with the definition of the anonymous homiletic corpus in Old English, the history of scholarship on its Latin sources, and the important unedited Pembroke and Angers Latin homiliaries. They also include new source and manuscript identifications, and in-depth studies of a number of popular Old English homilies, their themes, revisions, and textual relations. Contributors are: Aidan Conti, Robert Getz, Thomas N. Hall, Susan Irvine, Esther Lemmerz, Stephen Pelle, Thijs Porck, Winfried Rudolf, Donald G. Scragg, Robert K. Upchurch, Jonathan Wilcox, Charles D. Wright, Samantha Zacher. See inside the book.

The study of manuscripts is fundamental to the appreciation of Anglo-Saxon texts and culture. Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: Basic Readings provides an introductory collection of materials covering basic terms, techniques, resources, issues, and applications. Focusing on manuscripts copied before 1100 in England, the selections gathered here consider their history, production, analysis, and significance. Drawn from a variety of published sources and new writings commissioned for this collection, these essays offer a thorough background in principles and practices, along with up-to-date coverage of new developments in paleography. This interdisciplinary collection introduces key subjects of research for Anglo-Saxon studies while suggesting potential developments and new directions within the field.

From folk ballads to film scripts, this new five-volume encyclopedia covers the entire history of British literature from the seventh century to the present, focusing on the writers and the major texts of what are now the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. In five hundred substantial essays written by major scholars, the Encyclopedia of British Literature includes biographies of nearly four hundred individual authors and a hundred topical essays with detailed analyses of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.An ideal companion to The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, this set will prove invaluable for students, scholars, and general readers.For more information, including a complete table of contents and list of contributors, please visit www.oup.com/us/ebl