Old English Literature: A Short Introduction

This innovative and intriguing introduction to Old English literature is structured around what the author calls ‘figures’ from Anglo–Saxon culture: the Vow, the Hall, the Miracle, the Pulpit, and the Scholar. These unconventional categories not only situate Old English texts within a cultural framework but also create new connections between different genres, periods and authors: for example, between prose and poetry, the vernacular and Latin, and the obscure and the well known. The book is based on the author’s many years′ experience of teaching Old English literature and combines close textual analysis with historical context, making it suitable for both new students and general readers.

List of Illustrations. Introduction. . List of Abbreviations. 1. The Vow. 2. The Hall. 3. The Miracle. 4. The Pulpit. 5. The Scholar. Notes. Furthur Reading. Index.

Daniel Donoghue is the John P. Marquand Professor of English at Harvard University. He is the author of Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend (2003), Style in Old English Poetry (1987) and is co–editor with Seamus Heaney of Beowulf: A Verse Translation (2001).

"As a means of aiding students to focus on particular aspects of Old English literature, this can hardly be bettered, and Donoghue′s close textual analyses and continued attention to Old English words and phrases are themselves an excellent example to beginners learning how to deal with these texts." TOEBI Newsletter