The Complete Old English Poems
By Craig Williamson and Tom Shippey
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
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.
Tom Shippey
Professor Tom Shippey taught at Oxford, overlapping chronologically with Professor Tolkien and teaching the same syllabus, giving him an intimate familiarity with the poems and the languages which formed the main stimulus to Tolkien’s imagination. He subsequently held the same Chair of English Language and Medieval Literature at Leeds University which Tolkien held early in his career, and currently holds the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at Saint Louis University, USA.
Related to The Complete Old English Poems
Related ebooks
The Canterbury Tales - Original and Modernised Text by Geoffrey Chaucer - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anglo-Saxons: Synthesis and Achievement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDrout's Quick and Easy Old English Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnglo-Saxon Primer, With Grammar, Notes, and Glossary Eighth Edition Revised Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5How the Anglo-Saxons Read Their Poems Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Complete Beowulf - Old English Text, Translations and Dual Text (Illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nibelungenlied Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mabinogion (Welsh Arthurian Legends) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Duanaire Na Sracaire: Anthology of Medieval Gaelic Poetry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Arthur of the North: The Arthurian Legend in the Norse and Rus' Realms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Old English Poems Translated into the Original Meter Together with Short Selections from Old English Prose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeowulf in Parallel Texts: Translated with Textual and Explanatory Notes Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Faerie Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistories of the Kings of Britain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Metaphysical Poetry: An Anthology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Myths and Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Transmission of "Beowulf": Language, Culture, and Scribal Behavior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedieval Tales and Stories: 108 Prose Narratives of the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Idylls, Epigrams, and Epitaphs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary For the Use of Students Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elements of Gaelic Grammar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeginners' Welsh Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Medieval Literature: A Basic Anthology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFolklore and Myth in the Mabinogion - A Lecture Delivered at the National Museum of Wales on 27 October 1950 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Well at the World's End Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything's Fine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Complete Old English Poems
0 ratings0 reviews