Anglo Saxon Literature Handbook

Mark C. Amodio is Professor in the English Department at Vassar College, where he teaches courses in Old and Middle English language and literature.  His publications inlcude Writing the Oral Tradition: Oral Poetics and Literate Culture in Medieval England (2004)

"(An) accessible, invaluable book. Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Lower-and upper-division undergraduates."  (Choice, 1 January 2014)

• Preface xiAcknowledgments xvNote on the Text xviiList of Abbreviations xixPart 1 Anglo-Saxon England: Backgrounds and Beginnings 1Political History 3Ecclesiastical History 11Intellectual History 15Linguistic History 20Literary History 24Traditions: Oral and Literate 27A Note on Dating Anglo-Saxon Texts 30Part 2 Anglo-Saxon Prose 33The Writings of King Alfred the Great 35Alfred’s Translation of Pope Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care 36Alfred’s Translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy 42Alfred’s Translation of St Augustine’s Soliloquies 47Alfred’s Translations of the Prose Psalms of the Paris Psalter 51Alfred’s Preface to Wærferth’s Translation of Pope Gregory’s Dialogues 54The Vercelli Homilies 56The Blickling Homilies 62The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 67The Old English Orosius 72Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People 78Apollonius of Tyre 87The Old English Martyrology 92The Life of St Guthlac 96The Wonders of the East, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, and The Life of St Christopher 99Bald’s Leechbook and Leechbook III 105The Writings of Wulfstan, Archbishop of York 109The Writings of Ælfric of Eynsham 116Catholic Homilies 122Lives of Saints 126Colloquy on the Occupations 127Ælfric as Author 130Part 3 Anglo-Saxon Poetry 135The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Tradition 137Cædmon’s Hymn 147Bede’s Death Song 152The Junius Manuscript 154Genesis 155Genesis A 156Genesis B 157Exodus 162Daniel 167Christ and Satan 170The Poems of the Vercelli Book 176Andreas 177Fates of the Apostles 185Soul and Body I (and II) 188Homiletic Fragment I 192The Dream of the Rood 192Elene 197The Exeter Book 202The Advent Lyrics (Christ I) 203The Ascension (Christ II) 206Christ in Judgement (Christ III) 209Life of St Guthlac 212Guthlac A 213Guthlac B 215Azarias 219The Phoenix 221Juliana 225The Wanderer 229The Gifts of Men 233Precepts 234The Seafarer 235Vainglory 237Widsið 240The Fortunes of Men 242Maxims (I) 244The Order of the World 246The Rhyming Poem 247The Panther, The Whale, The Partridge (The Old English Physiologus) 249Soul and Body II (and I) 252Deor 253Wulf and Eadwacer 255The Exeter Book Riddles 257The Wife’s Lament 260Judgement Day I 262Resignation (A and B) 265The Descent into Hell 267Almsgiving 268Pharaoh 269The Lord’s Prayer I 270Homiletic Fragment II 270The Husband’s Message 271The Ruin 273The Poems of Cotton Vitellius A.xv 276Beowulf 277Judith 294Poems from Various Manuscripts 300The Metres of Boethius 300The Metrical Psalms of the Paris Psalter 305Solomon and Saturn I and II 307The Menologium 311The Rune Poem 313The Poems of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 315The Battle of Brunanburh 317The Battle of Maldon 319The Fight at Finnsburh 323Waldere 326Durham 329Part 4 Critical Approaches 333The Alterity of Anglo-Saxon Literature 335Source Studies 339Manuscript Studies 342Grammatical and Syntactic Studies 343Theoretical Perspectives 345Part 5 Themes 361Anglo-Saxon Thematics 363Heroism 365The End of the World 368The Transitory Nature of Life 370Fate 372Wisdom 374Otherness 376Oral-Traditional Themes 378Bibliography 381Index 401Index of Manuscripts 411