Kazutomo Karasawa – författare

Maxims I and Maxims II, which comprise a seemingly haphazard assortment of Old English poetic gnomes (sayings put into verse to aid memory), are intriguing yet mysterious compositions. While they are interesting in that they might represent various facets of the values and worldview that were prevalent in early medieval England, they are puzzling, lacking both thematic or aesthetic coherence and identifiable goals. Nevertheless, these works must have had significance, as reflected in the fact that they are recorded among other significant works in two highly esteemed manuscripts: the Exeter Book and the C-manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This volume investigates how these works function both independently and within the context of these manuscripts by analysing the works themselves and their places within these codices. This volume also addresses the following long-standing issues: linguistic features and dates and places of origin of these works; the use of ljóðaháttr- and galdralag-like constructions in Maxims I; the gnome on soð in Maxims II; and the use of gnomic bið and sceal. A new critical edition of Maxims I and II, complete with English translations, full commentary and glossary, is also included in the volume.

Maxims I and Maxims II, which comprise a seemingly haphazard assortment of Old English poetic gnomes (sayings put into verse to aid memory), are intriguing yet mysterious compositions. While they are interesting in that they might represent various facets of the values and worldview that were prevalent in early medieval England, they are puzzling, lacking both thematic or aesthetic coherence and identifiable goals. Nevertheless, these works must have had significance, as reflected in the fact that they are recorded among other significant works in two highly esteemed manuscripts: the Exeter Book and the C-manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This volume investigates how these works function both independently and within the context of these manuscripts by analysing the works themselves and their places within these codices. This volume also addresses the following long-standing issues: linguistic features and dates and places of origin of these works; the use of ljóðaháttr- and galdralag-like constructions in Maxims I; the gnome on soð in Maxims II; and the use of gnomic bið and sceal. A new critical edition of Maxims I and II, complete with English translations, full commentary and glossary, is also included in the volume.

First modern text and English translation of an important Anglo-Saxon poem dealing with the liturgical year.WINNER of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists 2017 Publication Prize: Best EditionThe late tenth-century Old English Metrical Calendar (traditionally known as Menologium) summarises, in the characteristicheroic diction and traditional metre of Old English poetry, the major course of the Anglo-Saxon liturgical year. It sets out, in a methodical structure based on the basic temporal framework of the solar/natural year, the locations of the major feasts widely observed in late Anglo-Saxon England. Such a work could have been a practical timepiece for reading the dates of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for which it serves as a kind of prologue in the manuscript.The clearly domestic perspective of the poem, which fits in the manuscript context, is also noteworthy, while the poem also reveals various interesting characteristics in its grammar, vocabulary and prosody.This is the firstfull modern edition of the poem, and is accompanied by a facing translation. The introduction provides an extensive discussion of matter, content, style, and context, while the commentary offers further information. The volume also includes the texts and translations of a number of analogous works.Kazutomo Karasawa is Professor of English philology at Komazawa University, Tokyo.

First modern text and English translation of an important Anglo-Saxon poem dealing with the liturgical year.WINNER of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists 2017 Publication Prize: Best EditionThe late tenth-century Old English Metrical Calendar (traditionally known as Menologium) summarises, in the characteristicheroic diction and traditional metre of Old English poetry, the major course of the Anglo-Saxon liturgical year. It sets out, in a methodical structure based on the basic temporal framework of the solar/natural year, the locations of the major feasts widely observed in late Anglo-Saxon England. Such a work could have been a practical timepiece for reading the dates of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for which it serves as a kind of prologue in the manuscript.The clearly domestic perspective of the poem, which fits in the manuscript context, is also noteworthy, while the poem also reveals various interesting characteristics in its grammar, vocabulary and prosody.This is the firstfull modern edition of the poem, and is accompanied by a facing translation. The introduction provides an extensive discussion of matter, content, style, and context, while the commentary offers further information. The volume also includes the texts and translations of a number of analogous works.