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. * An innovative and intriguing introduction to Old English literature. * Structured around 'figures' from Anglo-Saxon culture: the Vow, the Hall, the Miracle, the Pulpit, and the Scholar. * Situates Old English literary texts within a cultural framework. * Creates new connections between different genres, periods and authors. * Combines close textual analysis with historical context. * Based on the author's many years experience of teaching Old English literature. * The author is co-editor with Seamus Heaney of Beowulf: A Verse Translation (2001) and recently published with Blackwell Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend (2003).

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. * An innovative and intriguing introduction to Old English literature. * Structured around 'figures' from Anglo-Saxon culture: the Vow, the Hall, the Miracle, the Pulpit, and the Scholar. * Situates Old English literary texts within a cultural framework. * Creates new connections between different genres, periods and authors. * Combines close textual analysis with historical context. * Based on the author's many years experience of teaching Old English literature. * The author is co-editor with Seamus Heaney of Beowulf: A Verse Translation (2001) and recently published with Blackwell Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend (2003).