McMaster Old English Studies and Texts – serie

This critical edition provides unique access to a work which has challenged scholars and students alike. The book is the first to deal fully with the poem as literature and to supply the runic background necessary for an understanding of the raw materials with which the poet was working.The introduction offers a thorough discussion of the origin, development, and uses of runes before proceeding to the close examination of text, language, literary sources, style, and themes of the poem. Following the text and translation of the poem proper, detailed explanatory notes pay particular attention to the background of each individual rune and rune name, and the appendixes provide analogous material to assist in setting the poet's achievement into the runic context.Since many of the sources necessary for an accurate assessement of the Old English Rune Poem are written in foreign or dead languages, modern English translations have been provided throughout to ensure that the poem will be accessible to students as well as to professional medievalists. (McMaster Old English Studies and Texts 2)

There are two prose dialogues in Old English, consisting together of some 109 questions and answers. These questions are related to the medieval Latin Joca Monachorum and Adrian and Epictus dialogues and deal with various and quite diverse topics. Some questions concern scripture and Christian tradition –  'How tall was Adam,' 'where did he get his name,' and 'what are the eight parts of which he was made.' Some questions are scientific or quasi-scientific – 'Where does the sun go at night,' 'what is the number of birds.' Others concern riddles or proverbial lore. Together they are the early medieval equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records, a gathering of odd facts and curious information designed to amuse and entertain. This edition from the British Library manuscripts provides translations of these dialogues, and, more important, traces the sources of these sometimes rather curious ideas. The book will be useful to specialists and students concerned with Old English and medieval literature in general. The texts themselves are of some importance and the illustrative material gathered here is relevant to a wide range of problems. Yet the book is also intended, as were the originals, to amuse and instruct a wider audience, a new age of curious readers.

There are two prose dialogues in Old English, consisting together of some 109 questions and answers. These questions are related to the medieval Latin Joca Monachorum and Adrian and Epictus dialogues and deal with various and quite diverse topics. Some questions concern scripture and Christian tradition –  'How tall was Adam,' 'where did he get his name,' and 'what are the eight parts of which he was made.' Some questions are scientific or quasi-scientific – 'Where does the sun go at night,' 'what is the number of birds.' Others concern riddles or proverbial lore. Together they are the early medieval equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records, a gathering of odd facts and curious information designed to amuse and entertain. This edition from the British Library manuscripts provides translations of these dialogues, and, more important, traces the sources of these sometimes rather curious ideas. The book will be useful to specialists and students concerned with Old English and medieval literature in general. The texts themselves are of some importance and the illustrative material gathered here is relevant to a wide range of problems. Yet the book is also intended, as were the originals, to amuse and instruct a wider audience, a new age of curious readers.

There are two prose dialogues in Old English, consisting together of some 109 questions and answers. These questions are related to the medieval Latin Joca Monachorum and Adrian and Epictus dialogues and deal with various and quite diverse topics. Some questions concern scripture and Christian tradition –  'How tall was Adam,' 'where did he get his name,' and 'what are the eight parts of which he was made.' Some questions are scientific or quasi-scientific – 'Where does the sun go at night,' 'what is the number of birds.' Others concern riddles or proverbial lore. Together they are the early medieval equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records, a gathering of odd facts and curious information designed to amuse and entertain. This edition from the British Library manuscripts provides translations of these dialogues, and, more important, traces the sources of these sometimes rather curious ideas. The book will be useful to specialists and students concerned with Old English and medieval literature in general. The texts themselves are of some importance and the illustrative material gathered here is relevant to a wide range of problems. Yet the book is also intended, as were the originals, to amuse and instruct a wider audience, a new age of curious readers.