This module provides an introduction to the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon England. Students undertake close study of a selection of Old English prose and poetry in the original language and in modern English translation. The module should appeal to students interested in the history of the English language as well as those with an interest in medieval literature; no previous experience of language-learning is necessary.

• demonstrate a basic knowledge of Old English grammar and vocabulary by translating passages from the set texts.
• demonstrate knowledge of the historical and cultural contexts of Old English literature.
• undertake critical analysis of Old English texts and demonstrate an informed awareness of key issues addressed in scholarship on those texts.
• write an appropriately documented essay demonstrating their familiarity with, and ability to think critically about, Old English literature and some of the critical issues it raises.

The module will be taught by a mixture of lectures, seminars, and language classes. There are three contact hours per week: in the first two or three weeks these will be devoted mainly to language work (grammar classes and translation); for the rest of the semester there will be one lecture and two seminars each week (the seminars will either involve translation work or discussion of critical topics).

In private study time outside of taught classes students will need to prepare their own translations, read set primary and critical texts, and prepare for seminar discussions.

Reading for the module includes set texts and critical books and articles in the library or accessible online. The textbook contains the texts for translation and a range of supporting materials; a Course Reader will be available containing further texts and critical essays for discussion in seminars. A specially produced Grammar Guide is provided as a handout.

Module documentation, and grammar and lecture handouts will be made available on Learning Central in advance of the relevant class. Students requiring materials in other formats should contact the module leader as soon as possible.

WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME?

Students are expected to attend and participate in the lectures and seminars for all modules on which they are enrolled. Students with good cause to be absent should inform their module leaders, who will provide the necessary support. Students with extenuating circumstances should submit the Extenuating Circumstances Form in accordance with the School’s procedures.

The total number of hours which students are expected to devote to each 20-credit module is 200. Of these, 30 hours will be contact hours with staff (lectures and seminars); the remaining 170 hours should be spent on self-directed learning for that module (reading, preparation for seminars, research, reflection, formative writing, assessed work, exam revision).  There are also additional seminars and workshops that students are able to attend.

Students will develop an ability to read, translate, and interpret texts from the Anglo-Saxon period in the original Old English. They will also practise linguistic analysis, critical analysis, and close reading of texts in both Old English and modern English translation. The assessed work provides them with an opportunity to develop their essay writing skills.

The module is assessed by an assessed essay which will involve literary critical analysis of the set texts, and an exam which will focus on translation and commentary.

Essay (1600 words) = 50%
Approx date of assessment in May

Exam (1.5 hours) = 50%
Approx date of assessment in May

The module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the English Literature Course Guide. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

In accordance with University regulations, students are allowed two attempts at retrieval of any failed essay, for a maximum module mark of 40%.  Resit assessments are held over the summer.

Week 1

Monday lecture
Introduction; Pronunciation

1st seminar
Pronunciation and grammar
Practice sentences
Read chs 1 & 2 of Hough & Corbett for Weds

2nd seminar

Review of chs 1 & 2 of Hough & Corbett
Practice sentences

Week 2

Monday lecture
Grammar

1st seminar
Grammar

2nd seminar
ch. 3 of Hough & Corbett

Week 3

Monday lecture
Grammar

1st seminar
ch. 4 of Hough & Corbett

2nd seminar
ch. 5 of Hough & Corbett

Week 4

Monday lecture
Old English Poetry: Metre, Diction, Style
(cf. Scragg in Course Reader)

1st seminar
Translating Old English poetry
Cædmon’s Hymn (ch. 6 of Hough & Corbett)

2nd seminar
Text C Battle of Maldon translation

Week 5

Monday lecture
Heroic Poetry
(cf. Bremmer in Course Reader)

1st seminar
Text C Battle of Maldon translation

2nd seminar
Tolkien, ‘Homecoming’ (Course Reader)

Week 6

Monday lecture
Reading Week – No Classes

1st seminar
Reading Week – No Classes

2nd seminar
Reading Week – No Classes

Week 7

Monday lecture
The Dream of the Rood

1st seminar
Text C Battle of Maldon translation

2nd seminar
Text C Battle of Maldon translation

Week 8

Monday lecture
Riddles in the Exeter Book

1st seminar
Greenfield & Calder, ‘Christ as Poetic Hero’ (Course Reader)

2nd seminar
Text D The Dream of the Rood translation

Week 9

Monday lecture
Elegies in the Exeter Book

1st seminar
Text D The Dream of the Rood translation

2nd seminar
Neville on Riddle and Elegies (Course Reader)

Easter Vacation

Week 10

Monday lecture
Essay

1st seminar
Text D The Dream of the Rood translation

2nd seminar
Text D The Dream of the Rood translation

Week 11

Monday lecture
Conclusion and Revision

1st seminar
Revision & Exam Preparation

2nd seminar
Revision & Exam Preparation

Set Texts:

Carole Hough and John Corbett, Beginning Old English, 2^nd edition (London: Palgrave , 2013)
A Course Reader containing additional texts and translations as well as selected critical essays.

i) Further reading on Old English language

Baker, Peter S., Introduction to Old English (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003)        

Aids to learning vocabulary include:

Barney, Stephen A., Word-hoard: An Introduction to Old English Vocabulary (New Haven: Yale UP, 1977; 1985)
Jember, Gregory K., and Fritz Kemmler, A Basic Vocabulary of Old English Prose (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1981)
Madden, John F., and Francis P. Magoun, A Group Frequency Word-list of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1964)

If you need help understanding grammatical terminology see:

Chapter 3 'Basic Grammar: A Review' in Peter S. Baker, Introduction to Old English (Blackwell, 2003) [also available on-line: see above].
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wpwt/notes/grammar.htm is an excellent on-line guide to traditional grammatical terminology that also includes a basic account of Old English grammar. Highly recommended!

ii) Books on Old English Literature in general

Each of the books listed in this section includes some discussion of genres, topics, and most of the set texts read on this module. These books also provide further bibliographical suggestions which you can follow up.

Amodio, Mark C.,  The Anglo Saxon Literature Handbook (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, [2013])
Donoghue, D., Old English Literature: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004)
Godden, Malcolm, and Michael Lapidge, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (Cambridge: CUP, 1991)
Fulk, R.,  and C. Cain, A History of Old English Literature (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002)
Lees, Clare A., ed., The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature (Cambridge: CUP, 2012)
Liuzza, R. M. ed., Old English Literature: Critical Essays (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
Magennis, Hugh, The Cambridge Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature (Cambridge: CUP, 2011).
North, Richard, and Joe Allard, eds, Beowulf and Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literature (London: Pearson, 2007)
O’Brien O’Keefe, K., ed., Reading Old English Texts (Cambridge: CUP, 1997)
Pulsiano, Phillip, and Elaine Treharne, eds, A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature, (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001)
Saunders, Corinne, ed., A Companion to Medieval Poetry (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) [see chapters 1–7)

iii) Anglo-Saxon History

The following are useful introductions to Anglo-Saxon history and society:

Campbell, James, Eric John, and Patrick Wormald, The Anglo-Saxons (Oxford: Phaidon repr. Penguin, 1982)
Whitelock, Dorothy, The Beginnings of English Society (London: Penguin, 1952 and reprints)

iv) Anthologies of Translations from Old English

You are encouraged to explore Old English literature more widely in translation, especially for the assessed essay. The following collections are recommended:

Bradley, S. A. J.,  trans., Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London: Everyman, 1982)
Crossley-Holland, Kevin, The Anglo-Saxon World (Oxford World’s Classics, 1984)
Hamer, Richard, ed. and trans., A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse (London: Faber, 1970) [Parallel text with OE facing modern English translation]
North, Richard, Joe Allard and Patricia Gillies, eds, Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures, ed. (London: Longman, 2011)
Swanton, Michael, trans., Anglo-Saxon Prose (London: Everyman, 1975)
Treharne, Elaine, ed. and trans., Old and Middle English: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000) [Parallel text with OE facing modern English translation]

The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series includes several volumes that provide Old English text alongside a modern translation:

Anlezark, Daniel, trans., Old Testament Narratives (Cambridge, MA: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2011)
Bjork, Robert E.,  trans., The Old English Poems of Cynewulf (Cambridge, MA: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2013)
Jones, Christopher A., trans., Old English Shorter Poems, Volume I (Cambridge, MA: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2012)

v) Old English Metre, Poetic Diction, and Style

Baker, Peter, Introduction to Old English (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003; also available online - see section 1 above), Chapters 13 Metre, 14 Poetic Style, 15 The Grammar of Poetry.
Greenfield, Stanley B., and Daniel G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature (New York UP, 1986), Chapter 5: ‘Some Remarks on the Nature and Quality of Old English Poetry’
Lester, Geoff, The Language of Old and Middle English Poetry (London: Macmillan, 1996), Chapters 1-5.
Scragg, Donald G.,  ‘The Nature of Old English Verse’ in Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (CUP, 1991), pp. 55-70.

Specifically on metre:

* Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 5^th/6^th edn, Appendix C ‘On Metre’
Bliss, A. J., ‘The Appreciation of Old English Metre’ in Norman Davies and C. L. Wrenn, eds, English and Medieval Studies Presented to J. R. R. Tolkien on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday (London: Allen & Unwin, 1962), pp. 27-40.
Lewis, C. S., ‘The Alliterative Metre’ in his Rehabilitations and Other Essays (London: OUP, 1939), pp. 117-132, also reprinted in his Selected Essays (Cambridge: CUP, 1969)

vi) Bede’s account of Cædmon

All general histories of Old English literature refer to Cædmon. Some more specialised studies include:

Frantzen, Allen J., Desire for Origins (New Brunswick and London: Rutgers UP, 1990), especially pp. 137-44.
Opland, J., Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: A Study of the Traditions (New Haven and London, 1980), ch. 7, especially pp. 106-20.

Two chapters in A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature, ed. Phillip Pulsiano and Elaine Treharne (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001) are especially relevant to issues raised by this text:

• Jonathan Wilcox, 'Transmission of Literature and Learning: Anglo-Saxon Scribal Culture', pp. 50-70
• Mary Swan, 'Authorship and Anonymity', pp. 71-83.

Four articles in R. M. Liuzza, ed., Old English Literature: Critical Essays (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002) are also relevant:

• Nicholas Howe, ‘The Cultural Construction of Reading in Anglo-Saxon England’, pp. 1–22
• Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, ‘Orality and the Developing Text of Cædmon’s Hymn’, pp. 79–102.
• Kevin S. Kiernan, ‘Reading Cædmon’s “Hymn” with Someonelse’s Glosses’, pp. 103–124
• Clare A. Lees and Gillian R. Overing, ‘Birthing Bishops and Fathering Poets: Bede, Hild, and the Relations of Cultural Production’, pp. 125–56

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History has been translated into English by Leo Sherley-Price (Penguin Classics, 1968/1990) and by Bertram Colgrave (OUP 1969 and later edns).

The standard account of the conversion and Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons is: Henry Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (London: Batsford, 1972).

vii) The Battle of Maldon

The standard edition of the Old English text is:

D. G. Scragg, ed., The Battle of Maldon (Manchester UP, 1981)

Two important collections of articles on the poem and various aspects of its background are:

Janet Cooper, ed., The Battle of Maldon: Fiction and Fact (London: Hambledon, 1993)
D. G. Scragg, ed., The Battle of Maldon AD 991 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)

The above will all provide you with lots of suggestions for further reading on specific topics.

For the heroic context of the poem it’s worth looking especially at Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, ‘Heroic Values and Christian Ethics’ in Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (CUP 1991), pp. 107-25.

viii) The Dream of the Rood

Swanton, Michael, ed., The Dream of the Rood (1970, rev edn 1987, new edn 1996).

Greenfield, Stanley B., and Daniel G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature (New York UP, 1986) Chapter 8 ‘Christ as Poetic Hero’, esp. pp. 194-199.

Fulk, Robert, and Christopher Cain, A History of Old English Literature (Blackwell, 2002), Chapter 6 'Liturgical and Devotional Texts', esp. pp. 142-47.

Garde, Judith N., Old English Poetry in Medieval Christian Perspective: A Doctrinal Approach (Brewer, 1991) Chapter 4.

Ó Carragáin, Éamonn, and Richard North, ‘The Dream of the Rood and Anglo-Saxon Northumbria’ in Beowulf and Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures, ed. Richard North and Joe Allard (Longman, 2007), pp. 160–88.

Raw, Barbara C., ‘Biblical Literature: The New Testament’ in Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (CUP, 1991), pp. 227-242.

Irvine, Martin, ‘Anglo-Saxon Literary Theory Exemplified in Old English Poems: Interpreting the Cross in The Dream of the Rood and Elene’ in Old English Shorter Poems: Basic Readings, ed. Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe (New York: Garland 1994).

Ó Carragáin, E., 'Crucifixion as Annunciation and the Relation of The Dream of the Rood to the Liturgy Reconsidered,' English Studies 63 (1982), 487-505.

McEntire, Sandra, 'The Devotional Context of the Cross before A.D. 1000' in R. M. Liuzza, ed., Old English Literature: Critical Essays (Yale UP, 2002), pp. 392-403.

Pasternack, C. B., 'Stylistic Disjunction in the Dream of the Rood', Anglo-Saxon England 13 (1984), 167-86; reprinted in R. M. Liuzza, ed., Old English Literature: Critical Essays (Yale UP, 2002), pp. 404-24.

Swanton, M., 'Ambiguity and Anticipation in The Dream of the Rood,' Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 70 (1969), 407-25.

Woolf, Rosemary, 'Doctrinal Influences on The Dream of the Rood,' Medium Ævum 27 (1958), 137-53.

On the Ruthwell Cross see:

Cassidy, Brendan, ed., The Ruthwell Cross: Papers from the colloquium sponsored by the Index of Christian Art, Princeton University, 8 December 1989 (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992).

The poem receives attention as part of the history of poetry about Christ’s Passion in:

Bennett, J. A. W., Poetry of the Passion (Oxford: OUP, 1982).

ix) The Exeter Book

Conner, Patrick W., Anglo-Saxon Exeter: Tenth-century Cultural History (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1993)

Muir, Bernard J., ed., The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry: an edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501, 2nd edn (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000)

x) Riddles

Bitterli, Dieter, Say What I am Called: The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book and the Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition (Toronto UP, 2009)

Crossley-Holland, Kevin, trans., The Exeter Book Riddles (Enitharmon Press, 2008)

Smith, D. K., ‘Humor in Hiding: Laughter Between the Sheets in the Exeter Book Riddles’ in Humour in Anglo-Saxon Literature, ed. Jonathan Wilcox (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2000), pp. 79–98

Williamson, Craig, ed., The Old English Riddles of the Exeter Book (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1977)

xi) Old English Elegy

Fell, C. E., ‘Perceptions of Transience’ in M. Godden and M. Lapidge, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (Cambridge: CUP, 1991), pp. 172-89.

Fulk, Robert, and Christopher Cain, A History of Old English Literature (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), chapter 8.

Green, Martin, The Old English Elegies: New Essays in Criticism and Research (London: Associated University Presses, 1983).

Greenfield, Stanley B., Hero and Exile: The Art of Old English Poetry (London: Hambledon Press, 1989)

Greenfield, S. B., and D. G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature (New York: New York University Press, 1986), chapter 12 ‘Elegiac Poetry’.

Klinck, Anne L., The Old English Elegies: A Critical Edition and Genre Study (Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 1992).

O’Brien O’Keeffe, Old English Shorter Poems: Basic Readings (New York: Garland, 1994)

Shippey, T. A., Old English Verse (London : Hutchinson, 1972).

Wrenn, C. L., A Study of Old English Literature (London: Harrap, 1967), chapter 9.

See also articles on the genre and individual poems in

Lapidge, Michael, John Blair, Simon Keynes and Donald Scragg, eds, The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999)

All the elegies are available in Klinck's excellent edition (see above). Other notable editions of individual poems with useful notes include:

Dunning, T. P., and A. J. Bliss, eds, The Wanderer (London: Methuen, 1969)

Gordon, I. L., ed., The Seafarer (London: Methuen, 1960)

Leslie, R. F. ed., The Wanderer (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1969)

Leslie, R. F. ed., Three Old English Elegies: The Wife’s Lament, The Husband’s Message, The Ruin (Manchester UP, 1961; repr. Exeter UP 1988)

Malone, Kemp, Deor, 4^th edn (London: Methuen, 1966; Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1977)

Some of the elegies (and other OE texts) are available in a good electronic edition with glosses, translations, notes, further reading etc. at the following website:

http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/oecoursepack/index.html

The following prose text is also relevant to discussions of fate and fortune in the elegies:

Irvine, Susan, and Malcolm Godden, trans., Old English Boethius (Cambridge, MA: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2012)