A HISTORY OF OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
A History of Old English Literature has been significantly revised to
provide an unequivocal response to the renewed historicism in medieval
studies. Focusing on the production and reception of Old English texts
and on their relation to Anglo-Saxon history and culture, this new
edition covers an exceptionally broad array of genres. These range from
riddles and cryptograms to allegory, liturgical texts, and romance, as
well as lyric poetry and heroic legend. The authors also integrate
discussions of Anglo-Latin texts, crucial to understanding the
development of Old English literature.
This second edition incorporates extensive reference to scholarship that
has evolved over the past decade, with new chapters on both Anglo-Saxon
manuscripts and on incidental and marginal texts. There is expanded
treatment throughout, including increased coverage of legal texts and
scientific and scholastic texts. The book concludes with a retrospective
outline of the reception of Anglo-Saxon literature and culture in
subsequent periods.