Beowulf and Other Old English Poems

292 Pages·2011·1.26 MB·English

by  Craig Williamson (ed.

BEOWULF
AND OTHER OLD ENGLISH POEMS
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BEOWULF
AND OTHER OLD ENGLISH POEMS
Edited and translated by
CRAIG WILLIAMSON
With a foreword by TOM SHIPPEY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
Copyright(cid:1)2011UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsusedforpurposes
ofrevieworscholarlycitation,
noneofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanymeans
withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
ISBN978-0-8122-4345-1
Th is book is dedicated to
J. R. R. Tolkien,
who fi rst drew me into the medieval world
through the gates of Middle-earth;
to the teachers and scholars who taught me the language—especially
Jim Rosier, Ted Irving, John Pope, Bruce Mitchell;
to my children—
Telory, Caden, Marc, and Milena—
who listened to the poems and loved to tell riddles;
to my Mother and Father
who helped me fi nd my way;
to my wife and fellow traveler Raima Evan,
who has been my steadfast companion in words and worlds;
and to the unknown poets
who wrote or chanted these poems.
Th e poets pass over; the poems pass on.
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CONTENTS
ForewordbyTomShippey ix
Noteon Editions xxvii
GuidetoPronouncingOldEnglish xxix
OnTranslatingOldEnglish Poetry 1
BEOWULF
Introduction 21
Beowulf 37
OTHER OLD ENGLISH POEMS
ANoteonGenres 125
HeroicorHistoricalPoems 127
TheBattleofMaldon 128
Deor 138
Elegies 143
TheWanderer 144
TheSeafarer 150
TheWife’s Lament 155
WulfandEadwacer 158
SelectedExeterBookRiddles 161
Riddles 164
viii | CONTENTS
GnomicorWisdomPoems 178
MaximsII(CottonMaxims) 179
Charms 183
TheFortunesofMen 186
Religious Poems 190
Cædmon’sHymn 191
Physiologus:PantherandWhale 193
Vainglory 199
TwoAdventLyrics 203
TheDreamoftheRood 207
AppendixA.“Digressions”:Battles,Feuds,and
FamilyStrifeinBeowulf 215
AppendixB.GenealogiesinBeowulf 220
AppendixC.TwoScandinavianAnaloguesofBeowulf 223
AppendixD.PossibleRiddleSolutions 228
GlossaryofProperNames 237
Bibliography 245
Index 253
Acknowledgments 256