From Age to Age: Life and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England

262 Pages·1968·11.97 MB·English

by  Bernice Grohskopf

From Age
to Age
in THIS BOOK are selected translations of
prose and poetry from the Old English pe­
riod, about 500 A.D. to the Norman Con­
quest in 1066. It also contains the historical
and literary background the reader needs to
understand the literature.
The familiar works of Old English are
all here—Beowulf and others. But there are
also less familiar works that have surprising
life and grace. There are riddles, charms,
prescriptions for diseases (some of them in
verse), stories that have as much impact to­
day as they did then, and poetry whose feel­
ings show how little men have changed
since those early days.
All in all, this book represents the basis
of our literary heritage. These selections are
among the very first things written in our
language. And some of them are still among
the very finest.
From the lindisfarne gospels; Matthew; Early
Northumbrian. Written and illuminated in 698
in honor of St. Cuthbert, Bishop o* Lindisfarne.

From Age
to Age
Part of stole from St. Cuthbert’s coffin,
ioth or ii th Century.
Bernice Grohskopf
From Age
to Age
Life and Literature
in Anglo-Saxon England
Atheneum 1968 New York
COPYRIGHT © 1968 BY BERNICE GROHSKOPF
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 68-18447
PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA
BY MCCLELLAND & STEWART LTD.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY KINGSPORT PRESS, INC., KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE
DESIGNED BY JUDITH LERNER
FIRST EDITION
Thanks are due for permission to quote from the following sources:
"Runes" from George K. Anderson, THE LITERATURE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
Copyright 1949 by Princeton University Press.
Albert C. Baugh, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Second edition,
Appleton, 1957.
Bede: A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE, translated by Leo
Sherley-Price. Copyright 1965 by Penguin Books, London.
O. Cockayne, LEECHDOMS, WORT-CUNNING, AND STAR-CRAFT OF EARLY ENG­
LAND. Copyright 1864-1866.
Widsith, "Charm for Swarming Bees," "Charm for Bewitched Land," THE
PHOENIX, Autobiographic Rune passage from ELENE, THE FALCON. Reprinted
by permission of the publishers from Albert S. Cook and Chauncey B. Tinker,
editors, SELECT TRANSLATIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH POETRY. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press.
Cuthbert’s Letter on the death of Bede, Alfred’s Preface to Gregory’s PASTORAL
CARE, Asser's LIFE OF ALFRED, Ælfric: Preface to GRAMMAR, from first book
of HOMILIES, COLLOQUY, APOLLONIUS OF TYRE. Reprinted by permission of
the publishers from Albert S. Cook and Chauncey B. Tinker, editors, SELECT
TRANSLATIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH PROSE. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni­
versity Press.
DEOR, THE SEAFARER, THE WIFE’S LAMENT, and one quote from "The Battle
of Maldon” (two lines) from Kevin Crossley-Holland, THE BATTLE OF MALDON
AND OTHER OLD ENGLISH POEMS. Copyright 1965 by Macmillan and Company.
Reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press, Inc., The Macmillan Company
of Canada, and Macmillan, London.
Select passages from }. A. Giles, ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE (translation).
Copyright 1894 by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.
"Charm, for Spider Bite," "Charm Against Assaults of the Fiend,” "Charm
Against a Witch’s Spell," "Charm Against Theft,” from F. Grendon, ANGLO-
SAXON CHARMS. Copyright 1930 by Steckert.
Edith Hamilton, THE ROMAN WAY. Copyright 1932 by W. W. Norton and
Company.
Otto Jesperson, GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Copy­
right 1933 by Doubleday and Company.
Autobiographic Rune passage from ELENE from Charles W. Kennedy, THE
POEMS OF CYNEWULF. Copyright 1949 by Peter Smith.
"The Ruin,” "Fish in River," from AN ANTHOLOGY OF OLD ENGLISH POETRY,
translated by Charles W. Kennedy. Copyright i960 by Oxford University Press,
Inc. Reprinted by permission.
THE WANDERER, Bede’s Death Song, "The Moon and the Sun," "A Ship,"
"Wine," "A Jay’s Spring. Song," THE HUSBAND'S MESSAGE from Burton Raff el,
POEMS FROM THE OLD ENGLISH. Copyright 1964 by University of Nebraska
Press.
THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH, THE BATTLE OF MALDON, "The Swan," "The
Book Worm," "Gnats," "The Shield," "The Anchor,” "The Plough," Caedmon’s
HYMN from J. Duncan Spaeth, OLD ENGLISH POETRY. Copyright 1921 by
Princeton University Press.
William Butler Yeats: Autobiography. New York. Macmillan, 1938.
Quotations from BEOWULF are taken from the following sources:
BEOWULF, translated by John R. Clark-Hall. Copyright 1914 by Cambridge
University Press.
BEOWULF, translated by John Af. Kemble. Copyright 1837 by W. Pickering.
From BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC, translated by Charles W. Ken­