The Cambridge Old English Reader

This groundbreaking reader of Old English prose and verse has been extensively revised for the second edition.

Richard Marsden (Author)

9781107641310, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2015

614 pages, 1 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm, 0.87 kg

'Of the hundreds of textbooks on Old English proffered in the past 300 years, Marsden's Cambridge Old English Reader, Second Edition, earns its rightful rating as superb.' Robert Graybill, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

This reader remains the only major new reader of Old English prose and verse in the past forty years. The second edition is extensively revised throughout, with the addition of a new 'Beginning Old English' section for newcomers to the Old English language, along with a new extract from Beowulf. The fifty-seven individual texts include established favourites such as The Battle of Maldon and Wulfstan's Sermon of the Wolf, as well as others not otherwise readily available, such as an extract from Apollonius of Tyre. Modern English glosses for every prose-passage and poem are provided on the same page as the text, along with extensive notes. A succinct reference grammar is appended, along with guides to pronunciation and to grammatical terminology. A comprehensive glossary lists and analyses all the Old English words that occur in the book. Headnotes to each of the six text sections, and to every individual text, establish their literary and historical contexts, and illustrate the rich cultural variety of Anglo-Saxon England. This second edition is an accessible and scholarly introduction to Old English.

Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Beginning Old English
1. Getting started
2. Practice sentences
3. Practice texts
4. Keys to test sentences and texts
5. Beginning poetry
The Texts: Part I. Teaching and Learning: 1. In the Schoolroom (from Ælfric's Colloquy)
2. A Personal Miscellany (from Ælfwine's Prayerbook)
3. Medicinal Remedies (from Bald's Leechbook)
4. Learning Latin (from Ælfric's Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglice)
5. A New Beginning (Alfred's 'preface' to his translation of Gregory's Cura pastoralis)
6. The Wagonwheel of Fate (from Alfred's translation of Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae)
Part II. Keeping a Record: 7. Laws of the Anglo-Saxon Kings
8. England under Attack (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annals for 981–93, 995–8 and 1002–3)
9. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
10. The Battle of Brunanburh
11. The Will of Ælfgifu
12. The Fonthill Letter
Part III. Spreading the Word: 13. After the Flood (from the Old English Hexateuch: Gen 8.6–18 and 9.8–13)
14. The Crucifixion (from the Old English Gospels: Mt 27.11–54)
15. King Alfred's Psalms
16. A Translator's Problems (Ælfric's preface to his translation of Genesis)
17. Satan's Challenge (Genesis B, lines 338–441)
18. The Drowning of Pharaoh's Army (Exodus, lines 447–564)
19. Judith
Part IV. Example and Exhortation: 20. Bede's Death Song
21. Two Holy Women
22. A Homily for Easter Sunday (from Ælfric's Sermones catholicae)
23. The Dream of the Rood
24. On False Gods (Wulfstan's De falsis deis)
25. The Sermon of the Wolf (Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi)
26. The Seafarer
Part V. Telling Tales: 27. Falling in Love (from Apollonius of Tyre)
28. The Trees of the Sun and the Moon (from The Letter of Alexander)
29. Cynewulf and Cyneheard (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annal for 755)
30. The Battle of Maldon
31. Beowulf
32. The Fight at Finnsburh
Part VI. Reflection and Lament: 33. Truth is Trickiest (Maxims II)
34. The Durham Proverbs
35. Five Anglo-Saxon Riddles
36. Deor
37. The Ruin
38. The Wanderer
39. Wulf and Eadwacer
40. The Wife's Lament
Manuscripts and textual emendations
The writing and pronunciation of Old English
Reference grammar of Old English
Glossary
Guide to terms
Index.

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]