The Poetic Art of Aldhelm

A substantial study of the Latin poetry of Aldhelm, 'the first English man of letters'.

Andy Orchard (Author)

9780521450904, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 April 1994

332 pages, 7 tables
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.8 cm, 0.695 kg

"Andy Orchard has written a penetrating, eloquent, and original volume on Aldhelm of Malmesbury's Latin poetry." Scott Gwara, Speculum

Aldhelm of Malmesbury has been described as 'the first English man of letters'. He was the first Germanic author to compose extensively in Latin metrical verse, and his Latin works were amongst the most influential in Anglo-Saxon England. Aldhelm can also be considered the best-read of Anglo-Saxon poets, in both senses of the phrase: he read most and was most read. In this first book-length study of Aldhelm's poetic art Andy Orchard traces the sources and models for Aldhelm's idiosyncratic style, as well as the nature and extent of his influence on later Anglo-Latin verse. Aldhelm's innovations in Latin verse technique are emphasized, in particular his special debt to the specific techniques of Old English vernacular verse.

List of tables
Preface
List of short titles and abbreviations
Sigla of scholars cited
1. Aldhelm's life and verse
2. Aldhelm and the Anglo-Latin octosyllable
3. Aldhelm's hexameter verse style and its origins
4. Aldhelm's remembered reading in verse
Appendix 4.1: Parallel diction in Aldhelm's sources
5. After Aldhelm: the Anglo-Latin legacy
Appendix 5.1: Parallel diction in Aldhelm's Anglo-Latin heirs
Appendix 5.2: a statistical survey of Anglo-Latin verse
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]