Old English Shorter Poems (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library)

Old English Shorter Poems (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library) (Volume II)

The twenty-five poems and eleven metrical charms in this Old English volume offer tantalizing insights into the mental landscape of the Anglo-Saxons. The Wanderer and The Seafarer famously combine philosophical consolation with introspection to achieve a spiritual understanding of life as a journey. The Wife's Lament, The Husband's Message, and Wulf and Eadwacer direct a subjective lyrical intensity on the perennial themes of love, separation, and the passion for vengeance. From suffering comes wisdom, and these poems find meaning in the loss of fortune and reputation, exile, and alienation. "Woe is wondrously clinging; clouds glide," reads a stoic, matter-of-fact observation in Maxims II on nature's indifference to human suffering. Another form of wisdom emerges in the form of folk remedies, such as charms to treat stabbing pain, cysts, childbirth, and nightmares of witch-riding caused by a dwarf. The enigmatic dialogues of Solomon and Saturn combine scholarly erudition and proverbial wisdom. Learning of all kinds is celebrated, including the meaning of individual runes in The Rune Poem and the catalog of legendary heroes in Widsith. This book is a welcome complement to the previously published DOML volume Old English Shorter Poems, Volume I: Religious and Didactic.
Country USA
Brand Harvard University Press
Manufacturer Harvard University Press
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2014-04-21
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780674053069

Country	USA
Brand	Harvard University Press
Manufacturer	Harvard University Press
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2014-04-21
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780674053069

Old English Shorter Poems (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library) (Volume II)

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