Annotation In This Restructured And Greatly Expanded Version Of Burton Raffel's Out-of-print Classic, Poems From The Old English, Raffel And Co-editor Alexandra H. Olsen Place The Oldest English Writings In An Entirely Different Perspective. Keeping The Classroom Teacher's Needs Foremost In Mind, Raffel And Olsen Organize The Major Old English Poems (except Beowulf) And New Prose Selections So As To Facilitate Both Reading And Studying. A General Introduction Provides An Up-to-date And Detailed Historical Account Of The Anglo-saxon Period, And Concise Introductions Open The Literature Sections Of The Book And Many Of The Translations.
raffel's Masterly Translations Of Old English Poetry, Praised As Fine Poems In Their Own Right, Reproduce Much Of The Flavor As Well As The Sense Of The Originals. With More Than 1800 Newly Translated Lines And Many Revised Older Translations, The Poems In This Volume Are Organized Into Four Genres -- Elegies, Heroic Poems, Religious Poems, And Wisdom Poetry. Raffel's New Translations Include More Than Twenty Poem-riddles, With Proposed Solutions In A Separate Section. Prose Translations -- Grouped In Historical, Testamentary And Legal, Religious, Social And Instructional, And Medical And Magical Categories -- Feature Writings By King Alfred, Aelfric, And Wulfstan, Among Others.
this Is A Splendid Work To Introduce Students To The Culture Of The Anglo-saxons. Raffel's Translations Of Old English Poems Become Poems In Modern English. But We Have Known For A Long Time That He Can Work Such Wonders. What Is New Is His Supple Handling Of The Often Very Unsupple Old English Prose. -- Robert Creed, University Of Massachusetts, Amherst. Poetry. Prosody And Style. Poetry : Elegies. The Wanderer -- The Seafarer -- A Woman's Lament -- Wulf And Eadwacer -- The Husband's Message -- Deor -- The Ruin. Poetry : Heroic Poems. Judith -- Elene -- The Battle Of Finnsburh -- The Battle Of Brunanburh -- Anglo-saxon Chronicle : A.d. 975 -- The Battle Of Maldon. Poetry : Religious Poems. Caedmon's Hymn -- Bede's Death Song : A Paraphrase -- The Dream Of The Rood -- Christ I : Twelve Advent Lyrics -- Genesis A : Abraham And Isaac -- Genesis B -- The Phoenix. Poetry : Wisdom Poetry. Riddle 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 44, 45, 47, 57, 60, 66, 87 -- Maxims I -- The Fortunes Of Men -- Physiologus -- Charms For Bewitched Land. Prose. Paternoster -- Old English Prose. Prose : Historical Prose. The Anglo-saxon Chronicle. A.d. 449 ; A.d. 754 ; A.d. 793. Prose : Testamentary And Legal Prose. Old English Wills. King Alfred's Will ; Elfgifu's Will ; Ealdorman Elfheah's Will ; Ethelfleda's Will ; Wulfwaru's Will ; Ealdorman Ethelwold's Will -- Old English Laws. King Alfred's Laws : Excerpts ; Judgment By Ordeal ; King Alfred's Treaty With King Guthrum Of Denmark. Prose : Religious Prose. King Alfred's Preface To Gregory's Dialogues -- Aelfric's Sermon For December 27, On The Assumption Of Saint John The Apostle -- Aelfric's Preface To His Translation Of Genesis -- Sermo Lupi, The Wolf's Sermon -- The Harrowing Of Hell. Prose : Social And Instructional Prose. Excerpts From The Old English Translation Of The Ecclesiastical History Of The English People / Bede -- King Alfred's Preface To A Presentation Copy Of A Translation Of Saint Gregory The Great's Cura Pastoralis, Pastoral Care -- King Alfred's Preface To Blossom-gatherings From Saint Augustine -- Aelfric's Dialogues (colloquies). Prose : Medical And Magical Prose. Eight Charms. Translated By Burton Raffel ; Edited By Alexandra H. Olsen And Burton Raffel ; Introductions By Alexandra H. Olsen. Restructured And Greatly Expanded Version Of Burton Raffel's ,,, Poems From Old English--cover, [p. 4]. Includes Bibliographical References.