Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Anglo-Saxon Poetry: (Heroes, laments, Salvation)

Almost all Old English or Anglo-Saxon poetry that has been preserved comes from four manuscripts—the Beowulf manuscript, the Exeter Book, the Junius manuscript, and the Vercelli book. These manuscripts contain three major types of poetry: 1. Heroic verse celebrates courage, honour, and loyalty. 2: the Elegy mourns a loss or laments the fleeting nature of life’s joys. 3: Religious verse focusses on Christian teachings and stories.

Some poems such as Beowulf contain all three types of poetry.

Poetic Style of Anglo-Saxon poetry

Old English poems display a similar style in meter— the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that gives a line of poetry its rhythm. Stress, or emphasis tends to fall on the first syllable of a word. Stressed syllables often alliterate; that is, the initial consonant or vowel sound repeats at the beginning of other words or stressed syllables.

The English poet and critic Robert Graves compared the rhythm of Old English poetry to the heave-ho of rowing on a ship, recalling the seafaring tradition of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings.

Wedsith describes continental courts visited in imagination by a far-wandering poet.

Waldhere tells how Walter of Aquitaine withstood a host of foes in the passes of Vosges; the splendid fragment called The Fight at Finnsburg deals with the same favourite theme of battle against fearful odds. Similarly, Complaint of Doer describes the disappointment of a lover.

Beowulf The most important poem of this period. It is a tale of adventures of Beowulf, the hero, who is a champion and slayer of monsters. The incidents in it are such as may be found in hundreds of other stories, but what makes them really interesting and different from later romances, is that it is full of all sorts of references and allusions to great events——to the fortunes of kings and nations.

Religious Themes of Anglo-Saxon poetry

After the Anglo-Saxons embraced Christianity, the poets took up religious themes as the subject matter of their poetry. In fact, a major portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry is religious. The two important poets of Anglo-Saxon period were Caedmon and Cynewulf. Caedmon sung in series the whole story of the fate of man from the creation and the Fall to the Redemption and the Last Judgment, and within the large framework, the Scripture history. Cynewulf’s most important poem is the Crist, a metrical narrative of leading events of Christ’s ministry upon earth, including his return to judgement, which is treated with much grandeur.

Anglo-Saxon poetry is markedly different from poetry of the next period—Middle English or Anglo-Norman period—for it deals with the tradition of an older world, and expresses another temperament and way of living; it breathes the influence of the wind and storm. It is the poetry of a stern and passionate people, concerned with great capacity for endurance and fidelity.

Read More

Anglo-Saxon Prose or Old English Prose

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ODE TO AUTUMN by John Keats

The Anglo Saxon or Old English Period (Timeline & Major Events)

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