Anglo-Saxon Poetry

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This is a revision of the translation which R.K. Gordon, formerly Professor of English in the University of Alberta, made of his own selection of Old English poetry of all kinds extending over the whole period from the seventh to the eleventh century. It includes heroic poems in the old tradition composed in the seventh century, but dealing with persons and events much further back in time, such as Beowulf, Waldhere and Deor. The later epics include The Battle of Maldon, a panegyric on the warriors of Essex and their commander, Byrhtnoth, who were killed in action over nine and a half centuries ago. Almost the entire contents of the famous Exeter and Vercelli manuscripts are translated and Professor Gordon has rendered into modern English many of the better known religious poems, including Genesis, Exodus, Daniel and the Dream of the Rood, which date from before the Danish invasion; and six of the finer elegies, among them The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife's Lament and The Ruin, which seem to foreshadow the characteristic English poetic vein which persisted down to the eighteenth century and later. There is also a generous selection from the old riddles and charms which are undateable bur obviously derived from traditions of pagan times, and contain themes recognizable in nursery stories and popular tales down to the present day.