The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature

Contents

List of contributors page viiPreface ixNote on the text xiAbbreviations xiChronological table of the Anglo-Saxon period xiiFig. 1 Map of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Age(c. 400-c. 600 AD) xivFig. 2 Map of Anglo-Saxon England xv

Anglo-Saxon society and its literature 1PATRICK WORMALD

The Old English language 23HELMUT GNEUSS .

The nature of Old English verse 55DONALD G. SCRAGG

The nature of Old English prose 71JANET BATELY

Germanic legend in Old English literature 88ROBERTA FRANK

Heroic values and Christian ethics 107KATHERINE O'BRIEN O'KEEFFE

Pagan survivals and popular belief 126JOHN D. NILES

Beowulf 142FRED C. ROBINSON

vi Contents

9 Fatalism and the millennium 160JOSEPH B. TRAHERN, JR

10 Perceptions of transience - 172CHRISTINE FELL

11 Perceptions of eternity 190MILTON M C C . GATCH

12 Biblical literature: the Old Testament 206MALCOLM GODDEN

13 Biblical literature: the New Testament 227BARBARA C. RAW

14 The saintly life in Anglo-Saxon England 243MICHAEL LAPIDGE

15 The world of Anglo-Saxon learning 264PATRIZIA LENDINARA

Further reading 282Index 292