Interactions of Thought and Language in Old English Poetry [Paperback]

Radical reinterpretation of Old English poetry and its relation to Anglo-Saxon thought and society.Peter Clemoes brings a lifetime's close study of Anglo-Saxon texts to this fresh appreciation of Old English poetry, with a radically new interpretation which relates the poetry to the entire Anglo-Saxon way of thinking, and to the structures of its society. He proposes a dynamic principle of Old English poetry, very different from the common notion of formulas slotted into poems for stylistic variation. Carefully thought out and elegantly written, this book is also accessible to students: its numerous quotations are accompanied by modern English translations.Peter Clemoes brings a lifetime's close study of Anglo-Saxon texts to this fresh appreciation of Old English poetry, with a radically new interpretation which relates the poetry to the entire Anglo-Saxon way of thinking, and to the structures of its society. He proposes a dynamic principle of Old English poetry, very different from the common notion of formulas slotted into poems for stylistic variation. Carefully thought out and elegantly written, this book is also accessible to students: its numerous quotations are accompanied by modern English translations.Peter Clemoes brings a lifetime's close study of Anglo-Saxon texts to this fresh appreciation of Old English poetry, with a radically new interpretation that relates the poetry to the entire Anglo-Saxon way of thinking, and to the structures of its society. He proposes a dynamic principle of Old English poetry, very different from the common notion of formulas slotted into poems for stylistic variation. Carefully thought out and elegantly written, this book is also accessible to students: its numerous quotations are accompanied by modern English translations.Illustrations; Preface; Abbreviations; Part I. The Poetry of an Aristocratic Warrior Society: 1. The chronological implications of the bond between kingship in Beowulf and kingship in pral#