At Maldon

by J.O. Morgan

Shortlisted for the 2014 Saltire Society Poetry Book of the Year Award .In early August 991, a ragtag army of Anglo-Saxons joined battle with a party of Viking raiders at Maldon on the coast of Essex. The encounter was recorded in an Old English long poem, though only the work s middle section survives. Applying a modern perspective to its heroic ideals, J.O. Morgan re-imagines that summer s day on which some men fought, loyal to the end, and some men fled, fearing the battle was already lost. At Maldon/i<> reawakens the events of a thousand years ago with the same verve and precision that distinguished Morgan s prize-winning Natural Mechanical.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2013

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept, a re-telling in poetry of the battle between Anglo-Saxon villagers and a Viking raiding party from over 1000 years ago, that survives in a fragment of an Old English poem.
Enjoyable, but left me wanting more.