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Everyman's Library
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Anglo–Saxon poetry is esteemed for its subtle artistry and for its wealth of insights into the artistic, social and spiritual preoccupations of the formative first centuries of English literature.
This anthology of prose translations covers most of the poetry surviving in the four major codices and in various other manuscripts. A well–received feature is the grouping by codex to emphasize the great importance of manuscript context in interpreting the poems. The full contents of the Exeter Book are represented, summarized where not translated, to facilitate appreciation of a complete Anglo-Saxon book. The introduction discusses the nature of the legacy, the poet's role, chronology, and especially of translations attempt a style acceptable to the modern ear yet close enough to aid parallel study of the old English text. A check–list of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry enhances the practical usefulness of the volume. The whole thus adds up to a substantial and now widely–cited survey of the Anglo–Saxon poetic achievement.
This anthology of prose translations covers most of the poetry surviving in the four major codices and in various other manuscripts. A well–received feature is the grouping by codex to emphasize the great importance of manuscript context in interpreting the poems. The full contents of the Exeter Book are represented, summarized where not translated, to facilitate appreciation of a complete Anglo-Saxon book. The introduction discusses the nature of the legacy, the poet's role, chronology, and especially of translations attempt a style acceptable to the modern ear yet close enough to aid parallel study of the old English text. A check–list of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry enhances the practical usefulness of the volume. The whole thus adds up to a substantial and now widely–cited survey of the Anglo–Saxon poetic achievement.
590 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 9, 2023
i didn't realize until buying the book that these were prose translations. so be advised that they are prose translations!
Bradley somewhat simplifies the poetic devices present in the original. Old English poetry uses a lot of kennings, little riddling bynames which the reader has to puzzle out. for example, banhus (Beowulf 3147), 'bone-house', referring to the body or the chest (imagine the ribcage). Bradley preserves the imagery of this phrase but removes the ambiguity by rendering it "bone-framed body." banhus is straightforward enough, but there are times when the interpretation of a kenning can radically alter how we read a poem. in the Wife's Lament, a poem about a woman mourning her painful exile in what she refers to as an eorðscræf (earth-cave) (28), referred to in the next line (29) with the kenning eorðsele (earth-hall). eorðscræf can just mean cave, but it can also mean grave. the Wife's Lament is written in a gnomic way without a lot of straightforward exposition, and its presence in the Exter Book immediately following a long collection of riddles has encouraged a lot of speculation about the nature of her exile. it may be a literal, physical exile, but it may also be a metaphor for something else. it's possible to read it as a metaphor for her own death, in which case we would strongly favour the reading 'grave' for eorðscraf. however, given that it's used synonymously with the kenning eorðsele, the validity of this reading rests on whether or not that's a plausible interpretation of eorðsele as well. according to Bosworth-Toller (click) the other places eorðsele occurs are all in Beowulf, where it does refer to a simple cave. however, we also find that eorð- constructions for grave-related words are quite common (see). personally i find the 'grave' reading plausible and tend to interpret it that way, and after my girlfriend's death i read this poem regularly when i'm grieving, finding that the Wife has some wisdom for me about grief. yet had i relied on Bradley's translation this reading would not have been available, as he translates them "earthen dug-out" and "earthen abode" respectively. his introduction does explain some of the interpretative dilemmas in this poem, and though he does mention that there is "imagery of [...] death and of the grave" in the poem, he focuses mostly on the poem's parallels in the vulgate and other Christian influences, which informs his "partly speculative translation."
that is because it is a complicated poem and there is a lot to say about it. while his approach does mean sometimes making the translation more clear than the original, such a translation is actually very helpful to have. reading poetical translations of some of the more challenging poems can be a bit dizzying, especially if they have to be made to fit a poetical meter, and as i said Bradley does his best to preserve the imagery where possible. so for myself, i typically read Bradley's translations first, then i read Roy Liuzza's translation if one is available, since he preserves the kennings and anyway he's my favourite translator. then i'll read a translation by Aaron Hostetter or Tom Shippey. then i'll look at the original. so, what i had to say about the translation is a caution that is also a recommendation.
Bradley's commentaries are helpful. he will generally give you a very brief overview of the conversation around the poem, tell you if the poem relies on any sources (such as the Pheonix which is a loose adaption of Lactantius' Carmen de Ave Phoenice), and sometimes gives his own views. he focuses mostly on the Christian content of the poems, and his approach to interpreting the Christian content is a bit idiosyncratic. he often puts the poems in the context of much later Christian literature, especially John Bunyan (17thc author of the Pilgrim's Progress, and Protestant). i have never seen anyone talk about Old English poems that way.
Aaron Hostetter's free Old English Poetry project (click) is a bit more comprehensive; it includes some poems, like the Order of the World and the Partridge, which Bradley doesn't translate. all of the Old English versions are available on sacred-texts.com (click).
Bradley's translation of lines 9-12 of Wulf and Eadwacer is my favourite:
good luck out there!
Bradley somewhat simplifies the poetic devices present in the original. Old English poetry uses a lot of kennings, little riddling bynames which the reader has to puzzle out. for example, banhus (Beowulf 3147), 'bone-house', referring to the body or the chest (imagine the ribcage). Bradley preserves the imagery of this phrase but removes the ambiguity by rendering it "bone-framed body." banhus is straightforward enough, but there are times when the interpretation of a kenning can radically alter how we read a poem. in the Wife's Lament, a poem about a woman mourning her painful exile in what she refers to as an eorðscræf (earth-cave) (28), referred to in the next line (29) with the kenning eorðsele (earth-hall). eorðscræf can just mean cave, but it can also mean grave. the Wife's Lament is written in a gnomic way without a lot of straightforward exposition, and its presence in the Exter Book immediately following a long collection of riddles has encouraged a lot of speculation about the nature of her exile. it may be a literal, physical exile, but it may also be a metaphor for something else. it's possible to read it as a metaphor for her own death, in which case we would strongly favour the reading 'grave' for eorðscraf. however, given that it's used synonymously with the kenning eorðsele, the validity of this reading rests on whether or not that's a plausible interpretation of eorðsele as well. according to Bosworth-Toller (click) the other places eorðsele occurs are all in Beowulf, where it does refer to a simple cave. however, we also find that eorð- constructions for grave-related words are quite common (see). personally i find the 'grave' reading plausible and tend to interpret it that way, and after my girlfriend's death i read this poem regularly when i'm grieving, finding that the Wife has some wisdom for me about grief. yet had i relied on Bradley's translation this reading would not have been available, as he translates them "earthen dug-out" and "earthen abode" respectively. his introduction does explain some of the interpretative dilemmas in this poem, and though he does mention that there is "imagery of [...] death and of the grave" in the poem, he focuses mostly on the poem's parallels in the vulgate and other Christian influences, which informs his "partly speculative translation."
that is because it is a complicated poem and there is a lot to say about it. while his approach does mean sometimes making the translation more clear than the original, such a translation is actually very helpful to have. reading poetical translations of some of the more challenging poems can be a bit dizzying, especially if they have to be made to fit a poetical meter, and as i said Bradley does his best to preserve the imagery where possible. so for myself, i typically read Bradley's translations first, then i read Roy Liuzza's translation if one is available, since he preserves the kennings and anyway he's my favourite translator. then i'll read a translation by Aaron Hostetter or Tom Shippey. then i'll look at the original. so, what i had to say about the translation is a caution that is also a recommendation.
Bradley's commentaries are helpful. he will generally give you a very brief overview of the conversation around the poem, tell you if the poem relies on any sources (such as the Pheonix which is a loose adaption of Lactantius' Carmen de Ave Phoenice), and sometimes gives his own views. he focuses mostly on the Christian content of the poems, and his approach to interpreting the Christian content is a bit idiosyncratic. he often puts the poems in the context of much later Christian literature, especially John Bunyan (17thc author of the Pilgrim's Progress, and Protestant). i have never seen anyone talk about Old English poems that way.
Aaron Hostetter's free Old English Poetry project (click) is a bit more comprehensive; it includes some poems, like the Order of the World and the Partridge, which Bradley doesn't translate. all of the Old English versions are available on sacred-texts.com (click).
Bradley's translation of lines 9-12 of Wulf and Eadwacer is my favourite:
In hopes I have endured the remoteness of the footsteps of my Wulf, when it was rainy weather and I sat weeping, and when the intrepid warrior pinioned me in his arms—there was pleasure for me in that, but it was loathsome to me too.
good luck out there!
July 21, 2011
Little needs to be said of Bradley's anthology, a monumental collection of Old English poetry translated into modern idiom. The work is a great service to teachers and students, who may readily turn to this work for quick access to the oldest texts of our language and literature. As such, I have found it invaluable for reference and reading over the past several years (I was first introduced to this text in a survey of Old English during my undergraduate years). The only major drawback of this collection is that it does not translate the entire poetic corpus, as he gives only summaries for some minor poems, and even for some sections of the longer works. The headnotes provide excellent introductions to the texts, and the translations provide some of the most literal and understandable renderings of the Old English poems. The greatest benefit of this anthology is for students--it would serve well for an introductory survey course on Old English literature.
September 3, 2012
A voluminous collection of Old English poetic works, translated into modern English. The collection includes everything from biblical poetry to heroic epic. Each poem is preceded by short introductory sections and further reading.
January 29, 2009
A good book for college. Not exactly light reading. Good selection.
May 15, 2017
A nice overview with excerpts from many poems, however only in a translated version. The true medievalist will have to find another book which has original texts and translations side-by-side.
January 3, 2021
Beowulf!
Sometimes you need to revisit the absolute classics, and I reckon Beowulf does hold up in quite a lot of ways. Firstly- this is a good translation by Bradley; easily readable but maintains an air of archaic language that feels true to the history.
The tale itself is well-known but has some great insight into early medieval life, ruling classes, warfare and religion. I was pleasantly surprised by the second half, after Grendel's mother has been defeated- this section had escaped my memory, and an eldery Beowulf contemplating and struggling to accept death is actually pretty moving.
Not going to write too much about this story for fears of flashbacks to school essays; but there is genuinely a lot here to be appreciated, both in terms of prose and content. A classic that deserves its position.
Sometimes you need to revisit the absolute classics, and I reckon Beowulf does hold up in quite a lot of ways. Firstly- this is a good translation by Bradley; easily readable but maintains an air of archaic language that feels true to the history.
The tale itself is well-known but has some great insight into early medieval life, ruling classes, warfare and religion. I was pleasantly surprised by the second half, after Grendel's mother has been defeated- this section had escaped my memory, and an eldery Beowulf contemplating and struggling to accept death is actually pretty moving.
Not going to write too much about this story for fears of flashbacks to school essays; but there is genuinely a lot here to be appreciated, both in terms of prose and content. A classic that deserves its position.
December 16, 2018
great collection of Anglo-Saxon poetry translated by Bradley
December 21, 2018
Fantastic collection, deserves elaboration later.
August 6, 2019
Extremely fascinating book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 8, 2024These verse works span between c. 650-1100 AD. the vast majority of the surviving written poetry comes in a mere four manuscripts: the Beowulf manuscript, the Exeter book, the Junius manuscript, and the Vercelli manuscript.
This book is grouped by codex with an intro before every poem with chronology
Cædmon's Hymn; the oldest (7th)
‘Ruin’
Christ II, also called The Ascension
Genesis B
Bede's Death Song
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
This book is grouped by codex with an intro before every poem with chronology
Cædmon's Hymn; the oldest (7th)
‘Ruin’
Christ II, also called The Ascension
Genesis B
Bede's Death Song
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
February 13, 2008
I return to this book pretty often. I love the riddles.
December 22, 2009
In terms of Anglo-Saxon poetry, I had read Beowulf before, but nothing else. These works are an interesting window into the origins of English literature and traditions.
December 7, 2015
I use this when I teach. Although the translations are in prose (a negative), this anthology contains so many important works for a reasonable price!
April 16, 2008
God, I love this book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews