Ebook: Old English Poetry: Fifteen Essays

This book celebrates two institutions: Brown University on the occasion of its two hundredth birthday and Old English poetry.

By a happy coincidence, as Brown University approached its two hundredth anniversary, it was able to assemble half a dozen Old English scholars who were working or had recently worked within its walls. A number of other scholars agreed, on somewhat short notice, to join this nucleus in making this birthday gift.

The gift is composed of fifteen essays that tend to group themselves into three divisions. In one respect — the most important of all — there is a deep-lying unity in this volume. Adrien Bonjour speaks for every contributor when he says, "it is the poetry that counts." Every contributor, no matter the approach he takes, assumes that the poem or poems he writes about are worthy of loving and even lavish study.