Old English Literature: A Guide to Criticism with Selected Readings

This review of the critical reception of Old English literature from 1900 to the present moves beyond a focus on individual literary texts so as to survey the different schools, methods, and assumptions that have shaped the discipline.

• Examines the notable works and authors from the period, including Beowulf, the Venerable Bede, heroic poems, and devotional literature
• Reinforces key perspectives with excerpts from ten critical studies
• Addresses questions of medieval literacy, textuality, and orality, as well as style, gender, genre, and theme
• Embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the field with reference to historical studies, religious studies, anthropology, art history, and more

Keywords: Beowulf; Venerable Bede; ?lfric; Cynewulf; Anglo-Saxon literature; heroic tradition; literary criticism; reception history; literary studies; philology; Old English poetry; Old English prose; medieval literacy; textuality; orality; devotional literature