- Paperback: 624 pages
- Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (6 Feb 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0460875078
- ISBN-13: 978-0460875073
- Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 13 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 175,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Part of the "Everyman" series which has been re-set with wide margins for notes and easy-to-read type. Each title includes a themed introduction by leading authorities on the subject, life-and-times chronology of the author, text summaries, annotated reading lists and selected criticism and notes.
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First Sentence
The dating of OE poems is a notorious problem in AS literary scholarship. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The dating of OE poems is a notorious problem in AS literary scholarship. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bradley's collection gives a broad insight into Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Prose translations from the four main miscellanies of the Anglo-Saxon period form the basis of this work. The works included are: Cędmon's Hymn, The Ruthwell Cross Inscription, Bede's Death-song, Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Christ and Satan, Andreas, The Fates of the Apostles, The Dream of the Rood, Elene, Christ I, Christ II, Christ III, Guthlac A, Guthlac B, The Phoenix, Juliana, The Wanderer, The Gifts of Men, The Seafarer, Widsith, The Fortunes of Men, Maxims I, The Panther, The Whale, Soul and Body II, Deor, Wulf and Eadwacer, some of the Exeter Book Riddles, The Wife's Lament, Resignation, The Descent into Hell, Alms-giving, The Husband's Message, The Ruin, Beowulf, Judith, The Battle of Finnsburh, Waldere, Maxims II, The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, Judgement Day II, The Lord's Prayer, The Creed, Fragments of Psalms, Some metrical charms
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bradley's edition of his translations of almost the entire body of extant Anglo-Saxon poetry is well presented and easy to use. He provides a useful introduction to each poem and each manuscript, with summaries of what is known about their dating, provenance and authorship. Each text is provided with line numbers at the beginning of each paragraph, which is invaluable if you're using them alongside the original texts.
Be warned that Bradley's translation is not always exact or infallible, although this isn't necessarily a failing - he doesn't try to provide a word-for word version of the texts, but rather an idiomatic rendering which lets the reader into the characteristic style of Anglo-Saxon vernacular poetry. Some of the longer poems, such as Genesis, are abbreviated, but Bradley is sensitive about leaving out only what is likely to be of least interest to the general student.
An excellent introduction to the texts, for an excellent price.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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3 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Terrific volume of poetry, questionable translations though
29 April 2006
Format:Paperback
Bradley's collection of translated Anglo-Saxon Poetry has (it seems to me) one thing going for it. First, the sheer amount of Old English poetry which is presented here is huge, nearly twice as much as is presented in Kevin Crossley-Holland's "The Anglo-Saxon World".
Many of the poems are hard to find in translation, including "Elene", "Andreas", and a number of the Old English Riddles. Whatever merit this book gains from its size is, sadly, lost by its overly technical and extremeley non-poetic translations (you may forget that what you are reading *was* poetry prior to this translation).
Bradley often decides to render the poetry into prose, leaving the reader with rather cumbersome lines, especially evident in "The Wife's Lament" and "Beowulf" (which he translates completely). My opinion, you ask? Buy this book for its large collection of poetry, but please also buy Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (Oxford World's Classics), which allows the reader who encounters these delightful and somber works in modern English to realize that they are real and visceral poetry.
Many of the poems are hard to find in translation, including "Elene", "Andreas", and a number of the Old English Riddles. Whatever merit this book gains from its size is, sadly, lost by its overly technical and extremeley non-poetic translations (you may forget that what you are reading *was* poetry prior to this translation).
Bradley often decides to render the poetry into prose, leaving the reader with rather cumbersome lines, especially evident in "The Wife's Lament" and "Beowulf" (which he translates completely). My opinion, you ask? Buy this book for its large collection of poetry, but please also buy Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (Oxford World's Classics), which allows the reader who encounters these delightful and somber works in modern English to realize that they are real and visceral poetry.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Comprehensive, but lackluster translations
12 July 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
First a note on my qualifications: I am working on a translation of The Wanderer from Old English. Some excerpts (which I am working on revising still) are included in my book, "The Serpent and the Eagle. I can read Old English slowly.
First the good: This book is quite comprehensive, including huge volumes of works which are difficult or impossible to find in translation.
However, having said this, the translations are, I feel, of rather poor quality. The first mark against the translations (mentioned by the other reviewer) is that they are prose translations. This itself isn't a fatal flaw though as it can be easier to translate some works (like Beowulf) in a prose rather than a poetic form.
A larger criticism though has to come with comparing some of the works, like The Wanderer, with the Old English texts. IMO, the base feel of the text when read aloud is extremely different (the translation seems to reduce the poem's feel to an exercise of self-pity while the original has a sober and grim strength), and the book provides no help in exploring deeper constructs within the poems.
This is a helpful book for some, as a supplement to other Old English works in translation. However, I would not recommend it as an introduction to the subject, and would recommend picking up other works first.
First the good: This book is quite comprehensive, including huge volumes of works which are difficult or impossible to find in translation.
However, having said this, the translations are, I feel, of rather poor quality. The first mark against the translations (mentioned by the other reviewer) is that they are prose translations. This itself isn't a fatal flaw though as it can be easier to translate some works (like Beowulf) in a prose rather than a poetic form.
A larger criticism though has to come with comparing some of the works, like The Wanderer, with the Old English texts. IMO, the base feel of the text when read aloud is extremely different (the translation seems to reduce the poem's feel to an exercise of self-pity while the original has a sober and grim strength), and the book provides no help in exploring deeper constructs within the poems.
This is a helpful book for some, as a supplement to other Old English works in translation. However, I would not recommend it as an introduction to the subject, and would recommend picking up other works first.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Lavish collection, albeit in prose
6 Oct 2010
Format:Paperback
I haven't been able to find a broader collection of translations from the Old English poetry corpus together with useful critical remarks preceeding each poem, but I am still not wholly satisfied with this book on account of the choice for prose translations. Had the texts been translated in verse form we could get a better feeling and perception of rhythm and other crucial elements of poetical compositions. Nevertheless, as a foreign reader, I had quite a good time reading these pieces and much dictionary work as Mr. Bradley enhances the antique flavour of the texts by using an exquisite, sort of lofty vocabulary in his renderings.
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