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Product Description
Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon, The Dream of the Rood, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer are among the greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poems. They, and many other treasures, are included in The Anglo-Saxon World: chronicles, laws and letters, charters and charms, and above all superb poems. Here is a word picture of a people who came to these islands as pagans and yet within two hundred years had become Christians, to such effect that England was the centre of missionary endeavour and, for a time, the heart of European civilization. Kevin Crossley-Holland places poems and prose in context with his skilful interpretation of the Anglo-Saxon world; his translations have been widely acclaimed, and of Beowulf the poet Charles Causley has written, 'the poem has at last found its translator'.
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First Sentence
At times magnificent, at times moving, the heroic poems link our Anglo-Saxon ancestors to their origins in continental Europe. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
At times magnificent, at times moving, the heroic poems link our Anglo-Saxon ancestors to their origins in continental Europe. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At just over 300 pages this welcoming-looking volume is a deceptively easy read. It introduces and explains a diverse selection of entertaining material which can be dipped into in any order. Along with heroic poems or poem fragments as one might expect, there are tales of exploration, letters, extracts of land charters and wills, details of a marriage agreement, some intriguing laws and fines, - even 31 humorous riddles to solve, with possible answers provided. And how about a charm against a swarm of bees or theft of cattle, or, from Bald's Leechbook remedies for spider bites and shingles? Perhaps best known is the epic of Beowulf and the whole poem is included here.
This varied anthology will satisfy any curiosity about Anglo-Saxon literature and life. Moreover it will surprise. Crossley-Holland's translations are effortlessly easy to negotiate bringing the real voices to speak through the thousand or thousand and a half years since they were first written. An unusual treat.
This varied anthology will satisfy any curiosity about Anglo-Saxon literature and life. Moreover it will surprise. Crossley-Holland's translations are effortlessly easy to negotiate bringing the real voices to speak through the thousand or thousand and a half years since they were first written. An unusual treat.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This lively little anthology of writings from the Anglo-Saxon world brings vividly to life the multi-faceted society of pre-1066 England (and the near continent) eclipsed by the Norman Conquest. Translated with ringing clarity by poet Kevin Crossley-Holland, it covers a marvellous range of topics. From epic poems like `The Battle of Maldon' and (the complete) Beowulf to mystical Christian poems such as `The Dream of the Rood'; from laws, history (extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) and ecclesiastical letters to biographical extracts, examples from wills and even riddles, its range is such that the reader can't fail to grasp something of the stunning depth and diversity of this fascinatingly rich and surprisingly subtle culture.
Crossley-Holland introduces each of the sixteen themed sections with brief but helpful background remarks on the date (where known), context and enduring value of the works presented. These sections are invaluable in giving something of a historical and cultural overview if your grasp of the period isn't strong (as mine isn't). His obvious enthusiasm for the example and work of Alfred the Great and the Celtic saints comes shining through; but it's in his vivid, plain, flowing translation that the real strength of his work lies. Though Seamus Heaney's more recent translation of Beowulf has perhaps now supplanted his, Crossley-Holland's rendering of (to give but one example) the letter from Alcuin, Archbishop of York, to Aethelred, king of Northumbria, in which he describes the (moral) causes of, and (moral) remedies for, the Viking invasion and devastation of 793 AD, is so fresh and urgent that it almost reads like a 21st century news editorial. Whilst I think including the complete Beowulf possibly makes the collection slightly unbalanced, the fascinating variety of the anthology as a whole may well leave you hungry, as it did me, to find out more about this most remarkable of vanished cultures. A gem.
Crossley-Holland introduces each of the sixteen themed sections with brief but helpful background remarks on the date (where known), context and enduring value of the works presented. These sections are invaluable in giving something of a historical and cultural overview if your grasp of the period isn't strong (as mine isn't). His obvious enthusiasm for the example and work of Alfred the Great and the Celtic saints comes shining through; but it's in his vivid, plain, flowing translation that the real strength of his work lies. Though Seamus Heaney's more recent translation of Beowulf has perhaps now supplanted his, Crossley-Holland's rendering of (to give but one example) the letter from Alcuin, Archbishop of York, to Aethelred, king of Northumbria, in which he describes the (moral) causes of, and (moral) remedies for, the Viking invasion and devastation of 793 AD, is so fresh and urgent that it almost reads like a 21st century news editorial. Whilst I think including the complete Beowulf possibly makes the collection slightly unbalanced, the fascinating variety of the anthology as a whole may well leave you hungry, as it did me, to find out more about this most remarkable of vanished cultures. A gem.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
All about the Anglo-Saxon World
7 April 2004
Format:Hardcover
If you are interested in the cultural and historical backround of the Anglo-Saxons, this is definitely the book to get. Starting with famous heroic poems, it describes in brief a quick review on them before the poems themselves. Good for beginners, like I, who are interested in that era, but haven't a clue of anything.
It does include sections of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but not nearly enough for those who wish to see it all.
It includes the Wanderer, the Seafarer, Wulf and the Wife's Lament.
It also includes BEOWULF in a full.
After that it goes on to tell of different laws, poems, tracts, wills, charms and other things including some 30 riddles [some of them quite vulgar I might add].
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Great overview, but poetry translation could be better
1 April 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This collection gives a nice broad overview of the Anglo-Saxon culture by providing examples of various kinds of Anglo-Saxon literature. It includes various forms of poetry (including a complete translation of "Beowulf"), excerpts from several historical records, various letters, and some legal documents.
I was not especially impressed with the poetry translation; the alliteration is sporadic in the extreme and the division of each line into two half lines of two beats was occasionally lacking. Seamus Heaney has a much better (stylistically speaking) translation of Beowulf and Lee Hollander is much more consistent in his translation of the very similar Norse poetry.
Overall: a nice broad introduction to the Anglo-Saxon culture, but the poetry translation is stylistically lacking.
I was not especially impressed with the poetry translation; the alliteration is sporadic in the extreme and the division of each line into two half lines of two beats was occasionally lacking. Seamus Heaney has a much better (stylistically speaking) translation of Beowulf and Lee Hollander is much more consistent in his translation of the very similar Norse poetry.
Overall: a nice broad introduction to the Anglo-Saxon culture, but the poetry translation is stylistically lacking.
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