Marsden, Richard, author.
New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015.
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Notes:

• This reader remains the only major new reader of Old English prose and verse in the past forty years. The second edition has been extensively revised, with the new section, Beginning Old English, for newcomers to Old English, along with a new extract from Beowulf. The 57 individual texts include favourites such as The Battle of Maldon and Sermon of the Wolf, and others not readily available, like an extract from Apollonius of Tyre. There are Modern English glosses for every prose-passage and poem and extensive notes. A succinct reference grammar is appended, along with a guide to pronunciation and grammatical terminology. The glossary lists and analyses all Old English words that occur in the book. Headnotes to each of the six text sections, and to every individual text, establish their literary and historical contexts, illustrating the rich cultural variety of Anglo-Saxon England. This second edition is an accessible and scholarly introduction to Old English — Provided by publisher.
• The period of English history which we now call ‘Anglo-Saxon’ lasted from the mid-fifth century until until the end of the eleventh, when the Normans arrived. Most surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts date from the latter part of this period and the many of them are in Latin, but England was unique in early medieval Europe in having a thriving vernacular literature also. This was written in what we now call ‘Old English’ (OE), to distinguish it from the ‘Middle English’ stage of the evolving language, which culminated in the works of Chaucer and Malory. The fifty-seven reading texts which make up the major part of this book have been chosen to illustrate the range and variety of OE literature — Provided by publisher.
• Includes reference grammar, glossary, bibliographical references, and index.
• Preface to the second edition Preface to the first edition List of abbreviations Introduction Beginning Old English 1. Getting started 2. Practice sentences 3. Practice texts 4. Keys to test sentences and texts 5. Beginning poetry The Texts: Part I. Teaching and Learning: 1. In the Schoolroom (from ‘lfric’s Colloquy) 2. A Personal Miscellany (from ‘lfwine’s Prayerbook) 3. Medicinal Remedies (from Bald’s Leechbook) 4. Learning Latin (from ‘lfric’s Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglice) 5. A New Beginning (Alfred’s ‘preface’ to his translation of Gregory’s Cura pastoralis) 6. The Wagonwheel of Fate (from Alfred’s translation of Boethius’s De consolatione Philosophiae) Part II. Keeping a Record: 7. Laws of the Anglo-Saxon Kings 8. England under Attack (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annals for 981-93, 995-8 and 1002-3) 9. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People 10. The Battle of Brunanburh 11. The Will of ‘lfgifu 12. The Fonthill Letter Part III. Spreading the Word: 13. After the Flood (from the Old English Hexateuch: Gen 8.6-18 and 9.8-13) 14. The Crucifixion (from the Old English Gospels: Mt 27.11-54) 15. King Alfred’s Psalms 16. A Translator’s Problems (‘lfric’s preface to his translation of Genesis) 17. Satan’s Challenge (Genesis B, lines 338-441) 18. The Drowning of Pharaoh’s Army (Exodus, lines 447-564) 19. Judith Part IV. Example and Exhortation: 20. Bede’s Death Song 21. Two Holy Women 22. A Homily for Easter Sunday (from ‘lfric’s Sermones catholicae) 23. The Dream of the Rood 24. On False Gods (Wulfstan’s De falsis deis) 25. The Sermon of the Wolf (Wulfstan’s Sermo Lupi) 26. The Seafarer Part V. Telling Tales: 27. Falling in Love (from Apollonius of Tyre) 28. The Trees of the Sun and the Moon (from The Letter of Alexander) 29. Cynewulf and Cyneheard (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annal for 755) 30. The Battle of Maldon 31. Beowulf 32. The Fight at Finnsburh Part VI. Reflection and Lament: 33. Truth is Trickiest (Maxims II) 34. The Durham Proverbs
• Text in English and Old English.

Subjects:

• English language — Old English, ca. 450-1100 — Readers.
• Anglo-Saxons — Literary collections.
• Anglo-Saxons — Sources.

Requested by Swanson, K.