Beowulf and Other Old English Poems by
The best-known literary achievement of Anglo-Saxon England, Beowulf is a poem concerned with monsters and heroes, treasure and transience, feuds and fidelity. Composed sometime between 500 and 1000 C.E. and surviving in a single manuscript, it is at once immediately accessible and forever mysterious. And in Craig Williamson's splendid new version, this often translated work may well have found its most compelling modern English interpreter. Williamson's Beowulf appears alongside his translations of many of the major works written by Anglo-Saxon poets, including the elegies "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer," the heroic "Battle of Maldon," the visionary "Dream of the Rood," the mysterious and heart-breaking "Wulf and Eadwacer," and a generous sampling of the Exeter Book riddles. Accompanied by a foreword by noted medievalist Tom Shippey on Anglo-Saxon history, culture, and archaeology, and Williamson's introductions to the individual poems as well as his essay on translating Old English, the texts transport us back to the medieval scriptorium or ancient mead hall to share an exile's lament or herdsman's recounting of the story of the world's creation. From the riddling song of a bawdy onion that moves between kitchen and bedroom, to the thrilling account of Beowulf's battle with a treasure-hoarding dragon, the world becomes a place of rare wonder in Williamson's lines. Were his idiom not so modern, we might almost think the Anglo-Saxon poets had taken up the lyre again and begun to sing after a silence of a thousand years.
Dante's Inferno by
Inferno is the first part of Italian poet Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy. The allegory describes Dante's journey through the depths of Hell. He is led by the Roman poet Virgil down into the nine circles of Hell, each of which holds and punishes progressively worse sinners. From the First Circle, where unbaptized souls live in peaceful limbo, down to the Ninth Circle, where Satan is trapped in ice, Dante sees firsthand the consequence of unrepentantly sinning against God. Dante published his narrative poem between 1308 and 1321. This version is taken from an 1892 English edition, featuring British author Rev. H. F. Cary's blank verse translation and woodcut illustrations by French artist Gustave Doré.
Dante's Paradiso by
Paradiso is the third and final part of Italian poet Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy and describes Dante's journey through heaven. He is now led by Beatrice, who joined him at the end of Purgatorio. Beatrice takes Dante into the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. From the First Sphere, where they find those who were good but did not keep their vows, to the Ninth Sphere and the Empyrean, the home of the angels and God, Dante experiences the blessings given to those who live a life faithful to God. Dante wrote his narrative poem between 1308 and 1321. This version is taken from a 1901 English edition, featuring British author Rev. H. F. Cary's blank verse translation and woodcut illustrations by French artist Gustave Doré.
Dante's Purgatorio by
Purgatorio is the second part of Italian poet Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy and describes Dante's climb up the Mount of Purgatory. As in the Inferno, the Roman poet Virgil is guiding Dante on a journey; this time they visit the seven terraces of Purgatory, where sinners are cleansing themselves in preparation for entering Paradise. Each of the terraces represents one of the seven deadly sins, ranging from pride to lust. Through this allegory, Dante conveys that repentant souls can be redeemed. Dante wrote his narrative poem between 1308 and 1321. This version is taken from a 1901 English edition, featuring British author Rev. H. F. Cary's blank verse translation and woodcut illustrations by French artist Gustave Doré.
Einarr Skúlason's Geisli by
Geisli is the earliest Nordic Christian drápa (long stanzaic poem) known to exist. Written by Einarr Skúlason, the twelfth century's premier Icelandic poet, Geisli marked a stylistic shift in Old Norse poetry brought about by Christianity and European learning. Einarr Skúlason was a priest as well as a skald, and his writing demonstrates that he was as familiar with the traditions of Latin liturgy and hagiography as with the conventions of skaldic poetry. Geisli is a very important source for the modern scholar studying Old Norse hagiography and the history of Christianity in Iceland and Norway. This new critical edition features a version in normalized orthography, as well as a version in prose word order, a translation into English, a complete glossary, an introduction that situates the poem in its context, and substantial explanatory notes. Editor Martin Chase uses the famous Flateyjarbók manuscript as a base text, but takes into account all known manuscripts of the poem. Long needed by scholars, this new edition will be extremely valuable to anyone with an interest in Old Norse as well as medievalists in other disciplines.
Las Mocedades de Rodrigo by
Perhaps the most famous Castilian in history, Rodrigo Diaz - also known as 'the Cid' - lived in the second half of the eleventh century, distinguishing himself during the conquest of the Muslim kingdom of Valencia. The epic poem Las Mocedades de Rodrigo (The Youthful Deeds of Rodrigo), is a fictional account of the young Rodrigo's passage from impetuous initiate to menacing force of nature, and, finally, to ally and servitor of his king. Written around 1300, the poem garnered a significant reputation in its native Spain and is still widely read today. Despite its popularity, an English translation has never been published. This bilingual edition offers both the Old Spanish version of Las Mocedades as well as the first English translation of the epic poem. In his introduction, Matthew Bailey examines the text as a compilation of oral narratives passed down from speakers to scribes. Situating it fully within the tradition of Spanish epic poetry, Bailey goes on to review the poem's critical reception, explains the hybrid nature of the narrative, and looks at the origins of the hero himself. The translation includes explanatory notes to help the contemporary English-language reader understand the social and political circumstances surrounding the poem. For those interested in the poetry of medieval Spain, the epic tradition, or for anyone looking for a good adventure story, Las Mocedades de Rodrigo will be essential reading.
The Metabolism of Desire by
The fact that Cavalcanti's friend, Dante Alighieri, was a supremelyfine poet ought not blind us to Cavalcanti's own, rather differentexcellence. His love poetry has more of the tang of real-worldexperience and is as appealing as Dante's, although in a moremodern and recognizable way. The two poets both suffer, but Cavalcantiis not so sure that his torments are likely to improve his spirit. Heis, therefore, more torn and under greater pressure to find somemeaning in his struggles, and, as translator David R. Slavitt declares,"more fun."
Poems and Prose from the Old English by
In this restructured and greatly expanded version of Burton Raffel's out-of-print classic, Poems from the Old English, Raffel and co-editor Alexandra H. Olsen place the oldest English writings in an entirely different perspective. Keeping the classroom teacher's needs foremost in mind, Raffel and Olsen organize the major old English poems (except Beowulf) and new prose selections so as to facilitate both reading and studying. A general introduction provides an up-to-date and detailed historical account of the Anglo-Saxon period, and concise introductions open the literature sections of the book and many of the translations. Raffel's masterly translations of Old English poetry, praised as fine poems in their own right, reproduce much of the flavor as well as the sense of the originals. With more than 1800 newly translated lines and many revised older translations, the poems in this volume are organized into four genres?elegies, heroic poems, religious poems, and wisdom poetry. Raffel's new translations include more than twenty poem-riddles, with proposed solutions in a separate section. Prose translations?grouped in historical, testamentary and legal, religious, social and instructional, and medical and magical categories?feature writings by King Alfred, Aelfric, and Wulfstan, among others. ]]>
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late fourteenth-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In this poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious green warrior. In a struggle to uphold his oath along this quest, Gawain demonstrates chivalry, loyalty, and honor. This new verse translation of the most popular and enduring fourteenth century romance to survive to the present offers students an accessible way of approaching the literature of medieval England without losing the flavor of the original writing. The language of Sir Gawain presents considerable problems to present-day readers as it is written in the West Midlands dialect before English became standardized. With a foreword by David Donoghue, the close verse translation includes facing pages of the original fourteenth-century text and its modern translation. Medieval European Studies Series, Volume 13
The Chronicle of Duke Erik by
Written in the 14th century and enjoying a Swedish national status similar to the English Beowulf, this fascinating tale with many levels of meaning reflects the ideals of politics and aesthetics typical of the age of chivalry. The rhyming verses are accompanied by prose renditions and commentary, making the work enjoyable reading for anyone with an interest in medieval texts. A valuable source for the scholarly disciplines of comparative literature and poetics, this genuine piece of Scandinavian history contains intriguing dichotomies between center and periphery, male and female, and Christian and heathen.
Aiol by
This "chanson de geste" records the exploits of the young knight, Aiol, as he reclaims his father's and mother's unjustly stolen heritage. He gains the love of a Saracen princess who converts when she is convinced by Aiol's warrior's prowess of the truth of the Christian god. He then aids the French King Louis in ending a debilitating war led by rebellious vassals and (in an allusion to the Fourth Crusade) similarly helps Emperor Grasien, the king of Venice, to end his own war against an enemy to the East. Aiol's deeds ultimately bring justice to the kingdom of France. But the poem is far more than the tale itself. "Aiol" artfully recreates both the Christian culture of the West and the Islamic culture of the Levant. Poets writing in medieval French created richly textured literary metaphors or fictions about both the Christian and Muslim world, and they were themselves well aware that even though they were treating historically-based materials, they were also fabricating fictions and fictive truths, tropes and figures as literary art. Aiol's literary allusions suggest a sophistication on the part of the chanson's authors, who wrote for courts that knew well and first-hand the Muslim world. By the time of Aiol's composition there had long been fruitful cultural, trade - as well as military - interaction between the "two worlds." Islamic scholars were respected in intellectual circles in the 12th and 13th centuries, and translators briskly adapted works of Arabic science and medicine for the readers of Latin Europe. Around eighty written Old French epics are known from surviving 13th-century manuscripts. These were preserved and passed down by the aristocratic families who had commissioned them and financed their preparation. These poems, often called genealogical epics, served a number of purposes, from entertainment at important courtly occasions, such as marriages and investitures, to edification and instruction in the vernacular of the courtly world. Excerpts of these "songs of deeds" or "chansons de geste" were also publicly sung after Sunday masses for the entertainment and instruction of the ordinary people. The institutions of the monarchy, social class, marriage and the family are explored and developed in a poetic enterprise that gave life to what might otherwise have become an academic debate. Dialectical argument structures the entire work into a richly instructive, psychologically compelling and socially pleasing whole. Taken together with "Elye of Saint Gilles," "Aiol" has become known as the geste de Saint Gilles, because both poems relate events in the lives of Julien of Saint Gilles, a literary epic hero first found in "Le Couronnement de Louis," and Julien's son, Elye and Elye's son, Aiol. The two poems are preserved in only one manuscript, the richly decorated BNFfr 25516. It has been proposed that this geste was presented at the Parisian court of Philip Augustus upon the occasion of the lavish, festive wedding in 1212 of Jeanne of Constantinople, countess of Flanders, to Ferrand of Portugal. Jeanne was the daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders & Hainaut, who had, during the 4th Crusade, been elected emperor of the Latin Empire at Constantinople. Hartman & Malicote's edition & translation is based on BNFfr 25516 and on the critical editions of W. Foerster & of J. Normand & G. Raynaud. As with their edition of "Elye," the editors have chosen simplicity and directness of approach. The translation remains faithful to the spirit and meaning of the OF poem; creating a lively, interesting and engaging text that allows the reader to savor the rich intellectual and artistic context of the original. Derived from the original Italica dual-language edition, the English-only version is ideal for undergraduate use. It includes 11 illustrations, introduction, notes, sample pages of original OF, and select bibliography. First English translation.
The Religious Poetry of el'azar Ben Ya'aqov Ha-Bavli by
This volume presents the reader with a fascinating collection of hymns composed by El'azar the Babylonian, an Arab-Jewish poet who is active in Baghdad during the first half of the 13th century. His religious oeuvre consists of dozens of hymns, coming down to us from the treasures of the Cairo Genizah and the Firkovicz Collections. His compositions provide a cross-section of genres and liturgical destinations. El'azar's devotional hymnology is characterised by a striking spiritual tendency which reveals his familiarity with contemporary Sufism in both Muslim and Jewish circles.
Beowulf by
The name "Beowulf" lingers in our collective memory, although today fewer people have heard the tale of the Germanic hero's fight with Grendel, the dreadful Monster of the Mere, as recounted in this Anglo-Saxon epic. This edition of Beowulf makes the poem more accessible than ever before. Ruth Lehmann's imitative translation is the only one available that preserves both the story line of the poem and the alliterative versification of the Anglo-Saxon original. The characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon poetry? alliterative verse with first-syllable stress, flexible word order, and inflectional endings?have largely disappeared in Modern English, creating special problems for the translator. Indeed, many other translations of Beowulf currently available are either in prose or in some modern poetic form. Dr. Lehmann's translation alone conveys the "feel" of the original, its rhythm and sound, the powerful directness of the Germanic vocabulary. In her introduction, Dr. Lehmann gives a succinct summary of the poem's plot, touching on the important themes of obligation and loyalty, of family feuds, unforgivable crimes, the necessity of revenge, and the internal and external struggles of the Scandinavian tribes. She also describes the translation process in some detail, stating the guiding principles she used and the inevitable compromises that were sometimes necessary.
