Medieval
Imagination:
Anglo-Saxon
and Beowulf Resources
Questions? Problems?
Broken Links? Contact
Me!
A.
General Anglo-Saxon Resources
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Sutton Hoo: Burial-Ground of the Wuffings For an imaginative painting
showing how King Rćdwald might have looked wearing the full regalia from
Sutton Hoo, click here (click on parts of the royal war-gear for details
of each piece) |
The site is slow to load. The pictures, however, are well worth the wait. Click on each picture to see an enlargement |
Do a “Quick Search” for Sutton Hoo to find superb pictures
and text explanations of all of the Sutton Hoo treasures. Be sure to
double-click on the images |
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Anglo-Saxon Links for the Heroic Age Valuable resource with links
for all major areas of Anglo-Saxon study |
A Metasite with links to most
Anglo-Saxon topics from the Arts to Xenophobia |
Excellent survey of the
pre-Christian religion and culture of the Anglo-Saxon peoples of England |
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Metapage well worth exploring |
Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman
and British Living History |
Timelines, biographies, history, documents. An exceptional site |
B.
Anglo-Saxon Literature Resources
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Labyrinth
Library: Old English Literature Excellent links; see
especially the homepage and the Anglo-Saxon Culture page |
Resources for Old
English Literature Good page; redundancy is
unavoidable |
Modern English translations
of some of the riddles, and the answers are given! |
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Old
English Literature and Culture on the World Wide Web Excellent resource with links
to all major relevant websites |
Google’s
Directory to Anglo-Saxon Literary Sites This might be a good place to
start a search (but don’t limit yourself to this site alone) |
Describes the last stand of
Byrhtnoth, Earl of Essex, against the Viking invaders at Maldon |
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The site contains a
commentary, translation of the poem, map, and images of the battle-ground as
it is today. There are also over 30 links to other sites |
An superb introduction to the
Ruthwell Cross and the poem: history, theories, commentaries. |
The Dream of the Rood Electronic Edition Scholarly edition including a
helpful introduction, glossaries, manuscript images, and websites of
interest. |
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J. A. Glenn’s brief
commentary, outline, alternate translation |
Notes on the Old
English Period and on Selected Poems Background notes on the
period, “Caedmon’s Hymn” and the “Dream of the Rood” |
The Value of Society and the Virtue
of Loneliness in Old English Elegies Good introduction to major
elegiac themes |
C.
Beowulf Resources
You may also
wish to consult one or more of the on-line booknotes listed on the Homepage. |
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Resources for
the Study of Beowulf Essays, research articles,
excellent links |
Includes comparative
translations, summaries, links, essays |
The annotated text in Modern
English and Old English |
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Bulfinch’s Mythology Chapter on Beowulf Well hypertexted chapter |
Beowulf: A Student’s
Bibliography A guide to the best print resources for the study of Beowulf |
Good list of
resources with a focus on “Beowulf’s World” |
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Beowulf on
Steorarume New scholarly page (in
progress) with a new literal translation and extraordinary pictorial guide
and background information |
An interesting
selection of essays on various aspects of Anglo-Saxon warfare |
David Day’s excellent essay defines the
nature of the feud in Beowulf and relates the feud to irony and
tragedy |
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Glosses each line of the text
informatively (note kennings in red): not an attractive site, but an
extremely useful one (do click on the photo and picture links) |
The Roman
historian Tacitus wrote an early description of the Germanic tribes c. 98
A.D. Note how well the description fits the society depicted in Beowulf |
Intriguing study of Hrothgar in “an analysis of the relationships among age, maleness, and masculinity in Beowulf” |
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Uneven collection of links,
papers |
Contains links
to “key information that can be used as a background and footnote as you read
the famous epic poem” |
Dr. Allen’s page
provides useful background information |
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Warriors, Wyrms,
and Wyrd: The Paradoxical Fate of the Germanic Hero/King in Beowulf “Beowulf's
dragon-fight motif represents at its core an internal commentary of pagan
culture upon its own conventions and institutions” |
Slightly voluble web-site offering “an understanding of the beginnings of the English people and language” necessary to appreciate the poem |
Links helping students to explore the culture that produced the poem. Of special note are links to “Who is the Author?” and the maps |
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An Education in the Mead-Hall: Beowulf's Lessons for Young Warriors Alexander M. Bruce's interesting essay deals with the effect that Beowulf’s exploits might have had on an audience of young warriors. |
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Problems?
Questions? Broken Links? Email Me! |
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Copyright
2002, Updated for Spring Term (Jan.-April) 2008, Joanne
J. Viano