21L.705 Major Authors: Old English and Beowulf, Spring 2014
Name
21l-705-spring-2014/ReadMe.txt
Size
694 B
Format
Text
Checksum (MD5)
3aa795e5f4864284a3da97e40f65629e
Name
21l-705-spring-2014/START.htm
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566 B
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HTML
Checksum (MD5)
68f8c8022259ecb68a472a46e1fa7dac
Author(s)
Bahr, Arthur
Alternative Title
Major Authors: Old English and Beowulf
Date Issued
June 2014
Abstract
hƿæt ƿe gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon…. Those are the first words of the Old English epic Beowulf, and in this class you will learn to read them. Besides being the language of Rohan in the novels of Tolkien, Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is a language of long, cold, and lonely winters; of haunting beauty found in unexpected places; and of unshakable resolve in the face of insurmountable odds. It is, in short, the perfect language for MIT students. After learning the basics of grammar and vocabulary, we will read not just excerpts from the great Beowulf but also heartrending laments (The Wanderer, The Wife's Lament), an account of the Crucifixion as narrated by the Cross itself (The Dream of the Rood), and a host of riddles whose solutions range from the sacred to the obscene but are always ingenious. We will also try our hand at composing our own sentences—and maybe even poems—in Old English.
Subjects
Literature
Old English
Anglo-Saxon
Beowolf
Beowulf
The Wanderer
The Wife's Lament
The Dream of the Rood
Old English riddles
Old English epic
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Literature Section
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