The Cædmon
Poems
A Verse translation of Anglo-Saxon Christian Poetry
Damian Love
Cædmon is the first English poet whose
name survives; thus he stands at the beginning of our literature.
In Bede’s famous account, Cædmon’s nine-line
Genesis hymn brought traditional oral poetry into the realm of
writing some time in the latter half of the seventh century. Over
the next four hundred years, a series of anonymous poets took
up his challenge, producing the richest corpus of literature to
emerge from early medieval Europe. High among their achievements
are the works of those who followed Cædmon’s example
and rewrote the stories of the Old Testament for their own time,
combining Germanic tradition with the Christianity of the Mediterranean
world to create vivid new renditions of the great Bible narratives.
In Exodus, Genesis B, and Judith they produced masterpieces that
rank beside Beowulf as monuments of the era.
This book is the first to represent the Old Testament genre comprehensively
in modern English verse translation, making it available to students
and non-specialist readers in a form that captures much of the
vigour and rhythmic texture of the original poems.
An extensive Introduction and Explanatory Notes aid access to
these unique artefacts of the early medieval world.
£9.95
200 pages
Old English Poems, Prose
& Lessons
Anglo-Saxon Language
Read by Stephen Pollington
These two CDs can
be used with First Steps in Old English or just listened
to for the pleasure of hearing Old English spoken well.
Kings & Dates - CD 1
1 Capture of the Five Boroughs
2 Alfred on Athelney - ASC 878
3 Cynewulf and Cyneheard - ASC 755
4 The Danes' Harrying - ASC 997
5 The Arrival of the English - Bede
6 Battle of Brunanburh Crime & Punishment
7 Extracts from the Laws of King Ine
8 The Ordeal
Health & Wellbeing
9 Leechdoms - medical texts
10 Charm Against a Dwarf
11 Charm Against a Wen
12 Charm Against Waterelf Sickness
13 Nine Herbs Charm
14 Journey Charm
15 Wið Ymbe - for a swarm of bees
Verse
16 Wulf & Eadwacer
17 Funeral of Scyld Scefing - Beowulf
18 The Wanderer
19 Deor
20 Beowulf's Greeting - Beowulf
21 Durham
General - CD 2
1-17 Reading Exercises
18-20 Pronunciation Guide
21-25 Conversational Old English
£15·00 2 CDs
The Battle of Maldon
Text and Translation
Translated and edited by Bill Griffiths
The Battle of Maldon was fought between
the Englishmen of Essex and Danes in AD 991. The action was captured
in an Anglo-Saxon poem whose vividness and heroic spirit has fascinated
readers and scholars for generations. The Battle of Maldon includes
the source text; edited text; parallel literal translation; verse
translation; notes on pronunciation; review of 103 books and articles.
This new edition includes notes on Old English verse.
* The edited Old English text and parallel literal Modern English
translation is intended to be of help to those learning Old English.
£5·95
Beowulf
Text and Translation
Translated by John Porter
The verse in which the story unfolds is,
by common consent, the finest writing surviving in Old English,
a text that all students of the language and many general readers
will want to tackle in the original form. To aid understanding
of the Old English, a literal word-by-word translation is printed
opposite the edited Old English text and provides a practical
key to this Anglo-Saxon masterpiece.
£6·95 192 pages
A Departed Music
Readings in Anglo-Saxon Poetry.
Walter Nash
The readings contained in this book are
passages of translation from a wide selection of Old English poems.
The author paraphrases their content and discuses their place
and significance in the history of poetic art in Old English society
and culture. This approach gives the reader an opportunity to
appreciate the cultural importance of the surviving body of poems,
the worldview that inspired them, and the subtleties of individual
poems.
Walter Nash has spent many years teaching university students.
It is clear to see that he has brought all his knowledge, experience
and (most of all) his love of the subject to the writing of this
book.
£9.95 Hardback 176 pages
First Steps in Old English
An easy to follow language course for the
beginner.
Stephen Pollington
If you want to teach yourself Anglo-Saxon
/ Old English this is the book.
A complete, well presented and easy to use Old English language
course which contains all the exercises and texts needed to learn
Old English. This course has been designed to be of help to a
wide range of students, from those who are teaching themselves
at home, to undergraduates who are learning Old English as part
of their English degree course. The author is aware that some
individuals have little aptitude for learning languages and that
many have difficulty with grammar. To help overcome these problems
he has adopted a step by step approach that enables students of
differing abilities to advance at their own pace. The course includes
practice exercises.
£16·95 256 pages
Some of the texts used in this book are read by the author on
the two CDs Old English Poems, Prose and Lessons £15.
Learn Old English with
Leofwin
Matt Love
This is a new approach to learning
old English as a living language. Leofwin and his family
are your guides through six lively, entertaining, topic-based
units. New vocabulary and grammar are presented in context, step
by step, so that younger readers and non-language specialists
can feel engaged rather than intimidated. The author has complemented
the text with a wealth of illustrations throughout. This volume
is the first part of the course.
Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills addressed in each
unit
Quick-reference Grammar Guide
New English to Old English Vocabulary
Old English to New English Vocabulary
Audio exercises free from the Anglo-Saxon Books website
< side bar OE audio
Background information on the Anglo-Saxon way-of-life.
The author, Matt Love, was born long ago in Westcliff-on-Sea,
Essex. He graduated from Sussex University in 1977, and has taught
Modern Languages for many years. He is usually quite poor company,
but brightens up somewhat should the conversation turn to language
or history.
£14·95
158 pages
An Introduction to the
Old English Language and its Literature
Stephen Pollington
The purpose of this general introduction
to Old English is not to deal with the teaching of Old English
but to dispel some misconceptions about the language and to give
an outline of its structure and its literature. Some basic knowledge
about the origins of the English language and its early literature
is essential to an understanding of the early period of English
history and the present form of the language.
This revised and expanded edition provides a useful guide for
those contemplating embarking on a linguistic journey.
£5·95
64 pages
Plain English
A Wealth of Words
Bryan Evans
Plain English has its roots in the language
spoken by the English 1000 and more years ago. It is a beautiful
language which fosters clear thought and speech. It is a language
for those who like to say much with few words. Plain English is
found in the King James Bible; it is in the works of Jane Austen;
it is in the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Churchill.
The aim of this book is to help readers find plain English words
for what they want to say. First it outlines the story of English
and then it offers ‘A hundred words to start you off’
(shorten rather than abbreviate, speed up instead of accelerate,
drive home rather than emphasize, and so on). In the main part
of the book will be found over 10,000 plain English words that
are still alive and well, then a list of some 3,600 borrowed words,
with suggestions about English words we might use instead. It
is hoped that this book will help readers think about the words
they use, and in doing so speak and write more clearly.
£9.95 332 Pages
Wordcraft
A concise Modern English to Old English
dictionary and thesurus
Stephen Pollington
Wordcraft provides Old English equivalents
to the commoner modern words in both a dictionary and thesaurus.
Previously the lack of an accessible guide to vocabulary deterred
many would-be students of Old English.
Wordcraft combines the core words relating to everyday life with
a selection of terms connected with society, culture, technology,
religion, perception, emotion and expression to encompass all
aspects of Anglo-Saxon experience.
The Thesaurus presents vocabulary relevant to a wide range of
individual topics in alphabetical lists, thus making it easy to
find specific areas of interest. Each thematic listing is cross-reference
from the Dictionary. The two sections will be of invaluable assistance
to students of the language, as well as those with either a general
or a specific interest in the Anglo-Saxon period.
£9.95 240 Pages
The Rebirth of England
and English
The Vision of William Barnes
Father Andrew Phillips
English history is patterned with spirits so bright that they
broke through convention and saw another England. Such was the
case of the Dorset poet, William Barnes (1801-86), priest, poet,
teacher, self-taught polymath, linguist extraordinary and that
rare thing - a man of vision. In this work the author looks at
that vision, a vision at once of Religion, Nature, Art, Marriage,
Society, Economics, Politics and Language. He writes: 'In search
of authentic English roots and values, our post-industrial society
may well have much to learn from Barnes'. For the first time Saxon-English
words created and used by Barnes have been gathered together and
listed next to their foreign equivalents.
This book is well worth the money just for Barnes' word lists
in which he gives 'Saxon' alternatives to words with Latin or
Greek roots. While some of the words he suggests using are odd,
most are sensible. If William Barnes were alive today he would
argue forcefully against 'civic waste disposal facility' and suggest
we use 'town rubbish dump'.
£9.95 160
Pages
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