Annotation
This course will introduce students to the oldest literary texts written in the English language, as well as introducing the language of the texts, Old English. The surviving texts range in tone from bawdy, double-entendre- laden riddles to religious lyrics and heroic verse, with prose texts including rich sources for the history of early medieval England. The language more closely resembles modern German than modern English in terms of its syntax and grammatical structure but it was written with additional letters of the alphabet which now only survive in the Icelandic language.
The politics of translation was a deep concern of those authors who undertook the translation and adaptation of
Latin texts into English, as well as being a primary concern, alongside considerations of aesthetics quality and accuracy, to translations of Old English literature into Modern English
All texts will be studied in modern English translation, but the course will introduce the basics of the language, mostly found written in manuscripts dating from 900-1100 AD, enabling students to critique a translated text with reference to a text in the original language, and undertake translations of short extracts.
A good standard of modern English will be required to follow this course, and some knowledge of modern
German would be an advantage, but is not a prerequisite.
Language of Instruction: English