The Cambridge Old English Reader
2nd Edition
Published on 2. April 2015
Book
Hardback
614 pages
978-1-107-05530-8 (ISBN)
Description
This reader remains the only major new reader of Old English prose and verse in the past forty years. The second edition is extensively revised throughout, with the addition of a new 'Beginning Old English' section for newcomers to the Old English language, along with a new extract from Beowulf. The fifty-seven individual texts include established favourites such as The Battle of Maldon and Wulfstan's Sermon of the Wolf, as well as others not otherwise readily available, such as an extract from Apollonius of Tyre. Modern English glosses for every prose-passage and poem are provided on the same page as the text, along with extensive notes. A succinct reference grammar is appended, along with guides to pronunciation and to grammatical terminology. A comprehensive glossary lists and analyses all the Old English words that occur in the book. Headnotes to each of the six text sections, and to every individual text, establish their literary and historical contexts, and illustrate the rich cultural variety of Anglo-Saxon England. This second edition is an accessible and scholarly introduction to Old English.
Reviews / Votes
Review of previous edition: '... offering a bountiful assortment of diverse texts thoughtfully edited for basic students of Old English. The book seems to arise from a long and dedicated engagement with Old English pedagogy, and its sheer diversity and breadth of scope makes it likely that almost any teacher of Old English will find something in it of value ... The rich banquet found in the Cambridge [Old English] Reader would not easily be exhausted in a semester, or even a year-long course in Old English; it is sure to inspire in both students and teachers alike a fresh dedication to the work of understanding Anglo-Saxon England.' R. Liuzza, The Medieval Review Review of previous edition: 'Marsden admirably fulfils his task of providing a canon-expanding list of texts.' R. Boenig, Medievalia et Humanistica Review of previous edition: 'The selection of texts covers ground that no previous reader has approached. There are items that will be of interest to specialists in women's studies and cultural studies ... The reference grammar has the best presentation I have seen in a resource of this sort - the content is both comprehensive and concise; and the arrangement is logical and user-friendly. The headnotes are also outstanding ...' Paul Remley, University of Washington, Seattle Review of previous edition: 'Marsden has done a masterful job of glossing and annotating the texts in the Reader ... he gets the level of annotation just right for a university-level student of the subject. I admire his headnotes very much for the amount of material he manages to convey in a relatively short space ... I think that this book will be very easy to teach from. The number of texts that he offers in the book is remarkable and admirable ... in addition, the careful level of glossing and annotation of some difficult texts means that a teacher can assign a much wider range of texts than usual in an introductory course ...' Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe, University of Notre Dame Review of previous edition: 'Marsden's Reader is traditional ... The preliminaries offer sensible and succinct observations on such matters a as punctuation, spelling variation, and emendation (admirably kept to a minimum except for the Colloquy) ... [His] convenient and thought-provoking rough categorization brings to the front of his reader two groupings that could prompt teachers of Old English to think out their courses anew.' English Language and Linguistics '... this remains an invaluable reader ...' A. P. Church, Choice 'Of the hundreds of textbooks on Old English proffered in the past 300 years, Marsden's Cambridge Old English Reader, Second Edition, earns its rightful rating as superb.' Robert Graybill, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance TeachingMore details
Edition
2nd Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Revised edition
Illustrations
1 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
1077 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-107-05530-8 (9781107055308)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Richard Marsden
The Cambridge Old English Reader
E-Book
07/2015
2nd Edition
Cambridge University Press
€29.99
Available for download
Richard Marsden
The Cambridge Old English Reader
Book
04/2015
2nd Edition
Cambridge University Press
€51.30
Shipment within 15-20 days
Richard Marsden
Cambridge Old English Reader
E-Book
04/2015
Cambridge University Press
€26.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Richard Marsden
The Cambridge Old English Reader
Book
04/2004
Cambridge University Press
€105.39
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Richard Marsden is Emeritus Professor of Old English at the University of Nottingham. In addition to numerous articles on Old English literature and language and the history of the Latin Bible, he has published The Text of the Old Testament in Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge, 1995) and an edition of The Old English Heptateuch for the Early English Text Society (2008).
Content
Preface to the second edition; Preface to the first edition; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Beginning Old English; 1. Getting started; 2. Practice sentences; 3. Practice texts; 4. Keys to test sentences and texts; 5. Beginning poetry; The Texts: Part I. Teaching and Learning: 1. In the Schoolroom (from AElfric's Colloquy); 2. A Personal Miscellany (from AElfwine's Prayerbook); 3. Medicinal Remedies (from Bald's Leechbook); 4. Learning Latin (from AElfric's Excerptiones de arte grammatica anglice); 5. A New Beginning (Alfred's 'preface' to his translation of Gregory's Cura pastoralis); 6. The Wagonwheel of Fate (from Alfred's translation of Boethius's De consolatione Philosophiae); Part II. Keeping a Record: 7. Laws of the Anglo-Saxon Kings; 8. England under Attack (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annals for 981-93, 995-8 and 1002-3); 9. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People; 10. The Battle of Brunanburh; 11. The Will of AElfgifu; 12. The Fonthill Letter; Part III. Spreading the Word: 13. After the Flood (from the Old English Hexateuch: Gen 8.6-18 and 9.8-13); 14. The Crucifixion (from the Old English Gospels: Mt 27.11-54); 15. King Alfred's Psalms; 16. A Translator's Problems (AElfric's preface to his translation of Genesis); 17. Satan's Challenge (Genesis B, lines 338-441); 18. The Drowning of Pharaoh's Army (Exodus, lines 447-564); 19. Judith; Part IV. Example and Exhortation: 20. Bede's Death Song; 21. Two Holy Women; 22. A Homily for Easter Sunday (from AElfric's Sermones catholicae); 23. The Dream of the Rood; 24. On False Gods (Wulfstan's De falsis deis); 25. The Sermon of the Wolf (Wulfstan's Sermo Lupi); 26. The Seafarer; Part V. Telling Tales: 27. Falling in Love (from Apollonius of Tyre); 28. The Trees of the Sun and the Moon (from The Letter of Alexander); 29. Cynewulf and Cyneheard (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: annal for 755); 30. The Battle of Maldon; 31. Beowulf; 32. The Fight at Finnsburh; Part VI. Reflection and Lament: 33. Truth is Trickiest (Maxims II); 34. The Durham Proverbs; 35. Five Anglo-Saxon Riddles; 36. Deor; 37. The Ruin; 38. The Wanderer; 39. Wulf and Eadwacer; 40. The Wife's Lament; Manuscripts and textual emendations; The writing and pronunciation of Old English; Reference grammar of Old English; Glossary; Guide to terms; Index.