A New Critical History of Old English Literature. By Stanley B. Green-Field and Daniel G. Calder, with a survey of the Anglo-Latin background by Michael Lapidge. New York: New York University Press, 1986.

1988 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-81
Author(s):  
Milton McC. Gatch
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
New York University ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of

A Critical History of Old English Literature

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Francis Lee Utley ◽  
Stanley B. Greenfield
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of

A New Critical History of Old English Literature

1988 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 660
Author(s):  
John C. Pope ◽  
Stanley B. Greenfield ◽  
Daniel G. Calder
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of

A New Critical History of Old English Literature

1988 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 286
Author(s):  
E. G. Stanley ◽  
Stanley B. Greenfield ◽  
Daniel G. Calder
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of

Sapiential Structure and Figural Narrative in the Old English ‘Elene’

Traditio ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 159-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas D. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
Critical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Recent Critic

The Old English Elene has generally been considered Cynewulf's most successful poem; but while critics have admired specific passages in it, they have generally either ignored or patronized the poem as a whole. Thus Kemp Malone writes that in Elene, Cynewulf ‘told his tale simply and clearly as Old English poets go. Here he doubtless owed something to his Latin source ….’ The most recent editor of the text, Gradon, remarks that apart from the descriptions of the battle and the sea voyage, ‘there is little in Elene that can be shown to be original … a glance at Holthausen's composite text shows that, poetic circumlocution apart, there is little not to be found in some version of the Acta Cyriaci.’ One recent critic to deal with Elene, S. B. Greenfield, in his Critical History of Old English Literature, argues for a more sympathetic view of the poem, suggesting that ‘the struggle between good and evil that preoccupied Cynewulf is here [in Elene] presented thematically as a contrast between darkness and light, both on a physical and spiritual level’; he goes on to argue that the central episodes of the poem (i.e. Elene's quest for the cross) have a distinct literary if not necessarily poetic power.’ But Greenfield does not develop these suggestions in detail and it would, I think, be a fair summary of his discussion of the poem to say that where previous critics have been cool, Greenfield is lukewarm.

Studies in the History of Old English Literature

1954 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
R. M. Wilson ◽  
Kenneth Sisam
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals In Defence of the Textual Integrity of the Old English Resignation

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93
Author(s):  
Helena W. Sobol
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Literature ◽  
The State ◽  
Old English Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
Manuscript Context ◽  
Devotional Texts

Abstract Bliss & Frantzen’s (1976) paper against the previously assumed textual integrity of Resignation has been a watershed in research upon the poem. Nearly all subsequent studies and editions have followed their theory, the sole dissenting view being expressed by Klinck (1987, 1992). The present paper offers fresh evidence for the textual unity of the poem. First examined are codicological issues, whether the state of the manuscript suggests that a folio might be missing. Next analysed are the spellings of Resignation and its phonology, here the paper discusses peculiarities which both differentiate Resignation from its manuscript context and connect the two hypothetical parts of the text. Then the paper looks at the assumed cut-off point at l.69 to see if it may provide any evidence for textual discontinuity. Finally the whole Resignation, seen as a coherent poem, is placed in the history of Old English literature, with special attention being paid to the traditions of devotional texts and the Old English elegies.

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