Old English

This chapter has eleven sections: 1. Bibliography; 2. Manuscript Studies, Palaeography, and Facsimiles; 3. Cultural and Intellectual Contexts; 4. Literature: General; 5. The Poems of the Exeter Book; 6. The Poems of the Vercelli Book; 7. The Poems of the Junius Manuscript; 8. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript; 9. Other Poems; 10. Prose; 11. Reception. Sections 1, 9, and 11 are by Eleni Ponirakis; section 2 is by Rachel Burns and Colleen Curran; sections 3, 4, and 10 are by Margaret Tedford; section 5 is by Niamh Kehoe; section 6 is by Rafael J. Pascual; section 7 is by Emma Knowles; section 8 is by Rachel Burns and Kaifan Yang.

The Study of Anglo-Saxon Poetry in the Victorian Period

The Victorians produced the first editions of Anglo-Saxon poetry in English, and began the serious study of these materials in England. John Josias Conybeare showed the way, locating and editing selected pieces of Old English poetry with a translation. John Mitchell Kemble, from the famous Irish acting family, chose a different career as an academic and antiquarian, though never with a permanent post. He produced the first edition of Beowulf, and a much better revision within a few years. Benjamin Thorpe prepared editions of four different poetic codices (missing only the Vercelli Book, of the important five manuscripts, because it was not discovered until the twentieth century): the Paris Psalter, the Junius Manuscript, the Exeter Book, and Beowulf. Finally, Frederick Furnivall established many learned societies and successfully established the Oxford English Dictionary.

Asceticism in Old English and Syriac Soul and Body Narratives

A great deal of scholarship on Old English soul-body poetry centers on whether or not the presence of dualist elements in the poems are unorthodox in their implication that the body, as a material object, is not only wicked but seems to possess more agency in the world than the soul. I argue that the Old English soul-body poetry is not heterodox or dualist, but is best understood, as Allen J. Frantzen suggests, within the “context of penitential practice.” The seemingly unorthodox elements are resolved when read against the backdrop of pre-Conquest English monastic reform culture, which was very much concerned with penance, asceticism, death, and judgment. Focusing especially on two anonymous 10th-century Old English poems, Soul and Body I in the Vercelli Book and Soul and Body II in the Exeter Book, I argue that that both body and soul bear equal responsibility in achieving salvation and that the work of salvation must be performed before death, a position that was reinforced in early English monastic literature that was inspired, at least in part, by Eastern ascetics such as fourth-century Syrian hymnologist and theologian, St. Ephraim.

IIOld English

This chapter has eleven sections: 1. Bibliography; 2. Manuscript Studies, Palaeography, and Facsimiles; 3. Cultural and Intellectual Contexts; 4. Literature: General; 5. The Poems of the Exeter Book; 6. The Poems of the Vercelli Book; 7. The Poems of the Junius Manuscript; 8. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript; 9. Other Poems; 10. Prose; 11. Reception. Sections 1, 9, and 11 are by Eleni Ponirakis; section 2 is by Rachel Burns and Colleen Curran, with contributions by Eleni Ponirakis; sections 3, 4, and 10 are by Margaret Tedford, with contributions from Eleni Ponirakis in section 3; section 5 is by Niamh Kehoe; section 6 is by Rebecca Hardie; section 7 is by Emma Knowles; section 8 is by Kaifan Yang.

The Concept of Body and Soul in the Old English Tradition

The author examines the 10 th century ancient English poem Soul and Body through the prism of the soul, spirit and body in the Old English tradition, which has survived in two versions. The first, which was part of the poetry book Exeter Book, is a short version of the conversion of the unfortunate soul to the flesh. The second version is an expanded version of the poem, listed in the Vercelli Book along with Christian sermons and poems, also represents the con- version of the tormented soul to the flesh, as well as a monologue of the saved soul. However, unfortunately, the speech of the redeemed soul was not fully preserved due to damage to the Vercelli Book collection. This article provides an author's translation of the second version of the poem. The article focuses on the dualism of René Descartes. Thus, an extended version of the Old English poem Soul and Body precedes the dualism of René Descartes, whose main ideas are the duality of the ideal and the material, the independence of the soul and body. The philosophy of René Descartes is to accept a common source – God as the creator who forms these two independent principles that we find in this poem. The spirit, as shown in the work, is the divine principle in man, created in the image and likeness of God, and appears as the highest part of the soul, and the soul, in turn, is the immortal spiritual principle. In the framework of the Judeo- Christian culture, a central doctrine of the presence of the soul arose, suggesting the elevation of man over all other living beings due to the presence of it. According to religious ideology, a person’s position in the dolly and mountain worlds directly depends on the purity of the believer’s soul, on his refusal from sinful thoughts and deeds. As soon as the Judeo-Christian teaching is fixed as the main religion, a person endowed with a soul is considered as the only ration- al creature created in the image and likeness of God. The existence of the soul is not limited only to the Judeo-Christian idea of the world around us, for example, the Quran also contains the idea of the unity of man and soul, and, undoubtedly, the soul of a righteous Muslim ascends to heaven after death.

II Old English

This chapter has eleven sections: 1. Bibliography; 2. Manuscript Studies, Palaeography, and Facsimiles; 3. Cultural and Intellectual Contexts; 4. Literature: General; 5. The Poems of the Exeter Book; 6. The Poems of the Vercelli Book; 7. The Poems of the Junius Manuscript; 8. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript; 9. Other Poems; 10. Prose; 11. Reception. Sections 1, 5, and 9 are by Simon Thomson and Eric Lacey; sections 2, 6, 7, and 8 are by Simon Thomson; sections 3, 4, 10, and 11 are by Eric Lacey.