Product Description

This anthology of translations covers most of the poetry surviving in the four major codices and in various other manuscripts. Here, Germanic poetic style and English lore combine with the religious philosophy, learning and imagery of Mediterranean Christianity to produce a vernacular literature outstanding in the early Middle Ages for its sophisticated exploration of the human condition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #375685 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

From the Publisher
Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards.

From the Inside Flap

Customer Reviews

Terrific volume of poetry, questionable translations though
Bradley's collection of translated Anglo-Saxon Poetry has (it seems to me) one thing going for it. First, the sheer amount of Old English poetry which is presented here is huge, nearly twice as much as is presented in Kevin Crossley-Holland's "The Anglo-Saxon World".

Many of the poems are hard to find in translation, including "Elene", "Andreas", and a number of the Old English Riddles. Whatever merit this book gains from its size is, sadly, lost by its overly technical and extremeley non-poetic translations (you may forget that what you are reading *was* poetry prior to this translation).

Bradley often decides to render the poetry into prose, leaving the reader with rather cumbersome lines, especially evident in "The Wife's Lament" and "Beowulf" (which he translates completely). My opinion, you ask? Buy this book for its large collection of poetry, but please also buy Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology (Oxford World's Classics), which allows the reader who encounters these delightful and somber works in modern English to realize that they are real and visceral poetry.

Comprehensive, but lackluster translations
First a note on my qualifications: I am working on a translation of The Wanderer from Old English. Some excerpts (which I am working on revising still) are included in my book, "The Serpent and the Eagle. I can read Old English slowly.

First the good: This book is quite comprehensive, including huge volumes of works which are difficult or impossible to find in translation.

However, having said this, the translations are, I feel, of rather poor quality. The first mark against the translations (mentioned by the other reviewer) is that they are prose translations. This itself isn't a fatal flaw though as it can be easier to translate some works (like Beowulf) in a prose rather than a poetic form.

A larger criticism though has to come with comparing some of the works, like The Wanderer, with the Old English texts. IMO, the base feel of the text when read aloud is extremely different (the translation seems to reduce the poem's feel to an exercise of self-pity while the original has a sober and grim strength), and the book provides no help in exploring deeper constructs within the poems.

This is a helpful book for some, as a supplement to other Old English works in translation. However, I would not recommend it as an introduction to the subject, and would recommend picking up other works first.