Proseminar: Old English Poetry: The Exeter Book
Fr. 14.00-16.00
Geb. 23.21 Raum U1.69 Beginn: 14.04.2000
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The Exeter Book is the largest extant collection of Old English poetry dating from c. 975. It contains several long religious poems, such as Christ, Guthlac, Azarius, Juliana and the allegorical Phoenix. The book also contains well-known shorter poems, such as The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Deor, Widsith, The Ruin, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, The Husband's Message, and Resignation. In addition, the Exeter Book preserves 95 riddles, a genre that would otherwise have been represented by a solitary example.

This seminar will give you the opportunity to repeat and enlarge your knowledge of Old English literature, to practice different methods of interpretation and to reflect upon the validity of various critical approaches.

Plan     Unit 1 Survey of Old English Literature, esp. The Exeter Book (2 lessons) Unit 2 Exemplary readings: · The Seafarer · The Phoenix (4 lessons) Unit 3 Methodological reflection (2 lessons) Unit 4 Interpretations: · option · option (4 lessons) Unit 5 Achievement test (1 lesson)

Most texts are available in introductions to OE poetry, such as:
Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader in Prose and Verse, ed. by Dorothy Whitelock. Rev. ed. Oxford 1967; repr. 1975.

Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred C. Robinson. A Guide to Old English. 4th ed. revised with prose and verse, texts and glossary. Paperback. Oxford: Blackwell 1986.

Have a look at our bookstore
http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist1/Bookstore/books.html

Complete editions of the Exeter Book are:

The Exeter Book, ed. by George Philip Krapp and Elliott van Kirk Dobbie. New York 1936.

The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry: An Edition of Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501, ed. by Bernard Muir. 2 Vols., Exeter 1994.

Useful internet resources:

Our own homepage:
http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist1/html/textsoe.html

Exeter Cathedral:
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/exeter.cathedral/welcome.html

Labyrinth Library: Old English Literature:
http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/oe.html

An online version of this seminar is in progress:
http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist1/staff/holteir/exeter/index.html

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Voraussetzungen: Introduction to Medieval English Studies: Parts I and II
Leistungsnachweis: aktive Mitarbeit und mündliche Prüfung (kleiner Schein)
                             Hausarbeit (großer Schein)
Veranstaltungstyp: Wahlpflicht M.A./Prom.; SII: Proseminar B1,2
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Der Inhalt der Lehrveranstaltung ist geeignet für die Zwischenprüfung

©  Rainer Holtei
last updated
20.09.2009

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