Description
Book SynopsisA collection of the finest and earliest poems composed in English, from tales of battle to love songs
This selection of the earliest poems in English comprises works from an age in which verse was not written down, but recited aloud and remembered. Heroic poems celebrate courage, loyalty and strength, in excerpts from
Beowulf and in
The Battle of Brunanburgh, depicting King Athelstan’s defeat of his northern enemies in 937 AD, while
The Wanderer and
The Seafarer reflect on exile, loss and destiny.
The Gnomic Verses are proverbs on the natural order of life, and the
Exeter Riddles are witty linguistic puzzles. Love elegies include emotional speeches from an abandoned wife and separated lovers, and devotional poems include a vision of Christ’s cross in
The Dream of the Rood, and Caedmon’s
Hymn, perhaps the oldest poem in English, speaking in praise of God.
For more than seventy years, Penguin h
Trade ReviewMichael Alexander is much the best translator from Old English. His Penguin
Beowulf is much to be recommended, but so too is the volume entitled
The First Poems in English -- A.N. Wilson
