Representations of the Natural World in Old English Poetry

by Jennifer Neville

• ISBN13: 9780521640367
• ISBN10: 0521640369
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book examines descriptions of the natural world in a wide range of Old English poetry. Jennifer Neville describes the physical conditions experienced by the Anglo-Saxons - the animals, diseases, landscapes, seas and weather with which they had to contend. She argues that poetic descriptions of these elements were not a reflection of the existing physical conditions but a literary device used by Anglo-Saxons to define more important issues: the state of humanity, the creation and maintenance of society, the power of individuals, the relationship between God and creation and the power of writing to control information. Examples of contemporary literature in other languages are used to provide a sense of Old English poetry's particular approach, which incorporated elements from Germanic, Christian and classical sources. The result of this approach was not a consistent cosmological scheme but a rather contradictory vision which reveals much about how the Anglo-Saxons viewed themselves.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii	(1)
List of abbreviations	ix
1 Introduction: defining the natural world	1	(18)
2 Defining and confining humanity	19	(34)
3 Constructing society: outside and inside, powerlessness and control	53	(36)
4 Standing outside, standing out: defining the individual	89	(50)
5 Representing God: power in and against nature	139	(39)
6 Enclosing the natural world: knowledge and writing	178	(24)
7 Conclusion	202	(5)
Bibliography	207	(10)
Index	217