Early English Language
Dr Alice Jorgensen and Dr Helen Conrad-O’Briain
This course lays the linguistic foundations for the course Beginnings of English Poetry,
especially for the study of Old English texts. It begins with a review of traditional
grammar as applied to modern English. The bulk of the course then focuses on Old
English language, using a series of simple prose readings. We finish by looking briefly at
the transition to Middle English. Teaching is through lectures and through twice-weekly
classes that run throughout the semester (starting in the second week of term).
Textbook
You should buy the following textbook:
A Guide to Old English, by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson, 7th or 8th edn
Further recommended reading
Translations:
Michael Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Prose (London: Everyman, 1975)
S. A. J. Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London: Everyman, 1982)
Language textbooks (note that these are not acceptable alternatives to Mitchell and
Robinson, but may be used for supplementary information):
Peter Baker, Introduction to Old English, 2nd edn (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) [gives
accessible explanations of grammar points; would be worth buying; second-hand copies
available]
A. Campbell, Old English Grammar (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959)
Dennis Freeborn, From Old English to Standard English: A Course Book in Language
Variation Across Time, 2nd edn (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998)
Robert Hasenfratz and Thomas Jambeck, Reading Old English: A Primer and First
Reader (West Virginia University Press, 2005)
Background reading:
Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Old
English Literature (Cambridge: C. U. P., 1991)
Phillip Pulsiano and Elaine Treharne (eds.), A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2001)
James Campbell (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991)
Barbara Yorke, The Anglo-Saxons (Stroud: Sutton, 1999)