At this point, Beowulf is describing Ongentheow's death, and the transmitted text of the poem would have him state that the Swedish king hrēas 1 For in-depth discussions of the role of probabilism in Old English philology, see Fulk 20: § §8–23 on the balancing of metrical probabilities in textual criticism, see Fulk 1996.Įarly in the Anglo-Saxon period, a scribe's role was conceived of as being source-centred. 1 The role of probability in these matters can readily be illustrated by the scholarly response to the words hrēas blāc, which appear in line 15 on folio 188r of the Beowulf manuscript. Considerations of relative probability enable editors and metrists to identify scribal corruptions, recover authorial readings, and understand the metrical regularities that the poet meticulously imposed upon his work. P robabilistic reasoning governs the study of the metrical practice of the Beowulf poet.
Palabras clave: Métrica inglesa antigua, crítica textual, Beowulf, literatura inglesa antigua, poesía germánica inicial. La segunda parte discute los obstáculos empíricos que impiden aceptar la legitimidad formal del patrón de tres posiciones SS en la poesía inglesa antigua, reafirmando así la validez de la prohibición de la métrica tradicional sieversiana contra versos de menos de cuatro posiciones métricas. Así demuestra que casi todos ellos tienen una estructura convencional de cuatro posiciones métricas. La primera parte de este ensayo examina la configuración métrica de trece versos de Beowulf que han sido identificados recientemente como ejemplos del patrón métrico SS. Resumen: Este artículo analiza la autenticidad del verso de tres posiciones SS en Beowulf en base a su incidencia inequívoca tanto en Beowulf como en un corpus más grande de poesía inglesa antigua. Keywords: Old English Metre, Textual Criticism, Beowulf, Old English Literature, Early Germanic Poetry. The second part discusses the empirical obstacles to accepting the formal legitimacy of the three-position SS pattern in Old English verse, thereby reaffirming the validity of the stricture of traditional Sieversian metrics against verses consisting of less than four metrical positions. In doing so, it demonstrates that nearly all of them furnish a standard four-position metrical structure. The first part of this essay examines the metrical configuration of thirteen verses from Beowulf that have recently been identified as instances of the SS pattern. His textual notes are predictably authoritative, and he conveys a remarkable amount of information within a small compass in his notes to the translations.This delightful book is a particularly graceful member of the beautifully produced Dumbarton Oaks series.This article assesses the authenticity of the three-position SS verse type in Beowulf on the basis of its unambiguous incidence both in Beowulf and in a larger corpus of Old English poetry. Fulk has produced an elegant, slightly archaized prose version of the poem ('He lived to see remedy for that') that keeps to the same register for all the items in the manuscript. Fulk is one of the world's leading Beowulfians. Christopher, The Wonders of the East, and The Letters of Alexander the Great to Aristotle-as well as Judith. Understandably, interest in the manuscript has centered on Beowulf, and it is still called the Beowulf manuscript here, though-unprecedentedly-this new book contains both text and translations of all the Nowell manuscript's items: the three prose works that precede Beowulf- The Passion of St.
Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674052956 Number of pages: 400 Weight: 522 g Dimensions: 203 x 133 x 26 mm MEDIA REVIEWS Fulk, based on the most recent editorial understanding, allows readers to rediscover Beowulf's brilliant mastery along with otherworldly delights in the four companion texts in The Beowulf Manuscript. First-time readers as well as established scholars can now gain new insights into Beowulf-and the four other texts-by approaching each in its original context.Ĭould a fascination with the monstrous have motivated the compiler of this manuscript, working over a thousand years ago, to pull together this diverse grouping into a single volume? The prose translation by R. For the first time in the history of Beowulf scholarship, the poem appears alongside the other four texts from its sole surviving manuscript: the prose Passion of Saint Christopher, The Wonders of the East, The Letter of Alexander the Great to Aristotle, and (following Beowulf) the poem Judith. Beowulf is one of the finest works of vernacular literature from the European Middle Ages and as such is a fitting title to head the Old English family of texts published in the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library.īut this volume offers something unique.
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