From Age to Age in THIS BOOK are selected translations of prose and poetry from the Old English pe­ riod, about 500 A.D. to the Norman Con­ quest in 1066. It also contains the historical and literary background the reader needs to understand the literature. The familiar works of Old English are all here—Beowulf and others. But there are also less familiar works that have surprising life and grace. There are riddles, charms, prescriptions for diseases (some of them in verse), stories that have as much impact to­ day as they did then, and poetry whose feel­ ings show how little men have changed since those early days. All in all, this book represents the basis of our literary heritage. These selections are among the very first things written in our language. And some of them are still among the very finest. From the lindisfarne gospels; Matthew; Early Northumbrian. Written and illuminated in 698 in honor of St. Cuthbert, Bishop o* Lindisfarne. From Age to Age Part of stole from St. Cuthbert’s coffin, ioth or ii th Century. Bernice Grohskopf From Age to Age Life and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England Atheneum 1968 New York COPYRIGHT © 1968 BY BERNICE GROHSKOPF ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 68-18447 PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA BY MCCLELLAND & STEWART LTD. MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY KINGSPORT PRESS, INC., KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE DESIGNED BY JUDITH LERNER FIRST EDITION Thanks are due for permission to quote from the following sources: "Runes" from George K. Anderson, THE LITERATURE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. Copyright 1949 by Princeton University Press. Albert C. Baugh, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Second edition, Appleton, 1957. Bede: A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE, translated by Leo Sherley-Price. Copyright 1965 by Penguin Books, London. O. Cockayne, LEECHDOMS, WORT-CUNNING, AND STAR-CRAFT OF EARLY ENG­ LAND. Copyright 1864-1866. Widsith, "Charm for Swarming Bees," "Charm for Bewitched Land," THE PHOENIX, Autobiographic Rune passage from ELENE, THE FALCON. Reprinted by permission of the publishers from Albert S. Cook and Chauncey B. Tinker, editors, SELECT TRANSLATIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH POETRY. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Cuthbert’s Letter on the death of Bede, Alfred’s Preface to Gregory’s PASTORAL CARE, Asser's LIFE OF ALFRED, Ælfric: Preface to GRAMMAR, from first book of HOMILIES, COLLOQUY, APOLLONIUS OF TYRE. Reprinted by permission of the publishers from Albert S. Cook and Chauncey B. Tinker, editors, SELECT TRANSLATIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH PROSE. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni­ versity Press. DEOR, THE SEAFARER, THE WIFE’S LAMENT, and one quote from "The Battle of Maldon” (two lines) from Kevin Crossley-Holland, THE BATTLE OF MALDON AND OTHER OLD ENGLISH POEMS. Copyright 1965 by Macmillan and Company. Reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press, Inc., The Macmillan Company of Canada, and Macmillan, London. Select passages from }. A. Giles, ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE (translation). Copyright 1894 by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. "Charm, for Spider Bite," "Charm Against Assaults of the Fiend,” "Charm Against a Witch’s Spell," "Charm Against Theft,” from F. Grendon, ANGLO- SAXON CHARMS. Copyright 1930 by Steckert. Edith Hamilton, THE ROMAN WAY. Copyright 1932 by W. W. Norton and Company. Otto Jesperson, GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Copy­ right 1933 by Doubleday and Company. Autobiographic Rune passage from ELENE from Charles W. Kennedy, THE POEMS OF CYNEWULF. Copyright 1949 by Peter Smith. "The Ruin,” "Fish in River," from AN ANTHOLOGY OF OLD ENGLISH POETRY, translated by Charles W. Kennedy. Copyright i960 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission. THE WANDERER, Bede’s Death Song, "The Moon and the Sun," "A Ship," "Wine," "A Jay’s Spring. Song," THE HUSBAND'S MESSAGE from Burton Raff el, POEMS FROM THE OLD ENGLISH. Copyright 1964 by University of Nebraska Press. THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH, THE BATTLE OF MALDON, "The Swan," "The Book Worm," "Gnats," "The Shield," "The Anchor,” "The Plough," Caedmon’s HYMN from J. Duncan Spaeth, OLD ENGLISH POETRY. Copyright 1921 by Princeton University Press. William Butler Yeats: Autobiography. New York. Macmillan, 1938. Quotations from BEOWULF are taken from the following sources: BEOWULF, translated by John R. Clark-Hall. Copyright 1914 by Cambridge University Press. BEOWULF, translated by John Af. Kemble. Copyright 1837 by W. Pickering. From BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC, translated by Charles W. Ken­