This category and its subcategories encompass all of Old English literature. The term "Old English Literature" refers to the poetry and prose produced by Anglo-Saxon authors from approximately the year 700 CE to approximately the year 1150 CE.
In this top-level category please submit sites that refer to general topics in Old English literature. Suitable material for this category includes collective editions or translations of poems or prose works, general studies of Old English literature, and other general items. Submit other Old English sites to the subcategories of this category.
During the Anglo-Saxon period, English authors wrote both in the Old English language and in the Latin language. The body of Latin works produced by English authors during this period is referred to as "Anglo-Latin Writings" in the standard literary histories. The Anglo-Latin writings are an important part of Anglo-Saxon literature. Some of the greatest Anglo-Saxon authors wrote only in Latin, or only their Latin works have survived.
Please submit to this main category and its subcategories sites dealing with Latin writings produced by English authors during the Anglo-Saxon period. These sites can include original Latin texts, modern English translations, or literary studies.
* Submit to this main category sites that contain general studies of the Anglo-Latin writings. Also submit to this category sites that deal with anonymous Latin works or with authors other than Alcuin, Aldhelm, Bede, Boniface, Gildas, and Nennius.
* Submit sites that deal with Alcuin, Aldhelm, Bede, Boniface, Gildas, and Nennius to their respective subcategories.
Beowulf is a 3,182 line epic poem which was written in Old English and which has been translated in various ways many dozens of times in the past 200 years. Old English scholars are in almost unanimous agreement that Beowulf is the greatest literary monument surviving from the Anglo-Saxon period.
Please submit to this top-level category general items about Beowulf. Submit editions, literary studies, manuscript sites, web resource sites, and translations to their respective subcategories.
Anglo-Saxon translators produced several Old English translations and glosses of individual books of the Latin Bible.
Please submit studies of Old English Bible translation and other general items to this category. Submit Old English translations and glosses of individual books of the Bible to the subcategories of this category. Submit Bible translations and commentaries by Aelfric to the "Aelfric" subcategory. Submit Old English texts and modern English translations of poems based on books of the Old Testament to the "Biblical Poems" subcategory. Submit Old English translations of the Gospels to the "Gospels" subcategory. Submit Old English translations of the Psalms to the "Psalms" subcategory.
The web contains several bibliographies on Old English language and literature. These items are especially helpful to people who are new to Old English.
Please submit bibliographies to this category. These bibliographies can be either lists of printed materials or lists of links to external sites or combinations of both. Submit only general bibliographies to this category. General bibliographies refer to more than one author, work or subject, typically to many. Submit specialized bibliographies (bibliographies devoted to a particular author, work, or subject) to the category that contains the author, work or subject. For example, submit bibliographies on the Seafarer to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Individual Poems>Seafarer. Beowulf is a special case in that it has its own bibliographical subcategory. Submit bibliographies on Beowulf to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Beowulf>Resources.
This category contains online courses, readers, videos, and other aids to learning Old English. You can use these resources to gain a knowledge of Old English grammar and vocabulary and to study Old English texts.
Please submit to this category online courses in Old English, readers, videos, and other aids to learning Old English.
Note that the readers in this category are textbooks that have some or all of the following elements: an outline of grammar, a set of readings, exercises, a glossary, and explanatory notes.
If a textbook is a pure presentation of grammar without any other elements, submit it to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Grammars.
The web offers a number of Old English dictionaries: that is, brief or comprehensive word lists that give the modern English equivalents of Old English words or the Old English equivalents of modern English words.
Please submit Old English dictionaries to this category, both Old English to Modern English and Modern English to Old English.
This category contains online grammars: that is, pure presentations of grammar without any other elements.
Please submit to this category online grammars without other elements such as a set of readings or a glossary. If a grammar contains other elements, submit it to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Courses.
During the Old English period writers produced a variety of poems in many different genres, such as secular heroic poems, Old Testament narrative poems, poems about Christian saints, and elegiac poems.
Please submit texts, translations, and literary studies of individual Old English poems other than Beowulf to this category and its subcategories. Submit items relating to Beowulf to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Beowulf and its subcategories. Submit collections of poems to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English.
During the Old English period writers created a variety of prose works such as homilies, saints' lives, histories, tales of adventure, and utilitarian prose. Among the great Old English prose writers are Aelfric, Wulfstan, and King Alfred.
Please submit texts, translations, and literary studies of individual Old English prose works to this category and its subcategories. Submit collections of Old English prose works to Arts>Literature>World_Literature>British>Old_English.
Submit works by or about Aelfric, Alfred, and Wulfstan to their respective subcategories. Submit sites that concern the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to its subcategory.
Submit to this top-level category items that do not fall within any of the subcategories. These pieces include literary prose works such as anonymous stories and homilies, utilitarian prose works like charters and law codes, and Old English glosses of Latin texts.
This category includes collections of digitized manuscripts and individual manuscripts that contain Old English. It also includes introductions to manuscripts, studies of manuscripts, descriptions of manuscripts and manuscript art, glossaries of manuscript terms, and bibliographies about manuscripts.
Please submit to this category collections of digitized manuscripts or individual digitized manuscripts that contain Old English. Also submit to this category introductions to manuscripts, studies of manuscripts, descriptions of manuscripts and manuscript art, glossaries of manuscript terms, and bibliographies devoted exclusively to manuscripts. Do not submit sites related to the Beowulf manuscript to this category. Instead submit them to Arts>Literature>World Literature>British>Old English>Beowulf>Manuscript.