Annotation
OBJECTIVES
The selection of texts is designed to capture the broad range of text types assembled in the Exeter Book. The seminar will primarily focus on the issues of coherence of the manuscript, looking at the various ways and attempts to subordinate the ?problematic? texts to one controlling perspective. Alongside this main theme, the close reading of the individual poems will concentrate on the specificities of Old English poetics, mainly the syntactical and, consequently, semantic openness of the verse. A basic knowledge of Old English is necessary.
MATERIAL
The Judgment Day
The Husband?s Message
Vainglory
Excerpts from Widsith, Juliana, Riddles
Swanton, M.J.: Wife?s Lament and Husband?s Message: A Reconsideration
Bolton, W. C.: Wife?s Lament and Husband?s Message: A Reconsideration Reconsidered
Conner, P.W.: Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A 10th Century Cultural History (excerpt)
ASSESSMENT
Participation in class, an oral presentation and a final 2,000-word essay.