Toward a Theory of Old English Poetic Genres: Epic, Elegy, Wisdom Poetry, and the “Traditional Opening”

Abstract

In the absence of contemporary references to Old English poetic genres, literary critics have grown increasingly skeptical about the validity of genre criticism; elegy and epic, in particular, have come to be viewed as retrospective and subjective categories. But evidence for the existence of genres can also be deduced from the poems themselves. Opening formulas are among the most common literary devices for signaling genre, and Old English verse is no exception. The “traditional opening,” which occurs in many poems, contains genre-specific cues that alert the audience to what manner of poem will follow. Analysis of the “traditional opening” reveals three distinct kinds of verse: epic, elegy, and wisdom poetry. Each type of opening also provides information about the respective genre’s distinctive features, as shown by the first verses of Beowulf, The Wife’s Lament , and Vainglory. Because genres exist in relation to each other, examining several together yields valuable insights. Most Old English poems are generic hybrids, combining the characteristics of several genres; for instance, Juliana combines epic and saint’s life, Judgment Day II blends elegy and planctus, The Phoenix unites wisdom poetry and “Physiologus” lore, and Fates of the Apostles juxtaposes epic and elegy. The choices made by the authors of these works show that Anglo-Saxon poets were certainly conscious of genre in composing their texts. Much work remains to be done on Old English poetic genre, ranging from the existence of other genres and genre-markers to further analysis of individual poems.

The EmendationEorle(Heruli) inBeowulf, Line 6a: Setting the Poem in “The Named Lands of the North”

“…A reference to the Heruli, then, which sets the poem in a specific time and place, would thus seem to be an unwelcome intrusion (even though the appearance of ethnonyms in what Paul Battles identifies as the "traditional opening" passages of most Old English epics is not unusual). 64…”

Aquiles en el exilio. Lectura comparada del libro 9 de la Ilíada y el poema anglosajón “The Wanderer”

“…Por último, quisiera destacar las reflexiones de tipo sapiencial que aparecen en ambos poemas. Se ha debatido dentro de «The Wanderer» cómo se puede incorporar la parte sapiencial al resto del poema y cómo una gran parte de los poemas anglosajones entremezclan géneros literarios (Battles 2014). En «The Wanderer» del verso 65 al 87 el foco cambia de las emociones del protagonista a la transmisión de la sabiduría.…”

Weiskott, E. English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History. Cambridge University Press, 2016. (in English)

“…63-64). Впрочем, Вайскотт -не единственный исследователь, обращавшийся к изучению прологов к древнеанглийским поэтическим памятникам; так, в 8 9 10 статье 2014 года П. Бэттлс предлагает, на наш взгляд, более убедительную -жанровуюинтерпретацию расхождений в древнеанглийских зачинах [7] (ср. с.…”