The Old English Poem "Seasons for Fasting": A Critical Edition

Description

"Seasons for Fasting", a late Old English poem probably composed in the early eleventh century, focuses on proper fasting observances in England. This poem, composed in eight-line stanzas, survives only in a sixteenth-century transcript made by the antiquary Laurence Nowell. With its topics, vocabulary, sources, and style derived from those of contemporary ecclesiastical prose, it belongs to a school of late tenth/early eleventh century poetry that only now is coming to be recognized and defined. "The Old English Poem 'Seasons for Fasting': A Critical Edition" provides a new text and translation of the poem, accompanied by an extensive introduction, commentary, and glossary. The introduction includes analyses of the poem's manuscript origins, sources, language, meter, style, and structure. The text is collated with all previous editions. The commentary elucidates points of grammar and style, and justifies all editorial decisions. The glossary covers every instance of each word in the poem. Since its discovery among the papers of Laurence Nowell in 1934, the poem has had only four editions, two of the text with basic notes, and two in doctoral theses with more commentary and analysis. This new edition brings the latest resources on manuscript study, lexicon (through the "Concordance and Dictionary of Old English A-G"), poetics, and cultural milieu to bear on this fascinating poem. The apparatus, including the glossary, will allow fellow scholars to extend these findings through links to their own work. Acknowledgments vii Short Titles and Other Abbreviations ix Introduction Description of The Poem 1 Manuscripts and Editions 2 Metrical and Linguistic Features 20 Sources and Influences 36 Style and Structure 60 Principles of This Edition 83 "Seasons for Fasting" Text 87 Translation 103 Commentary 111 Glossary 139 Bibliography 159 Index to Manuscripts 178 Index 179