The Aesthetics of Nostalgia: Historical Representation in Old English Verse

Description

Heroic poetry was central to the construction of Anglo-Saxon values, beliefs, and community identity and its subject matter is often analyzed as a window into Anglo-Saxon life. However, these poems are works of art as well as vehicles for ideology. 'Aesthetics of Nostalgia' reads Anglo-Saxon historical verse in terms of how its aesthetic form interacted with the culture and politics of the period. Examining the distinctive poetic techniques found in vernacular historic poetry, Renée R. Trilling argues that the literary construction of heroic poetry promoted specific kinds of historical understanding in early medieval England, distinct from linear and teleological perceptions of the past. 'The Aesthetics of Nostalgia' surveys Anglo-Saxon literary culture from the age of Bede to the decades following the Norman Conquest in order to explore its cultural impact through both its content and its form. Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xiii Introduction: The Form of History 3 1. Art and History in Old English Heroic Poetry 28 2. In Principio: Origins of the Present in Anglo-Saxon Biblical Verse 64 3. Verse Memorials and the Viking Conflict 125 4. Poetic Memory: The Canonical Verse of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 175 5. Transitional Verse in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Changing the Shape of History 214 Conclusion: The Past in the Present 253 Bibliography 261 Index 287