Anonymous, Guthlac

Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.01: English Writing and Culture: Old English, 500-1066.
Vol. editors: Richard William Dance (University of Cambridge), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 970

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Guthlac A is one of two adjacent narrative poems in the Exeter Book about the Mercian hermit saint Guthlac (c. 674-714), whose Latin Life had been written in the first half of the eighth century by Felix of Crowland. In its present state the poem consists of 818 lines of Old English verse but there is a large gap in the text where at least one folio of the manuscript is missing. The Exeter Book was copied in the later tenth century but the poem itself is likely to be considerably older than this. It is metrically conservative and at one point the poet declares that the events it deals with took place within living memory. Guthlac A is very …

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1107 words

Citation: Magennis, Hugh. "Guthlac". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 June 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4823, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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