Anglo-Saxon Oral Poetry: A Study of the Traditions

This book attempts to describe an essentially ephemeral phenomenon that disappeared at least 900 years ago: the poetry that was diffused orally by the Anglo-Saxons. It attempts to do this through a study of all the available sources of evidence extant from Anglo-Saxon England. Where such evidence is confusing or lacking, reference is made to information derived from the study of other oral poetic traditions, living or dead. The approach to the subject of Anglo-Saxon oral poetry adopted in this book differs in three respects from other studies of the same subject: it accepts only the evidence in Old English or Anglo-Latin extant from Anglo-Saxon England as primary; it surveys that evidence chronologically; and for supplementary evidence it draws to a large extent on the living traditions of Africa. I have tried to assemble as much primary information as I could find that is relevant to our understanding of Anglo-Saxon oral poetry, and have tried to separate that evidence quite clearly from all other evidence, which I consider to be secondary.