nonymous Poems of the Cynewulfian School
(1) The Dream of the Rood 108
(2) Judith 116
(3) The Phoenix 132
(4) The Grave 157

III. POEMS FROM THE CHRONICLE
The Battle of Brunnanburg 159
The Battle of Maldon 163

APPENDIX--PROSE SELECTIONS
Account of the Poet Caedmon 179
Alfred's Preface to His Translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care" 183
Conversion of Edwin 187
Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan 189

PREFACE

These selections from Old English poetry have been translated to meet the
needs of that ever-increasing body of students who cannot read the poems
in their original form, but who wish nevertheless to enjoy to some extent
the heritage of verse which our early English ancestors have left for us.
Especially in the rapid survey of English literature given in most of our
colleges, a collection of translations covering the Anglo-Saxon period
and reflecting the form and spirit of the original poems should add much
to a fuller appreciation of the varied and rich, though uneven, literary
output of our earliest singers.

In subject-matter these Old English poems are full of the keenest
interest to students of history, of customs, of legend, of folk-lore, and
of art. They form a truly national literature; so that one who has read
them all has learned much not only of the life of the early English, but
of the feelings that inspired these folk, of their hopes, their fears,
and their superstitions, of their whole outlook on life. They took their
poetry seriously, as they did everything about them, and often in spite
of crudity of expression, of narrow vision, and of conventionalized modes
of speech, this very "high seriousness" raises an otherwise mediocre poem
to the level of real literature. Whatever may be said of the limitations
of Old English poetry, of its lack of humor, of the narrow range of its
sentiments, of the imitativeness of many of its most representative
specimens, it cannot be denied the nam