Università Roma Tre

Dialogues and monolgues in the Old English poem Beowulf

Through the reading of selected passages taken mainly from Beowulf, the course aims at analysing different typologis and stylistic features of speeches in Old English literature.
We'll see how monologues and dialogues have been used to advance the plot and to show the way characters interact and express their feelings.
Texts will be analyzed considering the main features of Old English poetry, that is literary strategies, style, peculiarities of
poetic language, grammatical structures and problems linked to their manuscript transmission.

Texts:
- Giuseppe Brunetti, ed., Beowulf, Roma: Carocci 2001(selection of passages).
- Other Old English texts that will be analysed during the course may be found in: B. Mitchell – F. C. Robinson, A guide to Old English, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2008, 7th ed.
or in The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/)

History of Old English Literature.
One of the following texts:
- F. C. Robinson, Old English, in B. Murdoch - M. Read (edd.), Early Germanic Literature and Culture, Camden House, Rochester-New York 2004, pp. 205-233.
- M. Francini, La letteratura anglosassone, in M. Battaglia (ed.), Le civiltà letterarie del Medioevo germanico, Carocci, Roma 2017, pp. 137-276.
- S. B. Greenfield and D.G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature, New York and Londob: New York University Press 1986.
- M. Godden-M. Lapidge, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991.

Critical essays:
- Robert E. Bjork, Speech as Gift in Beowulf, in Speculum, 69, No. 4 (1994), pp. 993-1022.
- Andy Orchard, A Critical Companion to Beowulf, Cambridge, D.S.Brewer 2007 (cap. 7: Words and Deeds, pp. 203-237).
- Elaine T. Hansen, Hrothgar's ‘sermon’ in Beowulf as parental wisdom, in Anglo-Saxon England 10 (1981), pp. 53-67.
- Joseph Harris, Beowulf’s Last Words, in Speculum 67 (1992), pp. 1-32.
- Marie Nelson, Beowulf's Boast Words, in Neophilologus 89:2 (2005): 299-310.

Old English Grammars:
- B. Mitchell - F. C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, Blackwell, Oxford 2008.
- R. Lass, Old English: a Historical Linguistic Companion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993.
- G. Mazzuoli Porru, Manuale di inglese antico, Giardini, Pisa 1992.

Textual criticism:
- A.M. Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel Medioevo germanico, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2010 (Parte I).

A variety of additional materials (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided during the course.
Students are advised to attend classes. Those who cannot attend them are requested to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course.