Università Roma Tre

Dreams and visions in Old English literature.

The course will examine a variety of Old English literary texts in poetry and prose focusing on different kinds of dreams and visions (prophetic, truth-telling, otherworld journeys) The topic will be developed through the reading of works such as the Dream of the Rood and passages taken from the biblical stories contained in the manuscript Junius 11 and excerpts from the homiletic tradition.

Problems of a philological, linguistic and literary nature will be tackled considering the peculiarities of Anglo-Saxon production, its relations with other texts of the Latin and Germanic tradition and the way in which the patterns derived from these traditions have been employed.
There will be surveys and presentations, individual or in groups, on various issues dealt with during the lessons.

Students are advised to attend classes. Those who cannot attend them are requested to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course.

Texts
- B. Mitchell - F. C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, Blackwell, Oxford 2008
- M. Swanton, The Dream of the Rood, Exeter, University of Exeter Press 1996
- G. P. Krapp, E. Van Kirk Dobbie, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition, 6 vols, New York: Columbia University Press, 1931-1953 ( 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.
Liuzza R. M., ed., Anglo-Saxon prognostics : an edition and translation of texts from London, British Library, Ms Cotton Tiberius A.III, Woodbridge: Boydell 2011.

Old English Grammars:
One of the following texts:
- 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.
- J. Wright, Old English Grammar, London-New York, Oxford University Press 1914 (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027322613#page/n5/mode/2up).

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.