We meet M 2:30 pm - 3:45 pm in SC W211

WEEK 6 Runes and Charms

M 27 Feb. Magic

• Read "Charms" in Shippey, pp. 183–186;
• Here is a copy of the Rune Poem in Old English. We will go over it in class;
• Read Christopher Fee, "Sacred Objects and Places," in Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain, pp. 111–116.
• Read the account of Ibn Fadlan, Muslim ambassador to the Volga Rus. (A film version is The Thirteenth Warrior with Antonio Banderas);
• Read the Dream of the Rood (click here to get to Shippey, then find it under "Other Old English Poems" and "Religious Poems");
• Browse pictures of Ruthwell at Visionary Cross (here is the gallery).

Topic: Magic. What is the nature of magic? How does it relate to naturally-occurring phenomena? (Here is Alaric Hall's book on elves in Anglo-Saxon England.)

W 1 Mar. Inexorability

• Read the Old English elegies: Wanderer, Seafarer, Wife's Lament, Wulf & Eadwacer in Shippey, Beowulf, pp. 143–160.
• Here is the Wanderer in Old English scanned.

Topic: What do all these poems have in common? What do their settings imply about the human condition? How does memory work in the speakers'complaints? Are there solutions to their problems? We will focus on The Wanderer.

DUE FRIDAY: Translation of a passage of Old English poetry. (Murray McGillavry has glossed, clickable editions of OE texts.)