Beowulf: An Edition - Paperback

by Bruce Mitchell (Editor), Fred C. Robinson (Editor)

This magnificent new edition, which includes relevant shorter texts and key illustrations, is designed specifically to help those who, while already enjoying some acquaintance with Old English, come to Beowulf for the first time.

Back Jacket

Bruce Mitchell and Fred Robinson are two of the foremost scholars in the field of Old English language and literature. Here, they draw on their extensive learning and teaching experience in order to create the definitive classroom edition of the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, which describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior.

The book opens with an extensive introduction to Beowulf and the critical debates surrounding it. The poem itself is presented with explanatory footnotes to make it more easily intelligible. The editors then give a detailed account of how they arrived at their text, before finally guiding readers through the background to the poem. A selection of related poetry, an illustrated chapter on Anglo-Saxon archaeology, and a full glossary complete the volume.

Mitchell and Robinson's accessible edition of Beowulf is ideal for readers coming to this masterpiece of Old English poetry for the first time.

Author Biography

Bruce Mitchell is Fellow Emeritus at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. His many publications include An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England (Blackwell, 1994).

Fred C. Robinson is Douglas Tracy Smith Emeritus Professor of English at Yale University. His books include The Tomb of Beowulf, and Other Essays on Old English (Blackwell, 1993).
The sixth edition of Mitchell and Robinson's A Guide to Old English was published by Blackwell in 2001.