Download or read book Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry written by Thomas Birkett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry is the first book-length study to compare responses to runic heritage in the literature of Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Iceland. The Anglo-Saxon runic script had already become the preserve of antiquarians at the time the majority of Old English poetry was written down, and the Icelanders recording the mythology associated with the script were at some remove from the centres of runic practice in medieval Scandinavia. Both literary cultures thus inherited knowledge of the runic system and the traditions associated with it, but viewed this literate past from the vantage point of a developed manuscript culture. There has, as yet, been no comprehensive study of poetic responses to this scriptural heritage, which include episodes in such canonical texts as Beowulf, the Old English riddles and the poems of the Poetic Edda. By analysing the inflection of the script through shared literary traditions, this study enhances our understanding of the burgeoning of literary self-awareness in early medieval vernacular poetry and the construction of cultural memory, and furthers our understanding of the relationship between Anglo-Saxon and Norse textual cultures. The introduction sets out in detail the rationale for examining runes in poetry as a literary motif and surveys the relevant critical debates. The body of the volume is comprised of five linked case studies of runes in poetry, viewing these representations through the paradigm of scriptural reconstruction and the validation of contemporary literary, historical and religious sensibilities.
Download or read book Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry written by Thomas Birkett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry is the first book-length study to compare responses to runic heritage in the literature of Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Iceland. The Anglo-Saxon runic script had already become the preserve of antiquarians at the time the majority of Old English poetry was written down, and the Icelanders recording the mythology associated with the script were at some remove from the centres of runic practice in medieval Scandinavia. Both literary cultures thus inherited knowledge of the runic system and the traditions associated with it, but viewed this literate past from the vantage point of a developed manuscript culture. There has, as yet, been no comprehensive study of poetic responses to this scriptural heritage, which include episodes in such canonical texts as Beowulf, the Old English riddles and the poems of the Poetic Edda. By analysing the inflection of the script through shared literary traditions, this study enhances our understanding of the burgeoning of literary self-awareness in early medieval vernacular poetry and the construction of cultural memory, and furthers our understanding of the relationship between Anglo-Saxon and Norse textual cultures. The introduction sets out in detail the rationale for examining runes in poetry as a literary motif and surveys the relevant critical debates. The body of the volume is comprised of five linked case studies of runes in poetry, viewing these representations through the paradigm of scriptural reconstruction and the validation of contemporary literary, historical and religious sensibilities.
Download or read book The Old English Rune Poem written by Maureen Halsall and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 1981-12-15 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This critical edition provides unique access to a work which has challenged scholars and students alike. The book is the first to deal fully with the poem as literature and to supply the runic background necessary for an understanding of the raw materials with which the poet was working. The introduction offers a thorough discussion of the origin, development, and uses of runes before proceeding to the close examination of text, language, literary sources, style, and themes of the poem. Following the text and translation of the poem proper, detailed explanatory notes pay particular attention to the background of each individual rune and rune name, and the appendixes provide analogous material to assist in setting the poet's achievement into the runic context. Since many of the sources necessary for an accurate assessement of the Old English Rune Poem are written in foreign or dead languages, modern English translations have been provided throughout to ensure that the poem will be accessible to students as well as to professional medievalists. (McMaster Old English Studies and Texts 2)
Download or read book A Pocket Guide to Runes written by Ben Waggoner and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-12-22 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Runes. . . the very name seems to conjure up mystery. Runes appear everywhere from rock album covers to Viking and fantasy movies. But what are they, and how are they used? What do they mean? How and why are they used in magic and in divination? This handy pocket-sized booklet presents a brief working knowledge of the ancient writing system of the Germanic-speaking peoples. After learning about the runes' origins and their uses, both for writing mundane texts and for magic and divination, you can look up individual rune letters and explore the surprisingly complex symbolism behind them. Fresh translations of the old rune poems round out this brief but informative introduction.
Download or read book English Poetry and Old Norse Myth written by Heather O'Donoghue and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-07-17 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English Poetry and Old Norse Myth: A History traces the influence of Old Norse myth — stories and poems about the familiar gods and goddesses of the pagan North, such as Odin, Thor, Baldr and Freyja — on poetry in English from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. Especial care is taken to determine the precise form in which these poets encountered the mythic material, so that the book traces a parallel history of the gradual dissemination of Old Norse mythic texts. Very many major poets were inspired by Old Norse myth. Some, for instance the Anglo-Saxon poet of Beowulf, or much later, Sir Walter Scott, used Old Norse mythic references to lend dramatic colour and apparent authenticity to their presentation of a distant Northern past. Others, like Thomas Gray, or Matthew Arnold, adapted Old Norse mythological poems and stories in ways which both responded to and helped to form the literary tastes of their own times. Still others, such as William Blake, or David Jones, reworked and incorporated celebrated elements of Norse myth - valkyries weaving the fates of men, or the great World Tree Yggdrasill on which Odin sacrificed himself - as personal symbols in their own poetry. This book also considers less familiar literary figures, showing how a surprisingly large number of poets in English engaged in individual ways with Old Norse myth. English Poetry and Old Norse Myth: A History demonstrates how attitudes towards the pagan mythology of the north change over time, but reveals that poets have always recognized Old Norse myth as a vital part of the literary, political and historical legacy of the English-speaking world.
Download or read book The Nordic Book of Runes written by Jonathan Dee and published by Ryland Peters & Small. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to the secrets of rune-reading, an ancient predictive art, that teaches you how to lay out runes and interpret them instantly. Once the sacred alphabet of the Germanic people of Northern Europe, runes are more than 2,000 years old. Runes (meaning a secret or mystery) were words of power, once carved on amulets, rings and weapons, and found as inscriptions on tombstones. The 1st rune, Fehu, is connected with cattle, and since wealth was measured in the number of cows a person owned, it has an underlying meaning of material wealth. The 11th rune, Isa, literally means 'ice', signifying danger and the probability of slipping up. Likewise, the 17th rune, Tiwaz, shares its significance with the North Star as an aid to navigation and charting life's path. In this insightful book, each of the runes is fully described, together with the symbolic images and celestial phenomena associated with them. Methods of laying out, or 'casting' the runes are described in order to give a full and comprehensive reading to answer any question. There are six spreads to choose from, from Odin's Rune, a simple reading with one rune stone, to using up to nine runes for deeper insight into the past, present and future.
Download or read book An Introduction to English Runes written by Raymond Ian Page and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England. Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents. The late R.I. PAGE was former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.
Download or read book Nordic Runes written by Paul Rhys Mountfort and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 2003-05-05 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals the ancient oracle based on the runic Elder Futhark alphabet of the Norse.
Download or read book Runes and Runic Inscriptions written by Raymond Ian Page and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 1998 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays that comprise this study range from detailed discussion of the forms of particular runes in the runic alphabet to the wider matters on which runes throw light, such as magic, paganism, literacy and linguistic change.
Download or read book The Runes written by J Hamburger and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-05 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This modern guide explains everything you need to know to start doing your own in-depth rune readings. The descriptions are rich and accurate, based on new translations of the original rune poems. J. Hamburger combines deep respect for the ancient texts with practical rune-reading experience to bring you a truly authentic and inspiring book.Rune reading is a tool for gaining insight. Some see it as divination-a way of tapping into hidden knowledge. Others use it for self-reflection or focusing intention. Consulting the runes can be like talking to an old friend: you may know the truth, but sometimes you need to hear it before you believe it. However you use them, these ancient symbols will help you access your intuitive wisdom.Before Christianity spread to northern Europe, the indigenous peoples of the region were Germanic tribes, like the Anglo-Saxons, Goths, and Norsemen. Runes were the letters of their alphabets. Over time these letters developed rich symbolic meanings, passed down through poems and myths. Like most pre-Christian cultures, the Germanic peoples were polytheistic, and they revered natural elements as sacred. When you pick up the runes, you are entering a vibrant world, grounded in nature and everyday life, yet full of heroes, gods, and mythology.Most of what we know about runes comes from just a few ancient poems. It may be tempting to focus on the "nicer" elements from each poem, overlooking anything too difficult or unpleasant, but it's clear from the poems that runes have a dark side-and we know from history that the people who used them were both fearless and fearsome. This book doesn't leave anything out. All of the mystical depth is there, and so is the fighting spirit.
Download or read book Runes written by Raymond Ian Page and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the ancient writing system used by Northmen, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings, and the inscriptions found in Scandanavia, the British Isles, and North America.
Download or read book The Waning Sword Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in Beowulf written by Edward Pettit and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The image of a giant sword melting stands at the structural and thematic heart of the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. This meticulously researched book investigates the nature and significance of this golden-hilted weapon and its likely relatives within Beowulf and beyond, drawing on the fields of Old English and Old Norse language and literature, liturgy, archaeology, astronomy, folklore and comparative mythology. In Part I, Pettit explores the complex of connotations surrounding this image (from icicles to candles and crosses) by examining a range of medieval sources, and argues that the giant sword may function as a visual motif in which pre-Christian Germanic concepts and prominent Christian symbols coalesce. In Part II, Pettit investigates the broader Germanic background to this image, especially in relation to the god Ing/Yngvi-Freyr, and explores the capacity of myths to recur and endure across time. Drawing on an eclectic range of narrative and linguistic evidence from Northern European texts, and on archaeological discoveries, Pettit suggests that the image of the giant sword, and the characters and events associated with it, may reflect an elemental struggle between the sun and the moon, articulated through an underlying myth about the theft and repossession of sunlight. The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in 'Beowulf' is a welcome contribution to the overlapping fields of Beowulf-scholarship, Old Norse-Icelandic literature and Germanic philology. Not only does it present a wealth of new readings that shed light on the craft of the Beowulf-poet and inform our understanding of the poem’s major episodes and themes; it further highlights the merits of adopting an interdisciplinary approach alongside a comparative vantage point. As such, The Waning Sword will be compelling reading for Beowulf-scholars and for a wider audience of medievalists.
Download or read book Rudiments of Runelore written by Stephen Pollington and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This little volume provides a useful introduction and guide to the ancient runes of the Germanic peoples. It discusses the origins and meaning of all the known runes, and includes text and translations of rune poems and riddles from England, Norway amd Iceland, as well as two short essays on The Norfolk TIW runes' and The Brandon runes'.
Download or read book Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples written by Bruce Dickins and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-21 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1915, this book presents a selection of poems written by 'the Old Teutonic Peoples'. The text is divided into two main sections containing 'Runic Poems' and 'Heroic Poems'. The majority of the poems are of Anglo-Saxon derivation, but there are also Norwegian, Icelandic and Old High German inclusions. All poems are given in the original language with a facing-page English translation. Detailed notes and bibliographies are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Anglo-Saxon and related poetry.
Download or read book Runes written by Michael P. Barnes and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a full introduction to and survey of runes and runology: their history, how they were used, and their interpretation. Runes, often considered magical symbols of mystery and power, are in fact an alphabetic form of writing. Derived from one or more Mediterranean prototypes, they were used by Germanic peoples to write different kinds of Germanic language, principally Anglo-Saxon and the various Scandinavian idioms, and were carved into stone, wood, bone, metal, and other hard surfaces; types of inscription range from memorials to the dead, through Christian prayers and everyday messages to crude graffiti. First reliably attested in the second century AD, runes were in due course supplanted by the roman alphabet, though in Anglo-Saxon England they continued in use until the early eleventh century, inScandinavia until the fifteenth (and later still in one or two outlying areas). This book provides an accessible, general account of runes and runic writing from their inception to their final demise. It also covers modern uses of runes, and deals with such topics as encoded texts, rune names, how runic inscriptions were made, runological method, and the history of runic research. A final chapter explains where those keen to see runic inscriptions can most easily find them. Professor MICHAEL P, BARNES is Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University College London.
Download or read book The Norse Myths written by Tom Birkett and published by . This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The great Norse Myths are among the most dramatic and unforgettable stories in all human history. These fascinating, fantastical tales have inspired centuries of art, culture and literature, including the storytelling of Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, Wagner's Ring Cycle and Marvel Comics. The Norse Myths takes us on a thrilling journey through the Norse cosmos, from the creation of the world to Ragnarok, the final world-destroying conflict; via the Nine Worlds, and the exploits of the mighty gods and goddesses - mystical Odin, malicious Loki, mighty Thor and more - and their quarrel with the giants. Bringing to life the magical world of monsters and mythical creatures, this also introduces the adventures of humankind: folk heroes and tricksters; Sigmund's great battle in the Volsung Saga; the exploits of Kings and Princes; and Viking exploration and settlement of new lands including Iceland, Greenland, America, and Viking life in the Mediterranean and the East. As well as a treasure trove of these epic stories of heroism and cruelty, squabbles and seductions, The Norse Myths is a comprehensive study of their origins, survival and interpretations - as academically important as it is exhilarating.
Download or read book The Rune Edda written by and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-13 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time in history, a piece of world literature has been transliterated into runes. In using the Elder Futhark I created a moment of antiquity for such an ancient yet important text that allows readers to see the Elder Futhark and English side-by-side. Although it can be argued that Elder Futhark predates the Viking Era, I chose to use this Futhark because, similarly, our oral history, too, predates the Viking Era. The Poetic Edda, also known as the Elder Edda, is an essential and timeless piece of ancient history predating the Viking age, through oral history, by at least a millennia. Denoting poems of the Norse Pantheon, Mythology, and Germanic legends and sagas, this collection is understandably one of the most influential pieces of Northern European lore ever produced and has significantly shaped and influenced the literature that came after it. The oldest copy of The Poetic Edda was so valuable that even the xtian bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson gifted it in the form of the Codex Regius to the King of Denmark in 1662, returning it to its original home. Even to this day, The Poetic Edda is still considered a national treasure by Heathens worldwide. This collection is a must-have for all my fellow Heathens, Pagans, collectors and fans of Viking lore out there in Heathendom. With this book, you can take a step back in time and immerse yourself both culturally and spiritually in these myths and legends from an age in history that inspires some of the greatest stories of the Gods and heroes to date.Hail The Gods!Gralok Loptsson
