Codex Exoniensis - The Exeter Book. A Collection of Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Anonymoustranslated Bybenjamin Thorpe
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Exeter Book (Codex Exoniensis). This book was presented to his Cathedral by Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter, about the middle of the 11th century. It is preserved in the Cathedral Library at Exeter; the first leaves are missing, and the last leaves are injured; the handwriting of the MS belongs probably to the first half of the 11th century.
In the catalogue of Leofric’s donations to his cathedral, this volume is entered as 'one great English book on various subjects, composed in verse'.
The Exeter Book is the largest extant manuscript of Old English literature and containing approximately one sixth of the Old English poetry that survives.
The most striking characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Poetry are: inversion of phrase; redundance of metaphor; “parallelism,” or repetition in synonymous terms of the same act or idea. Both rhyme and alliteration are found in Anglo-Saxon Poetry, but rhyme is less generally introduced. The structure of the verse is trochaic; the line is divided into two halves by the Caesura, each half line having two stressed syllables, the, unstressed syllables varying in number; the half lines are associated by alliteration, one stressed syllable at least in each half line beginning with a similar consonant, or vowel. Usually the alliteration falls on the two stressed syllables in the first half line and the first stressed syllable in the second. (Summary by Marian Edwardes and Preface) (8 hr 7 min)
Chapters
To Jesus Christ | 3:54 | Read by InTheDesert |
To the Virgin Mary | 9:00 | Read by Stefan Von Blon |
On the Nativity | 6:22 | Read by Devorah Allen |
On the same | 5:43 | Read by Devorah Allen |
To the Trinity | 2:28 | Read by Larry Wilson |
On the Nativity | 1:41 | Read by Larry Wilson |
On the Nativity and Ascension | 5:18 | Read by Agnes Robert Behr |
On the Ascension and the Harrowing of Hell | 5:06 | Read by Devorah Allen |
Hymn of Praise and Thanksgiving | 5:14 | Read by czandra |
Hymn in continuation of the foregoing | 5:14 | Read by czandra |
Poems on the Day of Judgment, I-III. | 23:54 | Read by Emma Charlotte |
On the Crucifixion | 7:25 | Read by TR Love |
On the Day of Judgment, I-II. | 12:07 | Read by czandra |
On the Crucifixion etc. | 6:44 | Read by Larry Wilson |
Of Souls after Death etc., I-II. | 10:45 | Read by Vinny Lerin |
Poem, Moral and Religious | 3:35 | Read by Christine Bowden |
The Legend of St. Guthlac Part 1 | 22:05 | Read by czandra |
The Legend of St. Guthlac Part 2 | 21:17 | Read by czandra |
The Legend of St. Guthlac Part 3 | 22:14 | Read by czandra |
The Story of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah paraphrased | 11:32 | Read by Belinda McReynolds |
The Phoenix Part 1 | 14:05 | Read by Vinny Lerin |
The Phoenix Part 2 | 21:26 | Read by Vinny Lerin |
The Legend of St. Juliana Part 1 | 20:25 | Read by Adrian Stephens |
The Legend of St. Juliana Part 2 | 23:53 | Read by Adrian Stephens |
The Wanderer | 7:33 | Read by Ehsan Ahmed Mehedi |
On the Endowments and Pursuits of Men | 6:19 | Read by czandra |
A Father’s Instruction to his Son | 5:45 | Read by czandra |
The Seafarer | 8:23 | Read by Ehsan Ahmed Mehedi |
Monitory Poem | 4:44 | Read by czandra |
The Scop or Scald’s Tale | 8:57 | Read by czandra |
On the Various Fortunes of Men | 5:21 | Read by czandra |
Gnomic Verses, I-III. | 19:23 | Read by earl |
On the Wonders of the Creation | 5:48 | Read by czandra |
Riming Poem | 6:27 | Read by Devorah Allen |
The Panther | 4:04 | Read by czandra |
The Whale | 4:28 | Read by czandra |
A Fragment | 1:29 | Read by Christine Bowden |
A Departed Soul's Address to the Body, I. | 7:09 | Read by Christine Bowden |
A Departed Soul's Address to the Body, II. | 2:53 | Read by Christine Bowden |
Deor the Scald's Complaint | 2:39 | Read by czandra |
Riddles Part 1 | 18:52 | Read by Adrian Stephens |
Riddles Part 2 | 18:53 | Read by Adrian Stephens |
Riddles Part 3 | 18:00 | Read by Adrian Stephens |
The Exile's Complaint | 3:50 | Read by Agnes Robert Behr |
On the Day of Judgment | 6:45 | Read by InTheDesert |
A Supplication | 6:59 | Read by czandra |
On the Resurrection and the Harrowing of Hell | 8:43 | Read by Vinny Lerin |
Religious Poem | 1:10 | Read by Agnes Robert Behr |
A Fragment | 1:11 | Read by Rebecca Eden Walker |
The Lord’s Prayer paraphrased | 1:30 | Read by Rebecca Eden Walker |
Maxims | 1:41 | Read by czandra |
Riddles | 2:43 | Read by czandra |
A Fragment | 3:20 | Read by Agnes Robert Behr |
The Ruin | 3:01 | Read by czandra |
Riddles | 17:42 | Read by Hansen1021 |