The Aesthetics of Nostalgia : : Historical Representation in Old English Verse / / Renee R. Trilling.

• VerfasserIn: Trilling, Renee R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2019]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (352 p.)

Heroic poetry was central to the construction of Anglo-Saxon values, beliefs, and community identity and its subject matter is often analyzed as a window into Anglo-Saxon life. However, these poems are works of art as well as vehicles for ideology. Aesthetics of Nostalgia reads Anglo-Saxon historical verse in terms of how its aesthetic form interacted with the culture and politics of the period. Examining the distinctive poetic techniques found in vernacular historic poetry, Renée R. Trilling argues that the literary construction of heroic poetry promoted specific kinds of historical understanding in early medieval England, distinct from linear and teleological perceptions of the past. The Aesthetics of Nostalgia surveys Anglo-Saxon literary culture from the age of Bede to the decades following the Norman Conquest in order to explore its cultural impact through both its content and its form.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Form of History -- 1. Art and History in Old English Heroic Poetry -- 2. In Principio: Origins of the Present in Anglo-Saxon Biblical Verse -- 3. Verse Memorials and the Viking Conflict -- 4. Poetic Memory: The Canonical Verse of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle -- 5. Transitional Verse in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Changing the Shape of History -- Conclusion: The Past in the Present -- Bibliography -- Index -- TORONTO ANGLO-SAXON SERIES