AS Poetry

Early Period Poetry

If you have any suggestions or links to add, please contact me.

Anglo Saxon	Nordic/Icelandic	Welsh	Irish


Anglo-Saxon Alliterative Poetry
Want all the structure with none of the rhyme? Look at this website about Alliterative and Accentual Poetry. Also, Readings of old English Poetry, Building Blocks of Old English Poetry and Anglo-Saxon Accentual Meter. And a Lexicon of Kennings.
Old English Poetry and Literature: A nicely-done encyclopedic background overview of the subject.
Meter and Poetic Style in Saxon poetry, from Baker's Introduction to Old English.
Alliterative Verse: Wikipedia article compares Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Germanic styles.
Complete corpus of Anglo Saxon Poetry
Anglo-Saxon Aloud: A daily reading of the Anglo-Saxon poetic records.
Middangeard: Anthology of Old English texts in translations into Modern English. . . a Slovakian website!
Sites dealing with the Battle of Maldon: One with background historical information, one with commentary and a translation, and in Saxon.
The Wanderer Project: a closer look at the Wanderer.
Here is a very close translation of Beowulf. From the Beowulf on Steorarume .
Beowulf in Hypertext
More Resources for the study of Beowulf.
Beowulf lesson plan resources from ReadWriteThink.
A site dedicated to the scop, the Saxon equivalent of the bard.
Verbal Dueling: Comparing Unferth's sparing and rap. Hwaet, yo.
On a related note, a lesson plan: Scops, Rappers and You: Historians with Style!
A large list of Anglo-Saxon Links. Or go straight to the Language and Poetry section.
Anglo Saxon Poetry Guide and Background to Saxon Poetry: two class handouts. And some modern samples in the style.
*SCA Anglo Saxon Poetry Contest for April 2006*

Nordic/Icelandic Poetry
A page about constructing Nordic poetry, and an overview of Skaldic poetry.
Nordic Prosody, featuring Fornyrðislag, Málaháttr, Kviðuháttr, Ljóðaháttr, and Runhenda
Overview of Norse Poetry from Wikipedia.
Jörmungrund: Icelandic Poetry website.
Poetic Edda: the Thorpe Translation.
Alliterative Verse: Wikipedia article compares Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Germanic styles.
A list of Nordic (okay, Viking) Links.
Skaldic Project homepage: An international project to edit the corpus of medieval Norse-Icelandic skaldic poetry.
The Mead Hall: contemporary examples of the style, sung.

Welsh Poetry
Katherine Bryant's Introduction to Welsh Poetry.
The Four Branches of the Mabinogion.
Wiki article on Y Gododdin.
Y Gododdin, translated and with background information, and in the original .
Welsh Literature from Go Britannia.

Irish Poetry
Wikipedia entries on Irish Poetry and Metrical Dindshenchas
Irish Poetic Forms by Russel Gilman-Hunt
Irish Poetic Forms by Maureen O'Brien.