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Noah's Flood is one of the Bible's most popular stories, and flood myths survive in many cultures today. This book presents the first comprehensive examination of the incorporation of the Flood myth into the Anglo-Saxon imagination. Focusing on literary representations, it contributes to our understanding of how Christian Anglo-Saxons perceived their place in the cosmos. For them, history unfolded between the primeval Deluge and a future - perhaps imminent - flood of fire, which would destroy the world. This study reveals both an imaginative diversity and shared interpretations of the Flood myth. Anglo-Saxons saw the Flood as a climactic event in God's ongoing war with his more rebellious creatures, but they also perceived the mystery of redemption through baptism. Anlezark studies a range of texts against their historical background, and discusses shifting emphases in the way the Flood was interpreted for diverse audiences. The book concludes with a discussion of Beowulf, relating the epic poem's presentation of the Flood myth to that of other Anglo-Saxon texts.

Floods in literature. --- Floods --- Mythology, Anglo-Saxon. --- Christianity and literature --- Deluge in literature. --- Christian literature, English (Old) --- Anglo-Saxon mythology --- Flooding --- Inundations --- Natural disasters --- Water --- Mythology --- History --- History and criticism. --- English literature --- Literature --- Literary Studies: Classical, Early & Medieval --- HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General --- European history --- Andreas. --- Anglo-Saxons. --- Bede. --- Beowulf. --- Christianity. --- Exodus. --- Flood myth. --- Noah. --- apocalypse. --- biblical story. --- covenant. --- cultural self-definition. --- historical metaphor. --- inheritance. --- mysticism. --- sin and punishment. --- vital myth.

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This book addresses a little-considered aspect of the study of the history of emotions in medieval literature: the depiction of perplexing emotional reactions. Medieval literature often confronts audiences with displays of emotion that are improbable, physiologically impossible, or simply unfathomable in modern social contexts. The intent of such episodes is not always clear; medieval texts rarely explain emotional responses or their motivations. The implication is that the meanings communicated by such emotional display were so obvious to their intended audience that no explanation was required. This raises the question of whether such meanings can be recovered. This is the task to which the contributors to this book have put themselves. In approaching this question, this book does not set out to be a collection of literary studies that treat portrayals of emotion as simple tropes or motifs, isolated within their corpora. Rather, it seeks to uncover how such manifestations of feeling may reflect cultural and social dynamics underlying vernacular literatures from across the medieval North Sea world. Erin Sebo is Associate Professor of Early English Literature and Language at Flinders University, Australia. Matthew Firth is Associate Lecturer in Medieval History and Literature at Flinders University, Australia. Daniel Anlezark is the McCaughey Professor of Early English Literature and Language at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Theory of knowledge --- Old English literature --- History as a science --- History of civilization --- History --- History of Europe --- historiografie --- intellectuele ontwikkeling --- cultuurgeschiedenis --- geschiedenis --- literatuur --- Europese geschiedenis --- middeleeuwen --- anno 500-1499 --- Europe --- Literature, Medieval --- Emotions in literature. --- Historiography. --- Civilization --- Intellectual life --- History and criticism. --- Methodology. --- History.

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This collection of essays examines the motifs of darkness, depression, and descent in both literal and figurative manifestations within a variety of Anglo-Saxon texts, including the Old English Consolation of Philosophy, Beowulf, Guthlac, The Junius Manuscript, The Wonders of the East, and The Battle of Maldon. Essays deal with such topics as cosmic emptiness, descent into the grave, and recurrent grief. In their analyses, the essays reveal the breadth of this imagery in Anglo-Saxon literature as it is used to describe thought and emotion, as well as the limits to knowledge and perception. The volume investigates the intersection between the burgeoning interest in trauma studies and darkness and the representation of the mind or of emotional experience within Anglo-Saxon literature.

Light and darkness in literature. --- Anglo-Saxon. --- Darkness. --- Depression. --- Mind.