Institution: | North Texas State College |
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Department: | |
Year: | 1949 |
Keywords: | Anglo-Saxon charms; Old English poetry; English poetry – Old English, ca. 450-1100.; Charms. |
Record ID: | 1541795 |
Full text PDF: | http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83576/ |
The charms are among the oldest extant specimens of English prose and verse, and in their first form were undoubtedly of heathen origin. In the form in which they have been handed down they are much overlaid with Christian lore, but it is not difficult to recognize the primitive mythological strata. The charms have points of contact with medieval Latin literature, both in form and spirit; and yet they afford us glimpses of the Germanic past, and pictures of the everyday life of the Anglo-Saxons, not found in other Old English poetry.