Primary Sources Recommended for Study

The following reading list has been compiled to suggest some primary sources for current students on the Tripos:


Part I Paper 5 - Old English language and literature

Paper co-ordinator: Professor Richard Dance

Introductory Textbooks

  • B. Mitchell and F. C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 8th ed. (Oxford, 2012)
  • P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English (Oxford, 2003)
  • R. Hasenfratz and T. Jambeck, Reading Old English: A Primer and First Reader (Morgantown WV, 2005)
  • C. Hough and J. Corbett, Beginning Old English (Basingstoke and New York, 2007)
  • M. McGillivray, A Gentle Introduction to Old English (Peterborough (Ontario), London, etc., 2011)
  • B. Mitchell, An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1995)

Some Editions and Translations

  • D. Bethurum, ed., The Homilies of Wulfstan (Oxford, 1957)
  • T. P. Dunning and A. J. Bliss, ed., The Wanderer (London, 1969)
  • I. L. Gordon, ed., The Seafarer (Manchester, 1960)
  • G. Jack, ed., Beowulf: A Student Edition (Oxford, 1994)
  • A. L. Klinck, ed., The Old English Elegies (Toronto, 1991)
  • R. F. Leslie, ed., Three Old English Elegies: The Wife's Lament, The Husband's Message, The Ruin (Manchester, 1961)
  • R. Marsden, The Cambridge Old English Reader, rev. ed. (Cambridge, 2015)
  • D. G. Scragg, ed., The Battle of Maldon (Manchester, 1981)
  • M. Swanton, ed., The Dream of the Rood (Manchester, 1970)
  • D. Whitelock, ed., Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, 3rd ed. (Exeter, 1976)
  • S. A. J. Bradley, trans., Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London, 1995)
  • R. Hamer, ed. and trans., A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse (London, 1970)
  • C. W. Kennedy, trans., The Earliest English Poetry (Oxford, 1943)
  • M. Swanton, trans., Anglo-Saxon Prose (London, 1993)
  • E. Treharne, ed. and trans., Old and Middle English: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000)
  • D. Whitelock, trans., English Historical Documents, c. 500-1042, 2nd ed. (London 1979)