Anonymous, The Poems of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Susanne Kries

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2: American (US) Literature and Culture.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 937

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
Poem collection

Resources

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The

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

(

ASC

) is the name commonly given to the group of texts containing annals which record the history of Anglo-Saxon England. Its seven manuscripts – referred to in scholarship by the letters A-G (quoted below behind the annal number) – include a number of poems that commemorate important moments in Anglo-Saxon history. That these

Chronicle

poems have generally received little scholarly attention is due to their allegedly marginal status within the overwhelmingly prose content of the

ASC

. Like most Anglo-Saxon poetry, they are transmitted anonymously, although three poems (annals 959-DEF, 1011-CDEF, 975-DE) have been attributed to Wulfstan, archbishop of York (1002-23).

The number of Chronicle poems is a question of debate. W. J. Sedgefield (1904) and later E. v.

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1088 words

Citation: Kries, Susanne. "The Poems of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11653, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Anonymous, The Poems of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

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