The seminar will focus on allusions to and adaptations of the Old Testament found in Beowulf, in particular the Old English Genesis. The Old Testament not only served as a source for several "Christian" epics in Old English, but it provided a cultural mentality for the Anglo-Saxons who were engaged in creating a nation from the West-Saxon Alfred to the Danish Cnut. The class will examine Old Testament allusions and adaptations in Beowulf to discover to what extent the poem might be classified as a socio-political work. The OE texts will be read in the original.

Texts: Klaeber's Beowulf, 4th edition; Doane, Genesis A, extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and from the Campbell-Keynes edition of Encomium Emmae Reginae.

Prerequisites: English 547; English 548