Old English Poetry and Its Legacy

Published as a special issue of Humanities journal, this collection of essays was originally assembled in honor of John D. Niles, who has long been a major voice in Old English studies. Each of the eight essays refers to at least one of Professor Niles’s works and each one of which significantly advances the field to which Niles has chiefly dedicated his remarkable career. The collection focuses on the legacy of Old English poetry broadly conceived and includes studies of particular poems, themes, and verse passages; of the translation or reception history of particular texts; of linguistic features of the poetry and their subsequent influence; of current historical and archaeological studies and how they illuminate the poetry or vice versa; of Old English poetry’s influence on various fields such as music or art; and of how an understanding of Old English prose or medieval Latin literature enriches appreciation of the poetry.