The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix
The opening section of the Old English poem The Phoenix derives from a fourth-century Latin poem, Carmen de ave phoenice, which is usually attributed to Lactantius. It is well known that The Phoenix Christianises and substantially enlarges upon descriptive details derived from its Latin source, but...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Springer Netherlands
2017
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| _version_ | 1797091387045314560 |
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| author | Appleton, H |
| author_facet | Appleton, H |
| author_sort | Appleton, H |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The opening section of the Old English poem The Phoenix derives from a fourth-century Latin poem, Carmen de ave phoenice, which is usually attributed to Lactantius. It is well known that The Phoenix Christianises and substantially enlarges upon descriptive details derived from its Latin source, but little detailed work has been done on how this actually takes place. The poet of The Phoenix’s expansions have been dismissed as prolix, yet when examined in light of similar passages elsewhere in the corpus of Old English literature, these additions can be seen to introduce images of particular resonance. This essay will focus on the landscape of the poem’s opening to argue for the Anglo-Saxon poet’s introduction of a distinctively insular spatial imaginaire to the setting inherited from the Latin source material. This insular imaginaire is in keeping with general trends in Anglo-Saxon literary culture, and ensures the resonance of The Phoenix’s resurrection allegory with its Anglo-Saxon audience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:32:17Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:bb1d67cd-2a68-4792-b95c-37bd90bd6b0b |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:32:17Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Springer Netherlands |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:bb1d67cd-2a68-4792-b95c-37bd90bd6b0b2022-03-27T05:14:43ZThe insular landscape of the Old English poem The PhoenixJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:bb1d67cd-2a68-4792-b95c-37bd90bd6b0bSymplectic Elements at OxfordSpringer Netherlands2017Appleton, HThe opening section of the Old English poem The Phoenix derives from a fourth-century Latin poem, Carmen de ave phoenice, which is usually attributed to Lactantius. It is well known that The Phoenix Christianises and substantially enlarges upon descriptive details derived from its Latin source, but little detailed work has been done on how this actually takes place. The poet of The Phoenix’s expansions have been dismissed as prolix, yet when examined in light of similar passages elsewhere in the corpus of Old English literature, these additions can be seen to introduce images of particular resonance. This essay will focus on the landscape of the poem’s opening to argue for the Anglo-Saxon poet’s introduction of a distinctively insular spatial imaginaire to the setting inherited from the Latin source material. This insular imaginaire is in keeping with general trends in Anglo-Saxon literary culture, and ensures the resonance of The Phoenix’s resurrection allegory with its Anglo-Saxon audience. |
| spellingShingle | Appleton, H The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title | The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title_full | The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title_fullStr | The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title_full_unstemmed | The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title_short | The insular landscape of the Old English poem The Phoenix |
| title_sort | insular landscape of the old english poem the phoenix |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT appletonh theinsularlandscapeoftheoldenglishpoemthephoenix AT appletonh insularlandscapeoftheoldenglishpoemthephoenix |