adapted from a design by George Bain based on the Book of Kells home Programme Bookings Shop The Wuffings .
Wuffing Education
 

An Introduction to Old English

An Old English amulet ring from Kingmoor, Cumbria,

with Steve Pollington

at Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo (map)
on Saturday 27th September 2008

A beginner’s guide to the wonders of the Old English language and its literature.

Participants on this study-day will be introduced to the rudiments of the English language, including the writing systems. Some sample texts will be analysed, not just for the excitement of reading words written so many centuries ago, for example by Alfred the Great himself, but also to unlock the beauty of the language in action.
Finally, there will be an opportunity to reflect on the echoes of the Old English language in current forms of English.

Provisional Programme
  10.00 Coffee on arrival  
  10.15 The Old English Language - An overview of the Old English language and how it works.  
  11.15 Coffee  
  11.40 The Written Word - How to read Old English, the scripts, manuscript traditions and printing conventions.  
  12.40 Lunch break  
  14:00 Some Sample Texts - A look at three Old English texts and some ideas about contexts.  
  15:00 Tea break  
  15:15 Echoes - Aspects of OE which are still with us (place-names, etc.)  
  16:15 Close  

About Steve Pollington

Steve Pollington has been active in the field of Old English studies for over twenty years. Aside from authoring a dozen books on various aspects of early English culture and language, he has recorded CDs, worked as a script advisor for television, appeared on television and radio, and contributed to the prestigious Oxford Companion to Military History.

Some suggestions for further reading
(useful but not essential)

Alexander, M., The First Poems in English (Penguin Classics 2008)
Alexander, M., Old English Literature (Macmillan 1983)
Garmonsway, G., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Dent 1953, 1975)
Heaney, S., Beowulf: A New Translation (London 1999)
Mitchell, B., & F.Robinson, A Guide to Old English (Blackwell 1986-2001)
Mitchell, B., & F.Robinson, (eds), Beowulf (Blackwell 1998)
Newton, S., The Origins of Beowulf and the pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia (Brewer 1993-2004)
Pollington, S., Wordcraft: a concise dictionary and thesaurus, modern English to Old English (Anglo-Saxon Books 1993)
Pollington, S., First Steps in Old English (Anglo-Saxon Books )
Shippey, T.A., Old English Verse (London 1972)
Swanton, M.(ed. & tr.), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Phoenix 2000)
Whitelock, D., Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader (Oxford 1967)

Bookings

Please phone or email to check the availability of places and then send the application form and a cheque for £38, payable to Wuffing Education to:

Wuffing Education,
4 Hilly Fields,
Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4DX
(tel : 01394 386498)

Email cliff AT wuffingeducation.co.uk
(replace 'AT' by '@' in order to send email - we used 'AT' to avoid spam robots automatically sending us emails)
Website www.wuffingeducation.co.uk

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