Major Authors: Old English and Beowulf

hƿæt ƿe gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon…. Those are the first words of the Old English epic _Beowulf_, and in this class you will learn to read them. Besides being the language of Rohan in the novels of Tolkien, Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is a language of long, cold, and lonely winters; of haunting beauty found in unexpected places; and of unshakable resolve in the face of insurmountable odds. It is, in short, the perfect language for MIT students. After learning the basics of grammar and vocabulary, we will read not just excerpts from the great _Beowulf_ but also heartrending laments (_The Wanderer, The Wife's Lament_), an account of the Crucifixion as narrated by the Cross itself (_The Dream of the Rood_), and a host of riddles whose solutions range from the sacred to the obscene but are always ingenious. We will also try our hand at composing our own sentences—and maybe even poems—in Old English. Level: Beginner. Free course materials from MIT OpenCourseWare including lecture notes, assignments, and exams.