The Old English Elegies: A Critical Edition and Genre Study

The nine elegies have all been edited separately between 1933 and 1983. Klinck builds on the extensive previous scholarship in the field and also draws on recently available materials, notably the microfiche, "Concordances", the first letters of the new "Old English Dictionary", and Bruce Mitchell's "Old English Syntax B" to make new suggestions about problematic words and passages. Going beyond an exploration of the literary potential of individual poems, Klinck examines them as separate manifestations of a common generic impulse. She moves from palaeographical and philological detail to broader literary and cultural considerations and, finally, to a definition of Old English elegys.