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Green blades rising: The Anglo-Saxons
Analyzes Anglo-Saxon life and attitudes through an examination of surviving prose and poetry, sculpture, jewelry, and architecture.
- GenresHistory
142 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Kevin Crossley-Holland
208 books244 followersKevin Crossley-Holland is an English poet and prize-winning author for children. His books include Waterslain Angels, a detective story set in north Norfolk in 1955, and Moored Man: A Cycle of North Norfolk Poems; Gatty's Tale, a medieval pilgrimage novel; and the Arthur trilogy (The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing-Places and King of the Middle March), which combines historical fiction with the retelling of Arthurian legend.
The Seeing Stone won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Smarties Prize Bronze Medal. The Arthur trilogy has won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages.
Crossley-Holland has translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon, and his retellings of traditional tales include The Penguin Book of Norse Myths and British Folk Tales (reissued as The Magic Lands). His collaborations with composers include two operas with Nicola Lefanu ("The Green Children" and "The Wildman") and one with Rupert Bawden, "The Sailor’s Tale"; song cycles with Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and a carol with Stephen Paulus for King’s College, Cambridge. His play, The Wuffings, (co-authored with Ivan Cutting) was produced by Eastern Angles in 1997.
He often lectures abroad on behalf of the British Council, regularly leads sessions for teachers and librarians, and visits primary and secondary schools. He offers poetry and prose workshops and talks on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, King Arthur, heroines and heroes, and myth, legend and folk-tale.
After seven years teaching in Minnesota, where he held an Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Kevin Crossley-Holland returned to the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, where he now lives.
He has a Minnesotan wife, Linda, two sons (Kieran and Dominic) and two daughters (Oenone and Eleanor). He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, a patron of the Society of Storytelling and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The Seeing Stone won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Smarties Prize Bronze Medal. The Arthur trilogy has won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages.
Crossley-Holland has translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon, and his retellings of traditional tales include The Penguin Book of Norse Myths and British Folk Tales (reissued as The Magic Lands). His collaborations with composers include two operas with Nicola Lefanu ("The Green Children" and "The Wildman") and one with Rupert Bawden, "The Sailor’s Tale"; song cycles with Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and a carol with Stephen Paulus for King’s College, Cambridge. His play, The Wuffings, (co-authored with Ivan Cutting) was produced by Eastern Angles in 1997.
He often lectures abroad on behalf of the British Council, regularly leads sessions for teachers and librarians, and visits primary and secondary schools. He offers poetry and prose workshops and talks on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, King Arthur, heroines and heroes, and myth, legend and folk-tale.
After seven years teaching in Minnesota, where he held an Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Kevin Crossley-Holland returned to the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, where he now lives.
He has a Minnesotan wife, Linda, two sons (Kieran and Dominic) and two daughters (Oenone and Eleanor). He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, a patron of the Society of Storytelling and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 5, 2020
Kevin Crossley-Holland – I like his writing. Anglo-Saxons – I’m interested in them. Should be a good combination, I thought as I handed over my £2.30.
And indeed it was, even though two pages had been torn out – quite possibly, as this was a withdrawn library book, for some student project or other. I thought it a pretty neat introduction to the Anglo-Saxons. For me, however, it was a bit of a revision read, rather than anything startlingly revealing. I did, nevertheless, find the section on religion interesting as it provided a straightforward introduction to an area of Anglo-Saxon life I’ve always had to look at before in the kind of detail I have been unengaged by. Moreover, now I live in the north closer to the seat of Northumbrian learning, I’m more inclined to take an interest.
Crossley-Holland wrote this for children/young people, and as such I’d recommend it.
And indeed it was, even though two pages had been torn out – quite possibly, as this was a withdrawn library book, for some student project or other. I thought it a pretty neat introduction to the Anglo-Saxons. For me, however, it was a bit of a revision read, rather than anything startlingly revealing. I did, nevertheless, find the section on religion interesting as it provided a straightforward introduction to an area of Anglo-Saxon life I’ve always had to look at before in the kind of detail I have been unengaged by. Moreover, now I live in the north closer to the seat of Northumbrian learning, I’m more inclined to take an interest.
Crossley-Holland wrote this for children/young people, and as such I’d recommend it.
December 23, 2007
This was one of the best introductions to Anglo-Saxon culture and history that I'd ever read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews