Old English verse,

by Tom Shippey

Mr Shippey's book covers the whole range of Old English the heroic poems, notably Beowulf and Malden; the "elegies", such as The Wanderer and The Seafarer; the Bible stories and lives of the saints which mark the end of pagan influence and the beginning of Christian inspiration; the Junius Manuscript; and finally King Alfred. All the many quotations are translated.

Genres: Old English Literature, Medieval

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Thomas Alan Shippey is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien about whom he has written several books and many scholarly papers. His book The Road to Middle-Earth has been called "the single best thing written on Tolkien".

Shippey's education and academic career have in several ways retraced those of Tolkien: he attended King Edward's School, Birmingham, became a professional philologist, occupied Tolkien's professorial chair at the University of Leeds, and taught Old English at the University of Oxford to the syllabus that Tolkien had devised.

He has received three Mythopoeic Awards and a World Fantasy Award. He participated in the creation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, assisting the dialect coaches. He featured as an expert medievalist in all three of the documentary DVDs that accompany the special extended edition of the trilogy, and later also that of The Hobbit film trilogy.

Also publishes as T.A. Shippey.