Extant manuscripts

The Peterborough Chronicle, in a hand of about 1150, is one of the major sources of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

A large number of manuscripts remain from the Anglo-Saxon period, with most written
during its last 300 years (9th to 11th centuries), in both Latin and the vernacular. There
were considerable losses of manuscripts as a result of the Dissolution of the
Monasteries in the 16th century.[2] Scholarly study of the language began in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I when Matthew Parker and others obtained whatever manuscripts
they could.[2] Old English manuscripts have been highly prized by collectors since the
16th century, both for their historic value and for their aesthetic beauty with their
uniformly spaced letters and decorative elements.[2]

There are four major poetic manuscripts:

The Junius manuscript, also known as the Cædmon manuscript, is an illustrated

collection of poems on biblical narratives.

The Exeter Book is an anthology, located in the Exeter Cathedral since it was donated
there in the 11th century.
 The Vercelli Book contains both poetry and prose; it is not known how it came to be
in Vercelli.

The Beowulf Manuscript (British Library Cotton Vitellius A. xv), sometimes called the
Nowell Codex, contains prose and poetry, typically dealing with monstrous themes,
including Beowulf

The characteristics of old English poetry :

Oral :

Almost all of the literature of this period was orally transmitted, and almost all poems
were intended for oral performance. As a result of this, Anglo-Saxon poetry tends to be
highly rhythmical.

Old English poetry was an oral craft, and our understanding of it in written form is
incomplete; for example, we know that the poet (referred to as the Scop) could be
accompanied by a harp, and there may be other aural traditions of which we are not
aware.

Anonymity

Most Old English poets are anonymous, with only four known authors: Caedmon,
Cynewulf, Bede and Alfred the Great

Themes

Old English poetry was written during a time with many battles and struggles over land,
culture and religion. Themes include good versus evil, religion, bravery and mortality.
Much Old English poetry consists of epics featuring battles and heroes, drawing on
Christian and pagan sources. One example of this type of heroic epic poem is "Beowulf,"
the longest Old English poem, which glorifies the hero and commends him for his
bravery. Christian themes from both the Old and New Testament are also often present
in Old English poetry, particularly in the poems of Caedmon and Cynewulf.

Poetic Line and Meter

Lines in Old English poetry are broken into two further half-lines, or verses. A pause, or
caesura, separates the two verses. The first verse is called the on verse, and the second
is called the off verse. Each verse contains two rhythm units called feet, which contain a
stressed syllable either followed or preceded by one or more unstressed syllables. These
stressed and unstressed syllables make up the five most common rhythmical patterns in
Old English poetry.

 each line is made up of two half-lines (in Old English studies usually called
verses) of contrasting rhythms separated by a brief pause.

Hroðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga

Hroðgar replied, protector of the Scyldinga

 Each half-line consists of two rhythm units (feet).

Hroðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga

A B A B

 Each foot contains a stressed syllable, shown here underlined, preceded or

followed by one or more unaccented syllables.

Hroðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga

 The two halves are joined by the repetition of the initial sound of certain
accented syllables (alliteration). One such syllable in each half-line must
alliterate. In the second half-line, the first accented syllable is the dominant one,
and this may alliterate with either or both the accented syllables in the first half-
line.

Hroðgar maþelode, helm Scyldinga

 The rules governing alliteration are simple: a pair of accented syllables alliterate
when they both begin with the same consonant, or when they both begin with a
vowel. Any vowel can alliterate with any other vowel.
Alliteration

Because Old English poetry doesn't rhyme, alliteration becomes a key characteristic and
plays a large part in the structure of the meter and its distinctive sound. Alliteration is
the repetition of the initial consonant sound of stressed syllables. The two half-lines, or
verses, are joined together by this alliteration, which occurs either when a pair of
accented syllables both begin with the same consonant, or when they both begin with
any vowel. One syllable in each verse must alliterate.

Kenning

A significant characteristic of Old English poetry is its use of compounds words, with
either one word modifying the other word, or, more commonly, with both words
meaning relatively the same thing. A kenning is an important type of compound used in
Old English poetry, referring to a thing more metaphorically or as a metonym. For
example, the human body might be called "bone-house," or a ship might be called a
"sea goer" or "sea-house. " In "The Wanderer," the sea is called the "whale-way."
Alliteration plays a big part in these compounds.
  Old English poetry is characterised by the use of a wide range of synonymous
words and phrases to express a particular notion, such as 'sea', 'ship', or 'warrior'

 A ship might be described straightforwardly as a scip or ceol 'keel'

 Or by using a variety of short phrases or compound words –wægflota 'wave

floater', sævgenga 'sea goer', brimwudu 'water wood', merehus 'sea-house',
sæhengest 'sea steed', yþmearh 'wave horse'

 The human body is described as a banhus or bancofa 'bone-house, bone-

chamber'

 A sword is a beadoleoma 'battle-light'

 Thunder is wolcna sweg 'sound of the clouds'

 The eye is a heafodgim 'head-gem'

The descriptive phrases are so distinctive that a term from Old Norse poetic
treatises, kenning, has been used to describe them