A Store of Common Sense Gnomic Theme and

A Store of Common Sense is the first comparative study in English of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and shaping the thinking of the communities which originate it. Carolyne Larrington analyses the differences between the pagan wisdom of Norse, ranging through everyday practical advice, rune magic, and spells, and the Christian, socially oriented ideals of Old English wisdom poetry, strongly rooted in Christian concepts of 'natural' order and hierarchy in God'sCreation. Close reading in primary texts, both runic and magical, lays bare the skilful, structural integration of pragmatic, social wisdom with other kinds of knowledge.The book explores the possibility of Christian influence on Norse texts and demonstrates the impact of Christian learning on the ancient pagan genre. The existence of a gnomic 'key' in Norse and English narrative verse is also shown.Far from being platitudinous moralizing, the wisdom poets of the two literatures reveal themselves as comic, ironic, dramatic, and grandiose by turns, exploring a gamut of themes unequalled in any other genre of the period.

Carolyne Larrington is Supernumerary Fellow in Medieval English at St John's College, Oxford.

Abbreviations	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Havamal	p. 15
Introduction	p. 15
Some Working Assumptions	p. 19
An Account of the Text: The Gnomic Poem, 1-103	p. 20
Gunnlod and the Mead of Poetry, 104-110	p. 48
Loddfafnismal	p. 50
Runatal	p. 59
Ljodatal	p. 62
Conclusion	p. 65
Wisdom in the Education of the Hero: the Poems of Sigurdr's Youth	p. 73
Introduction	p. 73
Prose Traditions	p. 74
Gripisspa	p. 75
Reginsmal	p. 76
Fafnismal	p. 78
Sigrdrifumal	p. 86
Christian Wisdom Poetry: Hugsvinnsmal	p. 97
Havamal, Hugsvinnsmal, and Disticha Catonis: A Problem of Relationships	p. 97
Hugsvinnsmal: The Adaptation of Pagan Material for Christian Education	p. 108
Old English Wisdom Poetry: Its Range and Themes	p. 120
The Exeter Maxims	p. 120
The Cotton Maxims	p. 130
The Rune Poem	p. 134
Fortunes of Men	p. 139
Precepts	p. 143
Solomon and Saturn II	p. 148
Gnomic Poetry and the Natural World: Nature as an Aesthetic	p. 161
Gnomes in Elegy	p. 174
Old Norse Elegy	p. 174
Old English Elegy	p. 184
Gnomes in Narrative Verse: Old English and Old Norse	p. 200
The Heroic: Fortitudo	p. 201
The Heroic: Sapientia	p. 209
The Narrative Voice	p. 212
Conclusion	p. 220
Bibliography	p. 225
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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A Store of Common Sense Gnomic Theme and Style in Old Icelandic and Old English Wisdom Poetry

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Table of Contents

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