This innovative and intriguing introduction to Old English literature is structured around what the author calls figures from Anglo-Saxon culture: the Vow, the Hall, the Miracle, the Pulpit, and the Scholar. An innovative and intriguing introduction to Old English literature. Structured around figures from Anglo-Saxon culture: the Vow, the Hall, the Miracle, the Pulpit, and the Scholar. Situates Old English literary texts within a cultural framework. Creates new connections between different genres, periods and authors. Combines close textual analysis with historical context. Based on the author s many years experience of teaching Old English literature. The author is co-editor with Seamus Heaney of Beowulf: A Verse Translation (2001) and recently published with Blackwell Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend (2003).