The Poetic Art of Aldhelm

A substantial study of the Latin poetry of Aldhelm, 'the first English man of letters'.

Aldhelm of Malmesbury has been described as 'the first English man of letters'. He was the first Germanic author to compose extensively in Latin metrical verse, and his Latin works were amongst the most influential in Anglo-Saxon England. Aldhelm can also be considered the best-read of Anglo-Saxon poets, in both senses of the phrase: he read most and was most read. In this first book-length study of Aldhelm's poetic art Andy Orchard traces the sources and models for Aldhelm's idiosyncratic style, as well as the nature and extent of his influence on later Anglo-Latin verse. Aldhelm's innovations in Latin verse technique are emphasized, in particular his special debt to the specific techniques of Old English vernacular verse.

List of tables; Preface; List of short titles and abbreviations; Sigla of scholars cited; 1. Aldhelm's life and verse; 2. Aldhelm and the Anglo-Latin octosyllable; 3. Aldhelm's hexameter verse style and its origins; 4. Aldhelm's remembered reading in verse; Appendix 4.1: Parallel diction in Aldhelm's sources; 5. After Aldhelm: the Anglo-Latin legacy; Appendix 5.1: Parallel diction in Aldhelm's Anglo-Latin heirs; Appendix 5.2: a statistical survey of Anglo-Latin verse; Bibliography; Index.

This is a book-length study of the poetic style of Aldhelm of Malmesbury, 'the first English man of letters' and one of the earliest Anglo-Saxons whose writings survive. Andy Orchard traces the sources and models for Aldhelm's Latin poetry and the nature and extent of his influence on later Anglo-Latin verse.