Old English Poetry: A Modest Bibliography

For those who would love to explore Old English poetry beyond Beowulf but don't know where to look, here are some suggestions:

Physical Books:

• The Complete Old English Poems, by Craig Williamson, March 3, 2017 - If you've just GOT to catch 'em all!
• Old English Poetry: An Anthology, by R. M. Liuzza, March 26, 2014 - A good, poetic translation of the most important Old English texts.
• Anglo-Saxon Poetry, by S. A. J. Bradley, February 15, 1995 - A well-regarded prose translation of the major Old English texts, by codex.
• The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation, by Greg Delanty (Editor), Michael Matto (Editor), Seamus Heaney (Foreword), April 9, 2012 - Modern poets take on ancient poems
• An Anthology of Old English Poetry, by Charles William Kennedy, Dec 31, 1960 - much beloved by the previous generation of English students; out of print, but available used

Online Sources:

• The entire corpus of Anglo-Saxon poetry is online in the original language at https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/index.htm.
• Translations of nearly 80% of the corpus can be found at https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/.
• The Exeter Book Anthology, Israel Gollancz, (Poems 1-8, parallel Anglo-Saxon / Modern English): https://archive.org/details/publicationsorig104earluoft/page/n5/mode/2up
• The Old English Reader is online in the original with side-by-side textual notes and glossary at www.oereader.ca

Nearly There

I know your breathing,

The sweep of your back,

The proper way to tuck you in,

So why do the six inches

Of bed between us

Feel like six thousand miles?

You’ve embraced my body and tasted my tears

In the holy darkness;

You’ve seen my deep places,

So why do I feel unseen tonight,

Alone right next to

My closest companion?

Tomorrow there will be

Strong coffee and gentle kisses,

Sunrise together on the porch,

But for tonight 

We’re just two ships

Trying not to wreck in the fog.

After Dover Beach

After Dover Beach

Here’s the truth:

The sea of faith was never full.

Human hearts always wander,

Always grieve, 

Always fear.

That’s what Sophocles heard in the Aegean

And Arnold heard in the Atlantic,

And I hear tonight

In these Kansas River-ripples.

But down by the riverside,

Under the watchful witness

Of old Menninger’s clocktower,

All my senses testify of grace

Poured forth in ways

As familiar as they are new:

Jumping fish,

Waxing moon,

Frog-and-cicada chorus,

Fireflies dancing through the dark.

This is what Arnold missed:

Though faith’s sea

Be a mere mudpuddle,

Surrounded by the clashes 

Of ignorant armies,

Grace is a vast ocean, 

Abounding more each moment,

Dragging us under its riptides,

Plunging us into light so bright

It drowns the looming dark,

Fulfilling promises too good

To be untrue.