In the dominant world-view of the Western Middle Ages, natura evoked divine power as manifested in creation. Nature was an all-pervasive force, synonymous with God and his visible handiwork, but also a cosmic principle associated with fate and predestination in the Neoplatonic tradition. This volume of student essays tackles nature in a range of physical and metaphysical guises, always centred on its representation in medieval English literature. It contains studies of the visible natural world in elegiac, homiletic, and apocalyptic literature, but it also addresses other faces of nature, from the naked human form to the medieval reception of ancient ideas about free will, and closes with a comparative analysis of the nature of wisdom in Old English and The Lord of the Rings.
Publikationstyp: Sammelband
Sparte: Universitätsdrucke
Sprache: Englisch
Beiträge
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1. Preface (Seiten 7-8)
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2. Free Will and Eternity in the Old English Poem 'Soul and Body' (Seiten 9-26)
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3. Apocalyptic Landscapes in Old English Poetry and Homilies (Seiten 27-40)
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4. Transience in Four Old English Elegies (Seiten 41-55)
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5. The Journey of Life in 'The Wanderer' and 'The Seafarer' (Seiten 57-80)
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6. Landscapes between Heaven and Hell in the Old English Guthlac Material (Seiten 81-123)
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7. Forms and Functions of Nakedness in Middle English Romances (Seiten 125-152)
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8. Wisdom in Old English Literature and 'The Lord of the Rings' (Seiten 153-214)