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Widsith
Widsith, a poem of 143 lines in Old English, named from its opening word, in the Exeter Book. It is constructed around three ‘thulas’ (i.e. mnemonic name-lists), connected by the ostensible experience of the eponymous minstrel: the first names great rulers; the second lists the tribes among whom the minstrel claims to have travelled; and the third speaks of people that the minstrel sought out. The poem is thought to date substantially from the 7th cent. and thus to be the earliest poem in the language. There are important editions by R. W. Chambers (1912) and K. Malone (1962).
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Widsith." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Widsith." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Widsith.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Widsith." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Widsith.html |
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Widsith
Widsith , 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem found in the Exeter Book . It is an account of the wanderings of a Germanic minstrel and of the legends he relates. The poem gives an excellent description of minstrel life in the Germanic heroic age. |
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Cite this article
"Widsith." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Widsith." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Widsith.html "Widsith." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Widsith.html |
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