Aldhelm and the Two Cultures of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Abstract

Old English literature dominates the study of Anglo-Saxon culture as a whole, to the extent that ‘Anglo-Saxon’ and ‘Old English’ were for a long time considered synonymous. The Anglo-Saxons, however, also produced a large body of texts in Latin. In this survey, I examine the often false dichotomy sometimes made between Old English and Anglo-Latin literary aesthetics and textual production as they are revealed through Anglo-Saxon poetry, and discuss the post-medieval intellectual contexts that produce and sustain this dichotomy. The figure and work of Aldhelm (c.639 ce–709 ce) is used as an example of how Anglo-Saxon poets often occupied a liminal position between Latinate and Germanic culture. I argue that a proper understanding of Anglo-Saxon culture (and poetry’s place within it) requires us to disassemble the artificial barriers that have been erected between Old English and Anglo-Latin verse.