Henry Sweet (1845–1912)

I’ve found this very helpful for translation practice – it contains more than thirty pieces, mainly in West Saxon dialect, with helpful glossary and notes. There is an interesting mixture of prose and poetry – excerpts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Beowulf and Bede’s history; also charters, riddles and poems such as ‘The Wanderer’ and ‘The Seafarer’. There are also documents, hymns and other religious material in other dialects.
This book was useful in extending vocabulary show more and increasing fluency in translation, and to gain exposure to different styles and purposes of writing. As a beginner, I found Teach Yourself Old English and Peter S. Baker’s Introduction to Old English more helpful than this book, as the introductory grammar and vocabulary were more at my skill level. This book was more useful in maintaining and extending these skills once I had a greater understanding of grammar, a larger vocabulary and better recall of both. show less

A very useful version of the Old English text with modern English translation beneath.

Naturally the translation is somewhat dated - to be expected in a work first published over 100 years ago! - but it still gives the reader a good idea of the content of the original without the hassle of having to translate it oneself (vital for researchers who are pushed for time) and in a style which is evocative of the religious rhetoric being put to use both by Gregory and Alfred, something which it is show more possible would be missing from a translation into modern idiom and which would risk rendering the text soulless. show less

Not a great tutorial, but a handy brief reference.

The ancient and invaluable first introduction to Old English language and literature.