In defence of the textual integrity of the Old English "Resignation"
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Date
2015
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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Abstract
Bliss & Frantzen’s (1976) paper against the previously assumed textual integrity of Resignation has
been a watershed in research upon the poem. Nearly all subsequent studies and editions have followed
their theory, the sole dissenting view being expressed by Klinck (1987, 1992). The present
paper offers fresh evidence for the textual unity of the poem. First examined are codicological issues,
whether the state of the manuscript suggests that a folio might be missing. Next analysed are
the spellings of Resignation and its phonology, here the paper discusses peculiarities which both
differentiate Resignation from its manuscript context and connect the two hypothetical parts of the
text. Then the paper looks at the assumed cut-off point at l.69 to see if it may provide any evidence
for textual discontinuity. Finally the whole Resignation, seen as a coherent poem, is placed in the
history of Old English literature, with special attention being paid to the traditions of devotional
texts and the Old English elegies.
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Keywords
Resignation, Exeter Book, Old English language and literature, textual studies, manuscript studies 1. Introduction
Citation
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 50.1 (2015), pp. 71-93
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ISSN
0081-6272