Dreams in Old English literature.

摘要

Although the use of the dream as a literary device in Middle English and continental medieval texts has recently received a great deal of attention, very little has been paid to the form and function of the dream in Old English works; to date no complete study has been published. Dreams are numerous in this literature, in both the poetic and prose texts, including some of the most admired works in the corpus, and accounts of dreams participate in the literary, rhetorical, and didactic agendas of Anglo-Saxon writers.;To establish an historical context for the dream in Old English, and as a basis for distinguishing inherited from novel ideas, the first chapter of this dissertation reviews the major patristic and classical texts concerning dreams available to the Anglo-Saxons. Recent studies of medieval dream theories provide a point of departure for the discussion. The second chapter is devoted to the words for 'dream' and 'dreaming' in Old English. All references to dreams in the corpus have been found and the linguistically significant features of dream accounts are catalogued and examined. An appendix to the thesis provides an index listing vocabulary citations and all attested spellings.;The following two chapters deal exhaustively with Old English poetic accounts of dreams. Chapter three is concerned with four texts derived from known Latin originals: Daniel, Genesis A, Andreas, and Elene. Close attention is paid to the deviations and emphases of the vernacular dream accounts and how they further the perceived aims of their poets. Chapter four examines dreams in three 'native' poetic works: the Dream of the Rood, the Wanderer, and Riddle 39. Details of the Old English phenomenology of dreams are discussed, including the manner in which dreams are introduced, their literary and didactic value, and the emotional situation and development of the dreamer.;The final chapter surveys the prose corpus for accounts and discussions of dreams; here I am selective rather than exhaustive. In examining samples from the many Old English prose genres, I address in particular the changes made in texts rendered from Latin originals, alterations that reflect a specifically vernacular Anglo-Saxon cultural context.