Books by Hugh (Queen's University Belfast) Magennis

An approachable and stimulating introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature, this book provides indispensable guidance for students on this important topic in literary studies. Key individual works including Beowulf are discussed in detail, with modern English translations, and the literature is placed in larger historical and theoretical contexts.

This book identifies key features of the audience or readership of Old English poetry in the late Anglo-Saxon period, and relates the interests of these groups of people to themes reflected in the poetic texts.