Old English is the name given to the language spoken by the Germanic inhabitants of Britain till about the time of the Conquest, or, according to some scholars, till about 1100. It is a member of the western division of Germanic, which is itself a branch of the large Indo-Germanic family of languages. This book gives an overview of Old English and its grammar.

These chapters on Old English Literature are intended to fill the gap between Professor Thomas's valuable, but all too brief account in his English Literature before Chaucer, and longer works, such as those of Stopford Brooke and the Chapters in the first volume of the Cambridge History of English Literature. My primary object has, of course, been to make the works themselves known to my readers, but I have also tried to trace the development of prose and poetry during the period, showing in the poetry the modifications of the original Germanic character brought about by later influences of...