Ships and Brunanburh

Work on ships in the Old English poem The Battle of Brunanburh has principally focused on the word cnear as a lexical item or as having some particular form or appearance. This article draws on this work with a view to elucidating what the poem tells us was happening in the aftermath of the battle o...

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Main Author: Cavill, Paul
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39729/
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author Cavill, Paul
author_facet Cavill, Paul
author_sort Cavill, Paul
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Work on ships in the Old English poem The Battle of Brunanburh has principally focused on the word cnear as a lexical item or as having some particular form or appearance. This article draws on this work with a view to elucidating what the poem tells us was happening in the aftermath of the battle of 937. It discusses the significance of the term cnear in relation to the manuscripts, its intelligibility and meaning, before analysing in detail the contexts in which it appears. A reconsideration of syntax and the semantics of on flot, gives rise to a modified interpretation of lines 32b–36. It is suggested, finally, that cnear and the passages in which it occurs might carry overtones of mockery at the expense of the escaping Norsemen.
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spelling nottingham-397292020-05-04T18:23:21Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39729/ Ships and Brunanburh Cavill, Paul Work on ships in the Old English poem The Battle of Brunanburh has principally focused on the word cnear as a lexical item or as having some particular form or appearance. This article draws on this work with a view to elucidating what the poem tells us was happening in the aftermath of the battle of 937. It discusses the significance of the term cnear in relation to the manuscripts, its intelligibility and meaning, before analysing in detail the contexts in which it appears. A reconsideration of syntax and the semantics of on flot, gives rise to a modified interpretation of lines 32b–36. It is suggested, finally, that cnear and the passages in which it occurs might carry overtones of mockery at the expense of the escaping Norsemen. Taylor & Francis 2016-12-31 Article PeerReviewed Cavill, Paul (2016) Ships and Brunanburh. English Studies . ISSN 1744-4217 (In Press) ships launching ships The Battle of Brunanburh Old English poetry Old English cnear Scandinavian knǫrr poetic compounds Henry of Huntingdon
spellingShingle ships
launching ships
The Battle of Brunanburh
Old English poetry
Old English cnear
Scandinavian knǫrr
poetic compounds
Henry of Huntingdon
Cavill, Paul
Ships and Brunanburh
title Ships and Brunanburh
title_full Ships and Brunanburh
title_fullStr Ships and Brunanburh
title_full_unstemmed Ships and Brunanburh
title_short Ships and Brunanburh
title_sort ships and brunanburh
topic ships
launching ships
The Battle of Brunanburh
Old English poetry
Old English cnear
Scandinavian knǫrr
poetic compounds
Henry of Huntingdon
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/39729/