The Old English poem The Phoenix, a 677-line alliterative reworking of the Latin De Ave Phoenice, combines striking similes and intricate (if somewhat overworked) allegories with a simple, formulaic style that renders the poem a classic example of Anglo-Saxon wrestling with Classical ideas. The result is an intermediate-level work which offers Old English students a chance to move beyond coursebook Old English and into reading scholarly textual editions. Join Dr. Isaac for a relaxed reading group experience as we work through the text and engage with it on every level: reading closely, interpreting on a literary level, and (time permitting) comparing it with other texts in Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Latin.

There are currently two good editions of The Phoenix, one from the Exeter Series of Medieval texts (978-0859893428; originally published in 1964 but republished in 1990) and a dual-language (Old English/Modern English) one with Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series in the volume Old English Shorter Poems, Volume I: Religious and Didactic (ISBN: 978-0674057890). Either edition is fine.