Beowulf Unlocked: New Evidence from Lexomic Analysis

by Michael D.C. Drout, Yvette Kisor, Leah Smith, Allison Dennett, Natasha Piirainen

Overview

The most original and ground-breaking work on Beowulf in several decades, this book uses “lexomic” methods that blend computer-assisted statistical analysis with traditional approaches to reveal new and surprising information about the construction and sources of the greatest surviving Old English poem. Techniques of cluster analysis identify patterns of vocabulary distribution that indicate robust similarities and differences among segments of the poem. The correlation of these patterns with knowledge gained from source-study, philological analysis, and neglected previous scholarship sheds new light on the material of which Beowulf was made and the way it was composed. The implications of this investigation for the dating, structure, and cultural context of Beowulf will overturn the current scholarly consensus and significantly improve our understanding of the poem, its nature, and origins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319808550
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	06/10/2018
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael D.C. Drout is Professor of English at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of How Tradition Works and Tradition and Influence in Anglo-Saxon Literature.

Yvette Kisor is Professor of Literature at Ramapo College of New Jersey, USA. Her essays on medieval literature, particularly Anglo-Saxon, include publications in Anglo-Saxon England, The Chaucer Review, and ANQ.

Leah Smith is an independent scholar, as well as a public artist and art educator, working in Providence, RI, USA. She was a member of the Wheaton Lexomics Research Group from 2011-2014.

Allison Dennett is an independent scholar and childcare provider, working in Portsmouth, NH, USA. She was a member of the Wheaton Lexomics Research Group in 2013.

Natasha Piirainen is an independent scholar and a project associate working for an education non-profit in Portland, Maine, USA. She was a Mars Fellow, a Gertrude Adams Professional Development Fellow, and a member of the Wheaton Lexomics Research Group in 2013.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

2 Lexomic Methods

2.1 Hierarchical Agglomerative Cluster Analysis

2.2 Interpreting Dendrogram Geometries

3 Text Preparation of Beowulf

3.1 Text Preparation: Orthography

3.2 Text Preparation: Edition and Text

4 Cluster Analysis of Beowulf

4.1 Identifying Segment Boundaries: Screening

4.2 Identifying Segment Boundaries in the A-Scribe Text

4.2.1 Finding Robust Geometries Using Shifting

4.2.2 Hinting Segment Boundaries

4.2.3 Finding Robust Geometries Using Blending

4.2.4 Segment Boundaries for the A-Scribe Dendrogram

4.2.5 Analysis of the A-Scribe Dendrogram

4.3 Identifying Segment Boundaries in the B-Scribe Text

4.3.1 Screening the B-Scribe Text

4.3.2 Identifying Segments in the B-Scribe Text

4.4 Analysis of the A-Scribe and B-Scribe Texts Together

4.4.1 Segment J

4.4.2 Blending and Deleting to Determine In-Clade Relationships

4.5 Synthesis of Cluster Analysis of Beowulf

5 Interpretation of the Cluster Analysis

5.1 Groupings of Segments

5.2 High-Level Similarities and Differences

5.3 Interwoven Discourses

5.4 Sources

5.4.1 Unferth and Breca

5.4.2 Finnsburg and Danish History

5.4.3 The Fights with Grendel and Grendel’s Mother

5.5 Structure

5.5.1 Two- and Three-Part Structures

5.5.2 Alternate Structures

5.6 Implications for Authorship Hypotheses

5.7 Implications for Dating

6 Conclusions Drawn from Cluster Analysis

Bibliography

Index