Genesis B (formerly known as the Later Genesis) is found in the 'Junius manuscript' of Old English poetry (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11) embedded in a much longer poem that we call Genesis A. Genesis as a whole tells, in a paraphrase that follows the Bible closely, the story of humankind from creation onwards and Genesis B is slotted in (as lines 235–851) at the point where Adam and Eve fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. But its expansive style is very different from that of the main poem and its integrity as a work in its own right, with a separate origin, is clear. Something of that origin is known, for the Old English poem is a translation of a version in Old Saxon, the language, closel

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Published 16 June 2003

Citation: Marsden, Richard. "Genesis B". The Literary Encyclopedia. 16 June 2003.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12256, accessed 21 November 2009.]