Wisdom Literature (Old English)

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Paul Cavill (University of Nottingham)

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence 600-1100

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Genres and Modes

Aphorisms/ Maxims/ Proverbs

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Wisdom literature is difficult to define for a modern audience because the category has all but fallen out of use. For the most part, knowledge has taken the place of wisdom. And while these categories may at first sight seem very similar, the in the kind of world view they represent they are markedly different. In Anglo-Saxon England, wisdom is essentially old, handed down and traditional, whereas today knowledge is new, all about research and innovation; wisdom is concrete, obvious and knowable by all, whereas modern knowledge is abstract, difficult and expert; Old English wisdom is communal and popular, whereas knowledge today is elitist and individualistic. The Anglo-Saxons valued wisdom, and expressed it particularly in maxims and proverbs. They also valued knowledge of many kinds,…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1276 words

Citation: Cavill, Paul. "Wisdom Literature (Old English)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1274, accessed 19 April 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here