Bede's Latin Poetry

Bede's Latin Poetry Synopsis

Although his historical and exegetical works are better known, Bede's small corpus of Latin poetry was widely read and imitated throughout the Middle Ages. Yet in spite of its importance as a keystone in medieval Latin literature, there has not previously been an attempt to collect and edit this corpus of verse in light of all the surviving manuscript evidence. Bede's Latin Poetry is the first edition of his poetic corpus based on all surviving manuscripts. It includes new editions of his two major poems, the 'Verses on Judgement Day' (Versus de die iudicii) and the metrical 'Life of St Cuthbert' (Vita metrica S. Cudbercti), and also includes reconstructions of his two other poetic collections - a book of epigrams and a book of hymns - which were not preserved intact during the Middle Ages and which have had to be assembled from various disparate sources. The editions of all these works are provided with translations and detailed notes, revealing Bede's debts to earlier poets, and illustrating his remarkable skill in understanding the intricacies of Latin verse composition. A series of appendices discuss and print many other poems which have been erroneously attributed to Bede by earlier editors, and include the first edition of a hitherto unknown early draft of his metrical 'Life of St Cuthbert'.