Patterns of the Fall: Adam and Eve in the Old English Genesis A

Abstract

No serious scholar would argue that an Old English poem deserves critical attention simply because it constitutes such a large percentage of the surviving corpus of OE poetry. Nonetheless, I find it curious, at least, that Genesis A should receive such scant critical attention at a time in which OE scholarship on many minor works has flourished. The reason for this neglect cannot be attributed to its fragmented state, moreover, for such is the condition of many OE poems. Nor can its religious subject-matter, out of fashion for many readers, be singled out, for most OE poetry has a distinctly Christian outlook and is similarly didactic. And studies — largely unpublished dissertations — have indisputably shown that Junius’s appellation Paraphrasis does not adequately describe the poem. Furthermore, because of its length and less immediate appeal than Genesis B (which continues to receive regular scholarly attention), Genesis A is seldom taught to undergraduates and rarely to graduate students, further reducing its exposure to critical analysis.