Castigated by his contemporaries for his treatment of moral, spiritual and political rebellion, and his sometimes sadistic and blasphemous subject matter, his poetry is imaginative through both classical and romantic traditions.

    Selections cover a wide range of dialects and genres, from an early Northumbrian form of Caedmon's Hymn and ninth-century Kentish charters to the complete texts of The Dream of the Rood and Wulfstan's Address to the English, with ample literary and historical notes.