1991/12/01 by Carol Braun Pasternack · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Medieval Literature and History #Media, Communication, and Education #Medieval European Literature and History #Textuality #Polyphony #Poetry #Anonymity #Semiotics #Context (archaeology) #Literature #Composition (language) #Affect (linguistics) #Presentation (obstetrics) #Art #Aesthetics #History #Linguistics #Philosophy #Computer science
paper · doi:10.1017/s0263675100001770
openalex publication_date 1991/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Old English manuscript poetry, including the text that we now call The Wanderer , remains close to its oral roots in its reliance on audible structures and traditional expressions, in its fluid relationship to other compositions and in its anonymity. It is not oral, however, and its existence in a manuscript is more than a physical fact. This change in medium has begun to affect the poetry's semiotics. Having lost the social context of oral performance, the poet attempts to provide a viewpoint in other ways. But this manuscript presentation does not share all the workings of a modern printed composition.