"Old English literature has long been the preserve of scholars and specialists. Michael Alexander's A History of Old English Literature now fills a major gap by introducing both prose and poetry, literature and history, in an accessible style which communicates his own lifelong love of the subject. Especially attractive are the translations, at once accurate and colloquial, which disperse the antiquarian miasma hanging round the subject while keeping the vital touch of strangeness. Alexander's book is now the best and most complete one-volume guide to the whole of Old English, oldest and best-recorded of the vernaculars of Dark Age Europe." -- Tom Shippey, St. Louis University

"A lucid, eminently readable survey, altogether a cosy hearth-companion." -- Margaret Connolly, University College Cork