Entering the Anglo-Saxon Seasons: Poetry, Liturgy and Festivity, with Eleanor Parker

“[T]he Middle Ages…was in some ways immeasurably more humane and creative than its modern successors. It was happy to see human life as fully part of the natural world, shaped by the cycles of the sun and moon and the seasons; it was able to articulate a belief that material considerations, convenience, and economic productivity are not the highest goods, and not the only standards by which life should be lived.” - Eleanor Parker, A Clerk of Oxford

For this first episode of 2023, I’m delighted to be joined by Eleanor Parker, author of Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year. Eleanor teaches Old and Middle English literature at Brasenose College, Oxford as well as being columnist for History Today and many other publications. She is known online, especially on Twitter for her blog A Clerk of Oxford.

 

In our discussion, we delve into the experience of the seasons in Anglo-Saxon England, how they perceived the natural world around them through poetry and literature, and how they integrated the seasons with their faith through the liturgical year. We also speak about our modern experience of the seasons, what has changed, and what has remained the same for over a thousand years, and what we can learn from the Anglo-Saxons about living the year well.

Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Eleanor Parker

Follow me on social media: @seekingwatson

Follow Eleanor on Twitter: @ClerkofOxford

Click the links below to buy her books

Read her blog, Clerk of Oxford

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @riskingenchantmentpodcast

Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

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Works referenced:

Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker

Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England by Eleanor Parker

‘A Clerk of Oxford’ blog - Eleanor Parker

Easter in Old English Poetic Imagination - Risking Enchantment

“'This doubtful day of feast or fast': Good Friday and the Annunciation”, A Clerk of Oxford, Eleanor Parker

“The sad loss of our common rituals”, Unherd, Eleanor Parker

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C.S. Lewis

The Menologium

Maxims II

The Wanderer

 

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Rachel: Collected Longer Poems by W.H. Auden