Hugh Magennis is a scholar of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

and the author of several books on Anglo-Saxon society and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

, including especially ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...

''.

Biography

Hugh Magennis gained his bachelor's degree at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 1970. He obtained his master's degree there in 1972 and his PhD also there in 1981. He joined the staff of the university in the 1970s, becoming a full professor, head of its School of English and director of its Institute of Theology. He served from 2004 as chair of the Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland, and from 2011 its honorary president.

Honours and distinctions

A ''festschrift'' called ''Saints and Scholars: New Perspectives on Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture in Honour of Hugh Magennis'', was published in 2012. A collection of studies in his honour, entitled "Holy and Unholy Appetites in Anglo-Saxon England" was published the same year in ''

English Studies English studies (usually called simply English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries; it is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which ...

''. Magennis became a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2006. He is a Fellow of the English Association.

Works

Books

* 1994: ''The Old English Lives of St. Margaret'' (with M. Clayton and C. mary) * 2006: ''Images of community in Old English poetry'' * 2009: ''A companion to Ælfric'' (with M. Swan) * 2011: ''The Cambridge Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature'' * 2015: '' Translating Beowulf: Modern Versions in English Verse''

References

External links

* {{Authority control Anglo-Saxon studies scholars