Aldhelm and the Two Cultures of Anglo‐Saxon Poetry

Abstract Old English literature dominates the study of Anglo‐Saxon culture as a whole, to the extent that ‘Anglo‐Saxon’ and ‘Old English’ were for a long time considered synonymous. The Anglo‐Saxons, however, also produced a large body of texts in Latin. In this survey, I examine the often false dichotomy sometimes made between Old English and Anglo‐Latin literary aesthetics and textual production as they are revealed through Anglo‐Saxon poetry, and discuss the post‐medieval intellectual contexts that produce and sustain this dichotomy. The figure and work of Aldhelm ( c. 639 ce –709 ce ) is used as an example of how Anglo‐Saxon poets often occupied a liminal position between Latinate and Germanic culture. I argue that a proper understanding of Anglo‐Saxon culture (and poetry’s place within it) requires us to disassemble the artificial barriers that have been erected between Old English and Anglo‐Latin verse.