Early English Studies

REVIEWS EARLY ENGLISH STUDIES' Franciplegius, "frankpledge," is a .rich and handsome testimonial from the hands of twenty-seven scholars of the Old and the New World to Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. Edited by Jess B. Bessinger, Jr. and Robert P. Creed, it was presented to him in honour of his seventieth birthday. He~e in the papers contributed by his friends, pupils, and admirers, the scope and variety of his seholarship is amply reflected, and the bibliography of his writings provides a comprehensive affinnation of his ever-widening achievements in the fields of Old Germanic and Finnish languages and literature. The studyportrait of this distinguished American and the eloquent tribute from his editors will recall to his many diseiples and friends the vigour and variety of his conversation and his generous hospitality. It may be invidious to single out particular essays in the volume for comment; but when Yale, in the person of Professor John C. Pope, pays such a generous compliment to Harvard , an Englishman can not forbear to give his masterly contribution pride of place. His essay "Dramatic Voices in The Wanderer and The Seafarer," one of four articles on poems in the Exeter Book, is an example of the highest critical craftsmanship, wherein careful observation of the significance of linguistic detail provides the spark to lire his poetic sensibility to illuminate the poems and to reach conclusions of fundamental importance for the understanding of their structure and meaning. It is suggested that "the scene of the poems is a nobleman's hall where a number of men are assembled to share experiences and ideas. The topic this time is bereavement, or more broadly, mutability, and two men of vastly different experience and training speak in turn." Pope demonstrates that the two poems show several striking resemblances, and by pointing to slight indications of the language (particularly the min of the Wanderer and the (ic) sylf of the Seafarer) linds evidence for treating them as consisting, each in its way, of two dramatic speeches and an epilogue. Equally penetrating, both in its keen pursuit of " Jess B. Bessinger, Jr. and Robert P. Creed. eds., Franciplegius Medieval and Linguistic Studies in Honor of Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. New York: New York University P