ABSTRACT
Few things of man’s begetting outlast for long the times that give them birth, and works of literary art share the fate of the rest. The loss is the heavier when (as in Old English) much of the artistic activity takes the shape of speakings; that is, literary compositions designed for oral rendition (sung or said) and as a rule not circulated in written form.2 No speakings, of course, could come down to us unless they happened to get recorded, and even then the chances would be all against their survival, for most of the old manuscripts perished long ago, victims of the years.3 One might therefore reasonably expect to find the Old English literary records (or what is left of them) made up chiefly of writings; that is, compositions designed for circulation in written form. And when the records are studied, this expectation is more than fulfilled; indeed, the student may seek long before he finds any speakings at all. The few that survive are our oldest literary heirlooms, for the literary art of the English (as of the other Germanic peoples) before their conversion to Christianity found expression in speakings only.
