Winters in the World

Fascinating and authoritative . . . [Parker] has read and understood the original texts in full and she is superb at explaining them and the world from which they sprang. -- Telegraph Delightful and informative . . .Parker writes with great empathy, evoking the lost world of pre-Conquest England. -- BBC History This lovely book acts as a portal back to an older time, using the poetry of medieval England to unlock a world where the seasons, and the changing weather, are a subject of deep pleasure and renewing wonder. -- The Guardian With her book, Parker illuminates the inner workings of the Anglo-Saxon mind in a way that evokes the once-impressive interconnectedness of the religious, natural, and social realms. -- New Criterion Both an accessible introduction to the Anglo-Saxon age and an evocative celebration of its seasonal rhythms and links with nature, this book guides readers through the year as captured by the writers of the era. -- History Revealed A lyrical journey through the Anglo-Saxon year . . . [this book] is a beautiful, charming, and evocative voyage into what, to many of us, seems a very distant past . . . Parker shows herself to be a master of her subject. Her knowledge is superb; her writing a form of poetry itself . . . No-one can come away from this book still believing the Anglo-Saxons to have lived through the 'Dark Ages.' -- Get History A fascinating, informative, and hauntingly authentic account of the Anglo-Saxon experience of time; Parker shows that understanding the early English calendar is a crucial point of access to Anglo-Saxon spirituality, learning, science, poetry, and much more besides. --Francis Young, author of Magic in Merlin's Realm: A History of Occult Politics in Britain In this wonderfully poetic journey through the Anglo-Saxon year, Parker offers a profound meditation on time and the world, nature and its seasons. Plunging the reader into the glorious cadences of Old English poetry with her supple translations, Parker brings to vivid life the terrors of winter, spring's promise, the joyful warmth of summer, and the melancholy of autumn, powerfully connecting us with a rich and vital past that we have not quite lost. --Carolyne Larrington, professor of Medieval European literature, University of Oxford