Anine Olsen Englund

anine englund
DPhil Candidate
Balliol College
anine.englund@balliol.ox.ac.uk

Supervisor: Professor Francis Leneghan

Thesis title: Re-contextualising the Old English Soul and Body

 

Research interests: Old English literature; Beowulf; Characterisation of Judgement Day in Old English poetry; Soul and Body relationships; Germanic heroic culture and literature; Old Norse-Icelandic literature; Medievalism; J. R. R. Tolkien

 

My thesis examines the Old English poem Soul and Body (extant in both the Vercelli Book and Exeter Book) in depth, not only looking at the poem as part of a wider Old English soul-and-body tradition — which includes homilies — but also within the wider context of Old English poetry and learning. The thesis will be divided into four chapters, each dealing with a separate aspect of the Soul and Body poem: I) The Spiritual and Material Interim Context; II) The Blessed Soul's Address and the Orthodox Soul–Body Relationship; III) The Damned Soul's Address and the Culpability of Sin; and IV) Soul and Body and Judgement Day. 

 

Publications:

  • Englund, Anine Olsen, "Michael Fox, Following the Formula in 'Beowulf', 'Örvar-Odds Saga', and Tolkien" (review), Journal of Inkling Studies, 12 (2022), 271-273. 

 

Lectures given:

  • "In the Halls of Mandos": Death, Deathlessness, and Inter-racial Relations in Beren and Lúthien. [Part of Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar Series; Week 8 HT, 8th March 2024]

 

Conference papers given

  • 13th September 2024 — SELIM, 33rd International Conference of SELIM (Málaga) — Exploring Soul and Body Doctrine through Soul and Body and the Riddle Tradition in Early Medieval England