1. An Apology for Verse: Introduction 2. The Argument of Courage: Beowulf and Other Heroic Poetry 3. Wisdom and Experience: the Old English 'Elegies' 4. Language and Style 5. The Fight for Truth: Non-Cynewulfian Saints' Lives 6. Poetry and the Bible: the Junius Manuscript 7. Poetry and the Individual: Cynewulf 8. The Decline: King Alfred and After

Old English Verse (1972) covers the whole range of Old English poetry: the heroic poems, notably Beowulf and Malden; the 'elegies', such as The Wanderer and The Seafarer; the Bible stories and the lives of the saints which mark the end of pagan influence and the beginning of Christian inspiration.