Man and Landscape in Old English Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between man and landscape in Old Eng¬lish literature starting from the assumption that, during the Middle Ages, landscape was not merely a physical space, but it was rather a complex dimension involving religious and moral aspects. Examples from poetic and prose texts will show how the natural world was usually hos¬tile and inhospitable. Mappae mundi will help determine how the Anglo-Saxons considered themselves in relation to the environment.