Othin in England: Evidence from the Poetry for a Cult of Woden in Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

It is a commonplace in the criticism of Old English literature to state that the whole poetic technique was a heritage from Germanic heathendom. It is, similarly, widely admitted, that the ideas, which were given heathen dress, meant a great deal - in some vague way - to the minds of the early English. It is not so generally agreed that a close analysis of this received material may still yield us some knowledge of the ways in which our ancestors regarded their deities. In the course of this paper I propose to confine my attention to the cult of the god, Woden, and to the various practices which were associated with his name.