Emotions of Amazement in Old English Hagiography : Ælfric’s Approach to Wonder, Awe and the Sublime

This monograph examines three aesthetic emotions in Ælfric's 'Lives of Saints'. Drawing on recent research on emotional communities, this research combines methods from Cognitive Sciences and other studies on early Medieval English language and literature in order to explore Ælfric's usage of the terms in the lexical domain of amazement. The main aim of this study is to identify preferred modes of expression that would reveal a series of emotional rules in the context of Ælfric's emotional community. Looking into Ælfric's usage of this lexical domain and how he depicts emotion dynamics in these texts, this monograph shows how the emotion family of amazement is central to the hagiographical genre, and it highlights important emotion-regulation scripts that operate in these texts. Cover 1 Table of Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 11 1. Emotions ofamazement: What are they? How can they be studied in literary texts? 13 1.1. Some notes on the study of emotion 13 1.2. Categorising emotions: Where did the study of aesthetic emotions begin? 21 1.3. Aesthetic emotions today: Current research and contemporary theories 29 1.4. Emotions of amazement 36 2. The study of emotion in literature: Looking into amazement in hagiography 41 2.1. Cultural and literary models for wonder 41 2.2. Theoretical and methodological notes on the study of emotion in literature and hagiography in the Middle Ages 54 2.3. Medieval hagiography in context 65 3. Old English Hagiography and the lexical field of amazement: Sources and resources 71 3.1. Description of the corpus 71 3.2. Description of the lexical field of amazement in Old English 77 3.3. Corpus lookups and data treatment 86 4. Aesthetic pleasure and the sublime: Ælfric’s approach to pleasant personal experience, the beautiful and the sublime 89 4.1. Ælfric’s treatment of sensory data in aesthetic experience 90 4.2. Usage of the lexical domain of the sublime 111 4.3. Experiencing the sublime 118 5. Wonderful and miraculous experiences and the lexical domain of wonder in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints 127 5.1. Earthly, human, and secular experiences of wonder 128 5.2. Divine and spiritual wonder 141 5.3. Ælfric’s approach to the miraculous 159 6. The lexical domain of awe and fear: Aesthetic fear in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints 179 6.1. Utilitarian fear and awe as real-life emotional responses 180 6.2. Awe and the God-fearing Christian 187 6.3. fear and awe as pagan responses to the miraculous 198 Concluding Remarks 211 Bibliography 227 Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Emotions of 'amazement': What are they? How can they be studied in literary texts? 1.1. Some notes on the study of emotion 1.2. Categorising emotions: Where did the study of aesthetic emotions begin? 1.3. Aesthetic emotions today: Current research and contemporary theories 1.4. Emotions of 'amazement' 2. The study of emotion in literature: Looking into 'amazement' in hagiography 2.1. Cultural and literary models for wonder 2.2. Theoretical and methodological notes on the study of emotion in literature and hagiography in the Middle Ages 2.3. Medieval hagiography in context 3. Old English Hagiography and the lexical field of 'amazement': Sources and resources 3.1. Description of the corpus 3.2. Description of the lexical field of 'amazement' in Old English 3.3. Corpus lookups and data treatment 4. Aesthetic pleasure and the sublime: Ælfric’s approach to pleasant personal experience, the beautiful and 'the sublime' 4.1. Ælfric’s treatment of sensory data in aesthetic experience 4.2. Usage of the lexical domain of 'the sublime' 4.3. Experiencing 'the sublime' 5. Wonderful and miraculous experiences and the lexical domain of 'wonder' in Ælfric’s 'Lives of Saints' 5.1. Earthly, human, and secular experiences of 'wonder' 5.2. Divine and spiritual 'wonder' 5.3. Ælfric’s approach to the miraculous 6. The lexical domain of 'awe' and 'fear': Aesthetic fear in Ælfric’s 'Lives of Saints' 6.1. Utilitarian 'fear' and 'awe' as real-life emotional responses 6.2. Awe and the God-fearing Christian 6.3. 'fear' and 'awe' as pagan responses to the miraculous Concluding Remarks Bibliography This monograph examines three aesthetic emotions in AElfric's Lives of Saints. Looking into AElfric's usage of this lexical domain and his depiction of emotion dynamics, this monograph shows how the emotion family of amazement is central to the hagiographical genre, and it highlights important emotion-regulation scripts that operate in these texts. This monograph examines three aesthetic emotions in Ælfric's Lives of Saints. Looking into Ælfric's usage of this lexical domain and his depiction of emotion dynamics, this monograph shows how the emotion family of amazement is central to the hagiographical genre, and it highlights important emotion-regulation scripts that operate in these texts