"‘I’ is for Isidore: Isidore of Seville and Early English Poetry"

This paper discusses the impact of Isidore and his pan-grammatical system on the poetry of early medieval England, considered in its bilingual dimension. In particular, the analysis focuses on two genres of poetry, the elegy and the riddle tradition, and on the two Isidorean texts which had the most impact on them: the Synonyma and the Etymologiae. The essay will show that the logocentric view of the world which ultimately runs through all early English literary culture owes much to Isidore’s pan-grammatical system and to the distinctively Isidorean fascination with linguistic detail.