13 - ‘Revising Hell’: The Voices of Teachers in Anglo-Saxon Studies and Anglo-Saxon England

Summary

Among Toni Healey's many contributions to the world of scholarship, we cannot overlook her role as an exceptional classroom teacher at the University of Toronto. Her combination of philological and literary knowledge with sharp, sometimes incisive commentary – always imbued with deep, genuine concern for her students – has inspired me to look closely at the writings of some of the most prominent writers from Anglo- Saxon England whom we know to have been teachers, to try to find their distinct teaching voices. Bede, Ælfric, and Byrhtferth of Ramsey all wrote texts which are explicitly pedagogical in nature, and each of these authors includes meta-commentary which elucidates not only their methods of teaching, but often their attitude toward teaching and possibly toward their students. Recreating the experience of education in Anglo-Saxon England from diverse texts written in diverse modes for diverse audiences and purposes is a fraught endeavor. Close-reading these passages offers us an opportunity to understand more deeply the experience of being a teacher – and possibly of being a student – in early medieval England. As Irina Dumitrescu has recently shown, ‘the study of … “scenes of instruction” is vital, not only because of its relevance to the growing body of research into Anglo-Saxon and early medieval education … but because the processes of teaching and learning underpin the very creation of the texts that comprise much of the past's legacy to us’. Dumitrescu – herself an undergraduate student of Toni's – carefully and enlighteningly reads a range of texts but does not examine the particular texts considered here, which all come from teachers themselves. I think a volume in honor of a great teacher is an ideal venue to build on Dumitrescu's work. Interrogating the work of early medieval English teachers alongside a great teacher of their period might deepen our appreciation of all.

At the outset, I must acknowledge that this task is particularly challenging. As many of us teachers know, we do not really expect students to remember everything we say, and we certainly don't expect our off-hand comments to be analyzed.