Godfrid Storms (4 May 1911 – 20 October 2003)[1] was a Dutch professor of Old and Middle English Literature at the Catholic University of Nijmegen.[2] He published his seminal dissertation on Anglo-Saxon charms in 1948, superseding a work that had stood as the authority for forty years,[3] before obtaining his professorship there in 1956.[2] Among his many other works were articles on Beowulf and the Sutton Hoo ship-burial.[2][4]

Godfrid Storms
Born(1911-05-04)4 May 1911
Sittard, Netherlands
Died20 October 2003(2003-10-20) (aged 92)
Nijmegen, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Other namesFrits Storms
SpouseGré Wilmink
Academic background
Alma materCatholic University of Nijmegen
ThesisAnglo-Saxon Magic (1948)
Doctoral advisorAurelius Pompen
Academic work
DisciplineOld and Middle English Literature
InstitutionsCatholic University of Nijmegen

Early life and education

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Godfrid Storms, known as "Frits", was born in Sittard, Netherlands, on 4 May 1911.[1] He was educated at Radboud University Nijmegen where he had Aurelius Pompen as his doctoral adviser, and on 4 June 1948 successfully defended his dissertation.[5][3]

Career

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In 1956 Storms became a Professor of Old and Middle English Literature, also at Radboud University.[2] During his time there he published many articles on the subject, notably The Subjectivity of the Style of Beowulf and Grammatical Expressions of Emotiveness.[2][6] Other articles also took the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf as a subject,[7][8][9] and another the Sutton Hoo ship-burial discovered in Suffolk in 1939.[4] Among the doctoral students that Storm promoted was W. J. M. Bronzwaer (nl), in 1970,[10] a year after Storms had visited the University of Nottingham as part of an exchange program between it and Radboud.[2]

Storms continued to be known for Anglo-Saxon Magic,[2] his 1948 dissertation which was soon thereafter published.[3] The work comprised an anthropological and psychological discussion of "magic" as understood by the Anglo-Saxons, and a discussion of 86 Anglo-Saxon charms in Old English and Latin.[11] A lengthy review by the Harvard Anglo-Saxonist Francis Peabody Magoun called it an "interesting and important" work that would supersede a work published by Felix Grendon in 1909.[3] "All students of the Anglo-Saxon charms," wrote Magoun Jr., "will be grateful to Dr Storms for his edition, in all respects an advance on Grendon's once important study."[12]

Personal life

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Storms had a wife, Gré Wilmink, as well as children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.[1] His wife died before him; he himself died on 20 October 2003, at the age of 92, in Nijmegen.[1]

Publications

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  • Storms, Godfrid (1947). "An Anglo-Saxon Prescription from the Lacnunga". English Studies. XXVIII (1–6): 33–41. doi:10.1080/00138384708596781.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1948). Anglo-Saxon Magic (PDF) (Ph.D.). Nijmegen: Centrale drukkerij N.V.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1951). "Brief Mention". English Studies. XXXII (1–6): 141. doi:10.1080/00138385108596871.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1952). "The Middle English Dictionary". English Studies. XXXIII: 257–259. doi:10.1080/00138385208596887.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1956). "The Weakening of O.E. Unstressed i to e and the Date of Cynewulf". English Studies. XXXVII (1–6): 104–110. doi:10.1080/00138385608596971.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1957a). Compounded Names of Peoples in Beowulf: A Study in the Diction of a Great Poet. Nijmegen: Dekker en van de Vegt.
  • Storms, Godfrid (1957b). "Brief Mention". English Studies. XXXVIII (1–6): 286–287. doi:10.1080/00138385708597005.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1958). "Brief Mention". English Studies. XXXIX (1–6): 237. doi:10.1080/00138385808597022.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1959). "The figure of Beowulf in the O.E. Epic". English Studies. XX (1–6): 3–13. doi:10.1080/00138385908597026.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1960). "A note on Chaucer's pronunciation of French u". English Studies. XLI: 305–308. doi:10.1080/00138386008597088.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1961). "Review: The Proverbs of Alfred". English Studies. XLII: 28–30. doi:10.1080/00138386108597106.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1961). "Ne say Þu hit Þin are3e PA(T) 204". English Studies. XLII: 304–305. doi:10.1080/00138386108597107.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1963). "The Subjectivity of the Style of Beowulf". In Greenfield, Stanley B. (ed.). Studies in Old English Literature in Honor of Arthur G. Brodeur. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Books. pp. 171–186.
  • Storms, Godfrid (1964). "The Subjective and the Objective Form in Mdn English". English Studies. XLV (1–6): 57–63. doi:10.1080/00138386408597187.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1966). "Brief Mention". English Studies. XLVII (1–6): 86. doi:10.1080/00138386608597267.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1966). "That-clauses in Modern English". English Studies. XLVII: 249–270. doi:10.1080/00138386608597258.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1 September 1970). "The Significance of Hygelac's Raid". Nottingham Medieval Studies. XIV. University of Nottingham: 3–26. doi:10.1484/J.NMS.3.44.
  • Storms, Godfrid (1972). "Grendel the Terrible". Neuphilologische Mitteilungen. LXXIII (1/3). Modern Language Society of Helsinki: 427–436. JSTOR 43345373.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1974). "The Author of Beowulf". Neuphilologische Mitteilungen. LXXV (1). Modern Language Society of Helsinki: 11–39. JSTOR 43345488.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1975). "Chaucers Verhaal van de Molenaar". Handelingen van het Nederlands Filologencongres. 33: 1–12.
  • Storms, Godfrid (1977). "Notes on Old English Poetry". Neophilologus. 61 (3). University of Nottingham: 439–442. doi:10.1007/BF01513853.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (1978). "The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial: An Interpretation". Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek. 28: 309–344.
  • Storms, Godfrid (1999). "How did the Dene and the Geatas get into Beowulf?". English Studies. LXXX (1): 46–49. doi:10.1080/00138389908599164.  
  • Storms, Godfrid (2002). "Review: Beowulf: A New Translation". English Studies. LXXXIII (2): 176–177. doi:10.1076/enst.83.2.166.9557.  
    • Republished as Storms, Godfrid (2012). "Review: Beowulf: A New Translation". In Schulman, Jana K. & Szarmach, Paul E. (eds.). Beowulf at Kalamazoo: Essays on Translation and Performance. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University. pp. 374–375. ISBN 978-1-58044-152-0.
  • Storms, Godfrid (2012). "Review: Beowulf: A New Translation". In Schulman, Jana K.; Szarmach, Paul E. (eds.). Beowulf at Kalamazoo: Essays on Translation and Performance. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications. ISBN 978-1-58044-152-0.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Knipselkrant.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thorpe 1970, p. 1.
  3. ^ a b c d Magoun 1953, p. 203.
  4. ^ a b Storms 1978.
  5. ^ Storms 1948, pp. IV–V.
  6. ^ Storms 1963.
  7. ^ Storms 1957a.
  8. ^ Storms 1959.
  9. ^ Storms 1999.
  10. ^ Bronzwaer 1970, p. IV.
  11. ^ Magoun 1953, pp. 203–204.
  12. ^ Magoun 1953, p. 212.

Bibliography

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  • Three photographs at: "Storms, Godfrid". Memory of the Netherlands. National Library of the Netherlands. Retrieved 20 March 2018.