Godfrid Storms

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]

Early life and education[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

• Storms, Godfrid (1947). "An Anglo‐Saxon Prescription from the Lacnunga". English Studies. XXVIII (1–6): 33–41. doi:10.1080/00138384708596781.
  • Correction: Storms, Godfrid (1947). "Notes and News". English Studies. XXVIII (1–6): 80. doi:10.1080/00138384708596789.
• 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[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Bronzwaer, W. J. M. (1970). Tense in the Novel: An Investigation of Some Potentialities of Linguistic Criticism (PDF) (Ph.D.). Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing.
• "Frits Storms is overleden". Knipselkrant: een selectie met nieuwtjes en wetenswaardigheden uit en over Ameland (jaargang 2003 en 2004). Retrieved 13 November 2017.
• Magoun, Francis P. Jr. (January 1953). "Anglo-Saxon Magic by Godfrid Storms". Speculum. XXIII (1). The University of Chicago Press: 203–212. JSTOR 2847219.
• Thorpe, Lewis (1 September 1970). "Editorial". Nottingham Medieval Studies. XIV. University of Nottingham: 1–2.

External links[edit]

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