SOURCE: Cook, Albert S. Introduction to Judith: An Old English Epic Fragment, pp. xv-lxxiii. Boston, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath & Co., 1889.

In the following excerpt, Cook analyzes the literary qualities of Judith, including its character portrayals, narrative structure, and use of poetic devices.

The modes in which the poet's art [in Judith] is displayed may be considered under the four heads of Selection, Arrangement, Amplification, and Invention. To these might be added his mastery of language and skill in the handling of metre.

Selection.

The characters are limited to three,—Judith, Holofernes, and Judith's attendant. Hardly worthy to be ranked with these is the warrior who enters Holofernes' tent and announces his violent death. He is merely one of the group of officers, though a little bolder than the rest, and drops out of the action immediately. There is no mention of Achior, none of Ozias, none of Bagoas...