Old English Poetry - History of English Literature

 

Old English Poetry, History of English Literature

Old English Poetry

BEOWULF

1. Origin of the Poem. The theme of the poem is Continental Germanic, and it was likely the subject of lays long before its present version was composed. There is, it may be noted, no mention of England, and Beowulf himself is the king of the 'Geatas.' Though there is much in the poem which can be considered 'pagan' and which suggests that the poem in origin may be considered as such, the extant version was clearly written by a Christian for the Christianization is no mere veneer. Of its actual authorship, there is no evidence. Modern scholars in the main now look upon it as a reworking of older material by a Christian and not simply as a collection of tales strung together by one hand. The dialect of the text is West Saxon though there is clear evidence that it was written in some Anglian dialect, but whether Mercian or Northumbrian is uncertain.

2.The Story. There are so many episodes and digressions in the story of Beowulf that it is almost impossible briefly to give an adequate synopsis of the narrative. In outline, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, sails to Denmark with a band of warriors and rids the Danish King Hrothgar of a terrible mere monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel, seeking vengeance for her son's death, meets the same fate, and Beowulf, fittingly feasted and rewarded, returns to his native land. He becomes king of the Geatas and after a prosperous reign of some forty years, he slays a dragon that had ravaged his land, but in the fight, he receives a mortal wound. The poem concludes with the funeral ceremonies in honor of the dead hero.

 

3.Style. A short extract is printed below, with a literal translation, to illustrate the style. The extract describes the funeral rites of the hero and occurs near the end of the poem (lines 3137-49).

Him oa gegiredan Geata leode

For him then the people of the Geats made ready

ad on eordan unwaclicne,

a splendid funeral pyre on the earth,

helmum behongen, hildebordum,

hung around with helmets, with battle-shields,

beorhtum byrnum, swa he bena waes;

with shining corslets, as he requested;

alegdon oa tomiddes maerne peoden

then they laid in the midst of it the illustrious prince,

haeleo hiofende, hlaford leofne.

the weeping warriors, the beloved lord.

Ongunnon pa on beorge baelfyra maest

Then the warriors began to kindle on the cliff

wigend weccan: wudurec astah

the greatest of funeral fires: the wood-smoke rose up

sweart ofer swiooole, swSgende leg,

dark above the fire, the roaring flames,

wope bewunden --windblond gelaeg--

surrounded by lamentation--the tumult of the winds subsided--

oopaet he he banhus gebrocen haefde,

till it had completely crushed the body,

hat on hreore. Higum unrote

hot in his breast. Sad in mind

modceare maendon, mondryhtnes cwealm.

they complained of the sorrow of their hearts, the death of their

liege-lord

It will be observed that the language is forceful and expressive, conveying with an economy of words the picture of the funeral pyre on the clifftop and the lamentation of the warriors for their dead king. The use of compound words should be noted especially, together with that of the kenning, which skilfully handled "took on the form of a compressed vivid statement of a highly original image." The best example in this passage is banhus--literally 'bone-house,' i.e., 'body.' A further stylistic characteristic that should be noted is the use of repetition and variation. The same idea is expressed more than once by the use of different Words which were more or less synonymous. Such parallel phrasing can be seen in lines 5 and 6 above: malrne peoden and hlaford leofne ('illustrious prince' and 'beloved lord') and elsewhere as the translation will suggest. The verse is strongly rhythmical, based on a stress system with four stresses to the full line, two in each of the half-lines; it is also alliterative, there being two alliterating syllables in the first half-line and one (usually the first) in the second. The stressed syllables are the ones that bear the alliteration.

 

OTHER POETRY

1. The Pagan Poems. Most Old English poetry can be said to be 'Christian,' but a few pieces are distinctly secular. It would be better in many respects to refer to them as 'national' rather than pagan, for some included for convenience in this group are of tenth-century composition.

a) Widsith (i.e., 'the far traveler'), usually considered to be the oldest poem in the language. It consists of nearly 150 lines of verse, in which a traveler, more imaginary than real, recounts the places and illustrious people he has visited. The poem is of especial importance from a historical point of view, but poetically it is of little merit.

b) Waldere consists of two fragments, some sixty-three lines in all, telling of some of the exploits of Walter of Aquitaine. The work has vigor and power, and it is to be greatly regretted that so little is preserved. It might well have been one of the finest of narrative pieces.

(c) The Fight at Finnsburh is a fragment of some forty-eight lines with a finely told description of the fighting at Finnsburh, allusion

to which is made in the Finn Episode in Beowulf.

d) The Battle of Brunanburh is a spirited piece on the famous battle which took place in 937.

e) The Battle of Maldon describes the battle which took place in 993, with emphasis on individual deeds of valor and on the feelings of the warriors. It is particularly outstanding for the sentiments expressed by the warriors, especially those of the aged Byrhtwold.

2. The Elegies:

These poems, among which are The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wife's Lament, and Husband's Message, appear in the

Exeter Book. There is no connexion between the individual pieces, but they each display similar qualities, being meditative in character, and can perhaps be called monologues. The first two named are the finer artistic compositions, reaching real heights of personal feeling. In Old English literature they come nearest to the lyric, a type which is not represented among the extant corpus.

3. The so-called Caedmon Group.

In his Ecclesiastical History Bede tells the story of the lay brother Caedmon, who by divine inspiration was transformed from a state of tongue-tied ineffectiveness into that of poetical ecstasy. He was summoned into the presence of the abbess Hilda of Whitby (658-80), became a monk, and afterward sang of many Biblical events. Bede quotes in his the story the Hymn said to have been composed by Caedmon, nine lines in length, displaying to a remarkable degree the qualities of repetition and parallel phrasing noted above.

This is all that is actually known of the life and work of Caedmon, but the four poems of the Junius MS. correspond in subject matter so close to Bede's statement of the themes on which Caedmon wrote that they were long associated with his name. The Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and three shorter poems are often considered as one under the title Christ and Satan are of unequal merit. At best they are strong and spirited with some gift for descriptive writing and choice of incident; at worst they are tedious paraphrases of Biblical stories. They are certainly not all by one hand and little if any is early enough to be ascribed to Caedmon himself. In all probability in spite of their long ascription to his name they have nothing to do with the Northumbrian poet himself.

4. The Cynewulf Group:

Four poems contain the signature of Cynewulf in runic characters, Juliana, Elene, Christ, and The Fates of the Apostles (in the two last-named spelt Cynwulf). This is all that is known of the poet, though unfortunately, it has not prevented critics from 'deducing' additional facts about his life. Likewise, other poems have on little or no authority been ascribed to him, the most important being The Dream of the Rood--undoubtedly the finest of all Old English religious poems in its intensity of feeling, brilliance of conception, and certainty of execution. It is the work of a real artist and poet.

The signed poems are much more scholarly compositions than the Caedmon poems. There is a greater power of expression, surer technique, and real descriptive powers. The ideas are broader and deeper, and a certain lyrical quality is found at times. Their date is probably the ninth century.