Old English Poems. Anonymous

      Published by Good Press, 2021

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066119775

Table of Contents

       PREFACE

       I. PAGAN POETRY

       1. EPIC OR HEROIC GROUP

       2. GNOMIC GROUP

       3. ELEGIAC GROUP

       II. CHRISTIAN POETRY

       1. CÆDMONIAN SCHOOL

       2. CYNEWULF AND HIS SCHOOL

       a . CYNEWULF

       b . ANONYMOUS POEMS OF THE CYNEWULFIAN SCHOOL

       III. POEMS FROM THE CHRONICLE

       APPENDIX—SELECTIONS FROM OLD ENGLISH PROSE

       INDEX TO TITLES

PREFACE

       Table of Contents

      These selections from Old English poetry have been translated to meet the needs of that ever-increasing body of students who cannot read the poems in their original form, but who wish nevertheless to enjoy to some extent the heritage of verse which our early English ancestors have left for us. Especially in the rapid survey of English literature given in most of our colleges, a collection of translations covering the Anglo-Saxon period and reflecting the form and spirit of the original poems should add much to a fuller appreciation of the varied and rich, though uneven, literary output of our earliest singers.

      In subject-matter these Old English poems are full of the keenest interest to students of history, of customs, of legend, of folk-lore, and of art. They form a truly national literature; so that one who has read them all has learned much not only of the life of the early English, but of the feelings that inspired these folk, of their hopes, their fears, and their superstitions, of their whole outlook on life. They took their poetry seriously, as they did everything about them, and often in spite of crudity of expression, of narrow vision, and of conventionalized modes of speech, this very “high seriousness” raises an otherwise mediocre poem to the level of real literature. Whatever may be said of the limitations of Old English poetry, of its lack of humor, of the narrow range of its sentiments, of the imitativeness of many of its most representative specimens, it cannot be denied the name of real literature; for it is the direct expression of the civilization that gave it birth—a civilization that we must understand if we are to appreciate the characteristics of its more important descendants of our own time.

      Although the contents of these poems can be satisfactorily studied in any translation, the effect of the peculiar meter that reinforces the stirring spirit of Old English poetry is lost unless an attempt is made to reproduce this metrical form in the modern English rendering. The possibility of retaining the original meter in an adequate translation was formerly the subject of much debate, but since Professor Gummere’s excellent version of Beowulf and the minor epic poems,^[1] and other recent successful translations of poems in the Old English meter, there can be no question of the possibility of putting Anglo-Saxon poems into readable English verse that reproduces in large measure the effect of the original. To do this for the principal Old English poems, with the exception of Beowulf, is the purpose of the present volume.

      Except for the subtlest distinctions between the types of half verse, strict Old English rules for the alliterative meter have been adhered to. These rules may be stated as follows:

      1. The lines are divided into two half-lines, the division being indicated by a space in the middle.

      2. The half-lines consist of two accented and a varying number of unaccented syllables. Each half-line contains at least four syllables. Occasional half-lines are lengthened to three accented syllables, possibly for the purpose of producing an effect of solemnity.

      3. The two half-lines are bound together by beginning-rime or alliteration; i.e., an agreement in sound between the beginning letters of any accented syllables in the line. For example, in the line

      Guthhere there gave me a goodly jewel

      the g’s form the alliteration. The third accent sets the alliteration for the line and is known as the “rime-giver.” With it agree the first and the second accent, or either of them. The fourth accent must not, however, agree with the rime-giver. Occasionally the first and third accents will alliterate together and the second and fourth, as,

      The weary in heart against Wyrd has no help;

      or the first and fourth may have the alliteration on one letter, while the second and third have it on another, as,

      Then heavier grows the grief of his heart.

      These two latter forms are somewhat unusual. The standard line is that given above:

      Guthhere there gave me a goodly jewel,

      or

      A hundred generations; hoary and stained with red,

      or

      With rings of gold and gilded cups.

      All consonants alliterate with themselves, though usually sh, sp, and st agree only with the same combination. Vowels alliterate with one another.

      In the following passage the alliterating letters are indicated by italics:

      Then a band of bold knights busily gathered,

      Keen men at the conflict; with courage they stepped forth,

      Bearing banners, brave-hearted companions,

      And fared to the fight, forth in right order,

      Heroes under helmets from the holy city

      At the dawning of day; dinned forth their shields

      A loud-voiced alarm. Now listened in joy

      The lank wolf in the wood and the wan raven,

      Battle-hungry bird, both knowing well

      That