MODULE II

ELEGIAC POETRY

In this module you are going to learn:

 Features of Anglo-Saxon lyrical poetry with special reference to Widsith and Deor’s Lament  Introduction to elegiac poetry  Instances of elegiac poetry: The Seafarer, The Wanderer, The Wife’s Lament, The Husband’s Message, The Ruin and, Wulf and Eadwacer.

Features of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

You have already learnt a few aspects of the Anglo-Saxon society. You must have realised the importance of literature in their culture. The verse form that is used in the Anglo-Saxon poetry originates in the continent. It was brought along by the migrating tribes of the fifth century. This poetry was oral in nature and was sung in the courts of the kings or the mead halls as shown in the heroic literature. Primarily, these stories served the purpose of history as they told the stories of great German heroes, local kings; later after Christianization, Biblical stories were also added to the repertoire. However, as time passed by, the clerics began to keep a written record of the poems. This preserved the pagan songs but in many ways compromised their tone as the Christian philosophy was interpolated. Earliest instances of writing, which was related to Christian theology, could be found around eighth century. Remember, the clerics who wrote were the descendents of heroic society, thus the Christian verses would have images and words that are associated with their heroic past. The Anglo-Saxon literature or Old English literature (many scholars prefer the term ‘Old English’ because the society was not just composed of Angles or Saxons but a number of other races) thus is an odd mixture of both pagan and Christian wisdom. It survives in four manuscripts which are dated from eleventh century: Junius manuscript which contains the paraphrases from the Bible or the Cædmonian poems; the Exeter book which has both pagan and Christian lyrics, elegiac poetry, riddles and sententious verses; Cotton Vitellius IV that includes Beowulf and Judith; and finally Vercelli Manuscript that is entirely devoted to religious poems, metrical lives of saints. In this chapter we shall concentrate on the non-Christian elegiac poetry, but before doing so let us look at some of the essential features of the Old English poems:

 The most important aspect of Old English literature is the language. The language was dominated by the consonant sounds like: h, sc, st, str, hr, thr, and so on, and they from the vital part of the syllables. The accent is put on the first syllable of the word—a habit that led to many changes in the language. As the vowel sound is comparatively insignificant, the rhythm of the line is determined by the consonant sound, the absence of it causes the momentary softening of tone. The normal poetical line is made of a number of syllables divided into two sections, each of which contains two rhyming accents. The recurrence of the same consonants or group of consonants in either or both syllables in the first half of the line and the first stressed syllable in the second part of the line creates the alliteration. For instance: Ofereode þa æþelinga bearn

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steap stanhliðo stige nearwe

How to read the Old English signs: enge anpaðas, uncuð gelad, Neowle næssas, nicorhusa fela The following symbols are no longer used today so their pronunciation is (Then the son of princes set off across towering stone-cliffs, given here: narrow defiles, confined single paths, unexplored passages, steep headlands, many a lair of water-monsters. Source: Þ or ð — th as in cloth when it is Beowulf) placed at the beginning or end of a word  The caesura (the pause between the two halves of the (or they are voiceless); when placed same line) usually divides the line into two sense units but between vowels or other voiced sounds sometimes the metrical scheme would also vary in these two it is pronounced as th in clothe. halves. The metre is usually composed by the variation of æ—a as in hat stressed (lifts) and unstressed syllables (falls). The lines are predominantly trochaic or dactylic, i.e., the heavy stresses All consonants must be pronounced: c preceding the light ones. However, variation of metrical rhythm in cnapa, g in gnæt, h in hlaf, w in was quite common. (For a detailed account you may consult the writan. h at the beginning of the word essay ‘The Nature of Old English Verse’ by Donald G. Scragg) must be read as h in hound. Otherwise, it is like German ch in ich or Scottish  Old English is an inflectional language like its ch in loch. The combinations sc and cg Germanic mother-language. In an inflectional language the are pronounced like sh and dge. For ending of the word determines its function in the sentence. instance, scip is ship and ecg is edge. Modern English has shorn off those inflectional endings, thus the position of the words would determine their action in the sentence, for example, in the sentence: I gave him a book, the order of noun cases are nominative—dative—accusative. If one changes the order of the words, the sentence loses its meaning. In an inflectional language, since the ending of the words determine the function of it in the sentence, the word order can be easily changed. The poets could enjoy greater freedom in the arrangement of words, and make the alliteration more effective.  The Old English poetry, like its classical counterpart, had little adornment or elaboration. The style used was usually stark, which was suitable to the end-stopped lines. However, one particular technique was used, which was originally meant to give additional information but later became a stylistic device: it is known as variation—use of equivalents for poetic purposes. For instance, in Beowulf, 3076 we find: Wiglaf maðelode, Wihstnes sunu Wiglaf spoke, son of Wihstan [spoke] The first half of the line introduces the name of Wiglaf while the second half gives us more information about him. Thus the second unit repeats the subject of the first half of the line, i.e., Wiglaf. The predicate of the first half of the line can also be repeated in a similar fashion, for instance: Widsið maðelode, wordhord onleac Widsith spoke, [he] unlocked the word-hoard  The Old English vocabulary also added to its poetic magnificence. Since the primitive tongue was not adept in using prefixes and suffixes, it would rather make composites. In a composite the senses of the two elements are kept separate and intact, but together in a poetic composition they would function as a metaphor. For instance, in the passage quoted above, anpaðas is a simple compound word, formed of two words ‘one’ and ‘paths’. For an Anglo- Saxon audience who were savvier in combat conditions such a path through which only one

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person could pass would have frightful connotations. In Alfred’s prose we come across similar poetic terms like: æfter-genga or after-comer for successor; ærend-gewrit, or written-message for letter; cynestol, or king’s seat for throne; and so on.  ‘The composite words are not used for necessity,… but as ornaments, to show a quality of the subject-matter,… for the pure love of periphrasis, or… for the sake of alliteration’. (Cazamian P19). These descriptive composite words are also known as kennings. Many primitive customs and beliefs are revealed by these poetic synonyms. The chief or king is a beaga-brytta, or sinces brytta, or treasure- giver; likewise a villain would be a morðes- brytta or distributor of murder; God is

heofonrices-weard or guardian of mankind, Exeter Book, the largest extant collection of Old similarly Beowulf poet describes Hrothgar as English poetry. Copied c. 975, the manuscript beahhorda weard or guardian of hordes of gold- was given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (died 1072). It begins with some long religious rings. Kennings are also used to describe many poems: the Christ, in three parts; two poems on other things like banhus or bone-house or St. Guthlac; the fragmentary Azarius; and the allegorical Phoenix. Following these are a number feorhhus or life-house for body; hronrad or of shorter religious verses intermingled with whale-road for ocean. Likewise, the banqueting poems of types that have survived only in this codex. All the extant Anglo-Saxon lyrics, or hall is the mead or wine hall; and warriors are elegies, as they are usually called—“The lime-bearer, that is bearer of limewood shields; Wanderer,” “The Seafarer,” “The Wife’s Lament,” battle is a game of blades; sword is battle- “The Husband’s Message,” and “The Ruin”—are found here. “The Wanderer” and “The Seafarer”— lightning; sea is the path of sails; fog, the helmet are also included in this collection. In addition, the of war and darkness, the helmet of night and so Exeter Book preserves 95 riddles, a genre that would otherwise have been represented by a on. solitary example. You can now understand that Old English poetry derived The remaining part of the Exeter Book includes its charm from the special use of all three elements, “The Rhyming Poem,” which is the only example namely metre, word-order and vocabulary. The scribes of its kind; the gnomic verses; “Widsith,” the used to copy the poems in continuous lines, like prose, heroic narrative of a fictitious bard; and the two refrain poems, “Deor” and “Wulf and Eadwacer.” using symbols to signify the metrical units. Poems were The arrangement of the poems appears to be meant to be sung, we can say so because the terms leoð haphazard, and the book is believed to be copied (poem) and sang (song) are used interchangeably. This from an earlier collection. sense of poem/song is still retained in the modern Text Source: Encyclopaedia Britannia (Web) English word lyric. What is evident is the fact that the Image: Sample page from Exeter Book. York Archaeological Trust Old English poems are not mere written documents but they are sung to the lyre, they are performances. We shall now read two poems which are non-Christian poems that speak about the lives of such performers or minstrels.

Two minstrels: Widsith and Deor

Widsith It is one of the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon poems, which is written as an autobiographical record of a scop. There are some instances of interpolations here but nevertheless the poem presents a holistic picture of the early German heroic society. The text of the poem appears in the Exeter Book,

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and thus is written in tenth century in West-Saxon dialect. It was originally composed in Northumbria around seventh or early eighth century, though some parts of it must have been older than that. The poem presents the account of the journeys made by the scop, Widsith (whose name means ‘far traveller’ or the ‘widely-travelled one’) to the courts of various kings and overlords. The poem is 144- line long and divided into three thulas (catalogues): the first one presents a list of the various kings of renown, both contemporary and ancient to whose courts he has been to; the second thula contains the names of the peoples of various tribes the narrator visited; and the third and final thula, the narrator lists the heroes of myths and legends whom he has met. There is doubt about the fact that the poet presents a fantastic travel catalogue for the princes he claims to visit cover virtually the whole of the Germanic world and their lifetime extends over two hundred years (Eomanric is the earliest king mentioned for he died in 370 CE and Ælfwine is the latest one who died around 572 CE). This spatial and temporal expansiveness serves two important functions. Firstly, he praises heroic qualities irrespective of the ethnic identities of the kings; he speaks about the Huns, Goths, Burgundians, Franks, Danes, Swedes, Angles, Wends, Saxons, Langobards and others with equal gusto. He mentions Hrothgar, the legendary Danish king of Beowulf and also the living king like Offa. This cosmopolitanism is an essential feature of the post-Migratory heroic society. Secondly, he talks about the gifts he received at these kings’ courts, which shows the patronage that these scops or minstrels enjoyed and also how the king’s reputation would depend on the kind of treasure he gave to his followers. For instance, Widsith mentions receiving a torc (a neckpiece) from Eomenric and also land from Eadgil, his Lord and protector, and Ealhhid, Eadwine’s daughter. In the concluding lines Widsith gives the essence of the heroic age in a nutshell:

Swa scriþende gesceapum hweorfa gleomen gumena geond grunda fela; þearfe secgað - þoncword sprecaþ. Simle suð oþþe norð sumne gemetað gydda gleawne, geofum unhneawne, se þe fore duguþe wile dom aræran, eorlscipe æfnan, oþþaet eal scæceð, leoht ond lif somod. Lof se gewyrcað, hafað under heofonum heahfæstne dom.

[Thus the peoples’ minstrels go wandering, as fate directs, through many lands; they tell their need—speak Example of a torc. 75 BCE. Source: British Museum words of thanks. South or north, they will always meet someone appreciative of songs, unniggardly with gifts, who wishes to enhance his reputation in front of the comitatus, confirm his heroism, until everything falls into ruin, light and life together. Such a man gains praise; he will have a great and secure reputation beneath the heavens.] (Swanton 37-38) Thus, Widsith presents himself as the archetypal poet-figure, comparable to the omniscient, semi- divine Orpheus figure; he is both a teacher and a servant.

Deor’s Lament

In this poem we find a similar poet-figure, Deor, through whom we are given a piece of gnomic wisdom. Contrary to Widsith, who introduces himself at the very beginning of the poem, Deor dramatically and effectively withholds his appearance till the end. The advice he gives is that of stoic fortitude—those who are in adversity, including the poet himself, must bear their misfortune with greater fortitude, for stories of such plight are common in history and legends. If these legendary

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The story of Weland the smith is depicted in the left side of the front panel of the 8th century whale-bone box, known as Frank’s casket. It shows Weland offering Nithad a drink from a bowl which he has made from the skull of one of Nithad’s sons; in the background is pregnant Beadohild.e. The casket compares two Christian and pagan images of motherhood by placing the image of the Magi visiting Mary and her child. Image source: Wikipedia

heroes could overcome the hardships, so can we. Thus Deor presents as many as six examples in six unequal stanzas. The first three stanzas allude to the legend of Weland the Smith. Weland, also Weyland, was captured and crippled, and forced to work for the Geatish king

Nithad. Eventually he escaped (making wings out of birds’ feathers, as the image shows) but prior to that he killed two sons of Nithad and raping his daughter Beadohilde. The second stanza speaks of Beadohilde’s misery and her humiliation. The third stanza speaks of Nithad’s misery who so enraged that he becomes a neurotic and insomniac.

Three stanzas together show how misery can be self- generating and finally affect those who are completely innocent. In the next two stanzas Deor speak of the unhappy reign of two kings: Eomenric who was infamous for his savage and tyrannical rule and expelling his nephew

Theodoric, remembered in the German legends as Dietrich von Bern, from his rightful kingdom. Briefly speaking The story of Theodoric is a well known about the plight of Theodoric he speaks how people wished one in Germanic sagas. He is mentioned in poems written in Middle High German, for the overthrow of Eomenric’s rule which was finally or eddic poetry in Old Norse. Above you carried out by Theodoric with the help of Attila the Hun. see the picture of the Rök stone which The beauty of the poem lies in the use of the refrain which includes the story of Theodoric in runes. comes after every stanza and says: Image Source: Wikipedia

þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg

[that passed over; so can this]

The nature of ‘this’ remains uncertain till the end. In the final stanza he reveals that he has lost his importance in his patron’s court due to the advent of a better singer. However, we must not be too preoccupied with exact nature of his misfortune but rather see the lines as an example of forbearance and resilient optimism.

Link to the text and the song.

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Old English Elegies

The essence of heroic culture is not only represented through its battle songs or epic like Beowulf, but also through its elegiac songs. It is interesting to note that such robust and vigorous men could enjoy songs of exile, grief and darkness. Such emotions constitute an important aspect of the war-torn society. ‘Warfare society is savagely self-consuming, needing a constant flow of loot on which to feed.’ (Swanton 8) It has to depend on conspiracy, fratricidal war in order to guarantee personal success, but this success was not everlasting. The kingdom’s fate hung on the charisma of its leader, thus its rise and fall was quick and inevitable. Whole nations disappeared without a trace. Thus the literature of this age presents lives of men caught up in a constant process of struggle against transience, dissolution and disintegration.

It is also important to understand the Christian theology in some way supported this world view though it provided a different solution to the problem. While the pagan men believed that the inevitability of death could be countered by the everlasting lof (praise of one’s peers) and dom (esteem) the Christian world view taught the value of renunciation. The theme of transience continued to stir the Anglo-Saxon mind for a long time—the fact can be best shown by quoting a section from King Alfred’s Version of St Augustine’s ‘Soliloquies’. King Alfred uses the term ‘læne’ or ‘lent’ or ‘on loan’ in order to speak of transience of things in this world and ece or ‘eternal’ nature of things in the next one. He uses the analogy of contemporary lord-thane relation to clarify his point:

…I live more comfortably both in this temporary place [þisum lænen stoclife] on the road while I occupy this world, and also in the eternal home [þam ecan hame]… It is no surprise that we work hard with such materials both in transporting them and building with them: it pleases everyone who has built a home, as his lord’s tenant [læne] and with his help, to be there sometimes, and to hunt and hawk and fish and in every way to cultivate his rented property [lænan tilian], sea and soil, until the time that he may acquire, through his lord’s generosity, bookland [bocland] and a permanent heritage: the rich benefactor can do this, since he has under his control temporary houses and eternal homes.*

(*The important Old English words are given in original in within the braces. Source: Fell 173)

King Alfred uses the term bocland, land granted by written charter as an inheritance in perpetuity and lænland, land granted for the duration of one or more lifetimes, as images for eternal life and mortal life, respectively. As the audience would be well-versed in these legal words he uses them for homiletic purposes. Earth is lænland and heaven the bocland. Thus man must not hanker too much after the comforts of the Earth as the everlasting celestial peace awaits him. It is interesting to note that this world is viewed as a loan for some time, thus transience is normal to human life. This tone permeates the entire Old English literature.

Elegies, thus, in spite of their pagan origin survived the onslaughts of time as the clerics found these poems conducive to their religious teachings and kept a written copy. However, the term ‘elegy’ must not lead you to think that they would have the structure and form of modern-day elegies, the term is here used to reflect the essence of their content and inherent philosophy. These poems are all found in one Manuscript, Exeter Book; the list includes: The Seafarer, The Wanderer, The wife’s Lament, The Husband’s Message, The Ruin, and Wulf and Eadwacer. Many editors would also include Deor’s Lament in this group, and there is no doubt that there is an elegiac note in the poem, which can also be found in some passages of Beowulf, but since we have already discussed it separately, it has not been included in this list.

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The Seafarer and the critical debate

The intermingling of the Christian theology and the pagan imagery is best seen in The Seafarer and The Wanderer. Many critics have read these as companion pieces as they both speak of exile and stoicism. They are also labelled as wisdom poems. The Seafarer, consisting of 124 lines, presents a speaker who suffers in the sea, exiled from the comforts of the mead hall and his Lord, family and friends, exposed to an inhospitable climate. He ponders on the meaning of life, describing it as deade (dead), læne (transitory), and a way to reach ecan eadignesse (eternal bliss). The progression of life is not simply an end in itself, but a means to find a spiritual realisation.

The poem has occasioned many critical debates. In patristic tradition, the seafarer is ‘one who is only a guest upon the firm land of earth, a deserter of his native soil, a battler against storms, a gladiator of the sea,… ever uncertain of salvation, a neighbour of death, and yet the sea's lover.’ Thus, many scholars have seen this as a Christian homiletic poem, which shows this entire transitory world as an exile from the world of God, and life’s sole effort is to reach the kingdom of heaven—peregrination pro amore Dei (pilgrimage for the love of God). Frederick S. Holton, in his criticism of the poem, published in 1982, identifies the sea not just as

‘a metaphor for life but, more specifically, for postlapsarian life, the flux and bitterness of which it well reflects… The flux of the sea indicates the loss, occasioned by sin, of this primordial state and the instability which results from living in a world where all things pass away (Seafarer, 66b-71, 80b- 102), as all things must which are divorced from God.’

He has also suggested that the symbol of a ship (5a, 7b), which houses the speaker, may imply the ship of the Church, sailing on the sea of this world or, more probably, the notion of the ship of the soul. He relates this imagery to analyse the most debatable portion of the text, i.e., 58a—64a, where the speaker speaks of his indomitable desire for sea-voyages, knowing for certain that it would bring him more sorrow and loneliness. The life at the mead hall may promise comfort but such things are illusory and temporary. The only way the human mind can come to fulfilment is by contemplating the permanent things of God. To quote him:

Indeed, the entire movement of the poem is one from chaos to order, chaos being represented by the sea upon which the Seafarer travels, in contrast to the fixity of the heavenly homeland whither he sails. In the passage concerning the flight of the Seafarer's mind, for instance, the 'eorpan sceatas' (6Ia) represent the earthly limitations of the sojourner on the sea of this world, but by line I04 the 'eorpan sceatas' are an expression of the strength of the Lord, in which one must believe in order to transcend the flux and changefulness of this life.

Thus by undertaking the sea voyage, the seafarer has proven his supremacy over those who spend their lives in cities, in shore, in 'wlonc ond wingal' (proud and merry with wine, L29a). In classical and patristic writings there is a clear contrast between the daring, horrific, and vaguely supernatural nature of voyage on the sea and the easy life of city dwellers, who cannot possibly understand the essence of a sea-voyage. In The Seafarer the Christian dichotomy between sea-men and land-men is directly tied to the notion of grace. The chaos of the sea is a metaphor for lack of grace, but grace is reserved for men like the seafarer who has renounced the earthly comforts and undertaken the tedious journey.

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Read in this way, the poem can be related to the theme of martyrdom, a baptismal voyage that ends in the ultimate reality of the divine presence. A. D. Horgan has related this poem to Pslam no 49, for its note of renunciation.

A different view is presented by critics like I. L. Gordon, who believes that such a reading of the poem restricts our understanding of the pagan world. Wisdom is not necessarily a Christian virtue, nor is renunciation. The theme of exile and suffering can very well be found in eddic literature, or other Anglo-Saxon elegies. There was also no dearth of sententious and gnomic material and the heightened consciousness of natural surroundings in Celtic poetic tradition. According to Gordon, there is a definite break of thought from L64b, after which the poem has become intensely homiletic, which also suggests some possibility of re-interpretation at the hands of the Christian clerics at the time of writing the poem.

It is now left to you to read the poem and decide which reading of the poem is more appropriate.

[Link to the poem and its structure].

The Wanderer

The Wanderer has also evoked similar debates. This 115 line-long poem is structured as a dramatic monologue, spoken by a solitary person. The anhaga (‘solitary one’ or ‘one who meditates alone’) is bereft of friends and worldly comforts, although some consolation is found in Fæder in heofonum (Father in Heaven). However, such moralising does not adequately ameliorate the tone of suffering presented through the images of personal hardship. The loneliness of the solitary man is emphasised by the nostalgia of the by-gone days spent in the company of his peers and Lord; he is now lordless, unprotected and forced to live alone in extreme discomfort, accentuated by the inclement weather. He is forced to undertake this life; it is the wyrd that has caused the present suffering. I. L. Gordon suggests:

Wyrd was not a sort of pagan god: it was a poetic term, often personified, for what is a timeless concept, pagan only in its associations, the concept of inescapable event. This is so close to one aspect of the Christian God that ‘metod’ [ordainer] becomes a term applicable to either. In the plural wyrd seems to mean events themselves, or even deeds.

In the final section the poem transcends the personal suffering and gives a lesson to all. It is the heightened spiritual understanding of life or the Greek concept of Apatheia or stoicism that should help us not to be too happy with our earthly possessions but to fix our mind on the permanence and stability of the next world.

Activity: Now that you have read the critical debate, go through the text and notes of the poem and analyse whether the final realisation of the anhaga reflects the theme of Christian realisation or pagan stoicism or the blend of the two philosophies.

The Wife’s Lament and Wulf and Eadwacer

There are several ways of reading an elegy and the debate around it may stem from its form or content. These two poems present an interesting fact: in both the cases, the speaker/narrator is a

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woman. It is quite unlikely that the Anglo-Saxon scops would prefer to impersonate a woman’s voice. Were they then composed by female poets? Many theorists, particularly the feminists believe it to be so. Moreover, these songs deals with issues like the women’s plight in a masculine world and tell about the stories of betrayal by men. They present a very different picture of the Anglo-Saxon world. They are also known as frauenlieder or woman’s songs.

The narrative of The Wife’s Lament presents a grieving woman, who has been separated from her leodfruma, leader of the people, perhaps her husband or lover. He forsook her and their people, after which she was forced to leave, becoming a despised refugee. She accuses her husband's kinsmen of plotting secretly to divide them, causing her heart to break. She also complains that her husband ordered her to settle in a new region, where she had no friends and felt completely lost. She is forced to live in a earth-cave (one possible interpretation is that the word signifies ‘the grave’). She reflects on the cruel workings of fate in her personal life as well as makes some general comments about the cruelties of others and need for discretion in life. She imagines her husband or former lover living a similar dark existence and concludes by saying

Wa bið þam þe sceal of langoþe leofes abidan. It is misery for those who, longing, have to wait for a loved one. (Source: Traherne)

There are many other readings of the poem: some say it is about a woman’s love for two men; or a thegn’s lament for his lord. However, the tone of grief and mourning make the poem an outstanding one in Old English elegies.

Wulf and Eadwacer, also represents a woman’s voice. It has been interpreted in various ways. In one interpretation it is suggested that the female speaker may have a husband, Eadwacer (the word literally means property-watcher) and a lover (Wulf) by whom she has a child. She has been forcibly separated from her lover, and is now subjected to misery. She worries for the safety of her lover; she apprehends that her husband’s men might harm him. Her frustration is poignantly expressed through the refrain Ungelic is us (It is different with us).

Although this poem is only nineteen-line long, it has inspired many a critical debates. The first two lines have been interpreted variously:

Original lines: Leodum is minum swylce him mon lac gife. Willað hy hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð.

Reading 1: To my people it is as though one might present them with a sacrifice: they want to destroy him if he comes under subjugation.

Reading 2: Prey, it is as if my people have been handed a prey. They will tear him apart if he comes with a troop.

Reading 3: It is to my people as if someone would give him as a gift. They will consume him if he comes into their troop.

The reason for such various readings or polysemy is rooted in the multiple meanings of the words. Lac can mean battle, sacrifice, gift; gife, present third singular form of the verb giefan may mean bestow,

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commit, devote, give, present. Such a complex text along with the fact that it is narrated by a woman, who speaks such boldly about her love for someone who is not approved by her society, has made this poem a significant one for feminist interpretation.

The Husband’s Message

Of all the poems discussed, The Husband’s Message stands alone as it presents a happy outcome of a miserable situation. There are many ways to look at suffering: suffering may end only with death or the Fortune’s wheel may turn and make abundant recompense for the loss and misery. The latter seems to be the case in this poem. Here the main protagonist, the husband or the lover, has been separated from his beloved due to a feud, and he had been exiled. However, he has overcome his hardship chiefly by his own efforts which are narrated in a very sketchy manner in the poem. He has now established himself as a lord with all good possessions—gold, land and followers. He is quite confident that his wife would come to him. He reminds her of her previous vows and asks her not to be deterred by anyone for joining him. He believes that their union is within god’s gift: ‘Then Almighty God may grant to you both that the two of you together may share out treasure among men and comrades’ (Fell 186).

Have you noticed that the last three poems are intensely personal and secular in nature? They represent relationships between common men and women. It is also interesting to note that the clergy who copied these poems did not include any religious message in them. So, would you now, after reading these poems, like to reconsider the importance of Christian influence on elegies?

The Ruin

The Ruin also contains no overt Christian comment. Only 50 lines of the poem is available because this particular section of The Exeter book has been damaged by fire. The poem has no narrator persona, no ‘I’ who describes his/her experience of misery, rather it presents the story of a place which was once of tremendous importance but is now ruined. Many scholars believe that it is the Roman city of Bath which is described; others opine that it is Babylon. We may leave side the scholastic debate and enjoy the tension that is contained in the poem between the past achievement and present decay. The masonry is shattered but it is still wonderful, it is the enta geweorc, the work of the giants. The poet moves on from the contemplation of the ruin to the contemplation of the skill of the builders. He imagines the magnificence of the inhabitants: ‘where once many a man bright in mood, bright with gold, glittering, proud, happy from wine-drinking, shone in his armour; he looked on treasure, on silver, on jewellery, on wealth, on property, on pearls, on this bright stronghold of the broad kingdom.’ The poet could have spoken on the ephemeral nature of human endeavours like the Latin ‘ruined hall topos poems’ but he steers clear away from moralising. This may be due to the fact that he was just a traveller describing an alien civilisation. The loss is not a personal or national one.

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Summing up:

 You have read a variety of poems in this module. Though the poems have been clubbed

under similar headings, no two poems can be the same.  The Old English poems have some essential features like alliteration, kennings, caesura, and so on.  Though all these poems are composed before the influence of Christianity was strongly felt in the Anglo-Saxon society, as they were copied by clerics, some theological elements have

crept into them.  There is predominant note of grief and mourning in the society which is eloquently expressed through the verse.  The poems can be read in various ways due to the polysemous nature of the Old English language.

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