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Unit I, Module II, P 1 MODULE II Features of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

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Unit I, Module II, P 1 MODULE II Features of Anglo-Saxon Poetry 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 Unit I, Module II, p 1 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 Unit I, Module II, p 2 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.
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