DOCSLIB.ORG

THE BRITISH MUSEUM TRANSCRIPT of the EXETER BOOK. (Ada

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
THE BRITISH MUSEUM TRANSCRIPT of the EXETER BOOK. (Ada THE BRITISH MUSEUM TRANSCRIPT OF THE EXETER BOOK. (Ada. MS. 9067.) Mr. Anscombe, in the May number of Anglia, has drawn attention to the transcript of the Exeter Book made for the British Museum some time prior to the end of February 1832. By directing attention to this neglected, though not unimpor- tant MS., Mr. Anscombe has done a Service to students of Old English. He has also raised questions in connection with the MS. which fortunately admit of definite and conclusive answers. His arguments are these: (1) He believes Kemble's text of Widsith to have been taken, not from the Exeter Book itself, but from this British Museum transcript. (2) He thinks that Thorpe derived his text of Widsith, not from the Exeter Book, but from Kemble, and he continues: (3) "Both English and German scholars have kept on copying Thorpe and Kemble, and interpolating here and emending there, until the accepted printed text has ceased to be authoritative." The conclusion then is that the "textus receptns" of Widsith depends upon Thorpe, and that äs Thorpe depended upon Kemble, and Kemble upon a transcript, it lacks authority. As to (1). That Kemble used the British Museum tran- script is not a question of surmise, but of fact. Kemble writes: "My text is given from an accurate and collated copy of that codex [the Exeter Book] now in the British Museum." (Preface to Beowulf, xxvi.) Brought to you by | University of Arizona Authenticated Download Date | 5/27/15 6:42 PM 394 B. W. CHAMBERS, As to (2). Mr. Anscombe asks, "Was Thorpe's text of Widsith drawn from the original document, or from the diplomatic transcript made at the British Museum, or from Kemble's imprint?" He instances two supposed errors which he believes Thorpe to have copied from Kemble, and concludes, "These two reasons would appear to justify the opinion that Thorpe relied upon Kemble for the text of 'Widsith'". But this is definitely disproved by the Statement of Kemble himself, who continues: "[my text of the Traveller's Song] has moreover been most obligingly compared with his transcript from the original at Exeter by my friend B. Thorpe, Esq." So far, then, from Thorpe haying made his transcript from Kemble's text, Kemble's text itself had been compared with Thorpe's transcript. *) This comparison would account for any mistake which we find common to both Kemble and Thorpe: such mistake must have been taken by Kemble from Thorpe, not, äs Mr. Anscombe assumes, by Thorpe from Kemble. One such common mistake there undoubtedly is: viz. 1. 125 Th. Kern., wceron for MS. wceran. The two instances of common mistakes alleged by Mr. Anscombe are, however, not to the point, since reference to the Exeter Book shows that the reading of Thorpe and Kemble is accurate in both these cases.2) Even if we had not Kemble's assertion, it could be proved that Thorpe did not rely upon Kemble for his text, for he has corrected Kemble in several places, and the correction is of such a character äs could not have been made without reference to the MS., e. g. in 1. 2, where Kemble erroneously wrote Ö three times for the MS. p: in 1. 94, where Kemble wrote hleodrihtne for the MS. hleodryhtne: in 1.141, where Kemble wrote scaced for the MS. scceceff. l) Thorpe did not publish this transcript till nine years after Kemble's edition appeared. ') I think here there must be a misprint in Mr. Anscombe's article. He argnes that both Thorpe and Kemble agree in the error of reading cafepe äs "Casere". Bat how eise can it be read? The other common error alleged is Wisüawudu. I return to this later. (Des verfs. Vermutung ist richtig: cafepe ist fehlgesetzt für cafepe, wie A's. MS. zeigt. E.) Brought to you by | University of Arizona Authenticated Download Date | 5/27/15 6:42 PM THE BRITISH MUSEUM TKAN8CR1PT OF THE EXETEE BOOK. 895 As to (3): the assertion that "both English and German scholars have kept on copying Thorpe and Kemble". This was true from 1838 to 1861. *) But in the winter of 1870—1 Schipper collated Thorpe's text of the Exeter Book with the original, and published his results in Germania, XIX (1874). Schipper corrected Thorpe's errors (which were not numerous in his text of Widsith) even in matters of the most minute detail. Wiilcker collated the MS. for his Kleinere Dichtungen (1882) and managed to improve upon Schipper. Wülcker's text had, however, two slight inaccuracies of its own: äs these were corrected in the text flnally given in Wülcker's edition of Grein (1883), it seems quite likely that Wülcker had examined the MS. yet once again. The work of the late Prof. Wülcker certainly needs no commendation from me: but I may be permitted to remark that, having had occasion, for an edition of the poem which I am preparing, twice to compare Wülcker's transcript of Widsith with the MS. at Exeter, I have found it exceedingly accurate. Möller, Kluge, Holthausen and Sedgefield have all based their texts of Widsith upon Grein-Wülcker. So far, then, from the accepted printed text having ceased to be author- itative, it is based upon a double revision, first by Schipper and then by Wülcker, of the text of Thorpe, which was itself, äs Schipper admitted, by no means inaccurate: and so far from Thorpe having copied from Kemble, we have Kemble's express Statement that Thorpe copied "from the original at Exeter". Mr. Anscombe's problem "it would appear that it needs to be proved that Thorpe's text of "Widsith" was neither derived ultimately nor directly from the British Museum copy of the Codex" is then solved, by Kemble's own Statement. It follows, from Mr. Anscombe having underestimated Thorpe, and overlooked the collations of Schipper and Wülcker, that, when he censures modern editors for what he supposes *) Guest(1838) Leo (1838) Ettmtiller (Scopes vidsith, 1839) and Schalde- mose (1847) copied Kemble: Ebeling (1847) copied Ettmüller: Klipstein (1849) copied Ebeling and Thorpe: Ettmüller (Scopas and Boceras, 1850) Grein (1857) and Rieger (1861) copied Thorpe and Kemble. Brought to you by | University of Arizona Authenticated Download Date | 5/27/15 6:42 PM 896 R. W. CHAMBERS, to be departures from the original MS., it is in many cases really the editor who is adhering to the MS., and Mr. Anscombe who wishes to depart from it. For example, he blames Dr. Sedgefleld for printing Hringweald, which should be, he says, "Hringwald: the e was written and expuncted." Now Schipper had already pointed this out (Germ. XIX, 333). And Wttlcker in the Bibliothek had corrected Schipper's correction: hringw$ald, Seh. doch ist der punkt ein fleck, nicht beabsichtigt. Another departure from the MS. text for which Mr. Anscombe blames Dr. Sedgefield, is ongend, (1. 35) which should, he says, be ongean. But, on the testimony of the Brit. Museum transcript, of Madden, of Thorpe, of Schipper, and of Wtilcker, the Exeter Book does read ongend. I, too, have twice verified from my own collation that the Exeter Book reads ongend. Against this we have only Mr. Anscombe's unsupported assertion that it is ongean: and Mr. Anscombe does not claim to have seen the Exeter Book himself. Yet again, Mr. Anscombe suggests that in reading Wistlaivudu in 1. 131 Dr. Sedgefield is departing from the MS. "The Museum transcript has Wistla wudu (i. e. Wistlan wudu). The mark above the is differently formed from the mark of long quantity, and can only indicate that n or m is to be supplied." Now, there certainly is, both in the Exeter Book and in the British Museum transcript, a slight mark over the a, like an imperfectly formed mark of length. But this is quite unlike the hooked, heavy, horizontal stroke which signifies n or m. The reading Wistlawudu, not Wistlan ivuduj has accordingly been adopted by Kemble, working from the transcript, by Thorpe from the original, and has been approved by Schipper and by Wülcker; and Dr. Sedgefield, in common with every other editor of Widsith, naturally adopts it. He could do nothing eise, for the stroke could not possibly be regarded äs the n or m con- traction. Besides, this contraction is not used in the Exeter Book for w, which, except in the contraction Brought to you by | University of Arizona Authenticated Download Date | 5/27/15 6:42 PM THE BRITISH MUSEUM TRANSCRIPT OF THE EXETER BOOK. 397 for fonne, or in Latin words, is always written in füll: the mark in the Exeter Book is invariably used äs an abbreviation for w, not n. Mr. Anscombe's accusation against editors such äs Wülcker, Kluge, Holthausen and Sedgefield of having "kept on copying Thorpe and Kemble, and interpolating here and emending there, until the printed text has ceased to be authoritative" is therefore based upon a misunderstanding. There is not, and there has not been since 1883, any doubt äs to what is the MS. reading of any ward in Widsith. So far from editors having drawn, äs Mr. Anscombe thinks, from the transcript when they should have been collating the original, they have gone to the original, and ignored the transcript And it is for this reason that Mr. Anscombe has done a Service in drawing attention to the British Museum MS. For though Thorpe's edition of the Exeter Book (1842) was, in the main, accurate, he took very little trouble to record the exact readings of the MS.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Cambridge Old English Reader
    The Cambridge Old English Reader RICHARD MARSDEN School of English Studies University of Nottingham published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge, CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarc´on 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org c Cambridge University Press 2004 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2004 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Times 10/13 pt System LATEX2ε [TB] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Marsden, Richard. The Cambridge Old English reader / Richard Marsden. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 45426 3 (hardback) – ISBN 0 521 45612 6 (paperback) 1. English language – Old English, ca. 450–1100 – Readers. 2. Anglo-Saxons – Literary collections. 3. Anglo-Saxons – Sources. I. Title. PE137.M46 2003 429.86421–dc21 2003043579 ISBN 0 521 45426 3 hardback ISBN 0 521 45612 6 paperback Contents Preface page ix List of abbreviations xi Introduction xv The writing and pronunciation
    [Show full text]
  • Medieval Medievalisms in the Old English Ruin
    • Via Rome: Medieval Medievalisms in the Old English Ruin Rory G. Critten University of Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland The recent publication of The Cambridge Companion to Medievalism under the editorship of Louise D’Arcens marks a crowning moment in the history of a discipline whose institutional backing has not always been so strong.1 For some time now, medievalism studies have been enjoying increasing respect for the insights that they can offer into matters ranging from periodization, colonization, and nationalism, to the potentially mutual imbrication of good scholarship and good fun.2 Since the majority of the contributors to the new Cambridge Companion work both in what we might call traditional medieval studies as well as in medievalism studies, the volume also serves as evidence for the rapprochement between these two fields. A significant facilitating factor in this regard has been a willingness shared across the disciplines to conceive of time not solely in linear terms. Researchers in both camps have met over the recognition that the present, in Carolyn Dinshaw’s words, “is not a singular, fleeting moment but comprises relations to other times, other people, other worlds.”3 Viewed from this perspective, the procedures of both medieval and medievalist texts can be seen to correspond, and the distinc- tion between what is medieval and what comes afterwards is blurred. These intertwining ideas have a rich history of their own. Even in their earliest iterations, medievalism studies highlighted the extent to which paying attention
    [Show full text]
  • Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes Literary Anglo-Saxon
    ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES IN PRE-MODERN CULTURES Estes Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes Heide Estes Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes Ecotheory and the Environmental Imagination Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes Environmental Humanities in Pre‑modern Cultures This series in environmental humanities offers approaches to medieval, early modern, and global pre-industrial cultures from interdisciplinary environmental perspectives. We invite submissions (both monographs and edited collections) in the fields of ecocriticism, specifically ecofeminism and new ecocritical analyses of under-represented literatures; queer ecologies; posthumanism; waste studies; environmental history; environmental archaeology; animal studies and zooarchaeology; landscape studies; ‘blue humanities’, and studies of environmental/natural disasters and change and their effects on pre-modern cultures. Series Editor Heide Estes, University of Cambridge and Monmouth University Editorial Board Steven Mentz, St. John’s University Gillian Overing, Wake Forest University Philip Slavin, University of Kent Anglo-Saxon Literary Landscapes Ecotheory and the Environmental Imagination Heide Estes Amsterdam University Press Cover illustration: © Douglas Morse Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Layout: Crius Group, Hulshout Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 90 8964 944 7 e-isbn 978 90 4852 838 7 doi 10.5117/9789089649447 nur 617 | 684 | 940 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) The author / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2017 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).
    [Show full text]
  • Treebeard's List – Maxims II
    Pre-print extract from S. Lee and E. Solopova, The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature through the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien (Palgrave, 2005). To purchase full book go to: http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=27039 0. 4.9 Treebeard’s List – Maxims II (TT, ‘Treebeard’) 4.9.1 Plot Summary Merry and Pippin, having escaped the Orcs, flee into Fangorn’s forest, where they encounter Treebeard, the Ent. Treebeard is puzzled as to what the two Hobbits are and recites an ancient poem which lists the various flora and fauna of Middle-earth. Christopher Tolkien (Treason, pp. 411-21) notes that the character of Treebeard, and the Ents themselves, seem to have come late to Tolkien, and he puzzled over how they would fit into the story. 4.9.2 Medieval Text: Maxims II Maxims II is found in a British Library manuscript – Cotton MS Tiberius B.i (ff. 115r-v). It’s dating is troublesome, and the nature of the poem suggests ancient folklore passed down from generation to generation (as indeed Treebeard’s poem was). Cassidy and Ringler argue that it ‘probably reached its present form in the tenth century or slightly earlier, though some of the material in it may be much older’ (1974, p. 373). It is called Maxims II because a very similar poem (Maxims I) appears in ‘The Exeter Book’. A ‘Maxim’, according to the OED is: ‘A rule or principle of conduct. Also: a pithily expressed precept of morality or prudence (spec. occurring in Old English verse); such a precept as a literary form.’ Marsden (2004, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Wilbur's 'Junk'
    15 Recycling Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Richard Wilbur’s ‘Junk’ and a Self Study Chris Jones University of St Andrews Ever since scraps, both literal and metaphorical, of Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English) verse began to be recovered and edited in more systematic fashion, modern poets have tried to imagine and recreate its sounds in their own work.1 Often the manuscript materials in which Anglo-Saxon poetry survives show signs of having been uncared for and even mistreated; the tenth-century Exeter Book of poetry, for example, which preserves many of the texts now taught in universities as canonical, is scarred with the stains of having had some kind of vessel laid on it, as if it were a drinks mat, with knife-scores, as if it were a chopping board, and with singe marks, as if some red-hot object was temporarily rested on its back (Muir 2000: II, 2). Such treatment is scarce wonder, given that changes in both language and handwriting must have made such manuscripts unintelligible to all but a few until the studies of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century antiquarians began to render them legible again. But it is salutary to remember that fragments of the past which we hold valuable now have often been the junk of intervening ages, waste materials for which only some alternative function might save them from disposal. Recycled, however, fresh uses may be found for Anglo-Saxon poetry, uses that generate for it new currency, in addition to whatever independent value its stock possesses. This essay sets out to examine some of the generative possibilities of recycling Anglo-Saxon poetry, both from a critic’s perspective and a practitioner’s.
    [Show full text]
  • Intertextuality of Deor
    Vol. 4(8), pp. 132-138, October, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/JLC11.080 Journal of Languages and Culture ISSN 2141-6540 © 2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/JLC Review Intertextuality of Deor Raimondo Murgia Tallinn University, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia. Accepted 22 November, 2012 The Deor is a poem found in the Exeter Book and included in the Old English elegies. The main purpose of this contribution is to highlight the possible intertextual links of the poem. After an outline of the old English elegies and a brief review of the most significant passages from the elegies, this short poem will be analyzed stanza by stanza. An attempt will be made to demonstrate that the various interpretations of the text depend on particular keywords that require that the readers to share the same time and space coordinates as the author. The personal names are the most important clues for interpretation. The problem is that they have been emended differently according to the editors and that the reader is supposed to know the referent hinted by those particular names. Key words: Old English elegies, Exeter Book, Deor, intertextuality. INTRODUCTION OF THE OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES It must be underlined that the term „elegy‟ applying to old definition of Old English elegy is Greenfield‟s (1965): “a English (hereafter OE) poetry could be misleading since relatively short reflective or dramatic poem embodying a one would expect the meter of such poetry to be the contrastive pattern of loss and consolation, ostensibly same as the Greek and Latin Elegies, in which their based upon a specific personal experience or observa- elegiac distich (Pinotti, 2002) points out that in the fourth tion, and expressing an attitude towards that experience”.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Old English Elegies: Language and Genre
    ABSTRACT OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES: LANGUAGE AND GENRE Stephanie Opfer, PhD Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2017 Dr. Susan E. Deskis, Director The Old English elegies include a group of poems found in the Exeter Book manuscript that have traditionally been treated as a single genre due to their general sense of lament – The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Riming Poem, Deor, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife’s Lament, Resignation, Riddle 60, The Husband’s Message, and The Ruin. In this study, I conduct a linguistic stylistic analysis of all ten poems using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and a variety of computational and linguistic tools: Lexomics, Voyant, and Microsoft Excel. My results focus on three characteristics of the poetry: (1) the similarity of the linguistic style within the poems, measured by Lexomics; (2) an oscillation between first- and third-person clausal Themes, measured using SFL analysis; and (3) themes in the lexical categorization, measured through detailed lexical analysis. In the end, my methodology creates a new and more nuanced definition of the elegy: a relatively short reflective or dramatic poem, similar in style and content to other elegiac poems, that alternates between first- and third-person perspectives and includes (1) themes of exile; (2) imagery of water or the sea, the earth, and/or the weather; and (3) words expressing both joy and sorrow. Ultimately, I argue for a recategorization of only five poems as “Old English elegies”: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Riming Poem. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS MAY 2017 OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES: LANGUAGE AND GENRE BY STEPHANIE OPFER ©2017 Stephanie Opfer A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Doctoral Director: Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Old English Literature: a Brief Summary
    Volume II, Issue II, June 2014 - ISSN 2321-7065 Old English Literature: A Brief Summary Nasib Kumari Student J.k. Memorial College of Education Barsana Mor Birhi Kalan Charkhi Dadri Introduction Old English literature (sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon literature) encompasses literature written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Cædmon's Hymn", composed in the 7th century according to Bede, is often considered the oldest extant poem in English, whereas the later poem, The Grave is one of the final poems written in Old English, and presents a transitional text between Old and Middle English.[1] Likewise, the Peterborough Chronicle continues until the 12th century. The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history.Alexander Souter names the commentary on Paul's epistles by Pelagius "the earliest extant work by a British author".[2][3] In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives, biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works ongrammar, medicine, geography; and poetry.[4] In all there are over 400 survivingmanuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered "major".[5] Besides Old English literature, Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works.
    [Show full text]
  • J.R.R. Tolkien's Use of an Old English Charm
    J.R.R. Tolkien's use of an Old English charm Edward Pettit .R.R. Tolkien wanted to create - or, as he saw it, rediscover - a A smith sat, forged a little knife (seax), mythology for England, its native heathen tales having been Badly wounded by iron. Jalmost entirely lost due to the country's relatively early Out, little spear, if you are in here! conversion to Christianity and the cultural and linguistic Six smiths sat, made war-spears. transformation initiated by the Norman Conquest.1-2 Apart from Out, spear! Not in spear! the English treatment of the Scandinavian pagan past in the Old If a piece of iron (isenes dcel) is in here. English poem Beowulf, scraps of lore in other Anglo-Saxon heroic The work of a witch (liceglessan), heat shall melt (gemyllan) it! poems, chronicles and Latin histories; 'impoverished chap-book If you were shot in the skin, or were shot in the flesh, stuff from centuries later;3 and inferences Tolkien could make using Or were shot in the blood. his philological expertise and knowledge of Old Norse literature, he Or were shot in the limb, never may your life be injured. had little other than his imagination to go on - barely more than the If it were shot of gods (esa), or if it were shot of elves (ylfa), names of a few gods, mythical creatures and heroic ancestors.4 Or if it were shot of witch (hxglessan), now I will help you. However, a few Anglo-Saxon charms do provide tantalising This is your cure for shot of gods, this is your cure for shot of glimpses of something more.
    [Show full text]
  • View That the Present Study Affirms
    1 CYNEWULF'S ASCENSION (CHRIST II): A CRITICAL EDITION Roland T. Williams A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 197U Approved by Doctoral Committee Advisor Department of Englzi ¿f7 iJ-l—dJ —;; WWUNG GREEN Stint UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ABSTRACT Ascension (Christ II) is one of four Old English poems (the other three are Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, and Elene) with the name "Cynewulf" embedded in runes, acrostic-fashion, near the end. The purpose of the dissertation is to present a text of Ascension, transcribed from the Exeter Book facsimile. Included, too, are textual notes and commentary, introduction, translation, and glossary. Although the poem has been edited as part of the Exeter Book, as one of Cynewulf's signed works, and in collections of Old English literature, it has never been issued before as a separate work. The first 1,664 lines of the Exeter Book have been divided by scholars into Christ I (Advent), Christ II (Ascension), and Christ III (The Last Judgment) and were considered for many years to be a trilogy called Christ. Since Benjamin Thorpe published the first edition of the Exeter Book in 1842, scholars have repeated­ ly attempted to discover whether Cynewulf wrote one, two, or all three parts. For the reason that Cynewulf's name appears only at the end of Ascension, current scholarship holds that Cynewulf wrote only this poem, a view that the present study affirms. The introduction includes a discussion of the background of the Exeter Book, problems relating to authorship, dating, dialect, and runic writing, and a critical analysis which ejqjlores the structure, diction, imagery, and theme of the poem.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • MEETING the OTHER in the SEAFARER and the RUIN Thesis
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
    [Show full text]