THE ANGLO-SAXONS: BEOWULF and DEORS LAMENT

THE ANGLO-SAXONS: BEOWULF and DEORS LAMENT

2000B.C. Pre-Celtic tribes: the Iberians

700 B.C. Celtic tribes

55 B.C. 410 A. D. Romans

410 A.D. Angles, Saxons, Jutes

OE literature c. 700, 4 manuscripts: Cotton Vitellius, Junius, Exeter Book, Vercelli Book

Early, oral literature monks

Pagan poetry

of Germanic origin

oral, written down later by monks

epic: Beowulf (Cotton Vitellius ) lyric: 6 elegies (Deors Lament, The Wifes Lament, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Ruin, The Husbands Message)

Christian poetry: Caedmon, Cynewulf

Prose Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum ; King Alfred, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

DEORS LAMENT, 4^th century, 40 lines

Tt ic mesylfum sacgan wille

hwile ws  Heodeninga scop

dryhte dyre.  me ws Deor noma.

And so I can sing of my own sad plight

Who long stood high  as Heodenings bard,

Deor my name,  dear to my lord.

Mild was my service for many a winter,

Kindly my king  till Heorenda came

Skillful in song  and usurping the land-right

Which once my gracious lord granted to me.

That evil ended.  So also may this!

BEOWULF, lines, 6^th century.

Background: Denmark, Sweden.

Hrothgar, Heorot, Grendel, Beowulf

Myths: beow < OE buan (grow, cultivate ) = culture hero vs. nature

Mankind fighting the unknown

A sun-god overcoming the mists of northern winters

Bee-wolf (enemy of the bees) = a sacred bear or woodpecker

Majestic tone, supernatural elements, pagan and Christian elements.

Documentary and literary value.

Four stress line; caesura; alliteration; kenning, compound words (whale-road, candle of the sky).

BEOWULF

Swift the hero sprang to his feet;

Saw mid  the war-gear a stately sword,

An ancient war-brand of biting edge,

Choicest of weapons worthy and strong,

The work of giants, a warriors joy,

So heavy no hand but his own could hold it,

Bear to battle or wield in war.

Then the Scylding warrior, savage and grim,

Seized the ring hilt and swung the sword,

Struck with fury, despairing of life.

Thrust at the throat, broke through the bone-rings;

The stout blade stabbed through her fated flesh.

She sank in death; the work was bloody.

The hero joyed in the work of his hand.

The gleaming radiance shimmered and shone

As the candle of heaven shines clear from the sky.