Anglo Saxon Poetry I.

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The Wife's Lament (before 1072) genre

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Elegy: or lament for things and/or persons lost, often
lost to death.

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The Wife's Lament (before 1072) summary

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The narrator thinks her grief deserves to be told in song because she is exiled from her kin and husband doomed to face poverty in wilderness, hostile neighbors, etc.

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The Wife's Lament (before 1072) is like

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The Seafarer and the Wanderer because each of these poems consist of a solitary narrator describing exile, the sea, and the threat of hostile forces.

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The Anglo-Saxon poets commonly employed

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an elegiac style in their writing, so their verses are often mournful, haunting, and plangent.

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Why The Wife's Lament is important to poetry (esp. early british literature)

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it is one of the first and only examples of a female-authored poem (or a poem written from a female perspective) in early British literature.

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I sing this song about myself, full sad,
My own distress, and tell what hardships I
Have had to suffer since I first grew up,
Present and past, but never more than now;
I ever suffered grief through banishment.

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The Wife's Lament

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Thén was Holofernes,
Gold-friend of men, full of wine-joy:
He laughed and clamored, shouted and dinned,
That children of men from afar might hear
How the strong-minded both stormed and yelled,
Moody and mead-drunken, often admonished
The sitters-on-benches to bear themselves [2] well.
Thus did the hateful one during all day
His liege-men [loyal] keep plying with wine,
Stout-hearted giver of treasure, untíl they lay in a swoon,
He drenched all his nobles [with drink], as if they were slain in death,
Deprived [3] of each one of goods.

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Judith (975-1025), author unknown, written in Old English, as it was found in the Book of Judith, still present in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles.

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There wás an all-golden
Beautiful fly-net around the folk-warrior's
Bed suspended, só that the hateful
Was able to look through, the chief of warriors,
Upon each one that therein came
Of the sons of heroes, and on him no one
Of the race of men, unless the proud some one
Of the strong-in-war bade to him nearer
Of warriors for counsel to come.

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Judith (975-1025), author unknown, written in Old English, describes the beheading of Assyrian general Holofernes by Israelite Judith of Bethulia

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Judith portrays the epitome of

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Germanic heroism, Judith was likely composed during a time of war as a model for the Anglo-Saxon people.

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Judith plot

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As Holofernes was often drunk, Judith anticipated that he would attempt to seduce her. She pretended to be charmed by Holofernes, allowing herself to be taken to his bedroom. When the unsuspecting Holofernes fell into a drunken slumber, Judith severed his head with a sword. Thereafter, she proudly displayed his head to her Hebrew army and led them into a victorious battle against the Assyrians. In the Book of Judith, though, the Assyrians simply fled Bethulia after discovering the deceased body of Holofernes (Marsden, pg. 148).

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Language Beowolf was written in

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It was written in Old English, the language of the Saxons.

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Beowolf religious importance

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Beowulf contains many pagan and folkloric elements, but there are undeniable Christian themes as well, symbolic of the transition from paganism to Christianity in early medieval Britain.

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Beowolf story

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Beowulf is a prince of the Geats of southern Sweden who comes to Denmark to help King Hrothgar rid his fabulous hall, Heorot, of a terrible monster known as Grendel. The hero mortally wounds the creature, who flees the hall to die in its lair. The next night, Grendel's mother comes to Heorot to avenge her offspring and kills one of Hrothgar's men. Beowulf tracks her down and kills her, then returns to Heorot where he receives great honors and gifts before returning home.

After ruling the Geats for half a century in peace, Beowulf must face a dragon who threatens his land. Unlike his earlier battles, this confrontation is terrible and deadly. He is deserted by all his retainers except his kinsman Wiglaf, and though he defeats the dragon he is mortally wounded. His funeral and a lament end the poem.

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Beowolf character: Beowolf

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The hero for whom the untitled poem was later named, Beowulf is the perfect warrior -- brave, strong, and honorable. While he displays enough bravado to inspire hope in the Scyldings, he is still courteous. He uses both his wits and brute strength to defeat his foes. Beowulf's only flaw manifests in the latter part of the poem, when he decides to face the dragon alone instead of delegating the task to a younger man, and in so doing leaves his kingdom without an experienced ruler, vulnerable to its enemies.

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Beowolf character: Hrothgar

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The king of the Scyldings is a wise and venerable leader weighed down with sorrow and loss. Placed in the unenviable position of requiring outside help to solve his deadliest problem, Hrothgar nevertheless stands proud as he decides to accept Beowulf's help. Before the hero returns home, Hrothgar has wisdom to share with him about kingship, for which he believes Beowulf is eminently suited.

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Beowolf character: Grendel

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The first and most memorable foe that Beowulf must face, Grendel is a hideous creature that is clearly not human; and yet, he displays human emotions and motivations. The poem ties him to the biblical Cain and brands him an outsider, condemned to live beyond the human community in a horrible place. There is a suggestion that envy of the splendor Hrothgar's Scyldings enjoyed and bitterness at being excluded drove him to attack Heorot.

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Beowolf character: Wealhtheow

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Hrothgar's wife and queen is Wealhtheow. Her appearance in Heorot lends a certain grave splendor to the festivities. It is Wealhtheow to whom Beowulf makes his pledge to kill Grendel or die in the attempt, and it is Wealhtheow's confirmation of Hrothgar's adoption of Beowulf that seems to legitimize the act. In a sense, Wealhtheow symbolizes all that is fine and good in women, especially women of rank and sensibility.

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Beowolf character: Grendels mother

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A swamp-fiend like her son, Grendel's mother -- who is never named -- is just as fierce and dangerous as Grendel. Understandably enraged by the death of her offspring, the hag attacks swiftly and flees, killing Hrothgar's advisor Aeschere. But when Beowulf comes after her, she faces him willingly, dragging him into her lair and attacking him viciously. Just as much a monster as Grendel, the mother shares a very human desire for vengeance. She can be contrasted with Wealhtheow, symbolizing evil in womanhood.

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Beowolf character: Hygelac

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Hygelac is the King of the Geats. He is fond of Beowulf, yet surprised that he has triumphed over such a deadly foe. By bestowing gifts and honors on the returning hero, Hygelac reveals how Beowulf's victories have earned him respect among the Geats. When Hygelac dies, Beowulf refuses to take the throne; only when Hygelac's son is killed does Beowulf take on the responsibility of ruling Geatland.

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Beowolf character: Dragon

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An ancient creature, the Dragon has made his home in an even more ancient barrow, where the treasure of a long-dead pagan chieftain was hidden. When its lair is accidentally discovered, and when only one item is taken from its hoard, the Dragon awakens to bring fiery devastation to Geatland. Beowulf's battle with the Dragon will be his last.

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"His father's warrior were wound round his heart/ With golden rings, bound to their prince/ By his father's treasure. So young men build/ The future, wisely open-handed in peace,/ Protected in war; so warriors earn/ Their fame, and wealth is shaped with a sword."

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Beowolf

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"They have seen my strength for themselves,/ Have watched me rise from the darkness of war,/ Dripping with my enemies' blood. I drove/ Five great giants into chains, chased/ All of that race from the earth. I swam/ In the blackness of night, hunting monsters/ Out of the ocean, and killing them one/ By one; death was my errand and the fate/ They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called/ Together, and I've come."

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Beowolf (700-1000 AD)

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She'd brooded on her loss, misery had brewed/ In her heart, that female horror, Grendel's/ Mother, living in the murky cold lake/ Assigned her since Cain had killed his only/ Brother, slain his father's son/ With an angry sword.

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Beowolf (700-1000 AD)

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like ice when the world's/ Eternal Lord loosens invisible/ Fetters and unwinds icicles and frost/ As only He can, He who rules/ Time and seasons, He who is truly/ God.

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Beowolf (700-1000 AD)

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Beowolf term: Alliterative/alliteration

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Alliteration, which is repeating the same sound, usually a consonant, at the beginning of words or in accented syllables, gives this story a more poetic sound.
Examples in Beowolf: "The Hall of the Heart", "His pledge and promise", "Dragging the dead men home to his den", "Fitted and furnished", and "Showed sea-cliffs shining".

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Beowolf term: Kenning

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A kenning is a descriptive, poetical expression used instead of a simple name for a person or thing.
Example in Beowolf: Beowulf is hardly ever called by his actual name. Instead there are many kennings referring to him, such as: "Prince of the Weders", "The Son of Ecgtheow", "The Geatish hero", and "The Lord of the Seamen".

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Importance of Kenning in Beowolf

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Beowulf would be less interesting and we would learn less about him. Anybody would say that describing or referring to a person by his or her name over and over again is boring. So the use of kennings and metaphors is very important in this long epic poem.

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Beowolf is what kind of poem?

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A heroic epic poem.

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Beowolf term: Caesura

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the metrical break in the middle of an Old English line.

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a clue that a poem is an epic

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the word Muse. The classical (Latin and Ancient Greek) authors that Chaucer emulated and wanted to surpass would always begin their epic narrative poems by invoking a muse

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His horse were gode, but he was not gay.
Of fustian he weared a gipoun
al bismotored with his harbergeoun;
for he was late y-come from his viage,
and went for to doon his pilgrimage

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Canterbury Tales, the Knight

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a lover, anda lusty bachelor
with looks cruel, as they were laid in presse
of twenty years of age he was, i guess....
he was fresh as the month of may.
Short was his gown, with sleeves long and wide.

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Canterbury Tales, the Squire

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he was clad in coat and hood of green
a sheef of peacock hours bright and keen
under his belt he bar ful thriftily..
and in his hand he bore a mighty bow

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Canterbury Tales, Yemen

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At mete well taught was she with all
she let no morsel from her lips fall...
her over lip wiped she so clean
that in her cup was no firthing scene..
so charitable was she,
she would weep if that she saw a mouse
caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleed.
caught in a trap

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Canterbury Tales, nun, had with her another nun chaplain

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Full many a dainty horse had he in stable
and when he rode, men might his bridle hear
jingling in a whistling wind as clear
and eek as loud as dooth the chapel bell

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CT, Monk

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full well beloved and familiar was he
with franklyns over all his country...
there was no man nowhere so vurtuuos

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CT, Friar

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so estately was he of his governance
with his bargains and with his chevisaunce
forsooth was he a worth man with all

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CT, Merchant

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for him was lever have at his beds heed
, twnety books clad in black or reed

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CT, clerk

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No where so busy a man there was
yet he seemed busier than he was

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CT, Segeant of law

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a better envied man was nowhere none
without baked meat was never his house
of fish and flesh and that so plenyous

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CT, a Frankelyn

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Well could he know a draught of london ale
he could roast and sethe and broil and fry
maken mortreux and well bake a pie..

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CT, cook

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he knew the cause of everich maladye
were it of hot or cold or moist or dry

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CT, doctor of physics

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Bold was her face and fair and red of hue
she was a worth woman all her life
husbands at church doors she had five..
and thrice had she been at jeruselem
she had passed many a strange stream

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CT, Wife of Bath