SELECTIONS FOR READING.
[ PROSE.]
Introductory.
I. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
This famous work, a series of progressive annals by unknown hands, embraces a period extending from Cæsar’s invasion of England to 1154. It is not known when or where these annals began to be recorded in English.
“The annals from the year 866—that of Ethelred’s ascent of the throne—to the year 887 seem to be the work of one mind. Not a single year is passed over, and to several is granted considerable space, especially to the years 871, 878, and 885. The whole has gained a certain roundness and fulness, because the events—nearly all of them episodes in the ever-recurring conflict with the Danes—are taken in their connection, and the thread dropped in one year is resumed in the next. Not only is the style in itself concise; it has a sort of nervous severity and pithy rigor. The construction is often antiquated, and suggests at times the freedom of poetry; though this purely historical prose is far removed from poetry in profusion of language.” (Ten Brink, Early Eng. Lit., I.)
II. The Translations of Alfred.
Alfred’s reign (871-901) may be divided into four periods. The first, the period of Danish invasion, extends from 871 to 881; the second, the period of comparative quiet, from 881 to 893; the third, the period of renewed strife (beginning with the incursions of Hasting), from 893 to 897; the fourth, the period of peace, from 897 to 901. His literary work probably falls in the second period.[*]
The works translated by Alfred from Latin into the vernacular were (1) Consolation of Philosophy (De Consolatione Philosophiae) by Boëthius (475-525), (2) Compendious History of the World (Historiarum Libri VII) by Orosius (c. 418), (3) Ecclesiastical History of the English (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum) by Bede (672-735), and (4) Pastoral Care (De Cura Pastorali) by Pope Gregory the Great (540-604).
The chronological sequence of these works is wholly unknown. That given is supported by Turner, Arend, Morley, Grein, and Pauli. Wülker argues for an exact reversal of this order. According to Ten Brink, the order was more probably (1) Orosius, (2) Bede, (3) Boëthius, and (4) Pastoral Care. The most recent contribution to the subject is from Wülfing, who contends for (1) Bede, (2) Orosius, (3) Pastoral Care, and (4) Boëthius.
[*] There is something inexpressibly touching in this clause from the great king’s pen: gif wē ðā stilnesse habbað. He is speaking of how much he hopes to do, by his translations, for the enlightenment of his people.
[ I. THE BATTLE OF ASHDOWN.]
[From the Chronicle, Parker MS. The event and date are significant. The Danes had for the first time invaded Wessex. Alfred’s older brother, Ethelred, was king; but to Alfred belongs the glory of the victory at Ashdown (Berkshire). Asser (Life of Alfred) tells us that for a long time Ethelred remained praying in his tent, while Alfred and his followers went forth “like a wild boar against the hounds.”]
[1] 871. Hēr cuōm[1] sē hęre tō Rēadingum on Westseaxe,
[2] ǫnd þæs ymb iii niht ridon ii eorlas ūp. Þa gemētte hīe
1 Æþelwulf aldorman[2] on Ęnglafelda, ǫnd him þǣr wiþ gefeaht,
2 ǫnd sige nam. Þæs ymb iiii niht Æþered cyning
3 ǫnd Ælfred his brōþur[3] þǣr micle fierd tō Rēadingum
4 gelǣddon, ǫnd wiþ þone hęre gefuhton; ǫnd þǣr wæs
5 micel wæl geslægen on gehwæþre hǫnd, ǫnd Æþelwulf
6 aldormǫn wearþ ofslægen; ǫnd þa Dęniscan āhton wælstōwe
7 gewald.
[8] Ǫnd þæs ymb iiii niht [gefeaht] Æþered cyning ǫnd
9 Ælfred his brōþur wiþ alne[4] þone hęre on Æscesdūne.
10 Ǫnd hīe wǣrun[5] on twǣm gefylcum: on ōþrum wæs
11 Bāchsęcg ǫnd Halfdęne þā hǣþnan cyningas, ǫnd on
12 ōþrum wǣron þā eorlas. Ǫnd þā gefeaht sē cyning
13 Æþered wiþ þāra cyninga getruman, ǫnd þǣr wearþ sē
14 cyning Bāgsęcg ofslægen; ǫnd Ælfred his brōþur wiþ
15 þāra eorla getruman, ǫnd þǣr wearþ Sidroc eorl ofslægen
16 sē alda,[6] ǫnd Sidroc eorl sē gioncga,[7] ǫnd Ōsbearn eorl,
17 ǫnd Frǣna eorl, ǫnd Hareld eorl; ǫnd þā hęrgas[8] bēgen
[18] geflīemde, [ǫnd fela þūsenda ofslægenra], ǫnd onfeohtende
19 wǣron oþ niht.
20 Ǫnd þæs ymb xiiii niht gefeaht Æþered cyning ǫnd
21 Ælfred his brōður wiþ þone hęre æt Basengum, ǫnd þǣr
22 þa Dęniscan sige nāmon.
23 Ǫnd þæs ymb ii mōnaþ gefeaht Æþered cyning ǫnd
24 Ælfred his brōþur wiþ þone hęre æt Męretūne, ǫnd hīe
25 wǣrun on tuǣm[9] gefylcium, ǫnd hīe būtū geflīemdon, ǫnd
26 lǫnge on dæg sige āhton; ǫnd þǣr wearþ micel wælsliht
27 on gehwæþere hǫnd; ǫnd þā Dęniscan āhton wælstōwe
1 gewald; ǫnd þær wearþ Hēahmund bisceop ofslægen,
2 ǫnd fela gōdra mǫnna. Ǫnd æfter þissum gefeohte cuōm[1]
3 micel sumorlida.
4 Ǫnd þæs ofer Ēastron gefōr Æþered cyning; ǫnd hē
5 rīcsode v gēar; ǫnd his līc līþ æt Wīnburnan.
6 Þā fēng Ælfred Æþelwulfing his brōþur tō Wesseaxna
7 rīce. Ǫnd þæs ymb ānne mōnaþ gefeaht Ælfred cyning
8 wiþ alne[4] þone hęre lȳtle werede[10] æt Wiltūne, ǫnd hine
9 lǫnge on dæg geflīemde, ǫnd þā Dęniscan āhton wælstōwe
10 gewald.
11 Ǫnd þæs gēares wurdon viiii folcgefeoht gefohten wiþ
[12] þone hęre on þȳ cynerīce be sūþan Tęmese, [būtan þām þe]
13 him Ælfred þæs cyninges brōþur ǫnd ānlīpig aldormǫn[2] ǫnd
14 cyninges þegnas oft rāde onridon þe mǫn nā ne rīmde;
15 ǫnd þæs gēares wǣrun[5] ofslægene viiii eorlas ǫnd ān cyning.
16 Ǫnd þȳ gēare nāmon Westseaxe friþ wiþ þone hęre.
[100.8.] gefeaht. Notice that the singular is used. This is the more common construction in O.E. when a compound subject, composed of singular members, follows its predicate. Cf. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. See also [p. 107, note on wæs].
[100.18.] ǫnd fela þūsenda ofslægenra, and there were many thousands of slain ([§ 91]).
[101.12.] būtan þām þe, etc., besides which, Alfred ... made raids against them (him), which were not counted. See [§ 70, Note].
Consult Glossary and Paradigms under Forms given below.
No note is made of such variants as y (ȳ) or i (ī) for ie (īe). See Glossary under ie (īe); occurrences, also, of and for ǫnd, land for lǫnd, are found on almost every page of Early West Saxon. Such words should be sought for under the more common forms, ǫnd, lǫnd.
[1] = cwōm.
[2] = ealdormǫn.
[3] = brōþor.
[4] = ealne.
[5] = wǣron.
[6] = ealda.
[7] = geonga.
[8] = hęras.
[9] = twǣm.
[10] = werode.
[ II. A PRAYER OF KING ALFRED.]
[With this characteristic prayer, Alfred concludes his translation of Boëthius’s Consolation of Philosophy. Unfortunately, the only extant MS. (Bodleian 180) is Late West Saxon. I follow, therefore, Prof. A. S. Cook’s normalization on an Early West Saxon basis. See Cook’s First Book in Old English, p. 163.]
1 Dryhten, ælmihtiga God, Wyrhta and Wealdend ealra
2 gesceafta, ic bidde ðē for ðīnre miclan mildheortnesse,
[3] and for ðǣre hālgan rōde tācne, and for Sanctæ [Marian]
4 mægðhāde, and for Sancti [Michaeles] gehīersumnesse, and
5 for ealra ðīnra hālgena lufan and hīera earnungum, ðæt
6 ðū mē gewissie bęt ðonne ic āworhte tō ðē; and gewissa
7 mē tō ðīnum willan, and tō mīnre sāwle ðearfe, bęt ðonne
8 ic self cunne; and gestaðela mīn mōd tō ðinum willan and
9 tō mīnre sāwle ðearfe; and gestranga mē wið ðæs dēofles
10 costnungum; and āfierr fram mē ðā fūlan gālnesse and
11 ǣlce unrihtwīsnesse; and gescield mē wið mīnum wiðerwinnum,
12 gesewenlīcum and ungesewenlīcum; and tǣc mē
13 ðīnne willan tō wyrceanne; ðæt ic mæge ðē inweardlīce
14 lufian tōforan eallum ðingum, mid clǣnum geðance and
15 mid clǣnum līchaman. For ðon ðe ðū eart mīn Scieppend,
16 and mīn Alīesend, mīn Fultum, mīn Frōfor, mīn Trēownes,
[17] and mīn Tōhopa. [Sīe ðē lof] and wuldor nū and
[18] ā ā ā, tō worulde būtan ǣghwilcum ęnde. Amen.
[102.3-4.] Marian ... Michaeles. O.E. is inconsistent in the treatment of foreign names. They are sometimes naturalized, and sometimes retain in part their original inflections. Marian, an original accusative, is here used as a genitive; while Michaeles has the O.E. genitive ending.
[102.17.] Sīe ðē lof. See [§ 105], 1.
[ III. THE VOYAGES OF OHTHERE AND WULFSTAN.]
[Lauderdale and Cottonian MSS. These voyages are an original insertion by Alfred into his translation of Orosius’s Compendious History of the World.
“They consist,” says Ten Brink, “of a complete description of all the countries in which the Teutonic tongue prevailed at Alfred’s time, and a full narrative of the travels of two voyagers, which the king wrote down from their own lips. One of these, a Norwegian named Ohthere, had quite circumnavigated the coast of Scandinavia in his travels, and had even penetrated to the White Sea; the other, named Wulfstan, had sailed from Schleswig to Frische Haff. The geographical and ethnographical details of both accounts are exceedingly interesting, and their style is attractive, clear, and concrete.”
Ohthere made two voyages. Sailing first northward along the western coast of Norway, he rounded the North Cape, passed into the White Sea, and entered the Dwina River (ān micel ēa). On his second voyage he sailed southward along the western coast of Norway, entered the Skager Rack (wīdsǣ), passed through the Cattegat, and anchored at the Danish port of Haddeby (æt Hǣþum), modern Schleswig.
Wulfstan sailed only in the Baltic Sea. His voyage of seven days from Schleswig brought him to Drausen (Trūsō) on the shore of the Drausensea.]
Ohthere’s First Voyage.
1 Ōthęre sǣde his hlāforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt hē
2 ealra Norðmǫnna norþmest būde. Hē cwæð þæt hē būde
3 on þǣm lande norþweardum wiþ þā Westsæ. Hē sǣde
4 þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þonan; ac hit is
5 eal wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum styccemælum wīciað
6 Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra, ǫnd on sumera on fiscaþe
7 be þǣre sǣ. Hē sǣde þæt hē æt sumum cirre wolde
8 fandian hū lǫnge þæt land norþryhte lǣge, oþþe hwæðer
9 ǣnig mǫn be norðan þǣm wēstenne būde. Þā fōr hē
10 norþryhte be þǣm lande: lēt him ealne weg þæt wēste
11 land on ðæt stēorbord, ǫnd þā wīdsǣ on ðæt bæcbord þrīe
12 dagas. Þā wæs hē swā feor norþ swā þā hwælhuntan
13 firrest faraþ. Þā fōr hē þā gīet norþryhte swā feor swā
14 hē meahte on þǣm ōþrum þrīm dagum gesiglan. Þā bēag
15 þæt land þǣr ēastryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt lǫnd, hē
16 nysse hwæðer, būton hē wisse ðæt hē ðǣr bād westanwindes
17 ǫnd hwōn norþan, ǫnd siglde ðā ēast be lande
18 swā swā hē meahte on fēower dagum gesiglan. Þā
19 sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðǣm þæt
20 land bēag þǣr sūþryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land, hē
21 nysse hwæþer. Þā siglde hē þǫnan sūðryhte be lande
1 swā swā hē męhte[1] on fīf dagum gesiglan. Ðā læg þǣr
2 ān micel ēa ūp in on þæt land. Þā cirdon hīe ūp in on
3 ðā ēa, for þǣm hīe ne dorston forþ bī þǣre ēa siglan for
4 unfriþe; for þǣm ðæt land wæs eall gebūn on ōþre healfe
5 þǣre ēas. Ne mētte hē ǣr nān gebūn land, siþþan hē
[6] [frǫm his āgnum hām] fōr; ac him wæs ealne weg wēste
7 land on þæt stēorbord, būtan fiscerum ǫnd fugelerum ōnd
[8] huntum, [ǫnd þæt wǣron] eall Finnas; ǫnd him wæs ā
9 wīdsǣ on ðæt bæcbord. Þā Beormas hæfdon swīþe wel
10 gebūd hira land: ac hīe ne dorston þǣr on cuman. Ac
11 þāra Terfinna land wæs eal wēste, būton ðǣr huntan
12 gewīcodon, oþþe fisceras, oþþe fugeleras.
13 Fela spella him sǣdon þā Beormas ǣgþer ge of hiera
14 āgnum lande ge of þǣm landum þe ymb hīe ūtan wǣron;
[15] ac hē nyste [hwæt þæs sōþes wæs], for þǣm hē hit self ne
16 geseah. Þā Finnas, him þūhte, ǫnd þā Beormas sprǣcon
17 nēah ān geþēode. Swīþost hē fōr ðider, tō ēacan þæs
18 landes scēawunge, for þǣm horshwælum, for ðǣm hīe
19 habbað swīþe æþele bān on hiora[2] tōþum—þā tēð hīe brōhton
20 sume þǣm cyninge—ǫnd hiora hȳd bið swīðe gōd tō
21 sciprāpum. Sē hwæl bið micle lǣssa þonne ōðre hwalas:
22 ne bið hē lęngra ðonne syfan[3] ęlna lang; ac on his āgnum
23 lande is sē bętsta hwælhuntað: þā bēoð eahta and fēowertiges
24 ęlna lange, and þā mǣstan fīftiges ęlna lange;
[25] þāra hē sǣde þæt hē [syxa sum] ofslōge syxtig on twām
26 dagum.
1 Hē wæs swȳðe spēdig man on þǣm ǣhtum þe heora[2]
[2] spēda [on bēoð], þæt is, on wildrum. Hē hæfde þā gȳt, ðā
3 hē þone cyningc[5] sōhte, tamra dēora unbebohtra syx hund.
4 Þā dēor hī hātað ‘hrānas’; þāra wǣron syx stælhrānas;
5 ðā bēoð swȳðe dȳre mid Finnum, for ðǣm hȳ fōð þā
6 wildan hrānas mid. Hē wæs mid þǣm fyrstum mannum
7 on þǣm lande: næfde hē þēah mā ðonne twēntig hrȳðera,
8 and twēntig scēapa, and twēntig swȳna; and þæt lȳtle
9 þæt hē ęrede, hē ęrede mid horsan.[4] Ac hyra ār is mǣst
10 on þǣm gafole þe ðā Finnas him gyldað. Þæt gafol bið
11 on dēora fellum, and on fugela feðerum, and hwales bāne,
12 and on þǣm sciprāpum þe bēoð of hwæles hȳde geworht
13 and of sēoles. Ǣghwilc gylt be hys gebyrdum. Sē byrdesta
14 sceall gyldan fīftȳne mearðes fell, and fīf hrānes,
15 and ān beren fel, and tȳn ambra feðra, and berenne kyrtel
16 oððe yterenne, and twēgen sciprāpas; ǣgþer sȳ syxtig
17 ęlna lang, ōþer sȳ of hwæles hȳde geworht, ōþer of sīoles.[6]
18 Hē sǣde ðæt Norðmanna land wǣre swȳþe lang and
[19] swȳðe smæl. [Eal þæt his man] āðer oððe ęttan oððe ęrian
20 mæg, þæt līð wið ðā sǣ; and þæt is þēah on sumum
21 stōwum swȳðe clūdig; and licgað wilde mōras wið ēastan
22 and wið ūpp on emnlange þǣm bȳnum lande. On þǣm
23 mōrum eardiað Finnas. And þæt bȳne land is ēasteweard
24 brādost, and symle swā norðor swā smælre. Ēastewęrd[7]
25 hit mæg bīon[8] syxtig mīla brād, oþþe hwēne brǣdre;
26 and middeweard þrītig oððe brādre; and norðeweard hē
27 cwæð, þǣr hit smalost wǣre, þæt hit mihte bēon þrēora
28 mīla brād tō þǣm mōre; and sē mōr syðþan,[9] on sumum
1 stōwum, swā brād swā man mæg on twām wucum oferfēran;
2 and on sumum stōwum swā brād swā man mæg
3 on syx dagum oferfēran.
4 Ðonne is tōemnes þǣm lande sūðeweardum, on ōðre
5 healfe þæs mōres, Swēoland, oþ þæt land norðeweard;
6 and tōemnes þǣm lande norðeweardum, Cwēna land. Þā
7 Cwēnas hęrgiað hwīlum on ðā Norðmęn ofer ðone mōr,
8 hwīlum þā Norðmęn on hȳ. And þǣr sint swīðe micle
9 męras fersce geond þā mōras; and berað þā Cwēnas hyra
10 scypu ofer land on ðā męras, and þanon hęrgiað on ðā
[11] Norðmęn; hȳ habbað swȳðe lȳtle [scypa and swȳðe]
12 [leohte].
[104.6.] frǫm his āgnum hām. An adverbial dative singular without an inflectional ending is found with hām, dæg, morgen, and ǣfen.
[104.8.] ǫnd þæt wǣron. See [§ 40, Note 3].
[104.15.] hwæt þæs sōþes wæs. Sweet errs in explaining sōþes as attracted into the genitive by þæs. It is not a predicate adjective, but a partitive genitive after hwæt.
[104.25.] syxa sum. See [§ 91, Note 2].
[105.2.] on bēoð. See [§ 94, (5)].
[105.19.] Eal þæt his man. Pronominal genitives are not always possessive in O.E.; his is here the partitive genitive of hit, the succeeding relative pronoun being omitted: All that (portion) of it that may, either-of-the-two, either be grazed or plowed, etc. ([§ 70, Note]).
[106.11-12.] scypa ... leohte. These words exhibit inflections more frequent in Late than in Early West Saxon. The normal forms would be scypu, leoht; but in Late West Saxon the -u of short-stemmed neuters is generally replaced by -a; and the nominative accusative plural neuter of adjectives takes, by analogy, the masculine endings; hwate, gōde, hālge, instead of hwatu, gōd, hālgu.
[1] = meahte, mihte.
[2] = hiera.
[3] = seofon.
[4] = horsum.
[5] = cyning.
[6] = sēoles.
[7] = -weard.
[8] = bēon.
[9] = siððan.
Ohthere’s Second Voyage.
13 Ōhthęre sǣde þæt sīo[1] scīr hātte Hālgoland, þe hē on
14 būde. Hē cwæð þæt nān man ne būde be norðan him.
15 Þonne is ān port on sūðeweardum þǣm lande, þone man
16 hǣt Sciringeshēal. Þyder hē cwæð þæt man ne mihte
17 geseglian on ānum mōnðe, gyf man on niht wīcode, and
18 ǣlce dæge hæfde ambyrne wind; and ealle ðā hwīle hē
19 sceal seglian be lande. And on þæt stēorbord him bið
20 ǣrest Īraland, and þonne ðā īgland þe synd betux Īralande
21 and þissum lande. Þonne is þis land, oð hē cymð
22 tō Scirincgeshēale, and ealne weg on þæt bæcbord Norðweg.
1 Wið sūðan þone Sciringeshēal fylð swȳðe mycel
2 sǣ ūp in on ðæt land; sēo is brādre þonne ǣnig man ofer
3 sēon mæge. And is Gotland on ōðre healfe ongēan, and
4 siððan Sillęnde. Sēo sǣ līð mænig[2] hund mīla ūp in on
5 þæt land.
6 And of Sciringeshēale hē cwæð ðæt hē seglode on fīf
[7] dagan[3] tō þǣm porte þe mǫn hǣt [æt Hǣþum]; sē stęnt
8 betuh Winedum, and Seaxum, and Angle, and hȳrð in
9 on Dęne. Ðā hē þiderweard seglode fram Sciringeshēale,
10 þā wæs him on þæt bæcbord Dęnamearc and on
11 þæt stēorbord wīdsǣ þrȳ dagas; and þā, twēgen dagas ǣr
12 hē tō Hǣþum cōme, him wæs on þæt stēorbord Gotland,
13 and Sillęnde, and īglanda fela. On þǣm landum eardodon
[14] Ęngle, ǣr hī hider on land cōman.[4] And hym [wæs]
15 [ðā twēgen dagas on ðæt bæcbord þā īgland] þe in on
16 Dęnemearce hȳrað.
[107.7.] æt Hǣþum. “This pleonastic use of æt with names of places occurs elsewhere in the older writings, as in the Chronicle (552), ‘in þǣre stōwe þe is genęmned æt Searobyrg,’ where the æt has been erased by some later hand, showing that the idiom had become obsolete. Cp. the German ‘Gasthaus zur Krone,’ Stamboul = es tān pólin.” (Sweet.) See, also, Atterbury, § 28, Note 3.
[107.14-15.] wæs ... þā īgland. The singular predicate is due again to inversion ([p. 100, note on gefeaht]). The construction is comparatively rare in O.E., but frequent in Shakespeare and in the popular speech of to-day. Cf. There is, Here is, There has been, etc., with a (single) plural subject following.
[1] = sēo.
[2] = mǫnig.
[3] = dagum.
[4] = cōmen.
Wulfstan’s Voyage.
17 Wulfstān sǣde þæt hē gefōre of Hǣðum, þæt hē wǣre
18 on Trūsō on syfan dagum and nihtum, þæt þæt scip wæs
19 ealne weg yrnende under segle. Weonoðland him wæs
[1] on stēorbord, and on bæcbord [him] wæs Langaland, and
2 Lǣland, and Falster, and Scōnēg; and þās land eall
3 hȳrað tō Dęnemearcan. And þonne Burgenda land wæs
4 [ūs] on bæcbord, and þā habbað him sylfe[1] cyning. Þonne
5 æfter Burgenda lande wǣron ūs þās land, þā synd hātene
6 ǣrest Blēcinga-ēg, and Mēore, and Ēowland, and Gotland
7 on bæcbord; and þās land hȳrað tō Swēom. And Weonodland
8 wæs ūs ealne weg on stēorbord oð Wīslemūðan.
9 Sēo Wīsle is swȳðe mycel ēa, and hīo[2] tōlīð Wītland and
10 Weonodland; and þæt Wītland belimpeð tō Estum; and
11 sēo Wīsle līð ūt of Weonodlande, and līð in Estmęre;
12 and sē Estmęre is hūru fīftēne[3] mīla brād. Þonne cymeð
13 Ilfing ēastan in Estmęre of ðām męre, ðe Trūsō standeð
14 in stæðe; and cumað ūt samod in Estmęre, Ilfing ēastan
15 of Estlande, and Wīsle sūðan of Winodlande. And
16 þonne benimð Wīsle Ilfing hire naman, and ligeð of þǣm
17 męre west and norð on sǣ; for ðȳ hit man hǣt
18 Wīslemūða.
19 Þæt Estland is swȳðe mycel, and þǣr bið swȳðe manig
20 burh, and on ǣlcere byrig bið cyning. And þǣr bið
21 swȳðe mycel hunig, and fiscnað; and sē cyning and þā
22 rīcostan męn drincað mȳran meolc, and þā unspēdigan
23 and þā þēowan drincað medo.[4] Þǣr bið swȳðe mycel
24 gewinn betwēonan him. And ne bið ðǣr nǣnig ealo[5]
25 gebrowen mid Estum, ac þǣr bið medo genōh. And þǣr
26 is mid Estum ðēaw, þonne þǣr bið man dēad, þæt hē līð
27 inne unforbærned mid his māgum and frēondum mōnað,
28 ge hwīlum twēgen; and þā cyningas, and þā ōðre hēahðungene
29 męn, swā micle lęncg[6] swā hī māran spēda
30 habbað, hwīlum healf gēar þæt hī bēoð unforbærned, and
1 licgað bufan eorðan on hyra hūsum. And ealle þā hwīle
[2] þe þæt līc bið inne, þǣr [sceal] bēon gedrync and plega,
3 oð ðone dæg þe hī hine forbærnað. Þonne þȳ ylcan dæge
4 þe hī hine tō þǣm āde beran wyllað, þonne tōdǣlað hī
5 his feoh, þæt þǣr tō lāfe bið æfter þǣm gedrynce and þǣm
[6] plegan, on fīf oððe syx, hwȳlum on mā, swā swā þæs fēos
[7] andēfn bið. [Ālęcgað hit] ðonne forhwæga on ānre mīle
8 þone mǣstan dǣl fram þǣm tūne, þonne ōðerne, ðonne
9 þone þriddan, oþ þe hyt eall ālēd bið on þǣre ānre mīle;
10 and sceall bēon sē lǣsta dǣl nȳhst þǣm tūne ðe sē dēada
11 man on lið. Ðonne sceolon[7] bēon gesamnode ealle ðā
12 męnn ðe swyftoste hors habbað on þǣm lande, forhwæga
13 on fīf mīlum oððe on syx mīlum fram þǣm fēo. Þonne
14 ærnað hȳ ealle tōweard þǣm fēo: ðonne cymeð sē man
15 sē þæt swiftoste hors hafað tō þǣm ǣrestan dǣle and tō
16 þǣm mǣstan, and swā ǣlc æfter ōðrum, oþ hit bið eall
17 genumen; and sē nimð þone lǣstan dǣl sē nȳhst þǣm
[18] tūne þæt feoh geærneð. And þonne rīdeð ǣlc hys weges
19 mid ðǣm fēo, and hyt mōtan[8] habban eall; and for ðȳ
20 þǣr bēoð þā swiftan hors ungefōge dȳre. And þonne his
21 gestrēon bēoð þus eall āspęnded, þonne byrð man hine ūt,
22 and forbærneð mid his wǣpnum and hrægle; and swīðost
1 ealle hys spēda hȳ forspęndað mid þǣm langan legere
[2] þæs dēadan mannes inne, and þæs þe hȳ be þǣm wegum
3 ālęcgað, þe ðā fręmdan tō ærnað, and nimað. And þæt
4 is mid Estum þēaw þæt þǣr sceal ǣlces geðēodes man
[5] bēon forbærned; and gyf þār[9] [man ān bān findeð unforbærned,]
6 [hī] hit sceolan[7] miclum gebētan. And þǣr is mid
[7] Estum ān mǣgð þæt hī magon cyle gewyrcan; and þȳ
8 þǣr licgað þā dēadan męn swā lange, and ne fūliað, þæt
9 hȳ wyrcað þone cyle him on. And þēah man āsętte
10 twēgen fǣtels full ealað oððe wæteres, hȳ gedōð þæt
11 ǣgþer bið oferfroren, sam hit sȳ sumor sam winter.
[108.1-4.] him ... ūs. Note the characteristic change of person, the transition from indirect to direct discourse.
[109.2.] sceal. See [§ 137, Note 2 (2)].
[109.7.] Ālęcgað hit. Bosworth illustrates thus:
 | |
| Where the horsemen assemble. | The six parts of the property placed within one mile. |
“The horsemen assemble five or six miles from the property, at d or e, and run towards c; the man who has the swiftest horse, coming first to 1 or c, takes the first and largest part. The man who has the horse coming second takes part 2 or b, and so, in succession, till the least part, 6 or a, is taken.”
[Text version of illustration]
[110.5-6.] man ... hī. Here the plural hī refers to the singular man. Cf. [p. 109, ll. 18-19], ǣlc ... mōtan. In Exodus xxxii, 24, we find “Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off”; and Addison writes, “I do not mean that I think anyone to blame for taking due care of their health.” The construction, though outlawed now, has been common in all periods of our language. Paul remarks (Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte, 3d ed., § 186) that “When a word is used as an indefinite [one, man, somebody, etc.] it is, strictly speaking, incapable of any distinction of number. Since, however, in respect of the external form, a particular number has to be chosen, it is a matter of indifference which this is.... Hence a change of numbers is common in the different languages.” Paul fails to observe that the change is always from singular to plural, not from plural to singular. See Note on the Concord of Collectives and Indefinites (Anglia XI, 1901). See [p. 119, note on ll. 19-21].
[1] = selfe.
[2] = hēo.
[3] = fīftīene.
[4] = medu.
[5] = ealu.
[6] = lęng.
[7] = sculon.
[8] = mōton.
[9] = ðǣr.
[ IV. THE STORY OF CÆDMON.]
[From the so-called Alfredian version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. The text generally followed is that of MS. Bodley, Tanner 10. Miller (Early English Text Society, No. 95, Introd.) argues, chiefly from the use of the prepositions, that the original O.E. MS. was Mercian, composed possibly in Lichfield (Staffordshire). At any rate, O.E. idiom is frequently sacrificed to the Latin original.
“Cædmon, as he is called, is the first Englishman whose name we know who wrote poetry in our island of England; and the first to embody in verse the new passions and ideas which Christianity had brought into England.... Undisturbed by any previous making of lighter poetry, he came fresh to the work of Christianising English song. It was a great step to make. He built the chariot in which all the new religious emotions of England could now drive along.” (Brooke, The History of Early English Literature, cap. XV.) There is no reason to doubt the historical existence of Cædmon; for Bede, who relates the story, lived near Whitby, and was seven years old when Cædmon died (A.D. 680)].
[1] In [ðysse abbudissan] mynstre wæs sum brōðor syndriglīce
2 mid godcundre gife gemǣred ǫnd geweorðad, for þon
3 he gewunade gerisenlīce lēoð wyrcan, þā ðe tō ǣfęstnisse[1]
4 ǫnd tō ārfæstnisse belumpon; swā ðætte swā hwæt swā
5 hē of godcundum stafum þurh bōceras geleornode, þæt hē
6 æfter medmiclum fæce in scopgereorde mid þā mǣstan
7 swētnisse ǫnd inbryrdnisse geglęngde, ǫnd in Ęngliscgereorde
8 wel geworht forþ brōhte. Ǫnd for his lēoþsǫngum
1 mǫnigra mǫnna mōd oft to worulde forhogdnisse ǫnd tō
[2] geþēodnisse þæs heofonlīcan līfes onbærnde wǣron. Ǫnd
[3] ēac swelce[2] mǫnige ōðre æfter him in Ǫngelþēode ongunnon
[4] ǣfęste lēoð wyrcan, [ac nǣnig hwæðre him þæt gelīce]
5 [dōn ne meahte]; for þon hē nālæs frǫm mǫnnum nē ðurh
6 mǫn gelǣred wæs þæt hē ðone lēoðcræft leornade, ac hē
7 wæs godcundlīce gefultumod, ǫnd þurh Godes gife þone
8 sǫngcræft onfēng; ǫnd hē for ðon nǣfre nōht lēasunge,
9 nē īdles lēoþes wyrcan ne meahte, ac efne þā ān ðā ðē tō
[10] ǣfęstnisse[1] belumpon [ǫnd his þā ǣfęstan tungan gedafenode]
11 [singan].
12 Wæs hē, sē mǫn, in weoruldhāde[3] gesęted oð þā tīde þe
13 hē wæs gelȳfdre ylde, ǫnd nǣfre nǣnig lēoð geleornade.
[14] Ǫnd hē for þon oft in gebēorscipe, þonne þǣr wæs [blisse]
15 [intinga] gedēmed, þæt hēo[4] ealle sceolden þurh ęndebyrdnesse
16 be hearpan singan, þonne hē geseah þā hearpan him
17 nēalēcan, þonne ārās hē for scǫme frǫm þǣm symble,
[18] ǫnd hām ēode tō his hūse. Þā hē [þæt þā sumre tīde]
19 [dyde, þæt hē forlēt] þæt hūs þæs gebēorscipes, ǫnd ūt wæs
[1] gǫngende tō nēata scipene, [þāra heord him wæs þǣre]
2 [nihte beboden]; þā hē ðā þǣr on gelimplīcre tīde his
3 leomu[5] on ręste gesętte ǫnd onslēpte, þa stōd him sum
4 mǫn æt þurh swefn, ǫnd hine hālette ǫnd grētte, ǫnd hine
5 be his nǫman nęmnde: “Cædmǫn, sing mē hwæthwugu.”
6 Þā ǫndswarede hē, ǫnd cwæð: “Ne cǫn ic nōht singan;
7 ǫnd ic for þon of þyssum gebēorscipe ūt ēode ǫnd hider
8 gewāt, for þon ic nāht singan ne cūðe.” Eft hē cwæð sē ðe
9 wið hine sprecende wæs: “Hwæðre þū meaht mē singan.”
10 Þā cwæð hē: “Hwæt sceal ic singan?” Cwæð hē: “Sing
11 mē frumsceaft.” Þā hē ðā þās andsware onfēng, þā
12 ongǫn hē sōna singan, in hęrenesse Godes Scyppendes,
[13] þā fers ǫnd þā word þe hē nǣfre ne gehȳrde, [þāra ęndebyrdnes]
14 [þis is]:
[15] Nū sculon hęrigean[6] heofonrīces Weard,
16 Metodes meahte ǫnd his mōdgeþanc,
[17] weorc Wuldorfæder, swā hē [wundra gehwæs],
18 ēce Drihten ōr onstealde.
1 Hē ǣrest scēop eorðan bearnum
[2] heofon tō hrōfe, hālig Scyppend;
3 þā middangeard mǫnncynnes Weard,
4 ēce Drihten, æfter tēode
5 fīrum foldan, Frēa ælmihtig.
6 Þā ārās hē frǫm þǣm slǣpe, ǫnd eal þā þe hē slǣpende
[7] sǫng fæste in gemynde hæfde; [ǫnd þǣm wordum] sōna
8 mǫnig word in þæt ilce gemet Gode wyrðes sǫnges
9 [tōgeþēodde]. Þā cōm hē on morgenne tō þǣm tūngerēfan,
10 sē þe his ealdormǫn wæs: sægde him hwylce gife hē
11 onfēng; ǫnd hē hine sōna tō þǣre abbudissan gelǣdde,
12 ǫnd hire þæt cȳðde ǫnd sægde. Þā heht hēo gesǫmnian
13 ealle þā gelǣredestan męn ǫnd þā leorneras, ǫnd him
14 ǫndweardum hēt sęcgan þæt swefn, ǫnd þæt lēoð singan,
15 þæt ealra heora[7] dōme gecoren wǣre, hwæt oððe hwǫnan
[16] þæt cumen wǣre. [Þā wæs him eallum gesewen], swā swā
17 hit wæs, þæt him wǣre frǫm Drihtne sylfum heofonlīc
1 gifu forgifen. Þā ręhton hęo[4] him ǫnd sægdon sum hālig
2 spell ǫnd godcundre lāre word: bebudon him þā, gif hē
3 meahte, þæt hē in swīnsunge lēoþsǫnges þæt gehwyrfde.
4 Þā hē ðā hæfde þā wīsan onfǫngne, þā ēode hē hām tō
5 his hūse, ǫnd cwōm eft on morgenne, ǫnd þȳ bętstan
6 lēoðe geglęnged him āsǫng ǫnd āgeaf þæt him beboden
7 wæs.
8 Ðā ongan sēo abbudisse clyppan ǫnd lufigean[8] þā Godes
[9] gife in þǣm męn, [ǫnd hēo hine þā mǫnade] ǫnd lǣrde
10 þæt hē woruldhād forlēte ǫnd [munuchād onfēnge]: ǫnd
11 hē þæt wel þafode. Ǫnd hēo hine in þæt mynster onfēng
[12] mid his gōdum, ǫnd hine geþēodde tō gesǫmnunge þāra
13 Godes þēowa, ǫnd heht hine lǣran þæt getæl þæs hālgan
[14] stǣres ǫnd spelles. Ǫnd hē eal þā hē in gehȳrnesse
[15] geleornian meahte, mid hine gemyndgade, ǫnd swā swā
16 clǣne nēten[9] eodorcende in þæt swēteste lēoð gehwyrfde.
17 Ǫnd his sǫng ǫnd his lēoð wǣron swā wynsumu tō gehȳranne,
[18] þætte þā seolfan[10] his lārēowas æt his mūðe writon
19 ǫnd leornodon. Sǫng hē ǣrest be middangeardes gesceape,
20 ǫnd bī fruman mǫncynnes, ǫnd eal þæt stǣr Genesis (þæt
21 is sēo ǣreste Moyses bōc); ǫnd eft bī ūtgǫnge Israhēla
22 folces of Ǣgypta lǫnde, ǫnd bī ingǫnge þæs gehātlandes;
23 ǫnd bī ōðrum mǫnegum spellum þæs hālgan gewrites
1 canōnes bōca; ǫnd bī Crīstes męnniscnesse, ǫnd bī his
2 þrōwunge, ǫnd bī his ūpāstīgnesse in heofonas; ǫnd bī
3 þæs Hālgan Gāstes cyme, ǫnd þāra apostola lāre; ǫnd eft
4 bī þǣm dæge þæs tōweardan dōmes, ǫnd bī fyrhtu þæs
5 tintreglīcan wītes, ǫnd bī swētnesse þæs heofonlīcan rīces,
[6] [hē monig lēoð geworhte]; ǫnd swelce[2] ēac ōðer mǫnig be
7 þǣm godcundan fręmsumnessum ǫnd dōmum hē geworhte.
8 In eallum þǣm hē geornlīce gēmde[11] þæt hē męn ātuge
9 frǫm synna lufan ǫnd māndǣda, ǫnd tō lufan ǫnd tō
10 geornfulnesse āwęhte gōdra dǣda, for þon hē wæs, sē
11 mǫn, swīþe ǣfęst ǫnd regollīcum þēodscipum ēaðmōdlīce
12 underþēoded; ǫnd wið þǣm þā ðe in ōðre wīsan dōn woldon,
13 hē wæs mid welme[12] micelre ęllenwōdnisse onbærned.
14 Ǫnd hē for ðon fægre ęnde his līf betȳnde ǫnd geęndade.
[111.1.] ðysse abbudissan. The abbess referred to is the famous Hild, or Hilda, then living in the monastery at Streones-halh, which, according to Bede, means “Bay of the Beacon.” The Danes afterward gave it the name Whitby, or “White Town.” The surroundings were eminently fitted to nurture England’s first poet. “The natural scenery which surrounded him, the valley of the Esk, on whose sides he probably lived, the great cliffs, the billowy sea, the vast sky seen from the heights over the ocean, played incessantly upon him.” (Brooke.)
Note, also, in this connection, the numerous Latin words that the introduction of Christianity (A.D. 597) brought into the vocabulary of O.E.: abbudisse, mynster, bisceop, Lǣden, prēost, æstel, mancus.
[112.4-5.] The more usual order of words would be ac nǣnig, hwæðre, ne meahte ðæt dōn gelīce him.
[112.10-11.] ǫnd his ... singan, and which it became his (the) pious tongue to sing.
[112.14-15.] blisse intinga, for the sake of joy; but the translator has confused laetitiae causā (ablative) and laetitiae causa (nominative). The proper form would be for blisse with omission of intingan, just as for my sake is usually for mē; for his (or their) sake, for him. Cf. Mark vi, 26: “Yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her,” for ðǣm āðe, ǫnd for ðǣm þe him mid sǣton. For his sake is frequently for his ðingon (ðingum), rarely for his intingan. Þingon is regularly used when the preceding genitive is a noun denoting a person: for my wife’s sake, for mīnes wīfes ðingon (Genesis xx, 11), etc.
[112.18-19.] þæt ... þæt hē forlēt. The substantival clause introduced by the second þæt amplifies by apposition the first þæt: When he then, at a certain time (instrumental case, [§ 98, (2)]), did that, namely, when he left the house. The better Mn.E. would be this ... that: “Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison” (Luke iv, 20).
[113.1-2.] þāra ... beboden. This does not mean that Cædmon was a herdsman, but that he served in turn as did the other secular attendants at the monastery.
[113.13-14.] þāra ęndebyrdnes þis is. Bede writes Hic est sensus, non autem ordo ipse verborum, and gives in Latin prose a translation of the hymn from the Northumbrian dialect, in which Cædmon wrote. The O.E. version given above is, of course, not the Northumbrian original (which, however, with some variations is preserved in several of the Latin MSS. of Bede’s History), but a West Saxon version made also from the Northumbrian, not from the Latin.
[113.15.] Nū sculon hęrigean, Now ought we to praise. The subject wē is omitted in the best MSS. Note the characteristic use of synonyms, or epithets, in this bit of O.E. poetry. Observe that it is not the thought that is repeated, but rather the idea, the concept, God. See [p. 124].
[113.17.] wundra gehwæs. See [p. 140, note on cēnra gehwylcum].
[114.7-9.] ǫnd þǣm wordum ... tōgeþēodde, and to those words he soon joined, in the same meter, many (other) words of song worthy of God. But the translator has not only blundered over Bede’s Latin (eis mox plura in eundem modum verba Deo digna carminis adjunxit), but sacrificed still more the idiom of O.E. The predicate should not come at the end; in should be followed by the dative; and for Gode wyrðes sǫnges the better O.E. would be sǫnges Godes wyrðes. When used with the dative wyrð (weorð) usually means dear (= of worth) to.
[114.16.] þā ... gesewen. We should expect frǫm him eallum; but the translator has again closely followed the Latin (visumque est omnibus), as later (in the Conversion of Edwin) he renders Talis mihi videtur by þyslīc mē is gesewen. Talis (þyslīc) agreeing with a following vita (līf). Ælfric, however, with no Latin before him, writes that John wearð ðā him [= frǫm Drihtene] inweardlīce gelufod. It would seem that in proportion as a past participle has the force of an adjective, the to relation may supplant the by relation; just as we say unknown to instead of unknown by, unknown being more adjectival than participial. Gesewen, therefore, may here be translated visible, evident, patent (= gesynelīc, sweotol); and gelufod, dear (= weorð, lēof).
A survival of adjectival gesewen is found in Wycliffe’s New Testament (1 Cor. xv, 5-8): “He was seyn to Cephas, and aftir these thingis to enleuene; aftirward he was seyn to mo than fyue hundrid britheren togidere ... aftirward he was seyn to James, and aftirward to alle the apostlis. And last of alle he was seyn to me, as to a deed borun child.” The construction is frequent in Chaucer.
[115.9-10.] ǫnd hēo hine þā mǫnade ... munuchād onfēnge. Hild’s advice has in it the suggestion of a personal experience, for she herself had lived half of her life (thirty-three years) “before,” says Bede, “she dedicated the remaining half to our Lord in a monastic life.”
[116.6.] hē mǫnig lēoð geworhte. The opinion is now gaining ground that of these “many poems” only the short hymn, already given, has come down to us. Of other poems claimed for Cædmon, the strongest arguments are advanced in favor of a part of the fragmentary poetical paraphrase of Genesis.
[1] = ǣfæstnesse.
[2] = swilce.
[3] = woruldhāde.
[4] = hīe.
[5] = limu.
[6] = hęrian.
[7] = hiera.
[8] = lufian.
[9] = nīeten.
[10] = selfan.
[11] = gīemde.
[12] = wielme.
[ V. ALFRED’S PREFACE TO THE PASTORAL CARE.]
[Based on the Hatton MS. Of the year 597, the Chronicle says: “In this year, Gregory the Pope sent into Britain Augustine with very many monks, who gospelled [preached] God’s word to the English folk.” Gregory I, surnamed “The Great,” has ever since been considered the apostle of English Christianity, and his Pastoral Care, which contains instruction in conduct and doctrine for all bishops, was a work that Alfred could not afford to leave untranslated. For this translation Alfred wrote a Preface, the historical value of which it would be hard to overrate. In it he describes vividly the intellectual ruin that the Danes had wrought, and develops at the same time his plan for repairing that ruin.
This Preface and the Battle of Ashdown ([p. 99]) show the great king in his twofold character of warrior and statesman, and justify the inscription on the base of the statue erected to him in 1877, at Wantage (Berkshire), his birth-place: “Ælfred found Learning dead, and he restored it; Education neglected, and he revived it; the laws powerless, and he gave them force; the Church debased, and he raised it; the Land ravaged by a fearful Enemy, from which he delivered it. Ælfred’s name will live as long as mankind shall respect the Past.”]
[1] [Ælfred kyning] hāteð grētan Wærferð biscep[1] his wordum
2 luflīce ǫnd frēondlīce; [ǫnd ðē cȳðan hāte] ðæt mē cōm
3 swīðe oft on gemynd, hwelce[2] witan īu[3] wǣron giond[4]
4 Angelcynn, ǣgðer ge godcundra hāda ge woruldcundra;
5 ǫnd hū gesǣliglīca tīda ðā wǣron giond Angelcynn; ǫnd
6 hū ðā kyningas ðe ðone onwald hæfdon ðæs folces on
7 ðām dagum Gode ǫnd his ǣrendwrecum hērsumedon[5];
8 ǫnd hū hīe ǣgðer ge hiora sibbe ge hiora siodo[6] ge hiora
9 onweald innanbordes gehīoldon,[4] ǫnd ēac ūt hiora ēðel
10 gerȳmdon; ǫnd hū him ðā spēow ǣgðer ge mid wīge ge
11 mid wīsdōme; ǫnd ēac ða godcundan hādas hū giorne
12 hīe wǣron ǣgðer ge ymb lāre ge ymb liornunga, ge ymb
13 ealle ðā ðīowotdōmas ðe hīe Gode dōn scoldon; ǫnd hū
14 man ūtanbordes wīsdōm ǫnd lāre hieder on lǫnd sōhte,
15 ǫnd hū wē hīe nū sceoldon ūte begietan, gif wē hīe habban
16 sceoldon. Swǣ[7] clǣne hīo wæs oðfeallenu on Angelcynne
[17] ðæt swīðe fēawa wǣron behionan Humbre ðe hiora ðēninga
[18] cūðen understǫndan on Ęnglisc oððe furðum ān ǣrendgewrit
19 of Lǣdene on Ęnglisc āręccean; ǫnd ic wēne ðætte
20 nōht mǫnige begiondan Humbre nǣren. Swǣ[7] fēawa
21 hiora wǣron ðæt ic furðum ānne ānlēpne[8] ne mæg geðencean
1 be sūðan Tęmese, ðā ðā ic tō rīce fēng. Gode ælmihtegum
2 sīe ðǫnc ðætte wē nū ǣnigne onstāl habbað
3 lārēowa. Ǫnd for ðon ic ðē bebīode ðæt ðū dō swǣ[7] ic
4 gelīefe ðæt ðū wille, ðæt ðū ðē ðissa woruldðinga tō ðǣm
[5] geǣmetige, swǣ ðū oftost [mæge], ðæt ðū ðone wīsdōm ðe
6 ðē God sealde ðǣr ðǣr ðū hiene befæstan [mæge], befæste.
7 Geðęnc hwelc[9] wītu ūs ðā becōmon for ðisse worulde, ðā
[8] ðā wē hit nōhwæðer nē selfe ne lufodon, nē ēac ōðrum
[9] mǫnnum ne lēfdon[10]: [ðone naman] ānne wē lufodon ðætte
10 wē Crīstne wǣren, ǫnd swīðe [fēawe ðā ðēawas].
11 Ðā ic ðā ðis eall gemunde, ðā gemunde ic ēac hū ic
12 geseah, ǣr ðǣm ðe hit eall forhęrgod wǣre ǫnd forbærned,
13 hū ðā ciricean giond eall Angelcynn stōdon
14 māðma ǫnd bōca gefylda, ǫnd ēac micel męnigeo[11] Godes
15 ðīowa; ǫnd ðā swīðe lȳtle fiorme ðāra bōca wiston, for
16 ðǣm ðe hīe hiora nānwuht[12] ongietan ne meahton, for
17 ðǣm ðe hīe nǣron on hiora āgen geðīode awritene.
18 Swelce[13] hīe cwǣden: “Ure ieldran, ðā ðe ðās stōwa ǣr
19 hīoldon, hīe lufodon wīsdōm, ǫnd ðurh ðone hīe begēaton
20 welan, ǫnd ūs lǣfdon. Hēr mǫn mæg gīet gesīon hiora
21 swæð, ac wē him ne cunnon æfter spyrigean,[14] ǫnd for
22 ðǣm wē habbað nū ǣgðer forlǣten ge ðone welan ge ðone
23 wīsdōm, for ðǣm ðe wē noldon tō ðǣm spore mid ūre
24 mōde onlūtan.”
25 Ðā ic ðā ðis eall gemunde, ðā wundrade ic swīðe swīðe
26 ðāra gōdena wiotona[15] ðe gīu wǣron giond Angelcynn, ǫnd
27 ðā bēc ealla be fullan geliornod hæfdon, ðæt hīe hiora ðā
1 nǣnne dǣl noldon on hiora āgen geðīode węndan. Ac
2 ic ðā sōna eft mē selfum andwyrde, ǫnd cwæð: “Hīe ne
3 wēndon þætte ǣfre męnn sceolden swǣ[7] reccelēase weorðan,
[4] ǫnd sīo lār swǣ oðfeallan; for ðǣre wilnunga hīe
[5] hit forlēton, ǫnd woldon ðæt hēr ðȳ māra wīsdōm on
6 lǫnde wǣre ðȳ wē mā geðēoda cūðon.”
7 Ðā gemunde ic hū sīo ǣ wæs ǣrest on Ebrēisc geðīode
8 funden, ǫnd eft, ðā hīe Crēacas geliornodon, ðā węndon
9 hīe hīe on hiora āgen geðīode ealle, ǫnd ēac ealle ōðre
10 bēc. Ǫnd eft Lǣdenware swǣ same, siððan hīe hīe geliornodon,
11 hīe hīe węndon ealla ðurh wīse wealhstōdas
12 on hiora āgen geðīode. Ǫnd ēac ealla ōðra Crīstena
13 ðīoda sumne dǣl hiora on hiora āgen geðīode węndon.
[14] For ðȳ mē ðyncð bętre, gif [īow] swǣ ðyncð, ðæt wē ēac
15 suma bēc, ðā ðe nīedbeðearfosta sīen eallum mǫnnum
[16] tō wiotonne,[16] [ðæt wē ðā] on ðæt geðīode węnden ðe wē
[17] ealle gecnāwan mægen, ǫnd [gedōn] swǣ wē swīðe ēaðe
18 magon mid Godes fultume, gif wē ðā stilnesse habbað,
[19] ðætte eall [sīo gioguð] ðe nū [is] on Angelcynne friora
[20] mǫnna, ðāra ðe ðā spēda hæbben ðæt [hīe] ðǣm befēolan
21 mægen, [sīen] tō liornunga oðfæste, ðā hwīle ðe hīe tō
1 nānre ōðerre note ne mægen, oð ðone first ðe hīe wel
[2] cunnen Ęnglisc gewrit ārǣdan: [lǣre mǫn] siððan furður
3 on Lǣdengeðīode ðā ðe mǫn furðor lǣran wille, ǫnd tō
4 hīerran hāde dōn wille. Ðā ic ðā gemunde hū sīo lār
5 Lǣdengeðīodes ǣr ðissum āfeallen wæs giond Angelcynn,
6 ǫnd ðeah mǫnige cūðon Ęnglisc gewrit ārǣdan, ðā
7 ongan ic ongemang oðrum mislīcum ǫnd manigfealdum
8 bisgum ðisses kynerīces ðā bōc węndan on Ęnglisc ðe is
9 genęmned on Lǣden “Pastoralis,” ǫnd on Ęnglisc “Hierdebōc,”
10 hwīlum word be worde, hwīlum andgit of andgiete,
[11] [swǣ swǣ ic hīe geliornode] æt [Plegmunde mīnum]
12 ærcebiscepe, ǫnd æt [Assere ]mīnum biscepe, ǫnd æt [Grimbolde]
13 mīnum mæsseprīoste, ǫnd æt [Iōhanne] mīnum mæsseprēoste.
14 Siððan ic hīe ðā geliornod hæfde, swǣ swǣ
15 ic hīe forstōd, ǫnd swǣ ic hīe andgitfullīcost āręccean
16 meahte, ic hīe on Ęnglisc āwęnde; ǫnd tō ǣlcum biscepstōle
17 on mīnum rīce wille āne onsęndan; ǫnd on ǣlcre
18 bið ān æstel, sē bið on fīftegum mancessa. Ǫnd ic bebīode
19 on Godes naman ðæt nān mǫn ðone æstel frǫm
20 ðǣre bēc ne dō, nē ðā bōc frǫm ðǣm mynstre; uncūð hū
21 lǫnge ðǣr swǣ gelǣrede biscepas sīen, swǣ swǣ nū, Gode
22 ðonc, wel hwǣr siendon. For ðȳ ic wolde ðætte hīe ealneg
[1] [æt ðǣre stōwe] wǣren, būton sē biscep hīe mid him
[2] habban wille, oððe hīo hwǣr tō lǣne sīe, [oððe hwā ōðre]
3 [bī wrīte].
[117.1-2.] Ælfred kyning hāteð ... hāte. Note the change from the formal and official third person (hāteð) to the more familiar first person (hāte). So Ælfric, in his Preface to Genesis, writes Ælfric munuc grēt Æðelwærd ealdormann ēadmōdlīce. Þū bǣde mē, lēof, þæt ic, etc.: Ælfric, monk, greets Æthelweard, alderman, humbly. Thou, beloved, didst bid me that I, etc.
[118.5.] Notice that mæge (l. 5) and mæge (l. 6) are not in the subjunctive because the sense requires it, but because they have been attracted by gǣmetige and befæste. Sīen ([p. 119, l. 15]) and hæbben ([p. 119, l. 20]) illustrate the same construction.
[118.9-10.] We liked only the reputation of being Christians, very few (of us) the Christian virtues.
[119.14.] Alfred is here addressing the bishops collectively, and hence uses the plural īow (= ēow), not þē.
[119.16.] ðæt wē ðā. These three words are not necessary to the sense. They constitute the figure known as epanalepsis, in which “the same word or phrase is repeated after one or more intervening words.” Þā is the pronominal substitute for suma bēc.
[119.17.] Gedōn is the first person plural subjunctive (from infinitive gedōn). It and węnden are in the same construction. Two things seem “better” to Alfred: (1) that we translate, etc., (2) that we cause, etc.
[119.19-21.] sīo gioguð ... is ... hīe ... sīen. Notice how the collective noun, gioguð, singular at first both in form and function, gradually loses its oneness before the close of the sentence is reached, and becomes plural. The construction is entirely legitimate in Mn.E. Spanish is the only modern language known to me that condemns such an idiom: “Spanish ideas of congruity do not permit a collective noun, though denoting a plurality, to be accompanied by a plural verb or adjective in the same clause” (Ramsey, Text-Book of Modern Spanish, § 1452).
[120.2.] lǣre mǫn. See [§ 105, 1].
[120.11-13.] That none of these advisers of the king, except Plegmond, a Mercian, were natives, bears out what Alfred says about the scarcity of learned men in England when he began to reign. Asser, to whose Latin Life of Alfred, in spite of its mutilations, we owe almost all of our knowledge of the king, came from St. David’s (in Wales), and was made Bishop of Sherborne.
[121.1.] Translate ǣt ðǣre stōwe by each in its place. The change from plural hīe (in hīe ... wǣren) to singular hīe (in the clauses that follow) will thus be prepared for.
[121.2-3.] oððe hwā ōðre bī wrīte, or unless some one wish to copy a new one (write thereby another).
[1] = bisceop.
[2] = hwilce.
[3] = gīu.
[4] = For all words with io (īo), consult Glossary under eo (ēo).
[5] = hīersumedon.
[6] = sidu (siodu).
[7] = swā.
[8] = ānlīpigne.
[9] = hwilc.
[10] = līefdon.
[11] = męnigu.
[12] = nānwiht.
[13] = swilce.
[14] = spyrian.
[15] = witena.
[16] = witanne.
[POETRY.]
INTRODUCTORY.
In [Section II., Structure], the stress markers ´ and ` are intended to display above the macron – or (rarely) breve ˘:
–́ × –̀
Some computers will instead show them after (to the right of) the macron. “Resolved stress” (two short syllables acting as one long) is shown with a double breve below the syllables:
˘́͜×
If your computer does not have this character, it will probably display a box or question mark between the two syllables.
[I. HISTORY.]
(a) Old English Poetry as a Whole.
Northumbria was the home of Old English poetry. Beginning with Cædmon and his school A.D. 670, Northumbria maintained her poetical supremacy till A.D. 800, seven years before which date the ravages of the Danes had begun. When Alfred ascended the throne of Wessex (871), the Danes had destroyed the seats of learning throughout the whole of Northumbria. As Whitby had been “the cradle of English poetry,” Winchester (Alfred’s capital) became now the cradle of English prose; and the older poems that had survived the fire and sword of the Vikings were translated from the original Northumbrian dialect into the West Saxon dialect. It is, therefore, in the West Saxon dialect that these poems[1] have come down to us.
Old English poetry contains in all only about thirty thousand lines; but it includes epic, lyric, didactic, elegiac, and allegorical poems, together with war-ballads, paraphrases, riddles, and charms. Of the five elegiac poems (Wanderer, Seafarer, Ruin, Wife’s Complaint, and Husband’s Message), the Wanderer is the most artistic, and best portrays the gloomy contrast between past happiness and present grief so characteristic of the Old English lyric.
Old English literature has no love poems. The central themes of its poets are battle and bereavement, with a certain grim resignation on the part of the hero to the issues of either. The movement of the thought is usually abrupt, there being a noticeable poverty of transitional particles, or connectives, “which,” says Ten Brink, “are the cement of sentence-structure.”
(b) Beowulf.
The greatest of all Old English poems is the epic, Beowulf.[2] It consists of more than three thousand lines, and probably assumed approximately its present form in Northumbria about A.D. 700. It is a crystallization of continental myths; and, though nothing is said of England, the story is an invaluable index to the social, political, and ethical ideals of our Germanic ancestors before and after they settled along the English coast. It is most poetical, and its testimony is historically most valuable, in the character-portraits that it contains. The fatalism that runs through it, instead of making the characters weak and less human, serves at times rather to dignify and elevate them. “Fate,” says Beowulf (l. 572), recounting his battle with the sea-monsters, “often saves an undoomed man if his courage hold out.”
“The ethical essence of this poetry,” says Ten Brink, “lies principally in the conception of manly virtue, undismayed courage, the stoical encounter with death, silent submission to fate, in the readiness to help others, in the clemency and liberality of the prince toward his thanes, and the self-sacrificing loyalty with which they reward him.”
Note 1.—Many different interpretations have been put upon the story of Beowulf (for argument of story, see texts). Thus Müllenhoff sees in Grendel the giant-god of the storm-tossed equinoctial sea, while Beowulf is the Scandinavian god Freyr, who in the spring drives back the sea and restores the land. Laistner finds the prototype of Grendel in the noxious exhalations that rise from the Frisian coast-marshes during the summer months; Beowulf is the wind-hero, the autumnal storm-god, who dissipates the effluvia.
[1.] This does not, of course, include the few short poems in the Chronicle, or that portion of Genesis (Genesis B) supposed to have been put directly into West Saxon from an Old Saxon original. There still remain in Northumbrian the version of Cædmon’s Hymn, fragments of the Ruthwell Cross, Bede’s Death-Song, and the Leiden Riddle.
[2.] The word bēowulf, says Grimm, meant originally bee-wolf, or bee-enemy, one of the names of the woodpecker. Sweet thinks the bear was meant. But the word is almost certainly a compound of Bēow (cf. O.E. bēow = grain), a Danish demigod, and wulf used as a mere suffix.
[II. STRUCTURE.]
(a) Style.
In the structure of Old English poetry the most characteristic feature is the constant repetition of the idea (sometimes of the thought) with a corresponding variation of phrase, or epithet. When, for example, the Queen passes into the banquet hall in Beowulf, she is designated at first by her name, Wealhþēow; she is then described in turn as cwēn Hrōðgāres (Hrothgar’s queen), gold-hroden (the gold-adorned), frēolīc wīf (the noble woman), ides Helminga (the Helmings’ lady), bēag-hroden cwēn (the ring-adorned queen), mōde geþungen (the high-spirited), and gold-hroden frēolīcu folc-cwēn (the gold-adorned, noble folk-queen).
And whenever the sea enters largely into the poet’s verse, not content with simple (uncompounded) words (such as sǣ, lagu, holm, strēam, męre, etc.), he will use numerous other equivalents (phrases or compounds), such as waþema gebind (the commingling of waves), lagu-flōd (the sea-flood), lagu-strǣt (the sea-street), swan-rād (the swan-road), etc. These compounds are usually nouns, or adjectives and participles used in a sense more appositive than attributive.
It is evident, therefore, that this abundant use of compounds, or periphrastic synonyms, grows out of the desire to repeat the idea in varying language. It is to be observed, also, that the Old English poets rarely make any studied attempt to balance phrase against phrase or clause against clause. Theirs is a repetition of idea, rather than a parallelism of structure.
Note 1.—It is impossible to tell how many of these synonymous expressions had already become stereotyped, and were used, like many of the epithets in the Iliad and Odyssey, purely as padding. When, for example, the poet tells us that at the most critical moment Beowulf’s sword failed him, adding in the same breath, īren ǣr-gōd (matchless blade), we conclude that the bard is either nodding or parroting.
(b) Meter.
[Re-read [§ 10, (3)].]
Primary Stress.
Old English poetry is composed of certain rhythmically ordered combinations of accented and unaccented syllables. The accented syllable (the arsis) is usually long, and will be indicated by the macron with the acute accent over it (–́); when short, by the breve with the same accent (˘́). The unaccented syllable or syllables (the thesis) may be long or short, and will be indicated by the oblique cross (×).
Secondary Stress.
A secondary accent, or stress, is usually put upon the second member of compound and derivative nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. This will be indicated by the macron with the grave accent, if the secondary stress falls on a long syllable (–̀); by the breve with the same accent, if the secondary stress falls on a short syllable (˘̀). Nouns:
Hrōðgāres (–́–̀×), fēondgrāpum (–́–̀×), frēomǣgum (–́–̀×), Ēast-Dęna (–́˘̀×), Helminga (–́–̀×), Scyldinga (–́–̀×), ānhaga (–́˘̀×), Ecgþēowes (–́–̀×), sinc-fato (–́˘̀×).
Adjectives:[1]
ǣghwylcne (–́–̀×), þrīsthȳdig (–́–̀×), gold-hroden (–́˘̀×), drēorigne (–́–̀×), gyldenne (–́–̀×), ōðerne (–́–̀×), gǣstlīcum (–́–̀×), wynsume (–́˘̀×), ǣnigne (–́–̀×).
Adverbs:[2]
unsōfte (–́–̀×), heardlīce (–́–̀×), sęmninga (–́–̀×).
The Old English poets place also a secondary accent upon the ending of present participles (-ende), and upon the penultimate of weak verbs of the second class ([§ 130]), provided the root-syllable is long.[3] Present participles:
slǣpendne (–́–̀×), wīs-hycgende (–́–́–̀×), flēotendra (–́–̀×), hrēosende (–́–̀×).
Weak verbs:
swynsode (–́˘̀×), þancode (–́˘̀×), wānigean (–́˘̀×), scēawian (–́˘̀×), scēawige (–́˘̀×), hlīfian (–́˘̀×).
Resolved Stress.
A short accented syllable followed in the same word by an unaccented syllable (usually short also) is equivalent to one long accented syllable (˘́× = –́). This is known as a resolved stress, and will be indicated thus, ˘́͜×;
hæleða (˘́͜͜××), guman (˘́͜×), Gode (˘́͜×), sęle-ful (˘́͜××), ides (˘́͜×), fyrena (˘́͜××), maðelode (˘́͜ע̀×), hogode (˘́͜××), mægen-ęllen (˘́͜×–̀×), hige-þihtigne (˘́͜×–́–̀×), Metudes (˘́͜××), lagulāde (˘́͜×–̀×), unlyfigendes (–́˘́͜×–̀×), biforan (ע́͜×), forþolian (ע́͜××), baðian (˘́͜××), worolde (˘́͜–×).
Resolution of stress may also attend secondary stresses:
sinc-fato (–́˘̀͜×), dryht-sęle (–́˘̀͜×), ferðloca (–́˘̀͜×), forðwege (–́˘̀͜×).
The Normal Line.
Every normal line of Old English poetry has four primary accents, two in the first half-line and two in the second half-line. These half-lines are separated by the cesura and united by alliteration, the alliterative letter being found in the first stressed syllable of the second half-line. This syllable, therefore, gives the cue to the scansion of the whole line. It is also the only alliterating syllable in the second half-line. The first half-line, however, usually has two alliterating syllables, but frequently only one (the ratio being about three to two in the following selections). When the first half-line contains but one alliterating syllable, that syllable marks the first stress, rarely the second. The following lines are given in the order of their frequency:
(1) þǣr wæs hǽleða hléahtor; hlýn swýnsode.
(2) mṓde geþúngen, médo-ful ætbǽr.
(3) sṓna þæt onfúnde fýrena hýrde.
Any initial vowel or diphthong may alliterate with any other initial vowel or diphthong; but a consonant requires the same consonant, except st, sp, and sc, each of which alliterates only with itself.
Remembering, now, that either half-line (especially the second) may begin with several unaccented syllables (these syllables being known in types A, D, and E as the anacrusis), but that neither half-line can end with more than one unaccented syllable, the student may begin at once to read and properly accentuate Old English poetry. It will be found that the alliterative principle does not operate mechanically, but that the poet employs it for the purpose of emphasizing the words that are really most important. Sound is made subservient to sense.
When, from the lack of alliteration, the student is in doubt as to what word to stress, let him first get the exact meaning of the line, and then put the emphasis on the word or words that seem to bear the chief burden of the poet’s thought.
Note 1.—A few lines, rare or abnormal in their alliteration or lack of alliteration, may here be noted. In the texts to be read, there is one line with no alliteration: Wanderer 58; three of the type a ··· b | a ··· b: Beowulf 654, 830, 2746; one of the type a ··· a | b ··· a: Beowulf 2744; one of the type a ··· a | b ··· c: Beowulf 2718; and one of the type a ··· b | c ··· a: Beowulf 2738.
The Five Types.
By an exhaustive comparative study of the metrical unit in Old English verse, the half-line, Professor Eduard Sievers,[4] of the University of Leipzig, has shown that there are only five types, or varieties, employed. These he classifies as follows, the perpendicular line serving to separate the so-called feet, or measures:
| 1. | A | –́ × | –́ × | |
| 2. | B | × –́ | × –́ | |
| 3. | C | × –́ | –́ × | |
| 4. | D | D1 –́ | –́ –̀ × D2 –́ | –́ × –̀ | |
| 5. | E | E1 –́ –̀ × | –́ E2 –́ × –̀ | –́ |
It will be seen (1) that each half-line contains two, and only two, feet; (2) that each foot contains one, and only one, primary stress; (3) that A is trochaic, B iambic; (4) that C is iambic-trochaic; (5) that D and E consist of the same feet but in inverse order.
The Five Types Illustrated.
[All the illustrations, as hitherto, are taken from the texts to be read. The figures prefixed indicate whether first or second half-line is cited. B = Beowulf; W = Wanderer.]
1. Type A, –́ × | –́ ×
Two or more unaccented syllables (instead of one) may intervene between the two stresses, but only one may follow the last stress. If the thesis in either foot is the second part of a compound it receives, of course, a secondary stress.
| (2) | ful gesealde, B. 616, | –́ × | | –́ × |
| (1) | wīdre gewindan, B. 764, | –́ × × | | –́ × |
| (1)[5] | Gemunde þā sē gōda, B. 759, | × | –́ × × × | | –́ × |
| (1)[5] | swylce hē on ealder-dagum, B. 758, | × × × × | | –́ × | ˘́ × |
| (1) | ȳþde swā þisne eardgeard, W. 85, | –́ × × × × | | –́ –̀ |
| (1) | wīs-fæst wordum, B. 627, | –́ –̀ | | –́ × |
| (1) | gryre-lēoð galan, B. 787, | ˘́͜× –̀ | | ˘́ × |
| (2) | sǫmod ætgædre, W. 39, | ˘́͜× × | | –́ × |
| (1) | duguðe ǫnd geogoðe, B. 622, | ˘́͜× × × | | ˘́͜× × |
| (1) | fǣger fold-bold, B. 774, | –́ × | | –́ –̀ |
| (1) | atelīc ęgesa, B. 785, | ˘́͜× –̀ | | ˘́͜× × |
| (2) | goldwine mīnne, W. 22, | –́ ˘̀͜× | | –́ × |
| (1) | ęgesan þēon [> *þīhan: [§ 118]], B. 2737, | ˘́͜× × | | –́ × |
Note.—Rare forms of A are –́ –̀ × | –́ × (does not occur in texts), –́ –̀ × | –́ –̀ (occurs once, B. 781 (1)), and –́ × –̀ | –́ × (once, B. 2743 (1)).
2. Type B, × –́ | × –́
Two, but not more than two, unaccented syllables may intervene between the stresses. The type of B most frequently occurring is × × –́ | × –́.
| (1) | ǫnd þā frēolīc wīf, B. 616, | × × –́ | | × –́ |
| (2) | hē on lust geþeah, B. 619, | × × –́ | | × –́ |
| (2) | þā se æðeling gīong, B. 2716, | × × ˘́͜× | | × –́ |
| (2) | seah on ęnta geweorc, B. 2718, | × × –́ | | × × –́ |
| (1) | ofer flōda genipu, B. 2809, | × × –́ | | × × ˘́͜× |
| (1) | forþam mē wītan ne þearf, B. 2742, | × × × –́ | | × × –́ |
| (2) | þaes þe hire se willa gelamp, B. 627, | × × × × × –́ | | × × –́ |
| (1) | forþon ne mæg weorþan wīs, W. 64, | × × × × –́ | | × –́ |
| (1) | Nǣfre ic ǣnegum [= ǣn’gum] męn, B. 656, | × × × –́ | | × –́ |
Note.—In the last half-line Sievers substitutes the older form ǣngum, and supposes elision of the e in Nǣfre (= Nǣfr-ic: ××–́ | ×–́).
3. Type C, × –́ | –́ ×
The conditions of this type are usually satisfied by compound and derivative words, and the second stress (not so strong as the first) is frequently on a short syllable. The two arses rarely alliterate. As in B, two unaccented syllables in the first thesis are more common than one.
| (1) | þæt hēo on ǣnigne, B. 628, | × × × –́ | | –́ × |
| (1) | þæt ic ānunga, B. 635, | × × –́ | | –́ × |
| (2) | ēode gold-hroden, B. 641, | × × –́ | | ˘́ × |
| (1) | gemyne mǣrðo, B. 660, | × ˘́͜× | | –́ × |
| (1) | on þisse meodu-healle, B. 639, | × × × ˘́͜× | | –́ × |
| (2) | æt brimes nosan, B. 2804, | × ˘́͜× | | ˘́ × |
| (2) | æt Wealhþéon [= -þēowan], B. 630, | × –́ | | –́ × |
| (1) | geond lagulāde, W. 3, | × ˘́͜× | | –́ × |
| (1) | Swā cwæð eardstapa, W. 6, | × × –́ | | ˘́ × |
| (2) | ēalā byrnwiga, W. 94, | × × –́ | | ˘́ × |
| (2) | nō þǣr fela bringeð, W. 54, | × × ˘́͜× | | –́ × |
| 4. Type D, |  | D1 –́ | –́ –̀ × |
| D2 –́ | –́ × –̀ |
Both types of D may take one unaccented syllable between the two primary stresses (–́ × | –́ –̀ ×, –́ × | –́ × –̀). The secondary stress in D1 falls usually on the second syllable of a compound or derivative word, and this syllable (as in C) is frequently short.
(a) D1 –́ | –́ –̀ ×
| (1) | cwēn Hrōðgāres, B. 614, | –́ | | –́ –̀ × |
| (2) | dǣl ǣghwylcne, B. 622, | –́ | | –́ –̀ × |
| (1) | Bēowulf maðelode, B. 632, | –́ × | | ˘́͜× ˘̀ × |
| (2) | slāt unwearnum, B. 742, | –́ | | –́ –̀ × |
| (1) | wrāþra wælsleahta, W. 7, | –́ × | | –́ –̀ × |
| (1) | wōd wintercearig [= wint’rcearig], W. 24, | –́ | | –́ ˘̀ × |
| (1) | sōhte sęle drēorig, W. 25, | –́ × | | ˘́͜× –̀ × |
| (1) | ne sōhte searo-nīðas, B. 2739, | × | –́ × | | ˘́͜× –̀ × |
Note.—There is one instance in the texts (B. 613, (1)) of apparent –́ × × | –́ ˘̀ ×: word wǣron wynsume. (The triple alliteration has no significance. The sense, besides, precludes our stressing wǣron.) The difficulty is avoided by bringing the line under the A type: –́ × × | –́ ˘́͜×.
(b) D2 –́ | –́ × –̀
| (2) | Forð nēar ætstōp, B. 746, | –́ | | –́ × –̀ |
| (2) | eorl furður stōp, B. 762, | –́ | | –́ × –̀ |
| (2) | Dęnum eallum wearð, B. 768, | ˘́͜× | | –́ × –̀ |
| (1) | grētte Gēata lēod, B. 626, | –́ × | | –́ × –̀ |
| (1) | ǣnig yrfe-weard, B. 2732, | –́ × | | –́ × –̀ |
| (1) | hrēosan hrīm and snāw, W. 48, | –́ × | | –́ × –̀ |
| (2) | swimmað eft on weg, W. 53, | –́ × | | –́ × –̀ |
Very rarely is the thesis in the second foot expanded.
| (2) | þegn ungemete till, B. 2722, | –́ | | –́ × × × –̀ |
| (1) | hrūsan heolster biwrāh, W. 23, | –́ × | | –́ × × –̀ |
| 5. Type E, | | E1 –́ –̀ × | –́ |
| E2 –́ × –̀ | –́ |
The secondary stress in E1 falls frequently on a short syllable, as in D1.
(a) E1 –́ –̀ × | –́
| (1) | wyrmlīcum fāh, W. 98, | –́ –̀ × | | –́ |
| (2) | medo-ful ætbær, B. 625, | ˘́͜× ˘̀ × | | –́ |
| (1) | sǣ-bāt gesæt, B. 634, | –́ –̀ × | | –́ |
| (1) | sige-folca swēg, B. 645, | ˘́͜× –̀ × | | –́ |
| (2) | Norð-Dęnum stōd, B. 784, | –́ ˘̀ × | | –́ |
| (1) | fēond-grāpum fæst, B. 637, | –́ –̀ × | | –́ |
| (2) | wyn eal gedrēas, W. 36, | –́ –̀ × | | –́ |
| (2) | feor oft gemǫn, W. 90, | –́ –̀ × | | –́ |
As in D2, the thesis in the first foot is very rarely expanded.
| (1) | wīn-ærnes geweald, B. 655, | –́ –̀ × × | | –́ |
| (1) | Hafa nū ǫnd geheald, B. 659, | ˘́͜× –̀ × × | | –́ |
| (1) | searo-þǫncum besmiðod, B. 776, | ˘́͜× –̀ × × | | ˘́͜× |
Note.—Our ignorance of Old English sentence-stress makes it impossible for us to draw a hard-and-fast line in all cases between D2 and E1. For example, in these half-lines (already cited),
wyn eal gedrēas
feor oft gemǫn
Forð nēar ætstōp
if we throw a strong stress on the adverbs that precede their verbs, the type is D2. Lessen the stress on the adverbs and increase it on the verbs, and we have E1. The position of the adverbs furnishes no clue; for the order of words in Old English was governed not only by considerations of relative emphasis, but by syntactic and euphonic considerations as well.
(b) E2 –́ × –̀ | –́
This is the rarest of all types. It does not occur in the texts, there being but one instance of this type (l. 2437 (2)), and that doubtful, in the whole of Beowulf.
Abnormal Lines.
The lines that fall under none of the five types enumerated are comparatively few. They may be divided into two classes, (1) hypermetrical lines, and (2) defective lines.
(1) Hypermetrical Lines.
Each hypermetrical half-line has usually three stresses, thus giving six stresses to the whole line instead of two. These lines occur chiefly in groups, and mark increased range and dignity in the thought. Whether the half-line be first or second, it is usually of the A type without anacrusis. To this type belong the last five lines of the Wanderer. Lines 92 and 93 are also unusually long, but not hypermetrical. The first half-line of 65 is hypermetrical, a fusion of A and C, consisting of (–́××ע́͜– | –́×).
(2) Defective Lines.
The only defective lines in the texts are B. 748 and 2715 (the second half-line in each). As they stand, these half-lines would have to be scanned thus:
| rǣhte ongēan | –́ × | | × –́ |
| bealo-nīð wēoll | ˘́͜× –̀ | | –́ |
Sievers emends as follows:
| rǣhte tōgēanes | –́ × × | | –́ × | = A |
| bealo-nīðe wēoll | ˘́͜× –́ × | | –́ | = E1 |
These defective half-lines are made up of syntactic combinations found on almost every page of Old English prose. That they occur so rarely in poetry is strong presumptive evidence, if further evidence were needed, in favor of the adequacy of Sievers’ five-fold classification.
Note.—All the lines that could possibly occasion any difficulty to the student have been purposely cited as illustrations under the different types. If these are mastered, the student will find it an easy matter to scan the lines that remain.
[1.] It will be seen that the adjectives are chiefly derivatives in -ig, -en, -er, -līc, and -sum.
[2.] Most of the adverbs belonging here end in -līce, -unga, and -inga, [§ 93, (1), (2)]: such words as æt-gǽdere, on-gḗan, on-wég, tō-gḗanes, tō-míddes, etc., are invariably accented as here indicated.
[3.] It will save the student some trouble to remember that this means long by nature (līcodon), or long by position (swynsode), or long by resolution of stress (maðelode),—see next paragraph.
[4.] Sievers’ two articles appeared in the Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, Vols. X (1885) and XII (1887). A brief summary, with slight modifications, is found in the same author’s Altgermanische Metrik, pp. 120-144 (1893).
Before attempting to employ Sievers’ types, the student would do well to read several pages of Old English poetry, taking care to accentuate according to the principles already laid down. In this way his ear will become accustomed to the rhythm of the line, and he will see more clearly that Sievers’ work was one primarily of systematization. Sievers himself says: “I had read Old English poetry for years exactly as I now scan it, and long before I had the slightest idea that what I did instinctively could be formulated into a system of set rules.” (Altgermanische Metrik, Vorwort, p. 10.)
[5.] The first perpendicular marks the limit of the anacrusis.