helps as he may. Long they fight, monster and man; this is no Grendel, this fire-spurter. The fierce heat shrivels up the shield, the heroes are hard pressed; but at last Wiglaf disables the dragon, Beowulf gives the deathblow. But Beowulf, too, has been hurt and, though victor, lies sick of his death-wound. Then Wiglaf brings forth the hoard from the cave where the worm had so long guarded it, and Beowulf feasts his eyes ere they close upon the vast treasure he bequeaths to his people. The hero is dead: rear his funeral pyre! Upon the tall promontory, a beacon to sailors, friends burn the body; and the smoky flames bear the hero's soul upward. Signifi Such are the stories that children usually delight in ; thus in the childhood of our race was this cance of tale told. Perhaps under the mists of their the Epic. swampy, sea-swept land, the rush of the storm and the more subtle attacks of malarious fevers may be grotesquely and fancifully shadowed forth, evaded only by the courage and wisdom of some hero who builds the dikes or drains the marshes; but after all the main fact is that our Anglo-Saxon forefathers approved the qualities idealized in this hero of the epic, and honored in him the stout-hearted men of their race who contended not only with flesh and blood, but with those mysterious hosts, those uncanny powers of sea and air, whose existence they assumed, but whose nature and form lay hidden in the darkness of fog and night. The poem of Beowulf supplies many vivid picturings of early English life and manners; the hero of the poem is really the idealization of the Anglo-Saxon himself. That there is an historical basis for the myth is hardly to be doubted. The name of Hygelac is identified with that of Cochilaicus (a northern chieftain who was slain in battle about the year 520). In the latter part Paps sode punnon him. Saf Lean pop geald. coham .. mid Tans par da neosian sýðan mht becom hean huses huhit hring dene qter jipese gebun hafdon. Fand þaðar Inne opelinga gedrike speran after Emble sopge necudon ponsceaft pepia Ahz un halo grum 7græ dig gearo fona pas peoe reke jon paste zenam puzz bena panon eft gepar hide hremig pape pæl fylle pica neofan. Sapar onuhan mid en dage grendler gud craft gumum undÿrne papar after pirze pop up ahafen micel (morgen spes mare peoden apeling zod un blide rac polode spýð spýð þegaronze Speah fyd pan hie par ladan Lafescen pedon pergan gaster par $ge pin to ·Sepang ladylong sum næs hit lengra Fapan REDUCED FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF BEOWULF MANUSCRIPT IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM of the poem there is evidently a mingling of the story with the myth of Siegfried and the dragon of the Rhinegold, Faffner. Of the feats ascribed to Beowulf, the account of a remarkable swimming match described in the poem may easily be based on fact, and the incident of the hand-to-hand struggle with sea-monsters and the plunge downward to the submarine cave is not so wholly incredible as it might seem. The There is but a single manuscript of the Beowulf poem, greatly damaged by fire and age, now preserved in the British Museum. There are Form. 3180 lines in the poem, and it is worth while to examine its form somewhat in detail. The epic begins thus: "Hwæt! we Gar-Dena peod-cyninga, hu pa æðelingas Oft Scyld Scefing gomban gyldan "Lo! we of the Spear-Danes Over the whale-road Tribute paid: in gear-dagum pat was god cyning!" in days of yore of those dwelling around him that was a goodly king!" Then follows the genealogy of Hrothgar, builder of Heorot and victim of Grendel's rage. ANGLO-SAXON VERSE 17 The characteristic structure of Anglo-Saxon verse is illustrated in the passage given. The composition is metrical, although the number of syllables in one verse may vary from that in another. While there is no end-rhyme in these verses, there is a recurrence of consonants which forms a rhyme in the body of the verse; this repetition of initial sounds is called alliteration, and this is the most conspicuous feature of AngloSaxon poetry. The common type of verse is found in lines 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, where two syllables alliterating in the first half-verse are followed by one such in the second. The alliteration is a mark of emphasis always, but the position of these emphatic syllables is not uniform. Sometimes, as in lines 2, 10, a single syllable in the first half-verse alliterates with one in the second; such a double correspondence as occurs in line 1 is rare. In lines 3, 6, 9 vowel alliteration occurs, and this does not require that the vowels shall be the same. Read or chanted by the gleeman, a pronounced rhythm was imparted to the lines, emphasized by the pauses and the accents, which were strongly marked. Recited thus with resonant tones to the rhythmical twang of the harp-cord, this which seems so rude and hoarse became a vigorous, not unmelodious song. The Spirit and Tone of Anglo Saxon The most striking characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry is the rough vigor, the intense energy, of its homely but effective style. There is virile strength and power in its movement, its emphasis, imagery, and theme. If one reads these ancient memorials of our forefathers Poetry. intelligently and in a mood sympathetic with their half-wild, half-cultured spirit, he will be captivated by the sweep and power of their verse. The imagery of the early gleemen is rich in metaphors, metonymy, and personification. The ocean is poetically termed the 66 "whale-path," the "swan-road;" the ship is described as the "wave-traverser," the "floater, foamy-necked, like to some sea-fowl; "1 the gleeman's repertory is his "word-hoard;" the sun becomes "God's bright candle," "heaven's gem;" swords "bite," the war-horn sings;" Hrothgar is called the "helm" of the Scyldings. In descriptive passages the poet loved to let his fancy play about his theme, reintroducing the idea, but turning his phrase to let light fall upon it from some other side. Thus, in describing the hero's preparation for his encounter with the sea-wife, the poet says: "Beowulf girded him, Wore his war-armor; not for life was he anxious. This mid the mere-depths with sea-waves should mingle, Naturally enough these early English poets were inspired by the deeds of warriors, and their work is full not only of battle scenes, but also of the imagery of war. In nature they were impressed by the elemental phenomena of storm and climate, the descent of winter, the birth of spring. As they delighted in the narrative of conflict, so they loved to picture man's struggle with the sea and to sing of the ocean in all its varying moods: 1 Beowulf, 1. 218. 2 Ibid. II. 1441-1454. Compare also the parallelisms in Cædmon's hymn, p. 22. |