Old English PoetryJohn Duncan Ernst Spaeth |
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Common terms and phrases
alliteration alliterative ancient Anglo-Saxon Battle of Maldon beast Beowa Beowulf body brave Byrhtnoth Cędmon cęsura called century Chap Christ Christian comrades cross Cynewulf Danes dark death doom dragon earl earth Elene English Epic epic tradition Ermanric Exeter Book fell fight Germanic Epic gleeman glory Gnomic Verses gold Goths Grendel Gummere's Guthlac hall Hama hand hath Healfdene heart heaven helmet Heorot hero historic Hrothgar Hygelac Junian Jutes king land Latin leader Legends lines lord lyric mead-hall Milton monster narrative Nibelungenlied night Norse o'er Old English poetry Old English verse old Germanic Old Saxon original Paradise Lost passage poet Professor rhythm riddle ruler rune saint Satan says Scyld shield ship slain song sorrow spear spirit Stopford Brooke story stress sword syllables thane thee thou translation treasure tribes Twas Unferth vision Volsunga Saga węs warriors weapons Widsith Wiglaf words Wudga Wyrd
Popular passages
Page 224 - And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side; But Sir Richard cried in his English pride, "We have fought such a fight for a day and a night As may never be fought again! We have won great glory, my men!
Page vi - The life-blood of rhythmical translation is this commandment, — that a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one. The only true motive for putting poetry into a fresh language must be to endow a fresh nation, as far as possible, with one more possession of beauty. Poetry not being an exact science, literality of rendering is altogether secondary to this chief law. I say literality, — not fidelity, which is by no means the same thing.
Page 227 - Is this the region, this the soil, the clime," Said then the lost Archangel, " this the seat That we must change for Heaven?— this mournful gloom For that celestial light ? Be it so, since He Who now is...
Page 229 - He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription,
Page 228 - At last his sail-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke Uplifted spurns the ground...
Page 229 - ... he sat in the midst of them, and described to them the figure of the sign he had seen, bidding them represent it in gold and precious stones.
Page 241 - The Hag. THE hag is astride This night for to ride, The devil and she together ; Through thick and through thin, Now out and then in, Though ne'er so foul be the weather. A thorn or a burr She takes for a spur ; With a lash of a bramble she rides now, Through brakes and through briars, O'er ditches and mires, She follows the spirit that guides now.
Page 250 - The town lies on a hill ; immediately at its base flows one branch of the river, while another, still crossed by a mediaeval bridge, flows at a little distance to the north. The Danish ships seem to have lain in the branch nearest to the town, and their crews must have occupied the space between the two streams, while Brihtnoth came to the rescue from the north. He seems to have halted on the spot now occupied...
Page 245 - There are in this place many birds which are called Sernacce : against nature, nature produces them in a most extraordinary way. They are like marsh-geese, but somewhat smaller. They are produced from fir timber tossed along the sea, and are at first like gum. Afterwards they hang down by their beaks as if from a seaweed attached to the timber, surrounded by shells, in order to grow more freely. Having thus, in process of time, been clothed with a strong coat of feathers, they either fall into the...
Page 229 - Now it was made in the following manner. A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross, by means of a piece laid transversely over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a crown, formed by the intertexture of gold and precious stones ; and on this, two letters indicating the name of Christ, symbolized the Saviour's title by means of its first characters — the letter P being...