Old English Literature

Alfred Nobel University Dnipropetrovsk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old English Literature

 

 

 

 

 

From: student gr.Fl-09-01

Kulish A.

To: professor-assistant,

c.p.s. Lypska I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dnepropetrovsk

2011

 

Contents:

 

1. “The poem about Beowulf”  3-6p.          
2. “The Silver Bible”   6-7p.
3. “The poetic Edda”   7-8p.
4. Used Literature   9p.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Old English literature are 3 important and famous productions. They are: “The Poem about Beowulf”, “The Silver Bible” and “The Poetic Edda”.

The Poem about Beowulf

What can be known about a unique poem in a unique manuscript, dated around the year 1000 a.d.? What do we know about the circumstances of its composition? Is it literary, oral, or something in-between? What can we never know? This unique poem is “The Poem about Beowulf”.

Beowulf (/beɪ.ɵwʊlf/; in Old English [beo̯wʊlf] or [beəwʊlf], literally "bee wolf" i.e. "bee hunter", a kenning for "bear") is the conventional title of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.

Beowulf is both strange and familiar: it has some links with ancient classical poems like Homer's. The manuscript and its editions always present us with a linguistic obstacle: Old English has a different kind of grammar from Modern. Old English is like Latin or Russian, or many other languages.

Within the poem, no distinction is made between myth and history, although it is now read as though it were 'history with fabulous elements' or 'myth with some correspondence to fact. Beowulf cannot accurately be described as fiction or fact. It is a kind of narrative comprised of analogical episodes, people, creatures more or less human, praise, blame, lyrical moments, grim comedy and even grimmer tragedy.

“Beowulf” - it is a story about 'those others who were ourselves'.

Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem also begins in medias res ("into the middle of affairs") or simply, "in the middle", which is a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been an ongoing event. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages are spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour.

 

Beowulf begins with the story of King Hroðgar, who built the great hall Heorot for his people. In it he,and his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel (a monster, one of a giant race which survived the great flood. It is told that his origins stretch back to Cain, who killed Abel. He is of particular cause of trouble to Hrothgar because of his disregard for law and custom: he refuses to negotiate a peace settlement or to accept tributes of gold) who is pained by the singing, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hroðgar's warriors while they sleep. But Grendel does not touch the throne of Hroðgar, for it is described as protected by a powerful god. Hroðgar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks, abandon Heorot.Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hroðgar's troubles and with his king's permission leaves his homeland to help Hroðgar.Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf bears no weapon as Grendel is immune to human weapons, and because this would be an "unfair advantage" over the unarmed beast. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, devouring one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf has been feigning sleep and leaps up to clench Grendel's hand. The two battle until it seems as though the hall might collapse. Beowulf's retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades can not pierce Grendel's skin. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the marshes to die.

The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death, Hroðgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's mother, angered by the death of her son, appears and attacks the hall. She kills Hroðgar's most trusted warrior, Æschere, in revenge for Grendel's death. Hroðgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under a lake. Beowulf prepares himself for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by Unferth, a warrior who had doubted him and wishes to make amends. After stipulating a number of conditions to Hroðgar in case of his death (including the taking in of his kinsmen and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. He is swiftly detected and attacked by Grendel's mother. However, she is unable to harm Beowulf through his armour and drags him to the bottom of the lake. In a cavern containing Grendel's body and the remains of men that the two have killed, Grendel's mother and Beowulf engage in fierce combat. At first, Grendel's mother appears to prevail. Beowulf, finding that Hrunting cannot harm his foe, discards it in fury. Beowulf is again saved from his opponent's attack by his armour and Beowulf beheads her with a sword of the giants from Grendel's mother's armoury. (This sword is a very special sword. Once Beowulf returns to the surface the sword melts like ice and only the hilt is left. Beowulf then presents the hilt of the blade to Hroðgar.) Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse and severs its head. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nōn", about 3pm). He returns to Heorot, where Hroðgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Nægling, his family's heirloom.

Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of an unnamed dragon at Earnaness. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this display and fearing for their lives, creep back into the woods. One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great distress in seeing Beowulf's plight, comes to Beowulf's aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded.

Beowulf is buried in Geatland on a cliff overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see his tumulus. The dragon's treasure is buried with him, in accordance with Beowulf's wishes, rather than distributed to his people, and there is a curse associated with the hoard to insure that Beowulf's wish is kept.

Apart from Beowulf, the manuscript contains several other medieval texts. These comprise a homily on St Christopher; the Marvels of the East, illustrated with wondrous beasts and deformed monsters; the Letter of Alexander to Aristotle; and an imperfect copy of another Old English poem, Judith. 

Beowulf is the penultimate item in this collection, the whole of which was copied by two Anglo-Saxon scribes, working in collaboration.

 

The Silver Bible 
The Silver Bible, Codex argenteus - which means the "Silver Book" - is Sweden's most valuable book and one of the world's most famous manuscripts. It was written in Italy at the beginning of the 6th century.

The Silver Bible, which in 2011 has been added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register , despite its name is not a Complete Bible but the Four Gospels written in the Gothic language. The translation from Greek to Gothic was done in the fourth century by the Gothic Bishop Wulfila, who also constructed the Gothic alphabet. The Silver Bible was probably copied in Ravenna in the period under the Ostrogoths, and possibly for their King Theoderic the Great, at the beginning of the 6th century. It is written on thin purple coloured vellum of a very high quality in gold and silver ink. The silver script is dominant and has given rise to the term the "silver book", "codex argenteus". It was designed to be a work of magnificence, which is possibly hard to understand today. It probably originally had a splendid binding decorated with pearls and gems. The text of the Silver Bible is one of the oldest and most extensive examples of the Gothic language of any document surviving today.

The Silver Bible was known of in the 16th century when it was in a Benedictine Monastry in Werden in the Ruhr district. By the year 1600 it had passed into the hands of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and was in Prague when the Swedes stormed the city in 1648. As Swedish war booty it arrived in Stockholm and became part of Queen Christina's library. After the Queen's abdication it passed to one of her librarians, Isaac Vossius, who took it to Holland. It was from There Bought by the Lord Chamberlain (Chancellor and University) Magnus De la Gardie Gabriel , WHO IT Presented to Uppsala University in 1669.

The Silver Bible originally had at least 336 leaves. Of these 187 are in Uppsala. Another leaf has survived for posterity and is in Speyer in Germany. It was discovered sensationally in 1970 in Speyer Cathedral together with some hidden relics. This leaf appears to have travelled a somewhat different path than the others before it came to light again.

The text of the Silver Bible has been published in various editions. The latest and most important is the facsimile edition which was made in 1927 with high technological equipment and the expertise of among others Professor the Swedberg.

The Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda, also known as Sæmundar Edda or the Elder Edda, is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic medieval manuscript Codex Regius ("Royal Book").

The poems in the second part narrate legends about Norse heroes and heroines, such as Sigurd, Brynhildr and Gunnar.

The Codex Regius was written down in the 13th century but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643 when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then the Church of Iceland's Bishop of Skálholt.

The Prose Edda is of interest because it contains one of the first attempts to devise a rational explanation for mythological and legendary events. It is also notable because it contains fragments of a number of manusripts which are now lost.

 

The Prose Edda consists of:

1. The Prologue, which consists of anthropological observations, which justify Snorri's retelling of the mythological tales. Snorri has used an orthodox Christian stance, identifying the pagan gods as ancient heroes deified by their ignorant followers. He explains the mythology as a the remnants of the history of a royal dynasty in Asia. (This may not be totally off the mark, given the evidence of runic alphabets found in Hungary and Turkey.)

2. Gylfaginning, "The Deluding of Gylfi": It consists of a story in which King Gylfi asks three kings, "High One", "Just-as-high", and "Third" about Norse mythology. Snorri was thus able to tell the myriad myths in a witty style, without speculation of their veracity.

3. Skáldskaparmál, "Poetic Diction", gives various kennings and elliptical references to the stories behind them. The poets of Sturluson's era were Christian, but were expected to still be able to write of the pagan mythology of two hundred years earlier. Snorri again uses the vehicle of a visitor to the Aesir, who is told stories. This section is the primary purpose of the Prose Edda, a discussion of the language and imagery of poetry, and how its metaphors can be understood in terms of Norse mythology.

4. Háttatal is the final part, a poem composed by Snorri about King Hakon and and Duke Skuli. The 102 stanzas are accompanied by a commentary in prose on the variations of meter and style exemplified by each verse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Used Literature:

 

1. Bjork, R.E., Niles, J.D. A Beowulf Handbook. University of Nebraska Press.

1997.

2. http://www.runatyrkindred.com/media/pdf/The_Prose_Edda.pdf

 

3. http://www.ub.uu.se/en/Collections/Manuscript-Collections/Silver-Bible/

 

 

4. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/englit/beowulf/

 

 

5. http://historymedren.about.com/od/beowulf/p/beowulf.htm