Old English Poetry

Old English Manuscripts

Most of the Old English manuscripts were written in Latin characters. The Latin Alphabet was modified by the scribes to suit the English language (some letters were changed and some new letters were added (see examples above)). The Old English manuscripts that give us the examples of the language of that period are:

· personal documents containing names and place names;

· legal documents (charters);

· glosses to the Gospels and other religious texts (Latin-English vocabularies for those who did not know Latin good enough to understand the texts);

· textual insertions (pieces of poetry).

See § 110, p. 69-70 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (a table “Principal Old English Written Records” (copies)).

1.Among the earliest textual insertions in Old English are the peaces of Old English poetry. They are to be found in “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” written in Latin in the 8^th c. by Bede the Venerable, an English monk. These two pieces are:

· 5 lines know as “Bede’s Death Song”;

· 9 lines of a religious poem “Cædmon’s Hymn”.

2.All in all we have about 30 000 lines of OE verse from many poets, but most of them are unknown or anonimuos. The two best known Old English poets are Cædmon and Cynewulf (Northumbrian authors).

3.The topics of Old English poetry:

· heroic epic(“Beowulf”, the oldest in the Germanic literature, 7^th c., was written in Mercian or Northumbrian but has come down to us only in a 10^th c. West Saxon copy. It is based on old legends about the tribal life of the ancient Teutons and features the adventures and fights of the legendary heroes);

· lyrical poems(“The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, etc. Most of the poems are ascribed to Cynewulf);

· religious poems(“Fate of the Apostles” (probably Cædmon), “Dream of the Rood”, etc.).

4.The peculiarities of Old English poetry:

· written in Old Germanic alliterative verse:

- the lines are not rhymed;

- the number of the syllables in a line is free;

- the number of stressed syllables in a line is fixes;

- the line is usually divided into 2 halves, each half starts with one and the same

sound; this sound may be repeated also in the middle of each half

(As an example see an abstract from “Beowulf” on p. 8 in “A Reader in the History of English” by Е.К. Щука.)

· a great number of synonyms (e.g. beorn, secζ, ζuma, wer were all the synonyms of “man”) and metaphorical phrases or compounds describing the qualities or functions of a thing (e.g. hronrād “whale-road” (for “sea”); bānhūs “bone-house” (for “a person’s body”); hēaþu-swāt “war-sweat” (for “blood”)).

H/w:

1. § 108, p. 67-68 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (examination question) (copies).

2. § 110, p. 69-70 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (a table “Principal Old English Written Records”) (copies)

2. Read the lecture and § 111-113 on p. 71-74 in “История английского языка” by Т.А. Расторгуева (copies).

3. Using your knowledge of the Old English Alphabet and the rules of reading read an abstract from “Beowulf” on p. 8 in “A Reader in the History of English” by Е.К. Щука and try to identify the features/peculiarities of Old English poetry in it (copies).