Old English - Dr Tom Birkett PDF

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EN1002: Old English Dr. Tom Birkett

Lecture 1 08.10.19 Introduction to Old English

Old English is often associated with the Dark Ages. [not appropriate]. The culture was lost, roman civilization had collapsed, but this was a misleading term. There was fabulous wealth and creativity with a lot of violence. There was the presence of a warrior culture, high status weapons. The culture could also be accessed through linguistic terms, and the late Seamus Heaney understood this. We perform an archeology of the language. We can find the inspiration and redefine literary culture from the past.

Bone Dreams Heaney tries to work through the 1st part of the poem by showing that English was his language and that he could find his identity. This metaphor is found in the beginning of the language. Using ‘little bottle’ he forms a visceral confrontation with his past. He talks about a reverse colonization. (throwing the bone across the Irish Sea towards England.) The Adventus Saxonum –the arrival of the Saxons. The romans had withdrawn from England; from Denmark and Germany came the Germanic speaking warriors. Seven kingdoms had evolved in England [650 A.D], these kingdoms were not united. Early Medieval England Old English was the language within Anglo Saxon England. 1066, end of the period, the Norman Invasion. French had become the language of the aristocracy. Part 2: Heaney starts doing a linguistic archeology. ‘Bone-house’ is a kenning for the words. He is working back into the fossilized language; shows how he has to go down behind several layers. Chooses particular vocabulary for this. Scop –word for poet in old English Seamus did a very post-colonial translation on it, using an Irish tone. He translated Beowulf to find the identity that he needed. Heaney finds the poet’s identity in the England of Old English.

Part 3: Ban-hus –bone house Seamus shows the idea of a bone house as the body of a poetic idea, showing the creativity. He creates his own kennings. Seamus creates the way where he becomes the poet. The Anglo-Saxons had much warrior society. The centre of the society was the hall; songs sung, riches given out, plan their conquests. This culture is present in Beowulf. Comitatus (heroic war band) Tacltus, Germania 1 Being loyal to you war leader was essential. [ex. In modern shows, Peaky Blinders] The comitatus valued material wealth, weapons, poetry, status. This is not unfamiliar to us. A lot of poetry was based on battle and it is not coincidence, this was a violent time. It was also the time of a great cultural flux. Christianity arrives towards the end of the 6th century. These cultures did not sit side by side easily. Heroic culture and Christianity made the Old English literature great.

Part 4 & 5: Heaney comes back past the language to the earthwork. Heaney conquers the ‘female body’ of the landscape as a man. (a bit clumsy) There is a humorous side to the culture as well.

Part 6: We have moved away from the metaphor, the conquest of the landscape. He shows surprise of the feel of England. Seamus shows a direct poetic encounter with the mole, reminded him of the landscape There is a hopeful, productive image where he can identify his language in England as a scop. Heaney is having a direct encounter with the past but finds something different in it. Old English can confound us.

Lecture 2 9.10.19 The Wanderer: Exiles and Codes of Behaviour

The Wanderer is a best analogy that has survived from the old English culture. The Wanderer only has his memories, he invests in a landscape analogy. (in the boat you do not have comfort). There is the possibility of familiarity in the landscape. The poem shows points of connection with the heroic gang culture. Tolkien borrows the ideas and lines from the Wanderer for the Lord of the Rings. The idea that the world was in decline and everything was at a loss. Main Features of Old English Poetry They are alliterative, do not rhyme. Every two half lines has a caesura. There are many repetitions. An oral tradition, poetry that was performed in a setting; the scop’s adlibbed them most of the time. Kennings and poetic compounds; ex. Ring-giver –gang leader May have been accompanied by music. It was a communal poetry. Had its own idioms, vocabulary. Certain themes that were acceptable, making it flexible.

The Wanderer was written in the Exeter book, which is a large English book of poetry (960-990) and is a varied anthology. The Wanderer does not have a date or place of composition or an author.

The Wanderer: This is someone who was forced to leave, exiled. Even if he is in this situation, the person was looking for mercy. The maker was like fate or the Christian maker’s mercy. This was like two world views meeting. He was an exile of the heroic society, he’s been outcasted, away from his family, buried his lord and has no ring giver. He must have been forced to go to sea because of the risk of getting killed. (perhaps) The strategy of the poem is comparing what he had done before to now. His is missing the retainers, feasting, treasure, the lord in an intimate way. Suddenly the poem becomes a 1st person narrative.

In an intimate way he is saying he has no one. In heroic culture you are not supposed to talk about your feelings, but he has no escape, no distraction from his thoughts. Comitatus He has visions of being in company again. He is remembering the social world he has lost. What has happened to his friends? Killed in battle, destroyed by the heroic culture. They exist only in his head now. The starts to reflect critically on heroism instead of glorifying it from an outside perspective. Codes of Behaviour He shares the ethics of this heroic world. He speaks about the ideals; distils it to be self-aware and follow through. He had loyalty towards his lord. He dreams about his lord, expresses how important the lord was. Expresses intimately of the love he felt. (modern –the godfather) The greatest punishment was to be exiled, worse than death. It is more of a trauma; complete social estrangement. There is much contrast in lines 29-36, contrasts the glorious past with his present situation.

According to the Wanderer, it was not common to share his thoughts; he is acknowledging that the do have the dread as well. In lines 112-113 there is a statement of a maxim. The slight paradox here, he says to not talk about your feelings, but he has broken his precept as he might have found the cure. Pathetic fallacy is present through the sea, expressing the turmoil in his mind. He talks about his feelings by letting the weather do it for him.

There is the appearance of the Beasts of Battle, it indirectly mentions the carnage of the Battle.

Wyrd – fate It was a life guarding precept in early medieval culture. The Wanderer says that not one can get around fate. He thinks of something that may last. Norse poem: Hávamál

Is there consolation? 110-115 There is a voice coming back in that is not clear, maybe he has cleared his mind? The reference to the maker is brought again.

This poem is transitioning between Germanic heroic culture and Christianity. Someone had said that a Christian poet might have just added the header and footer towards the Wanderer’s poem of loss.

Peregrination A course of spiritual journey? Or it could be read as a broader poem of social transitions. It was about a fundamental shift in society. There was another path for men and women outside the heroic culture towards spirituality.

The wanderer was written in a monastery. It may represent a social nostalgia that the world would miss. It is about personal transitions as well.

The translator’s Voice Greg Delanty

15/10/19 Lecture 3: Beowulf Heroic Epic Beowulf always complicates the idea of heroism (good thing?). It reflects the heroic society and how there is wrong in it. Origins of Beowulf It had been written in prose, with no punctuation. We do not know the author; it was written down in c. 1000 but we do not know when or where it was originally composed. It has many features of oral composition. Translation It was finished being translated in 1999. Took an entire decade. His translation was a way of identifying who he was [Heaney]. It is now considered a standard translation. Heaney uses his own voice in the poem and is quite creative when he translates. [The opening lines are presented differently each time it has been translated by different people.] The world of the Oral Poem The surviving manuscript shows errors of copying. There were 2 scribes, but this had certainly existed as an oral poem beforehand. The Opening Lines Hwæt [so] –this was a great call to attention. An oral cue to shut everyone up. How do the lines set up the poem? It was epic, going to be about heroes. It was going to be about the culture of the Danes. About battles. We have heard, this shows oral tradition; addresses the audience by telling them that already know about these people. [communal knowledge] It is about the deep past. It is set in Scandinavia some time ago. It talks about Denmark. It brings about a sense of nostalgia, dealing with a place chronologically and in distance. There are several oral cues, and other poems performed in the epic. A scop sings about Beowulf at some point. We get a lot of patterns, repetitions and they all link with each other. The battles with refrains that come back again. This poem is patterned in a way that it is oral. Repeated motifs and themes. One of the prominent themes include, ‘kingship’. It is present in the first 10 lines.

‘That was one good king.’ A model of how a king should behave in a heroic society by subduing your enemies, rising from nothing and electing tributes. He would have tribes across the sea come serve him as well. [Talks about collecting across the islands; whale road – a kenning for the sea.] We also get heroic maxims, which states about things that need to be. ‘Behavior that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere.’ [20-25]. This is a maxim, a universal statement. We are giving a pattern where we can judge our character with literary criticism. Funerals It foreshadows to the upcoming. ‘who salvaged that load. [50-52]. This could have a religious sense. We don’t know where he could have ended up. This point of perspective is a bit troubling. Hrothgar is one of the main characters we deal with. He follows in the footsteps of his ancestors and does what a good king would do. He is a very successful war leader, rewards his comitatus. There is also a very dramatic introduction to Heorot. Another important character place. There was the idea of the hall being a home of refuge in a very hostile environment. It represents security. We unfortunately have a sense that this security will not last. We are told of the building and then a prophesy of the doom of Heorot, ‘Heorot would burn.’ This was because of the humans in this heroic society, the feuding between the people, the poet is predicting something that had already known had happened. [The obsession for genealogy was important for this culture.]

Grendel Then – there is no sort of segway towards this. As to how he is introduced. Grendel hates the comitatus, the music; hates the winners of the feuding society. What is Grendel? The references are indistinct. Something that we cannot grasp, a physical creature that we have never seen. This is a classic horror technique. Grendel comes from the wild, where nature rules and contrasts with Heorot. He is a creature of the night, hunts people down. Grendel is also given a lineage. His background is in a Biblical tradition. Placed by the poet in a Christian background; came from Cain. From Cain’s exile sprung the monsters. The poet is taking the traditional pagan creatures as part of Cain. There is a cultural symphysis. The symbol of the heroic society is being destroyed by Grendel.

The Danes go back to their old gods. The pagan gods. The poet criticizes this society [179-184]. A religious commentary is present from the poet. When Grendel wins, he rules as a loner. Just for himself. It was an inversion of the norms. His feuds are vicious and relentless. Never parleys or makes peace. There were ways for the heroic society to not consume themselves which Grendel does not follow. It presents a society where they create a monster to express their fears.

16.10.19 Lecture 4: Monsters and Men

Why are there monsters in Beowulf? To portray the feuding tribes. Tolkien was sympathetic towards the monsters in the poem. The monsters make this poem universal. If you use the tribes, the poem makes it local. Therefore, the poem becomes more important and imaginary with human antagonists. Heorot represents every house, every secure place. What terrifies us is when the secure place become terrorized. Why did the society invent the monster? It represented the fears of the society. The primal fear of Grendel was about nature, untamed things; what we couldn’t see. The hidden things. The Hero Beowulf lives in another tribe. He is like the Achilles of the North. Beowulf goes voluntarily into the feud. He wants the glory of defeating Grendel. It is very symbolic that Beowulf has to cross the ocean to fight Grendel. Even though Heorot is destroyed, the Danes try to keep their borders safe. This can be seen with the ‘coast guard’ that met with Beowulf. The coastguard uses very poetic language that is very well structured. He repeats the same things again. i.e. coming from the sea. The coast guard is trying to not insult them, tries to balance respecting Beowulf and the Geats, and also say that they are interloping. Beowulf is full of these speech acts. A beot is a formal boast which is usually said in front of everyone; in a public setting and after it has been boasted has to be followed through or else it is worthless. If you promise to do something, you have to follow it. Beowulf is not using it modestly. ‘what’s said, what’s done.’ – must match each other. This is another maxim. It was good enough to have words and a fighter. Unferth He is the king’s right-hand man. He challenges Beowulf; talks about the swimming match that he had lost. Beowulf uses a battle of words (formal; maintains respect but trashes each other) with Unferth. This is known as flything. Beowulf retells the story, showing that lost by killing the sea monsters and saving his friend.

He then goes about in challenging Unferth’s credentials as a hero. He says, ‘you kill your own family. If you were as heroic, Grendel would not have attacked.’ This was the final putdown which results in Beowulf winning the battle of words. It sounds like Beowulf had superhuman strength. Beowulf says himself that he is not your average man. Does he represent this society? Or is he a superhero? There is a blur between Grendel and Beowulf.

The Attack of Grendel. This is one of the terrifying moments of English Literature. It is very performative; people were listening to this by the scop. We have a slowing down of the action as we see through the monster’s perspective. Heaney describes Heorot as a ‘bawn’. This is a very Irish term. [what if we complicate the perspective? It is anachronistic.] We have the pause at the threshold [Grendel], this is not a new idea. It is very symbolic; we get the two worlds breeching. We don’t get a vivid description of Grendel. We never get him described in a complete image. It is a way of projecting you own fears onto the monsters. It is all about resisting the urge to show the threat. We get the gory descriptions. During the fight we lose sight of where either person is. Beowulf kind of takes on the characteristics of the monsters. He rips off Grendel’s arm. Back in the hall they lavishly praise Beowulf. They call Hrothgar a good king as he does not try to fight the monsters himself but would risk someone’s life. It shows the difference between hero and a king. From lines 863, the scop takes Beowulf’s legend and makes it into another poem. Beowulf is also rewarded in a traditional way. Hrothgar paid the man-price for the death. The hero plays like the hero, obeys his role.

29.10.19 Lecture 5 Grendel’s Mother

Themes covered: Kingship – what does it mean to be a good king; compatible with being a hero? Monstrosity – what do they symbolize? Is it inherent or linked to actions and behaviours? Transitions – Pagan to Christin, oral to written, youth to old age.

Gender Roles A story recited as part of this celebration. The Finn story [poem within a poem]. Read Heaney’s introduction for this. This is about a Danish princess whose brother and son are killed; burns them both at the pyre. Hildeburh loses her son, husband and brother. It was an attempt to weave peace with marriage, but it goes horribly wrong. Why this poem? The poet brings about revenge and women in the feuding society. [Talks about tribal conflict, behind the stories of monsters.] Hildeburh is a peacekeeper, as she is supposed to be after being married off. It represents the great that women pay. Women have a restricted role. ‘The offering of the chalice’ shows the reinforcing of the society by offering the mead by showing where they are in the hierarchy. Wealhtheow is a cup bearer as well. She does exactly what the maxim says, she portrays what an ideal queen would do. However, we also have a hint at the sexualisation of the women [Beowulf 61-63], ‘a balm in bed to the battle-scarred swede’. Modthryth – a bad queen [lines 1931-43]. She is a classic. We are told clearly that she is not the model of a queen though. She does not take to men starting at her, killing them if they do. This could be taken in a modern perspective. The final role of a woman –the mother. Wealhtheow does agree to adopting Beowulf as her own son but she reminds Hrothgar to not forget about their own children. Grendel’s mother Wyrd – ‘already marked for death’ She rips off a man’s head and runs back into her lair. This is a different kind of violence, similar to the heroic society, but she is not the same as Grendel.

They belong in the wild. Acker says that the only thing that sets her apart from the society is her gender. Does what any hero in the society would do but is monstrous because she is a woman. [Movie: Monster] She troubles the expectations. We can look at it as an animal instinct? She gets her revenge; she has more in common with the men of Heorot. We are introduced to this cosmic feud. Grendel and his mother are Cain’s kin. The Christian poet seem to be pushing us towards the good and evil feud. Their lair is said to be sinister.

A borrowed weapon Unferth hands him a sword. Heaney uses brehon, an Irish word; represents advisor. ‘the gap of danger’ is found in the national anthem of Ireland. Heaney associates Beowulf with Ireland, him defeating their oppressors. Grendel’s mother is on the outside of society. [adds to her monstrosity]. Her lair is sort of an inverted hall, her hall is underwater. [an inversion of an Anglo-Saxon hall.] There are people guarding the hall, there is something not quite right of it.

Another point that seems to be disregarded was that it was forbidden to pull hair in Anglo-Saxon combat. This sexualised their combat, the sword from Grendel’s wall seemed to have melted in a phallic way. [just a hint of it]. Beowulf finds the combat with Grendel’s mother much harder. The magic sword that helped him, the inscription on the hilt, talks about Giants and the flood, placing it as a biblical story. Here we see the rebirth of a hero. Beowulf brings back the feud with him, bringing back the load, indicates something sinister. We are told death is not escapable by anyone. We are still in this heroic world where everything is premised by violence.

The Runic hilt Here we see a vengeful god; Grendel’s mother has been keeping a symbol of the defeat of Cain’s kin by keeping the sword up on her wall. Hrothgar eventually gives Beowulf a sermon of not getting into pride, telling him to not give in. He tells Beowulf to remember that he is going to die, and to remember God.

Beowulf had gotten away ...