No More Learning

Their mission seemed to be to
destroy both. In their original homes in the forests of northern
Germany, they had come little if at all into contact with Roman civ-
ilization. At any rate, we may assume that they had felt no Roman
influence capable of stemming their national and ethnical tendencies.
We cannot yet solve the difficult problem of the extent of their
mingling with the conquered Celts in Britain. In spite of learned
opinions to the contrary, the evidence now available seems to point
to only a small infusion of Celtic blood. The conquerors seem to
have settled down to their new homes with all the heathenism and
most of the barbarism they had brought from their old home, a
Teutonic people still.
In these ruthless, plundering barbarians, whose very breath was
battle, and who seemed for the time the very genius of disorder and
ruin, there existed, nevertheless, potentialities of humanity, order,
and enlightenment far exceeding those of the system they displaced.
In all their barbarism there was a certain nobility; their courage was
unflinching; the fidelity, even unto death, of thane to lord, repaid
the open-handed generosity of lord to thane; they honored truth;
and even after we allow for the exaggerated claims made for a
chivalrous devotion that did not exist, we find that they held their
women in higher respect than was usual even among many more
enlightened peoples.
There are few more remarkable narratives in history than that of
the facility and enthusiasm with which the Anglo-Saxons, a people
conservative then as now to the degree of extreme obstinacy, accepted
Christianity and the new learning which followed in the train of the


## p. 545 (#583) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
545
new religion. After a few lapses into paganism in some localities, we
find these people, who lately had swept Christian Britain with fire and
sword, themselves became most zealous followers of Christ. Under
the influence of the Roman missionaries who, under St. Augustine,
had begun their work in the south in 597 among the Saxons and
Jutes, and under the combined influence of Irish and Roman mission-
aries in the north and east among the Angles, theological and secular
studies were pursued with avidity. By the end of the seventh century
we find Anglo-Saxon missionaries, with St. Boniface at their head,
carrying Christianity and enlightenment to the pagan German tribes
on the Continent.
The torch had been passed to the Anglo-Saxon, and a new centre
of learning, York, - the old Roman capital, now the chief city of the
Northumbrian Angles, - became famous throughout Europe. Indeed,
York seemed for a time the chief hope for preserving and advancing
Christian culture; for the danger of a relapse into dense ignorance
had become imminent in the rest of Europe. Bede, born about 673, a
product of this Northumbrian culture, represented the highest learning
of his day. He wrote a vast number of works in Latin, treating
nearly all the branches of knowledge existing in his day. Alcuin,
another Northumbrian, born about 735, was called by Charlemagne
to be tutor for himself and his children, and to organize the educa-
tional system of his realm. Other great names might be added to
show the extent and brilliancy of the new learning. It was more
remarkable among the Angles; and only at a later day, when the
great schools of the north had gone up in fire and smoke in the piti-
less invasion of the Northmen, did the West Saxons become the
leaders, almost the only representatives, of the literary impulse
among the Anglo-Saxons.
It is significant that the first written English that we know of
contains the first Christian English king's provision for peace and
order in his kingdom. The laws of Athelbert, King of Kent, who
died in 616, were written down early in the seventh century. This
code, as it exists, is the oldest surviving monument of English prose.
The laws of Ine, King of the West Saxons, were put into writing
about 690. These collections can scarcely be said to have a literary
value; but they are of the utmost importance as throwing light upon
the early customs of our race, and the laws of Ine may be consid-
ered as the foundation of modern English law. Many of these laws
were probably much older; but they were now first codified and
systematically enforced. The language employed is direct, almost
crabbed; but occasionally the Anglo-Saxon love of figure shows itself.
To illustrate, I quote, after Brooke, from Earle's Anglo-Saxon Liter-
ature,' page 153:-
II-35


## p. 546 (#584) ############################################

546
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
« In case any one burn a tree in a wood, and it came to light who did it,
let him pay the full penalty, and give sixty shillings, because fire is a thief.
If one fell in a wood ever so many trees, and it be found out afterwards, let
him pay for three trees, each with thirty shillings. He is not required to pay
for more of them, however many they may be, because the axe is a reporter,
and not a thief. ” [The italicized sentences are evidently current sayings. )
But even these remains, important and interesting as they are,
may not be called the beginning of a vernacular literature. It is
among the Angles of Northumbria that we shall find the earliest
native and truly literary awakening in England. Here we perceive
the endeavor to do something more than merely to aid the memory
of men in preserving necessary laws and records of important events.
The imagination had become active. The impulse was felt to give
expression to deep emotions, to sing the deeds and noble character
of some hero embodying the loftiest ideals of the time and the race,
to utter deep religious feeling. There was an effort to do this in a
form showing harmony in theme and presentation. Here we find
displayed a feeling for art, often crude, but still a true and native
impulse. This activity produced or gave definite form to the earliest
Anglo-Saxon poetry, a poetry often of a very high quality: perhaps
never of the highest, but always of intense interest. We may claim
even a greater distinction for the early fruit of Anglo-Saxon inspira-
tion. Mr. Stopford Brooke says:–«With the exception of perhaps
a few Welsh and Irish poems, it is the only vernacular poetry in
Europe, outside of the classic tongues, which belongs to so early a
time as the seventh and eighth centuries. ”
The oldest of these poems belong in all save their final form to
the ancient days in Northern Germany. They bear evidence of trans-
mission, with varying details, from gleeinan to gleeman, till they were
finally carried over to England and there edited, often with discordant
interpolations and modifications, by Christian scribes. Tacitus tells
us that at his time songs or poems were a marked feature in the life
of the Germans; but we cannot trace the clue further. To these
more ancient poems many others were added by Christian Northum-
brian poets, and we find that a large body of poetry had grown up
in the North before the movement was entirely arrested by the de-
stroying Northmen. Not one of these poems, unless we except a few
fragmentary verses, has come down to us in the Northumbrian dialect.
Fortunately they had been transcribed by the less poetically gifted
West Saxons into theirs, and it is in this form that we possess them.
This poetry shows in subject and in treatment very considerable
range. We have a great poem, epic in character; poems partly nar-
rative and partly descriptive; poems that may be classed as lyric or
elegiac in character; a large body of verse containing a paraphrase


## p. 547 (#585) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
547
of portions of the Bible; a collection of 'Riddles'; poems on animals,
with morals; and others difficult to classify.
The regular verse-form was the alliterative, four-accent line, broken
by a strongly marked cæsura into two half-lines, which were in early
editions printed as short lines. The verse was occasionally extended
to six accents. In the normal verse there were two alliterated words
in the first half of the line, each of which received a strong accent;
in the second half there was one accented word in alliteration with
the alliterated words in the first half, and one other accented word
not in alliteration. A great license was allowed as to the number of
unaccented syllables, and as to their position in regard to the accented
ones; and this lent great freedom and vigor to the verse. When
well constructed and well read, it must have been very effective.
There were of course many variations from the normal number,
three, of alliterated words, as it would be impossible to find so many
for every line.
. Something of the quality of this verse-form may be felt in trans-
lations which aim at the same effect. Notice the result in the follow-
ing from Professor Gummere's version of as election from 'Beowulf):-
« Then the warriors went, as the way was showed to them,
Under Heorot's roof; the hero stepped,
Hardy 'neath helm, till the hearth he neared. )
In these verses it will be noted that the alliteration is complete
in the first and third, and that in the second it is incomplete.
A marked feature of the Anglo-Saxon poetry is parallelism, or the
repetition of an idea by means of new phrases or epithets, most fre-
quently within the limits of a single sentence. This proceeds from
the desire to emphasize attributes ascribed to the deity, or to some
person or object prominent in the sentence. But while the added
epithets have often a cumulative force, and are picturesque, yet it
must be admitted that they sometimes do not justify their introduc-
This may be best illustrated by an example. The following,
in the translation of Earle, is Cadmon's first hymn, composed between
658 and 680, and the earliest piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry that we
know to have had its origin in England:-
«Now shall we glorify the guardian of heaven's realm.
The Maker's might and the thought of his mind;
The work of the Glory-Father, how He of every wonder,
He, the Lord eternal, laid the foundation.
He shaped erst for the sons of men
Heaven, their roof, Holy Creator;
The middle world, He, mankind's sovereign,
Eternal captain, afterwards created,
The land for men, Lord Almighty. ”


## p. 548 (#586) ############################################

548
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
(
Many of the figurative expressions are exceedingly vigorous and
poetic; some to our taste not so much so. Note the epithets in the
lank wolf,” «the wan raven,” “bird greedy for slaughter,” “the dewy-
winged eagle,” « dusky-coated,” «crooked-beaked,” «horny-beaked,”
”
«the maid, fair-cheeked,” curly-locked, “elf-bright. ” To the Anglo-
Saxon poet, much that we call metaphorical was scarcely more than
literal statement. As the object pictured itself to his responsive
imagination, he expressed it with what was to him a direct realism.
His lines are filled with a profusion of metaphors of every degree of
effectiveness. To him the sea was “the water-street,” “the swan-
path,” “the strife of the waves,” “the whale-path”; the ship was
«the foamy-necked floater,” “the wave-farer,” “the sea-wood,” «the
sea-horse”; the arrow was “the battle adder”; the battle was spear-
play,” “sword-play”; the prince was the ring-giver,” “the gold-
«
friend”; the throne was the gift-stool”; the body, “the bone-house );
the mind, «the breast-hoard. ”
Indeed, as it has been pointed out by many writers, the metaphor
is almost the only figure of the Anglo-Saxon poetry. The more
developed simile belongs to a riper and more reflective culture, and is
exceedingly rare in this early native product. It has been noted that
Beowulf,' a poem of three thousand one hundred and eighty-four
lines, contains only four or five simple similes, and only one that is
fully carried out. (The ship glides away likest to a bird,” « The
monster's eyes gleam like fire,” are simple examples cited by Ten
Brink, who gives also the elaborate one, «The sword-hilt melted,
likened to ice, when the Father looseneth the chain of frost, and
unwindeth the wave-ropes. ” But even this simile is almost obliter-
ated by the crowding metaphors.
Intensity, an almost abrupt directness, a lack of explanatory detail,
are more general characteristics, though in greatly varying degrees.
As some critic has well said, the Anglo-Saxon poet seems to presup-
pose a knowledge of his subject matter by those he addresses. Such
a style is capable of great swiftness of movement, and is well suited
to rapid description and narrative; but at times roughness or mea-
greness results.
The prevailing tone is one of sadness. In the lyric poetry, this is
so decided that all the Anglo-Saxon lyrics have been called elegies.
This note seems to be the echo of the struggle with an inhospitable
climate, dreary with rain, ice, hail, and snow; and of the uncertain-
ties of life, and the certainty of death. Suffering was never far off,
and everything was in the hands of Fate. This is true at least of
the earlier poetry, and the note is rarely absent even in the Christ-
ian lyrics. A more cheerful strain is sometimes heard, as in the
(Riddles, but it is rather the exception; and any alleged humor is


## p. 549 (#587) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
549
scarcely more than a suspicion. Love and sentiment, in the modern
sense, are not made the subject of Anglo-Saxon poetry, and this
must mean that they did not enter into the Anglo-Saxon life with
the same intensity as into modern life. The absence of this beauti-
ful motive has, to some degree, its compensation in the exceeding
moral purity of the whole literature. It is doubtful whether it has
its equal in this respect.
Anglo-Saxon prose displays, as a general thing, a simple, direct,
and clear style. There is, of course, a considerable difference between
the prose of the earlier and that of the later period, and individual
writers show peculiarities. It displays throughout a marked contrast
with the poetic style, in its freedom from parallelisms in thought
and phrase, from inversions, archaisms, and the almost excessive
wealth of metaphor and epithet. In its early stages, there is apparent
perhaps a poverty of resource, a lack of flexibility; but this charge
cannot be sustained against the best prose of the later period. In the
translations from the Latin it shows a certain stiffness, and becomes
sometimes involved, in the too conscientious effort of the translator
to follow the classic original.
No attempt will be made here to notice, or even to name, all the
large number of literary works of the Anglo-Saxons. It must be
sufficient to examine briefly a few of the most important and char-
acteristic productions of this really remarkable and prolific movement.
The Song of Widsith, the Far Traveler,' is now generally con-
ceded to be, in part at least, the oldest existing Anglo-Saxon poem.
We do not know when it assumed its present form; but it is certain
that it was after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, since it has
interpolations from the Christian scribe. The poem seems to give
evidence of being a growth from an original song by a wandering
scôp, or poet, who claims to have visited the Gothic king Eormanric,
«the grim violator of treaties,” who died in 375 or 376. But other
kings are mentioned who lived in the first half of the sixth century.
It is probable, then, that it was begun in the fourth century, and
having been added to by successive gleemen, as it was transmitted
orally, was finally completed in the earlier part of the sixth. It
was then carried over to England, and there first written down in
Northumbria. It possesses great interest because of its antiquity,
and because of the light it throws upon the life of the professional
singer in those ancient times among the Teutons. It has a long
list of kings and places, partly historical, partly mythical or not
identified. The poem, though narrative and descriptive, is also
lyrical. We find here the strain of elegiac sadness, of regretful
retrospection, so generally present in Anglo-Saxon poetry of lyric
character, and usually much more pronounced than in Widsith. '


## p. 550 (#588) ############################################

550
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
Beowulf” is, in many respects, the most important poetical monu-
ment of the Anglo-Saxons. The poem is undoubtedly of heathen
origin, and the evidence that it was a gradual growth, the result of
grouping several distinct songs around one central figure, seems
unmistakable. We may trace it, in its earliest stages, to the ancient
home of the Angles in North Germany. It was transplanted to
England in the migration of the tribes, and was edited in the present
form by some unknown Northumbrian poet. When this occurred we
do not know certainly, but there seems good reason for assuming
the end of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth century as the
time.
The poem is epic in cast and epic in proportion. Although,
judged by the Homeric standard, it falls short in many respects of
the complete form, yet it may without violence be called an epic.
The central figure, Beowulf, a nobly conceived hero, possessing
immense strength, unflinching courage, a never-swerving sense of
honor, magnanimity, and generosity, the friend and champion of the
weak against evil however terrible, is the element of unity in the
whole poem. It is in itself a great honor to the race that they were
able to conceive as their ideal a hero so superior in all that consti-
tutes true nobility to the Greek ideal, Achilles. It is true that the
poem consists of two parts, connected by little more than the fact
that they have the same hero at different times of life; that episodes
are introduced that do not blend perfectly into the unity of the
poem; and that there is a lack of repose and sometimes of lucidity.
Yet there is a dignity and vigor, and a large consistency in the
treatment of the theme, that is epic. Ten Brink says:–«The poet's
intensity is not seldom imparted to the listener.
trayals of battles, although much less realistic than the Homeric
descriptions, are yet at times superior to them, in so far as the
demoniac rage of war elicits from the Germanic fancy a crowding
affluence of vigorous scenes hastily projected in glittering lights of
grim half gloom. ” In addition to its great poetic merit, Beowulfis
of the greatest importance to us on account of the many fine pictures
of ancient Teutonic life it presents.
In the merest outline, the argument of Beowulf) is as follows:-
Hrothgar, King of the Gar-Danes, has built a splendid hall, called
Heorot. This is the scene of royal festivity until a monster from
the fen, Grendel, breaks into it by night and devours thirty of the
king's thanes. From that time the hall is desolate, for no one can
cope with Grendel, and Hrothgar is in despair. Beowulf, the noble
hero of the Geats, in Sweden, hears of the terrible calamity, and with
fourteen companions sails across the sea to undertake the adventure.
Hrothgar receives him joyfully, and after a splendid banquet gives
The por-
(


## p. 551 (#589) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
551
Heorot into his charge. During the following night, Beowulf is
attacked by Grendel; and after one of his companions has been slain,
he tears out the arm of the monster, who escapes, mortally hurt, to
his fen. On the morrow all is rejoicing; but when night falls, the
monster's mother attacks Heorot, and kills Hrothgar's favorite thane.
The next day, Beowulf pursues her to her den under the waters of
the fen, and after a terrific combat slays her. The hero returns
home to Sweden laden with gifts. This ends the main thread of the
first incident. In the second incident, after an interval of fifty years,
we find Beowulf an old man. He has been for many years king of
the Geats. A fire-breathing dragon, the guardian of a great treasure,
is devastating the land. The heroic old king, accompanied by a
party of thanes, attacks the dragon. All the thanes save one are
cowardly; but the old hero, with the aid of the faithful one, slays
the dragon, not, however, till he is fatally injured. Then follow his
death and picturesque burial.
In this sketch, stirring episodes, graphic descriptions, and fine
effects are all sacrificed. The poem itself is a noble one and the
English people may well be proud of preserving in it the first epic
production of the Teutonic race.
The Fight at Finnsburg' is a fine fragment of epic cast.
Finn saga is at least as old as the Beowulf poem, since the gleeman
at Hrothgar's banquet makes it his theme. From the fragment and
the gleeman's song we perceive that the situation here is much more
complex than is usual in Anglo-Saxon poems, and involves a tragic
conflict of passion. Hildeburh's brother is slain through the treach-
ery of her husband, Finn; her son, partaking of Finn's faithlessness,
falls at the hands of her brother's men; in a subsequent counterplot,
her husband is slain. Besides the extraordinary vigor of the narra-
tive, the theme has special interest in that a woman is really the
central figure, though not treated as a heroine.
A favorite theme in the older lyric poems is the complaint of
some wandering scôp, driven from his home by the exigencies of
those perilous times. Either the singer has been bereft of his
patron by death, or he has been supplanted in his favor by some
successful rival; and he passes in sorrowful review his former hap-
piness, and contrasts it with his present misery. The oldest of these
lyrics are of pagan origin, though usually with Christian additions.
In the “Wanderer,' an unknown poet pictures the exile who has
fied across the sea from his home. He is utterly lonely. He must
lock his sorrow in his heart. In his dream he embraces and kisses
his lord, and lays his head upon his knee, as of old. He awakes,
and sees nothing but the gray sea, the snow and hail, and the birds
dipping their wings in the waves. And so he reflects: the world is


## p. 552 (#590) ############################################

552
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
full of care; we are all in the hands of Fate. Then comes. the
Christian sentiment: happy is he who seeks comfort with his Father
in heaven, with whom alone all things are enduring.
Another fine poem of this class, somewhat similar to the Wan-
derer,' is the Seafarer. ” It is, however, distinct in detail and treat-
ment, and has its own peculiar beauty. In the Fortunes of Men,'
the poet treats the uncertainty of all things earthly, from the point
of view of the parent forecasting the ill and the good the future
may bring to his sons. Deor's Lament' possesses genuine lyrical
quality of high order. The singer has been displaced by a rival, and
finds consolation in his grief from reciting the woes that others have
endured, and reflects in each instance, “That was got over, and so
this may be. ” Other poems on other subjects might be noticed here;
as “The Husband's Message,' where the love of husband for wife is
the theme, and “The Ruin,' which contains reflections suggested by
a ruined city.
It is a remarkable fact that only two of these poets are known
to us by name, Cædmon and Cynewulf. We find the story of the
inspiration, work, and death of Cædmon, the earlier of these, told in
the pages of Bede. The date of his birth is not given, but his death
fell in 680. He was a Northumbrian, and was connected in a lay
capacity with the great monastery of Whitby. He was uneducated,
and not endowed in his earlier life with the gift of song. One
night, after he had fled in mortification from a feast where all were
required to improvise and sing, he received, as he slept, the divine
inspiration. The next day he made known his new gift to the
authorities of the monastery. After he had triumphantly made good
his claims, he was admitted to holy orders, and began his work of
paraphrasing into noble verse portions of the Scriptures that were
read to him. Of the body of poetry that comes down to us under
his name, we cannot be sure that any is his, unless we except the
short passage given here. It is certainly the work of different poets,
and varies in merit. The evidence seems conclusive that he was a
poet of high order, that his influence was very great, and that many
others wrote in his manner. The actors and the scenery of the
Cædmonian poetry are entirely Anglo-Saxon, only the names and the
outline of the narrative being biblical; and the spirit of battle that
breathes in some passages is the same that we find in the heathen
epic.
Cynewulf was most probably a Northumbrian, though this is
sometimes questioned.
The dates of his birth and death are un-
known. It seems established, however, that his work belongs to the
eighth century. A great deal of controversy has arisen over a num-
ber of poems that have been ascribed to him and denied to him


## p. 553 (#591) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
553
with equal persistency. But we stand upon sure ground in regard to
four poems, the Christ,' the Fates of the Apostles,' 'Juliana,' and
'Elene); for he has signed them in runes. If the runic enigma in
the first of the Riddles) has been correctly interpreted, then they,
or portions of them, are his also. But about this there is much
doubt. The Andreas) and the Dream of the Rood' may be men-
tioned as being of exceptional interest among the poems that are
almost certainly his. In the latter, he tells, in a personal strain, the
story of the appearance to him of the holy cross, and of his con-
version and dedication of himself to the service of Christ. The
Elene,' generally considered the finest of his poems, is the story of
the miraculous finding of the holy cross by St. Helena, the mother
of the Emperor Constantine. The poet has lent great charm to the
tradition in his treatment. The poem sounds a triumphant note
throughout, till we reach the epilogue, where the poet speaks in his
own person and in a sadder tone.
The quality of Cynewulf's poetry is unequal; but when he is at
his best, he is a great poet and a great artist. His personality
appears in direct subjective utterance more plainly than does that of
any other Anglo-Saxon poet.
While we must pass over many fine Anglo-Saxon poems without
mention, there are two that must receive some notice. Judith)
is an epic based upon the book of Judith in the Apocrypha. ' Only
about one-fourth of it has survived.
The author is still unknown, in
spite of many intelligent efforts to determine to whom the honor
belongs. The dates assigned to it vary from the seventh to the
tenth century; here, too, uncertainty prevails: but we are at least
sure that it is one of the best of the Anglo-Saxon poems. It has
been said that this work shows a more definite plan and more con-
scious art than any other Anglo-Saxon poem.
Brooke finds it some-
times conventional in the form of expression, and denies it the
highest rank for that reason. But he does not seem to sustain the
charge. The two principal characters, the dauntless Judith and the
brutal Holofernes, stand out with remarkable distinctness, and a fine
dramatic quality has been noted by several critics. The epithets and
metaphors, the description of the drunken debauch, and the swift,
powerful narrative of the battle and the rout of the Assyrians, are in
the best Anglo-Saxon epic strain. The poem is distinctly Christian;
for the Hebrew heroine, with a naïve anachronism, prays thus: “God
of Creation, Spirit of Consolation, Son of the Almighty, I pray for
Thy mercy to me, greatly in need of it, Glory of the Trinity. ”
“The Battle of Maldon is a ballad, containing an account of a
fight between the Northmen and the East Saxons under the Aldor-
man, Byrhtnoth. The incident is mentioned in one MS. of the


## p. 554 (#592) ############################################

554
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
own men.
Chronicle under the date of 991; in another, under the date of 993.
The poem is exceedingly graphic. The poet seems filled with in-
tense feeling, and may have been a spectator, or may indeed have
taken part in the struggle. He tells how the brave old Aldorman
disdains to use the advantage of his position, which bade fair to
give him victory. Like a boy, he cannot take a dare, but fatuously
allows the enemy to begin the battle upon an equal footing with his
He pays for his noble folly with his life and the defeat
of his army.
The devotion of the Aldorman's hearth-companions,
who refuse to survive their lord, and with brave words meet their
death, is finely described. But not all are true; some, who have
been especially favored, ignobly flee. These are treated with the
racial contempt for cowards. The poem has survived in fragmentary
form, and the name of the poet is not known.
As distinguished from all poetical remains of such literature, the
surviving prose of the Anglo-Saxons, though extensive, and of the
greatest interest and value, is less varied in subject and manner than
their poetry.
It admits of brief treatment. The earliest known
specimens of Anglo-Saxon prose writing have been already men-
tioned. These do not constitute the beginning of a literature, yet,
with the rest of the extensive collection of Anglo-Saxon laws that
has survived, they are of the greatest importance to students. Earle
quotes Dr. Reinhold Schmid as saying, “No other Germanic nation
has bequeathed to us out of its earliest experience so rich a treasure
of original legal documents as the Anglo-Saxon nation has,” — only
another instance of the precocity of our ancestors.
To the West Saxons belongs nearly the whole of Anglo-Saxon
prose. Whatever may have existed in Northumbria perished in the
inroads of the Northmen, except such parts as may have been incor-
porated in West Saxon writings. It will be remembered, however,
that the great Northumbrian prose writers had held to the Latin as
their medium. The West Saxon prose literature may be said to
begin in Alfred's reign.
The most important production that we have to consider is the
famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. ' It covers with more or less com-
pleteness the period from 449 to 1154. This was supplemented by
fanciful genealogies leading back to Woden, or even to Adam. It
is not known when the practice of jotting down in the native speech
notices of contemporary events began, but probably in very early
times. It is believed, however, that no intelligent effort to collect
and present them with order and system was made until the middle
of the ninth century. In the oldest of the seven MSS. in which it
has come down to us, we have the Chronicle) to 891, as it was
written down in Alfred's time and probably under his supervision.


## p. 555 (#593) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
555
The meagreness of the earliest entries and the crudeness of the
language, together with occasional picturesque force, indicate that
many of them were drawn from current song or tradition. The style
and fullness of the entries differ greatly throughout, as might be
expected, since the Chronicle is the work of so many hands. From
mere bare notices they vary to strong, full narrative and description.
Indeed, the Chronicle contains some of the most effective prose
produced by the Anglo-Saxons; and in one instance, under the date
937, the annalist describes the battle of Brunanburh in a poem of
considerable merit. But we know the name of no single contributor.
This Chronicle is the oldest and most important work of the
kind produced outside of the classical languages in Europe. It is
meagre in places, and its entire trustworthiness has been questioned.
But it and Bede's Ecclesiastical History,' supplemented by other
Anglo-Saxon writings, constitute the basis of early English history:
and this fact alone entitles it to the highest rank in importance
among ancient documents.
A large body of Anglo-Saxon prose, nearly all of it translation or
adaptation of Latin works, has come down to us under the name of
King Alfred. A peculiar interest attaches to these works. They
belong to a period when the history of England depended more than
at any other time upon the ability and devotion of one man; and
that man, the most heroic and the greatest of English kings, was
himself the author of them.
When Alfred became king, in 871, his throne seemed tottering to
its fall. Practically all the rest of England was at the feet of the
ruthless Northmen, and soon Alfred himself was little better than a
fugitive. But by his military skill, which was successful if not brill-
iant, and by his never-wavering devotion and English persistency,
he at last freed the southern part of the island from his merciless
and treacherous enemies, and laid the firm foundation of West Saxon
supremacy. If Alfred had failed in any respect to be the great king
that he was, English history would have been changed for all time.
Although Alfred had saved his kingdom, yet it was a kingdom
almost in ruins. The hopeful advance of culture had been entirely
arrested. The great centres of learning had been utterly destroyed
in the north, and little remained intact in the south. And even
worse than this was the demoralization of all classes, and an indispo-
sition to renewed effort. There was, moreover, a great scarcity of
books.
Alfred showed himself as great in peace as in war, and at once
set to work to meet all those difficulties. To supply the books that
were so urgently needed, he found time in the midst of his perplex-
ing cares to slate from the Latin into the native speech such


## p. 556 (#594) ############################################

556
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
works as he thought would supply the most pressing want. This
was the more necessary from the prevailing ignorance of Latin. It
is likely that portions of the works that go under his name were pro-
duced under his supervision by carefully selected co-workers. But it
is certain that in a large part of them we may see the work of the
great Alfred's own hand.
He has used his own judgment in these translations, omitting
whatever he did not think would be immediately helpful to his peo-
ple, and making such additions as he thought might be of advantage.
Just these additions have the greatest interest for us. He translated,
for instance, Orosius's History'; a work in itself of inferior worth,
but as an attempt at a universal history from the Christian point of
view, he thought it best suited to the needs of his people. The
Anglo-Saxon version contains most interesting additions of original
matter by Alfred. They consist of accounts of the voyages of Ohtere,
a Norwegian, who was the first, so far as we know, to sail around
the North Cape and into the White Sea, and of Wulfstan, who ex-
plored parts of the coast of the Baltic. These narratives give us
our first definite information about the lands and people of these
regions, and appear to have been taken down by the king directly as
related by the explorers. Alfred added to this History) also a
description of Central Europe, which Morley calls the only authentic
record of the Germanic nations written by a contemporary so early
as the ninth century. ”
In Gregory's Pastoral Care) we have Alfred's closest translation.
It is a presentation of “the ideal Christian pastor” (Ten Brink), and
was intended for the benefit of the lax Anglo-Saxon priests. Perhaps
the work that appealed most strongly to Alfred himself was Boe-
thius's Consolations of Philosophy'; and in his full translation and
adaptation of this book we see the hand and the heart of the good
king. We shall mention one other work of Alfred's, his translation
of the already frequently mentioned Historia Ecclesiastica Anglorum'
of the Venerable Bede. This great work Alfred, with good reason,
considered to be of the greatest possible value to his people; and
the king has given it additional value for us.
Alfred was not a great scholar. The wonder is that, in the troub-
lous times of his youth, he had learned even the rudiments. The
language in his translations, however, though not infrequently affected
for the worse by the Latin idiom of the original, is in the main
free from ornament of any kind, simple and direct, and reflects in
its sincerity the noble character of the great king.
The period between the death of Alfred (901) and the end of the
tenth century was deficient in works of literary value, except an
entry here and there in the Chronicle. ' «Alfric's is the last great


## p. 557 (#595) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
557
name in the story of our literature before the Conquest,” says Henry
Morley. He began writing about the end of the tenth century, and
we do not know when his work and his life ended. This gentle
priest, as he appears to us through his writings, following Alfred's
example, wrote not from personal ambition, but for the betterment
of his fellow-men. His style is eminently lucid, fuent, forcible, and
of graceful finish. Earle observes of it:–«The English of these
Homilies is splendid; indeed, we may confidently say that here English
appears fully qualified to be the medium of the highest learning. ”
This is high praise, and should be well considered by those disposed
to consider the Anglo-Saxon as a rude tongue, incapable of great
development in itself, and only enabled by the Norman infusion to
give expression to a deep and broad culture.
Alfric's works in Anglo-Saxon — for he wrote also in Latin — were
very numerous, embracing two series of homilies, theological writings
of many kinds, translations of portions of the Bible, an English
(Anglo-Saxon) gſammar, adapted from a Latin work, a Latin diction-
ary, and many other things of great use in their day and of great
interest in ours.
The names of other writers and of other single works might well
be added here. But enough has been said, perhaps, to show that a
great and hopeful development of prose took place among the West
Saxons. It must be admitted that the last years of the Anglo-Saxon
nationality before the coming of the Normans show a decline in
literary productiveness of a high order. The causes of this are to be
found chiefly in the political and ecclesiastical history of the time.
Wars with the Northmen, internal dissensions, religious controversies,
the greater cultivation of Latin by the priesthood, all contributed
to it.
But hopeful signs of a new revival were not wanting. The
language had steadily developed with the enlightenment of the peo-
ple, and was fast becoming fit to meet any demands that might be
made upon it, when the great catastrophe of the Norman Conquest
came, and with it practically the end of the historical and distinctive
Anglo-Saxon literature.
Rosent therp


## p. 558 (#596) ############################################

558
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
FROM BEOWULF)
[The Spear-Danes intrust the dead body of King Scyld to the sea, in a
splendidly adorned ship. He had come to them mysteriously, alone in a ship,
when an infant. )
T
A Seyid then departed to the All-Father's keeping
War-like to wend him; away then they bare him
To the flood of the current, his fond-loving comrades,
As himself he had bidden, while the friend of the Scyld-
ings
Word-sway wielded, and the well-loved land prince
Long did rule them. The ring-stemmèd vessel,
Bark of the atheling, lay there at anchor,
Icy in glimmer and eager for sailing;
The beloved leader laid they down there,
Giver of rings, on the breast of the vessel,
The famed by the mainmast. A many of jewels,
Of fretted embossings, from far-lands brought over,
Was placed near at hand then; and heard I not ever
That a folk ever furnished a float more superbly
With weapons of warfare, weeds for the battle,
Bills and burnies; on his bosom sparkled
Many a jewel that with him must travel
On the flush of the flood afar on the current.
And favors no fewer they furnished him soothly,
Excellent folk-gems, than others had given him
Lone on the main, the merest of infants :
And a gold-fashioned standard they stretched under heaven
High o'er his head, let the holm-currents bear him,
Seaward consigned him: sad was their spirit,
Their mood very mournful. Men are not able
Soothly to tell us, they in halls who reside,
Heroes under heaven, to what haven he hied.
They guard the wolf-coverts,
Lands inaccessible, wind-beaten nesses,
Fearfullest fen-deeps, where a flood from the mountains
'Neath mists of the nesses netherward rattles,
The stream under earth: not far is it henceward
Measured by mile-lengths the mere-water standeth,
Which forests hang over, with frost-whiting covered,
A firm-rooted forest, the floods overshadow.


## p. 559 (#597) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
559
There ever at night one an ill-meaning portent,
A fire-flood may see; ’mong children of men
None liveth so wise that wot of the bottom;
Though harassed by hounds the heath-stepper seek for,
Fly to the forest, firm-antlered he-deer,
Spurred from afar, his spirit he yieldeth,
His life on the shore, ere in he will venture
To cover his head. Uncanny the place is:
Thence upward ascendeth the surging of waters,
Wan to the welkin, when the wind is stirring
The weather unpleasing, till the air groweth gloomy,
Then the heavens lower.
[Beowulf has plunged into the water of the mere in pursuit of Grendel's
mother, and is a whole day in reaching the bottom. He is seized by the
monster and carried to her cavern, where the combat ensues. )
The earl then discovered he was down in some cavern
Where no water whatever anywise harmed him,
And the clutch of the current could come not anear him,
Since the roofed-hall prevented; brightness a-gleaming,
Fire-light he saw, flashing resplendent.
The good one saw then the sea-bottom's monster,
The mighty mere-woman: he made a great onset
With weapon-of-battle; his hand not desisted
From striking; the war-blade struck on her head then
A battle-song greedy. The stranger perceived then
The sword would not bite, her life would not injure,
But the falchion failed the folk-prince when straitened:
Erst had it often onsets encountered,
Oft cloven the helmet, the fated one's armor;
'Twas the first time that ever the excellent jewel
Had failed of its fame. Firm-mooded after,
Not heedless of valor, but mindful of glory
Was Higelac's kinsman; the hero-chief angry
Cast then his carved-sword covered with jewels
That it lay on the earth, hard and steel-pointed;
He hoped in his strength, his hand-grapple sturdy.
So any must act whenever he thinketh
To gain him in battle glory unending,
And is reckless of living. The lord of the War-Geats
(He shrank not from battle) seized by the shoulder
The mother of Grendel; then mighty in struggle
Swung he his enemy, since his anger was kindled,
That she fell to the floor. With furious grapple


## p. 560 (#598) ############################################

560
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
She gave him requital early thereafter,
And stretched out to grab him; the strongest of warriors
Faint-mooded stumbled, till he fell in his traces,
Foot-going champion. Then she sat on the hall-guest
And wielded her war-knife wide-bladed, flashing,
For her son would take vengeance, her one only bairn.
His breast-armor woven bode on his shoulder;
It guarded his life, the entrance defended
'Gainst sword-point and edges. Ecgtheow's son there
Had fatally journeyed, champion of Geatmen,
In the arms of the ocean, had the armor not given,
Close-woven corselet, comfort and succor,
And had God Most Holy not awarded the victory,
All-knowing lord; easily did heaven's
Ruler most righteous arrange it with justice;
Uprose he erect ready for battle.
Then he saw 'mid the war-gems a weapon of victory,
An ancient giant-sword, of edges a-doughty,
Glory of warriors: of weapons 'twas choicest,
Only 'twas larger than any man else was
Able to bear to the battle-encounter,
The good and splendid work of the giants.
He grasped then the sword-hilt, knight of the Scyldings,
Bold and battle-grim, brandished his ring-sword.
Hopeless of living, hotly he smote her,
That the fiend-woman's neck firmly it grappled,
Broke through her bone-joints, the bill fully pierced her
Fate-cursed body, she fell to the ground then:
The hand-sword was bloody, the hero exulted.
(Fifty years have elapsed. The aged Beowulf has died from the injuries
received in his struggle with the Fire Drake. His body is burned, and a
barrow erected. ]
A folk of the Geatmen got him then ready
A pile on the earth strong for the burning,
Behung with helmets, hero-knight's targets,
And bright-shining burnies, as he begged they should have
them;
Then wailing war-heroes their world-famous chieftain,
Their liege-lord beloved, laid in the middle.
Soldiers began then to make on the barrow
The largest of dead fires: dark o'er the vapor
The smoke cloud ascended; the sad-roaring fire,
Mingled with weeping (the-wind-roar subsided)


## p. 561 (#599) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
561
.
Till the building of bone it had broken to pieces,
Hot in the heart. Heavy in spirit
They mood-sad lamented the men-leader's ruin.
The men of the Weders made accordingly
A hill on the height, high and extensive,
Of sea-going sailors to be seen from a distance,
And the brave one's beacon built where the fire was,
In ten days' space, with a wall surrounded it,
As wisest of world-folk could most worthily plan it.
They placed in the barrow rings and jewels,
All such ornaments as erst in the treasure
War-mooded men had won in possession :
The earnings of earlmen to earth they intrusted,
The gold to the dust, where yet it remaineth
As useless to mortals as in foregoing eras.
'Round the dead-mound rode then the doughty-in-battle,
Bairns of all twelve of the chiefs of the people,
More would they mourn, lament for their ruler,
Speak in measure, mention him with pleasure;
Weighed his worth, and his warlike achievements
Mightily commended, as 'tis meet one praise his
Liege lord in words and love him in spirit,
When forth from his body he fares to destruction.
So lamented mourning the men of the Geats,
Fond loving vassals, the fall of their lord,
Said he was gentlest of kings under heaven,
Mildest of men and most philanthropic,
Friendliest to folk-troops and fondest of honor.
By permission of John Leslie Hall, the Translator, and D. C. Heath & Co. ,
Publishers
DEOR'S LAMENT
W*va
AYLAND often wandered in exile,
doughty earl, ills endur'd,
had for comrades care and longing,
winter-cold wandering; woe oft found
since Nithhad brought such need upon him, –
laming wound on a lordlier man.
That pass'd over, — and this may, too!
In Beadohild's breast, her brothers' death
wrought no such ill as her own disgrace,
when she had openly understood
11-36


## p. 562 (#600) ############################################

562
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
her maidhood vanished; she might no wise
think how the case could thrive at all.
That pass'd over, — and this may, too!
We have heard enough of Hild's disgrace;
heroes of Geat were homeless made,
and sorrow stole their sleep away.
That pass'd over, — and this may, too!
Theodoric held for thirty winters
Mæring's burg, as many have known.
That pass'd over, — and this may, too!
!
We have also heard of Ermanric's
wolfish mind; wide was his sway
o'er the Gothic race, - a ruler grim.
Sat many a man in misery bound,
waited but woe, and wish'd amain
that ruin might fall on the royal house.
That pass'd over, - and this may, too!
Sitteth one sighing, sunder'd from happiness;
all's dark within him; he deems forsooth
that his share of evils shall endless be.
Let such bethink him that thro’ this world
mighty God sends many changes:
to earls a plenty honor he shows,
ease and bliss; to others, sorrow.
Now I will say of myself, and how
I was singer once to the sons of Heoden,
dear to my master, and Deor was my name.
Long were the winters my lord was kind,
happy my lot, — till Heorrenda now
by grace of singing has gained the land
which the “haven of heroes” erewhile gave me.
That pass'd over, — and this may, too!
Translation of F. B. Gummere in the Atlantic Monthly, February, 1891: by
permission of Houghton, Mifflin and Company


## p. 563 (#601) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
563
FROM THE WANDERER)
O
FT-TIMES the Wanderer waiteth God's mercy,
Sad and disconsolate though he may be,
Far o'er the watery track must he travel,
Long must he row o'er the rime-crusted sea-
Plod his lone exile-path--- Fate is severe.
Mindful of slaughter, his kinsman friends' death,
Mindful of hardships, the wanderer saith :-
Oft must I lonely, when dawn doth appear,
Wail o'er my sorrow - since living is none
Whom I may whisper my heart's undertone.
Know I full well that in man it is noble
Fast in his bosom his sorrow to bind.
Weary at heart, yet his Fate is unyielding -
Help cometh not to his suffering mind.
Therefore do those who are thirsting for glory
Bind in their bosom each pain's biting smart.
Thus must I often, afar from my kinsmen,
Fasten in fetters my home-banished heart.
Now since the day when my dear prince departed
Wrapped in the gloom of his dark earthen grave,
I, a poor exile, have wandered in winter
Over the flood of the foam-frozen wave,
Seeking, sad-hearted, some giver of treasure,
Some one to cherish me friendless — some chief
Able to guide me with wisdom of counsel,
Willing to greet me and comfort my grief.
He who hath tried it, and he alone, knoweth
How harsh a comrade is comfortless Care
Unto the man who hath no dear protector,
Gold wrought with fingers nor treasure so fair.
Chill is his heart as he roameth in exile -
Thinketh of banquets his boyhood saw spread;
Friends and companions partook of his pleasures -
Knoweth he well that all friendless and lordless
Sorrow awaits him a long bitter while;
Yet, when the spirits of Sorrow and Slumber
Fasten with fetters the orphaned exile,
Seemeth him then that he seeth in spirit,
Meeteth and greeteth his master once more,
Layeth his head on his lord's loving bosom,
Just as he did in the dear days of yore.


## p. 564 (#602) ############################################

564
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
But he awaketh, forsaken and friendless,
Seeth before him the black billows rise,
Seabirds are bathing and spreading their feathers,
Hailsnow and hoar-frost are hiding the skies.
Then in his heart the more heavily wounded,
Longeth full sore for his loved one, his own,
Sad is the mind that remembereth kinsmen,
Greeting with gladness the days that are gone.
Seemeth him then on the waves of the ocean
Comrades are swimming, — well-nigh within reach,
Yet from the spiritless lips of the swimmers
Cometh familiar no welcoming speech.
So is his sorrow renewed and made sharper
When the sad exile so often must send
Thoughts of his suffering spirit to wander
Wide o'er the waves where the rough billows blend.
So, lest the thought of my mind should be clouded,
Close must I prison my sadness of heart,
When I remember my bold comrade-kinsmen,
How from the mede-hall I saw them depart.
Thus is the earth with its splendor departing --
Day after day it is passing away,
Nor may a mortal have much of true wisdom
Till his world-life numbers many a day.
He who is wise, then, must learn to be patient -
Not too hot-hearted, too hasty of speech,
Neither too weak nor too bold in the battle,
Fearful, nor joyous, nor greedy to reach,
Neither too ready to boast till he knoweth —
Man must abide, when he vaunted his pride,
Till strong of mind he hath surely determined
Whether his purpose can be turned aside.
Surely the wise man may see like the desert
How the whole wealth of the world lieth waste,
How through the earth the lone walls are still standing,
Blown by the wind and despoiled and defaced.
Covered with frost, the proud dwellings are ruined,
Crumbled the wine-halls the king lieth low,
Robbed of his pride - and his troop have all fallen
Proud by the wall — some, the spoil of the foe,
War took away — and some the fierce sea-fowl
Over the ocean - and some the wolf gray
Tore after death — and yet others the hero
Sad-faced has laid in earth-caverns away.


## p. 565 (#603) ############################################

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
565
Thus at his will the eternal Creator
Famished the fields of the earth's ample fold-
Until her dwellers abandoned their feast-boards,
Void stood the work of the giants of old.
One who was viewing full wisely this wall-place,
Pondering deeply his dark, dreary life,
Spake then as follows, his past thus reviewing,
Years full of slaughter and struggle and strife:-
“Whither, alas, have my horses been carried ?
Whither, alas, are my kinspeople gone?
Where is my giver of treasure and feasting ?
Where are the joys of the hall I have known ?
Ah, the bright cup- and the corseleted warrior -
Ah, the bright joy of a king's happy lot!
How the glad time has forever departed,
Swallowed in darkness, as though it were not!
Standeth, instead of the troop of young warriors,
Stained with the bodies of dragons, a wall
The men were cut down in their pride by the spear-
points —
Blood-greedy weapons — but noble their fall.
Earth is enwrapped in the lowering tempest,
Fierce on the stone-cliff the storm rushes forth,
Cold winter-terror, the night shade is dark'ning,
Hail-storms are laden with death from the north.
All full of hardships is earthly existence
Here the decrees of the Fates have their sway-
Fleeting is treasure and fleeting is friendship-
Here man is transient, here friends pass away.
Earth's widely stretching, extensive domain,
Desolate all — empty, idle, and vain. ”
In Modern Language Notes): Translation of W. R. Sims.
THE SEAFARER
SO
Ooth the song that I of myself can sing,
Telling of my travels; how in troublous days,
Hours of hardship oft I've borne!
With a bitter breast-care I have been abiding:
Many seats of sorrow in my ship have known!
Frightful was the whirl of waves, when it was my part
Narrow watch at night to keep, on my Vessel's prow
When it rushed the rocks along. By the rigid cold


## p. 566 (#604) ############################################

566
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE
Fast my feet were pinched, fettered by the frost,
By the chains of cold. Care was sighing then
Hot my heart around; hunger rent to shreds
Courage in me, me sea-wearied! This the man knows not,
He to whom it happens, happiest on earth,
How I, carked with care, in the ice-cold sea,
Overwent the winter on my wander-ways,
All forlorn of happiness, all bereft of loving kinsmen,
Hung about with icicles; flew the hail in showers.