Bird-Bolts and Cannon-Bullets, No. 24

More *Beowulf* quick takes, the Rotation, and a forthcoming feature

While I’m not “wearing my bear-shirt,” I am, in fact, wearing my bear-socks. Does that make me a “bersocker”?

Dear reader:

We live in interesting times. Hundreds of you around the world are reading Beowulf along with me, while university administrators everywhere seem to believe that literature and languages are irrelevant. All of you, along with those who are reading Tolstoy and Mantel with

Simon Haisell

, are showing just how vibrant interest in literature continues to be in our digital world, and how much people are hungering for real intellectual engagement. It’s very encouraging and inspiring to me.

For example, this week a number of you responded regarding the derivation of mære mearcstapa.

RK

pointed out that OE mearc is manifested in the modern English “march,” as in “boundary”—which is a suffix for many place names, like Middlemarch. This is probably where Klaeber is coming from when he defines mearcstapa as “wanderer in the waste borderland.” Dr. Ian Simmons, an environmental historian who is currently studying the history of place-names in connection to the evolution of the coast of Lincolnshire, suggested that the word may signify “lake” or “pool,” and so Grendel may be a “lake-dweller,” which would accord with what we later discover about his lair.

And my friend

Catherine Simmons

informed me that there is a Fleet Foxes song called “Mearcstapa”! And it’s quite good. Here it is:

Beetsie

reminded me that the line that lists Halfdane’s children is damaged in the manuscript, and so we don’t really know whether or not the poet names Hrothgar’s sister. We will keep this woman’s plight in mind in the coming week, as we consider her alongside Wealhtheow and Hildeburh—two other queens who apparently act as human peace treaties.

Please keep these comments coming—especially regarding omissions, corrections, and clarifications. My knowledge of the poem is, of course, imperfect, and I continue to learn about it along with all of you, even after studying it for thirty years. When I first started teaching, I thought that I needed to have an answer ready for every student’s question, but I soon learned that students appreciate it when I say “I don’t know,” or “I’ll have to look that up.” It means that I am taking their questions seriously. Despite the fact that my job requires me to know things, I have tried to escape the “culture of mastery,” as I wrote about here. If I don’t know something, I will tell you.

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Rotation updates

There are a couple of interesting additions to the Rotation this week. First up is an album by the chamber group Europa Galante of Boccherini’s quintets that has long been a favorite of mine but is newly available in “Dolby Atmos” on Apple Music. I don’t understand precisely what this means, but I do know that I listened to it on a good pair of IEMs this morning, and it sounded fantastic. By the way, Boccherini is a vastly underrated composer. He was a contemporary of Haydn and Beethoven and, in his own way, was just as wonderful—especially in his chamber music. He’s full of good tunes.

Also new to the list this week is the Fleet Foxes album Crack-Up, which includes the song “Mearcstapa.” I had never heard the album before today, but I’m listening as I write this and very much enjoying it.

Finally, this week

Flow State

recommended this album by Claire Deak in this post, and it is, in turn, atmospheric, spooky, and beautiful.

Here is the link to The Rotation from PCF.

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Forthcoming feature: Meet-the-Artist Playlists

A few weeks ago, inspired by the new film Maestro, I put together a playlist of some of my favorite recordings by Leonard Bernstein, and many of you seemed to enjoy it. (Thanks to

Susan Bordo

,

Michael Cirigliano II

,

A. Jay Adler

,

Tara Penry

, and

Orige

for restacking and sharing it.)

This made me think that some of you might be interested in dedicated playlists focusing on some favorite artists and/or composers, complete with a brief discussion of the music. I won’t have time to do this every week, but it might be a nice complement to the Rotation, along with the “Listening Challenges,” which I announced in my “Canonical Resolutions” for 2024. So you can expect playlists dedicated to Bruno Walter, Hilary Hahn, Haydn, Mitsuko Uchida, and Vaughan Williams, among others, over the next couple of months.

What do you think? Is this a good idea? Let me know in the comments and in the poll below. (I’ll probably just do it regardless, because it seems like fun to me, which is my guiding principle when it comes to writing PCF. But I am interested in your thoughts about it!)

Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet typewriter to yours.

Photo by Arun Sharma on Unsplash