I appreciate the sense you make here of Hrethel’s despair at this point, as a contrast with Beowulf’s matter-of-factness. Do you think the sober tone of this speech supports the reading that Beowulf feels what’s coming for him?
Taking advantage of the extra week to listen to the audiobook narrated by Seamus Heaney and generally reveal in the joy of listening to him as he masterfully rolls the story along. Question for the group: are there any movies of Beowulf that you recommend? I was appalled with my 10 second perusal of the offerings on Amazon Prime, haha.
I’m two weeks behind anyway, so I appreciate the chance to catch up. I’ve got many other commitments, so while I’m enjoying these posts, I’ve been reading at a much slower pace.
Another thrill of reading the original comes from those places where we can see recognizable words and phrases.
“Ic wæs syfan-wintre”—“I was seven winters” (line 2428)
“Nū is sē dæg cumen”—“Now is the day come” (line 2646)
“wæs þæt blōd tō þæs hāt”—“that blood was so hot” (line 1616)
“Ðā cōm nōn dæges”—“Then came the noon of the day” (line 1600)
In some cases you just need to know or look up a word or two for it to make sense:
“Āhlēop ðā se gomela, Gode þancode”—“Then up-leapt the old man, thanked God” (line 1397)
“þæt him swāt sprong forð under fexe”—“that sweat sprang forth under his hair” (line 2968)
“būton hit wæs māre ðonne ænig mon ōðer / tō beadu-lāce ætberan meahte”—“but it was more than any other man / might bear into battle” (lines 1560-1)
These two may be my absolute favorites:
“þæt hit eal gemealt īse gelīcost”—“that it all melted most ice-like” (line 1608)—I just love “īse gelīcost”
“Þinceð him tō lytel þæt hē tō lange hēold” (“Thinketh him too little that [which] he too [or so] long held,” line 1748)—again better than even Heaney’s translation can convey: “His old possessions seem paltry to him now”
I’ve got plenty to say about the end of the poem, but before I post about that I wanted to say something about how much I love the original Old English. There are exquisitely lyrical phrases on every page, bits I can read to myself over and over just for their sound.
Look at “wið ord ond wið ecge” (line 1349) or “wrætlīc wæg-sweord” (lline 1489) or “drēorig and gedrēfed” (line 1417).
Or consider the series of lines describing the many ways death may come (lines 1764-8):
. . . oððe ecg eafoþes getwæfeð
oððe fyres feng oððe flōdes wylm
oððe gripe mēces oððe gāres fliht
oððe atol yldo, oððe ēagena bearhtm
forsiteð ond forsworceð
I also love how some of the phrases seem to wrap more meaning into them than our language usually does today. (Old English is famous for its use of compound words, jamming two of them together to get new ones.)
Here’s one phrase about a sword: “heard-ecg habban” (line 1490), which means something like “hard-edge having”.
And here’s another: “īren ær-gōd” (line 2586), which is something like “iron ever-good,” as in a sword that had always been up to the task. Heaney translates it as “infallible before that day,’ which is fine, but nothing can match that original tightly-wound ball of meaning.
Then there are the (often grim) images and metaphors. Heaney omitted one of my favorites, which is the use of “sweat” to mean blood, as in “sweord wæs swātig” (line 1570). (It’s especially cool because the word “swāt” has hardly changed at all.) It shows up several times in the poem – e.g. “sweord swāte fāh” (line 1287) – and it gives us a little hint of the world from which the poem comes.
I'm glad you said this, about the Old English often being better. It is! I think Heaney's version is justly celebrated - as John has sometimes shown in detail, Heaney often makes inspired choices that are worthy poetry in their own right. He produced many memorable lines of his own. I've no objection at all to his being the translation of choice.
But my gosh how lovely is the original? I read it aloud to myself the whole way, in between reading sections of the translation, and I was enchanted by the music of the lines even when I didn't understand them right away. It's incantatory with its alliterative phrases that roll like waves: “wordum ond weorcum,” “earme on eaxle,” "ecg wæs īren."
As Maria Dahvana Headley says in her introduction (a great reason to check out her version, even if you don't end up getting into her mingling of tones): “the language of the poem is as much a world-building tool as the plot is, engineered with the poet’s own anachronistic filter, an archaic, lyric lexicography.” Only in the Old English can you really sense a bit of the world the poet lived in.
I’ll be responding to much of this next Wednesday, but for the moment I’ll just say that I agree with your assessment of Beowulf’s view of his fate here as the only viable challenger to the dragon. Whether or not that understanding is correct is a more complicated question. As you say, he is unable to do the deed without Wiglaf’s help, and now the Swedes are ready to invade and wreak havoc.
No, it's not published online. When I have time later this week, I'll email you a pdf. I probably won't have time until Friday, so remind me if I forget.
Maybe you can post a Dropbox or Google Drive link here for all of us who would like to read it, so that you don't have to e-mail each of us individually?
I appreciate the sense you make here of Hrethel’s despair at this point, as a contrast with Beowulf’s matter-of-factness. Do you think the sober tone of this speech supports the reading that Beowulf feels what’s coming for him?
Oh yes, I think that the speech absolutely supports this reading.
Taking advantage of the extra week to listen to the audiobook narrated by Seamus Heaney and generally reveal in the joy of listening to him as he masterfully rolls the story along. Question for the group: are there any movies of Beowulf that you recommend? I was appalled with my 10 second perusal of the offerings on Amazon Prime, haha.
No good ones, unfortunately. That 2007 film is, in my view, a debacle. It completely changes Beowulf’s character—as well as the plot.
I’m two weeks behind anyway, so I appreciate the chance to catch up. I’ve got many other commitments, so while I’m enjoying these posts, I’ve been reading at a much slower pace.
Another thrill of reading the original comes from those places where we can see recognizable words and phrases.
“Ic wæs syfan-wintre”—“I was seven winters” (line 2428)
“Nū is sē dæg cumen”—“Now is the day come” (line 2646)
“wæs þæt blōd tō þæs hāt”—“that blood was so hot” (line 1616)
“Ðā cōm nōn dæges”—“Then came the noon of the day” (line 1600)
In some cases you just need to know or look up a word or two for it to make sense:
“Āhlēop ðā se gomela, Gode þancode”—“Then up-leapt the old man, thanked God” (line 1397)
“þæt him swāt sprong forð under fexe”—“that sweat sprang forth under his hair” (line 2968)
“būton hit wæs māre ðonne ænig mon ōðer / tō beadu-lāce ætberan meahte”—“but it was more than any other man / might bear into battle” (lines 1560-1)
These two may be my absolute favorites:
“þæt hit eal gemealt īse gelīcost”—“that it all melted most ice-like” (line 1608)—I just love “īse gelīcost”
“Þinceð him tō lytel þæt hē tō lange hēold” (“Thinketh him too little that [which] he too [or so] long held,” line 1748)—again better than even Heaney’s translation can convey: “His old possessions seem paltry to him now”
I’ve got plenty to say about the end of the poem, but before I post about that I wanted to say something about how much I love the original Old English. There are exquisitely lyrical phrases on every page, bits I can read to myself over and over just for their sound.
Look at “wið ord ond wið ecge” (line 1349) or “wrætlīc wæg-sweord” (lline 1489) or “drēorig and gedrēfed” (line 1417).
Or consider the series of lines describing the many ways death may come (lines 1764-8):
. . . oððe ecg eafoþes getwæfeð
oððe fyres feng oððe flōdes wylm
oððe gripe mēces oððe gāres fliht
oððe atol yldo, oððe ēagena bearhtm
forsiteð ond forsworceð
I also love how some of the phrases seem to wrap more meaning into them than our language usually does today. (Old English is famous for its use of compound words, jamming two of them together to get new ones.)
Here’s one phrase about a sword: “heard-ecg habban” (line 1490), which means something like “hard-edge having”.
And here’s another: “īren ær-gōd” (line 2586), which is something like “iron ever-good,” as in a sword that had always been up to the task. Heaney translates it as “infallible before that day,’ which is fine, but nothing can match that original tightly-wound ball of meaning.
Then there are the (often grim) images and metaphors. Heaney omitted one of my favorites, which is the use of “sweat” to mean blood, as in “sweord wæs swātig” (line 1570). (It’s especially cool because the word “swāt” has hardly changed at all.) It shows up several times in the poem – e.g. “sweord swāte fāh” (line 1287) – and it gives us a little hint of the world from which the poem comes.
I'm glad you said this, about the Old English often being better. It is! I think Heaney's version is justly celebrated - as John has sometimes shown in detail, Heaney often makes inspired choices that are worthy poetry in their own right. He produced many memorable lines of his own. I've no objection at all to his being the translation of choice.
But my gosh how lovely is the original? I read it aloud to myself the whole way, in between reading sections of the translation, and I was enchanted by the music of the lines even when I didn't understand them right away. It's incantatory with its alliterative phrases that roll like waves: “wordum ond weorcum,” “earme on eaxle,” "ecg wæs īren."
As Maria Dahvana Headley says in her introduction (a great reason to check out her version, even if you don't end up getting into her mingling of tones): “the language of the poem is as much a world-building tool as the plot is, engineered with the poet’s own anachronistic filter, an archaic, lyric lexicography.” Only in the Old English can you really sense a bit of the world the poet lived in.
I’ll be responding to much of this next Wednesday, but for the moment I’ll just say that I agree with your assessment of Beowulf’s view of his fate here as the only viable challenger to the dragon. Whether or not that understanding is correct is a more complicated question. As you say, he is unable to do the deed without Wiglaf’s help, and now the Swedes are ready to invade and wreak havoc.
No, it's not published online. When I have time later this week, I'll email you a pdf. I probably won't have time until Friday, so remind me if I forget.
I'd like a copy as well. TIA!
Yes, will do. I didn’t get a chance at the office today to make the pdf, but I’ll do so Monday.
If you don't mind, I'd love to have a copy too!
Maybe you can post a Dropbox or Google Drive link here for all of us who would like to read it, so that you don't have to e-mail each of us individually?
Good idea! I’ll do that at the office tomorrow.