“ Rings for a ransom, and rather than fight
It is better for you to bargain with gold
Than that we should fiercely fight you in battle.
It is futile to fight if you fill our demands;
35 If you give us gold we will grant you a truce.
If commands thou wilt make, who art mightiest of warriors,
That thy folk shall be free from the foemen’s attack,
Shall give of their wealth at the will of the seamen,
[165] A treasure for tribute, with a truce in return,
40 We will go with the gold again to our ships,
We will sail to the sea and vouchsafe to you peace. ”

“ Heroes were angry
The dwellers in the land, at the dastardly race.
Strong-hearted they stepped, stern in their mood;
On their enemies of old took awful revenge,
On their mead-weary foes. With the might of their hands
230 Their shining swords from their sheaths they drew forth.
With the choicest of edges the champions they smote—
Furiously felled the folk of Assyria,
The spiteful despoilers. They spared not a one
Of the hated host, neither high nor low
235 Of living men that they might overcome. ”

“ And his frightful death. The forces of darkness
Covered with clouds the corpse of the Lord,
The shining radiance; the shadows darkened
55 Under the cover of clouds. Creation all wept,
The king’s fall bewailed. Christ was on the rood.
Finally from afar came faithful comrades
To the Savior’s side, and I saw it all.
Bitter the grief that I bore, but I bowed me low to their hands;
60 My travail was grievous and sore. They took then God Almighty,
From loathsome torment they lifted him. The warriors left me deserted,
To stand stained with blood. I was stricken and wounded with nails. ”

“ The frightful brand. Oft in battle have fallen
5 Sword-wounded warriors one after the other.
6 Vanguard of Attila, thy valor must ever
Endure the conflict! The day is now come,
9 When fate shall award you one or the other:
10 To lose your life or have lasting glory,
Through all the ages, O Ælfhere’s son!
No fault do I find, my faithful lover,
Saying I have seen thee at sword-play weaken,
Yield like a coward to a conqueror’s arms,
15 Flee from the field of fight and escape,
Protect thy body, though bands of the foemen
Were smiting thy burnies with broad-edged swords ”

“ There is no one in this world so o’erweening in power,
40 So good in his giving, so gallant in his youth,
So daring in his deeds, so dear to his lord,
But that he leaves the land and longs for the sea.
By the grace of God he will gain or lose ”

“ The goods of a dead man. Glory is best.
A king shall with cups secure his queen,
Buy her with bracelets. Both shall at first
Be generous with gifts. Then shall grow in the man
85 The pride of war, and his wife shall prosper,
Cherished by the folk; cheerful of mood,
She shall keep all counsel and in kindness of heart
Give horses and treasure; before the train of heroes
With full measure of mead on many occasions
[57] 90 She shall lovingly greet her gracious lord,
Shall hold the cup high and hand him to drink
Like a worthy wife. Wisely shall counsel
The two who hold their home together. ”

“ The Author of light has given us leave that we may here merit as a reward for good, joy in heaven, that all of us may seek the mighty kingdom and sit on the high seats, may live a life of light and peace, may own a home of tender joy; may see the merciful and mild Lord for time without end, and may lift up a song in eternal praise, forever with the angels. ”

“ When all the wealth of the world lies wasted and scattered.
75 So now over the earth in every land
Stormed on by winds the walls are standing
Rimy with hoar-frost, and the roofs of the houses;
The wine-halls are wasted; far away are the rulers,
Deprived of their pleasure. All the proud ones have fallen,
80 The warriors by the wall: some war has borne off,
In its bloody embrace ”

“ When our lord is lying full low before us,
The earl on the earth; we all have a duty
That each one of us should urge on the rest
235 Of the warriors to war, while his weapons in hand
He may have and hold, his hard-wrought mace,
His dart and good sword. The deed of Godric,
The wicked son of Offa, has weakened us all;
Many of the men thought when he mounted the steed,
240 Rode on the proud palfry, that our prince led us forth;
Therefore on the field the folk were divided,
The shield-wall was shattered. May shame curse the man
Who deceived our folk and sent them in flight. ”

“ Wise were the words spoken once by Offa
As he sat with his comrades assembled in council:
[171] 200 “There are many who boast in the mead-hall of bravery
Who turn in terror when trouble comes.”
The chief of the folk now fell to his death,
Æthelred’s earl; all his companions
Looked on their lord as he lay on the field.
205 Now there approached some proud retainers;
The hardy heroes hastened madly,
All of them eager either to die
Or valiantly avenge their vanquished lord. ”

“ Many mead-halls, where men took their pleasure,
Till an end came to all, through inexorable fate.
The people all have perished; pestilence came on them:
25 Death stole them all, the staunch band of warriors.
Their proud works of war now lie waste and deserted ”

“ Would they deign to endure all the days of their life,
325 While boldly in battle they might brandish their shields
Against any people. The awful conflict,
The fight was at the front, furious soldiers
Wielding their weapons, warriors fearless,
And bloody wounds, and wild battle-rushes,
330 The jostling of helmets where the Jews advanced.
Marching after the army were the eager seamen,
The sons of Reuben; raising their shields
The sea-vikings bore them over the salt waves,
A multitude of men ”

“ The streams beat the shores, and they sling at times
Great stones and sand on the steep cliffs,
With weeds and waves, while wildly striving
Under the burden of billows on the bottom of ocean
10 The sea-ground I shake. My shield of waters
I leave not ere he lets me who leads me always
In all my travels. ”

“ The strength of the spear has destroyed the earls,
100 War-greedy weapons, Wyrd inexorable;
And the storms strike down on the stony cliffs;
The snows descend and seize all the earth
In the dread of winter; then darkness comes
And dusky night-shade. Down from the north
105 The hated hail-storms beat on heroes with fury.
All on earth is irksome to man;
Oft changes the work of the fates, the world under the firmament.
Here treasure is fleeting; here true friends are fleeting;
Here comrades are fleeting; here kinsmen are fleeting. ”

“ O Constantine, the King of angels bids—
80 The Master Almighty, to make thee a compact,
The Lord of the faithful. No fear shouldst thou have,
Though foreign foes bring frightful war,
And horrors unheard of! ”

“ All on earth is irksome to man.
And we see how the winsome meadows of the land of the Phœnix must by their contrast have delighted the souls of men who were harassed on every side as our ancestors were.
All of these distinguishing features of Old English poetry—the regular alliterative meter, the frequent parallelisms, the “kennings,” and the general dark outlook on life will be found illustrated in the poems selected in this book. They cover the entire period of Old English literature and embrace every “school.” ”

“ The Battle of Maldon treats not of legendary heroes of the Germanic races but of an actual historic personage, an English hero and patriot fallen in battle against a foreign invader a very short time before the poem was made. A single event in contemporary history is here described with hardly suppressed emotion by one who knew his hero and loved him. There is none of the allusiveness and excursiveness of the Beowulf; we have here not a member of an epic cycle, but an independent song. Very striking is the absence of ornament from the Battle of Maldon ”

“ Have no fear as to sword for the fine-gemmed weapon
25 Has been given thee to aid us: on Guthhere with it
Thou shalt pay back the wrong of unrighteously seeking
To stir up the struggle and strife of battle;
He rejected that sword and the jewelled treasure,
The lustrous gems; now, leaving them all,
30 He shall flee from this field to find his lord,
His ancient land, or lie here forever
Asleep, if he . . . . . . . .”
1. The speaker is Hildegyth (the Old English form for Hiltgund) .
2. Weland: the blacksmith of Teutonic myth. See Deor’s Lament, introductory note, and notes to vv. 1 and 8. ”

“ Graciously granted them, God, Lord Almighty.
They then daringly, with dripping swords,
The corps of brave kinsmen, cut them a war-path
Through the host of the hated ones; they hewed with their swords,
305 Sheared through the shield-wall. They shot fast and furiously,
Men stirred to strife, the stalwart Hebrews,
The thanes, at that time, thirsting exceedingly,
Fain for the spear-fight. Then fell in the dust
The chiefest part of the chosen warriors,
310 Of the staunch and the steadfast Assyrian leaders,
Of the fated race of the foe. Few of them came back
[130] Alive to their own land. ”

“ Stoutly with his sword, not stinting his blows,
So that fell at his feet many fated invaders;
120 For his prowess the prince gave praise and thanks
To his chamberlain brave, when chance would permit.
So firm of purpose they fought in their turn,
Young men in battle; they yearned especially
To lead their line with the least delay
125 To fight their foes in fatal conflict,
Warriors with weapons. The world seethed with slaughter.
Steadfast they stood, stirred up by Byrhtnoth;
He bade his thanes to think on battle,
And fight for fame with the foemen Danes. ”

“ Fell and faithless. Freely he spoke forth:
10 “Many a royal ruler of a realm I have known;
Every leader should live a life of virtue;
One earl after the other shall order his land,
He who wishes and works for the weal of his throne!
Of these for a while was Hwala the best,
[17] 15 But Alexander of all of men
Was most famous of lords, and he flourished the most
Of all the earls whom on earth I have known.
Attila ruled the Huns, Eormanric the Goths,
Becca the Banings, the Burgundians Gifica.
20 Cæsar ruled the Greeks and Cælic the Finns,
Hagena the Holm-Rugians and Heoden the Glommas. ”

“ Accompanying these parallelisms, and often a part of them, are the frequent synonyms so characteristic of Old English poetry. These synonymous expressions are known as “kennings.” They are not to be thought of as occasional metaphors employed at the whim of the poet; they had, in most cases, already received a conventional meaning. Thus the king was always spoken of as “ring giver,” “protector of earls,” or “bracelet bestower.” The queen was the “weaver of peace”; the sea the “ship road,” or “whale path,” or “gannet’s bath.”
Old English poetry is conventionalized to a remarkable degree. ”

“ More than half of so fine a poem as The Battle of Brunnanburg is taken bodily from other poems. No description of a battle was complete without a picture of the birds of prey hovering over the field. Heroes were always assembling for banquets and receiving rewards of [10] rings at the hand of the king. These conventional phrases and situations, added to a thorough knowledge of a large number of old Germanic myths, constituted a great part of the equipment of the typical Old English minstrel or scop, such as one finds described in Widsith or Deor’s Lament. ”

“ There waited with Wulfstan the warriors undaunted,
80 Ælfhere and Maccus, men of courage;
At the ford not a foot would they flee the encounter,
But close in conflict they clashed with the foe,
As long as they wielded their weapons with strength.
As soon as they saw and perceived it clearly,
85 How fiercely fought was the defense of the bridge,
The treacherous tribe in trickery asked
That they be allowed to lead their hosts
For a closer conflict, to cross over the ford.
[167] Then the earl, too eager to enter the fight,
90 Allowed too much land to the loathed pirates. ”

“ Up to line 65 this is one of the finest specimens of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It expresses as few poems in English have done the spirit of adventure, the wanderlust of springtime. The author was a remarkable painter of the sea and its conditions. From line 65 to the end the poem consists of a very tedious homily that must surely be a later addition.
The use of the first person throughout and the opposing sentiments expressed have caused several scholars to consider the first part of the poem a dialogue between a young man eager to go to sea and an old sailor. ”

“ To hold their homes from the hordes of Attila.
Rædhere sought I and Rondhere, Rumstan and Gislhere,
Withergield and Freotheric, Wudga and Hama:
125 These warriors were not the worst of comrades,
Though their names at the last of my list are numbered.
Full oft from that host the hissing spear
Fiercely flew on the foemen’s troopers.
There the wretches ruled with royal treasure,
130 Wudga and Hama, over women and men.
So I ever have found as I fared among men
That in all the land most beloved is he
[25] To whom God giveth a goodly kingdom
To hold as long as he liveth here. ”

“ Then must he think how throughout the world
The gracious God often gives his help
And manifold honors to many an earl
And sends wide his fame; but to some he gives woes.
35 Of myself and my sorrows I may say in truth
That I was happy once as the Heodenings’ scop,
Dear to my lord. Deor was my name.
Many winters I found a worthy following,
Held my lord’s heart, till Heorrenda came,
40 The skillful singer, and received the land-right
That the proud helm of earls had once promised to me!
That has passed over: so this may depart!
1. Weland, or Wayland; the blacksmith of the Norse gods. ”

“ The warriors sat
Unwearied in watching, the wardens on duty,
Fast in the fortress, as the folk erstwhile,
The grieved ones of mind, by the maiden were counselled,
145 By the wary Judith, when she went on her journey,
The keen-witted woman. She had come once more,
Dear to her people, the prudent in counsel. ”

“ Ohthere told his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt the farthest north of all the Northmen. He said that he lived in the northern part of the land toward the West Sea. He reported, however, that the land extended very 5 far north thence; but that it was all waste, except in a few places here and there where the Finns dwell, engaged in hunting in winter and sea fishing in summer. He said that on one occasion he wished to find out how far the land lay northward, or whether any man inhabited 10 the waste land to the north. Then he fared northward to the land ”