All national literature everywhere begins with rude songs. From the earliest period at which the English and Saxon people existed as separate tribes at all, we may be sure that they possessed7 battle-songs, like those common to the whole Aryan stock. But among the Teutonic races poetry was not distinguished8 by either of the peculiarities—rime9 or metre—which mark off modern verse from prose, so far as its external form is concerned. Our existing English system of versification is not derived10 from our old native poetry at all; it is a development of the Romance system, adopted by the school of Gower and Chaucer from the French and Italian poets. Its metre, or syllabic arrangement, is an adaptation from the Greek quantitative11 prosody12, handed down through Latin and the neo-Latin dialects; its rime is a Celtic peculiarity13 borrowed by the Romance nationalities, and handed on through them to modern English literature by the Romance school of the fourteenth century. Our original English versification, on the other hand, was neither rimed nor rhythmic14. What answered to metre was a certain irregular swing, produced by a roughly recurrent number of accents in each couplet, without restriction15 as to the number of feet or syllables16. What answered to rime was a regular and marked alliteration17, each couplet having a certain key-letter, with which three principal words in the couplet began. In addition to these two poetical18 devices, Anglo-Saxon verse shows traces of parallelism, similar to that which distinguishes Hebrew poetry. But the alliteration and parallelism do not run quite side by side, the second half of each alliterative couplet being parallel with the first half of the next couplet. Accordingly, each new sentence begins somewhat clumsily in the middle of the couplet. All these peculiarities are not, however, always to be distinguished in every separate poem.
The following rough translation of a very early Teutonic spell for the cure of a sprained20 ankle, belonging to the heathen period, will illustrate2 the earliest form of this alliterative verse. The key-letter in each couplet is printed in capitals, and the verse is read from end to end, not as two separate columns.[1]
Balder and Woden Went to the Woodland:
There Balder's Foal Fell, wrenching22 its Foot.
Then Sinthgunt beguiled23 him, and Sunna her Sister:
Then Frua beguiled him, and Folla her sister,
Then Woden beguiled him, as Well he knew how;
Wrench21 of blood, Wrench of bone, and eke25 Wrench of limb:
Bone unto Bone, Blood unto Blood,
Limb unto Limb as though Limèd it were.
In this simple spell the alliteration serves rather as an aid to memory than as an ornamental26 device. The following lines, translated from the ballad27 on ?thelstan's victory at Brunanburh, in 937, will show the developed form of the same versificatory system. The parallelism and alliteration are here well marked:—
?thelstan king, lord of Earls,
Bestower of Bracelets, and his Brother eke,
Eadmund the ?theling, honour Eternal
Won in the Slaughter28, with edge of the Sword
By Brunnanbury. The Bucklers they clave,
Hewed29 the Helmets with Hammered steel,
Heirs of Edward, as was their Heritage,
From their Fore-Fathers, that oft the Field
They should Guard their Good folk Gainst every comer,
Their Home and their Hoard31. The Hated foe32 cringed to them,
The Scottish Sailors, and the Northern Shipmen;
Fated they Fell. The Field lay gory33
With Swordsmen's blood Since the Sun rose
On Morning tide a Mighty34 globe,
To Glide35 o'er the Ground, God's candle bright,
The endless Lord's taper, till the great Light
Sank to its Setting. There Soldiers lay,
Warriors36 Wounded, Northern Wights,
Shot over Shields; and so Scotsmen eke,
Wearied with War. The West Saxon onwards,
The Live-Long day in Linkèd order
Followed the Footsteps of the Foul39 Foe.
Of course no songs of the old heathen period were committed to writing either in Sleswick or in Britain. The minstrels who composed them taught them by word of mouth to their pupils, and so handed them down from generation to generation, much as the Ach?an rhapsodists handed down the Homeric poems. Nevertheless, two or three such old songs were afterwards written out in Christian41 Northumbria or Wessex; and though their heathendom has been greatly toned down by the transcribers, enough remains42 to give us a graphic43 glimpse of the fierce and gloomy old English nature which we could not otherwise obtain. One fragment, known as the Fight at Finnesburh (rescued from a book-cover into which it had been pasted), probably dates back before the colonisation of Britain, and closely resembles in style the above-quoted ode. Two other early pieces, the Traveller's Song and the Lament44 of Deor, are inserted from pagan tradition in a book of later devotional poems preserved at Exeter. But the great epic45 of Beowulf, a work composed when the English and the Danes were still living in close connexion with one another by the shores of the Baltic, has been handed down to us entire, thanks to the kind intervention46 of some Northumbrian monk47, who, by Christianising the most flagrantly heathen portions, has saved the entire work from the fate which would otherwise have overtaken it. As a striking representation of early English life and thought, this great epic deserves a fuller description.[2]
Beowulf is written in the same short alliterative metre as that of the Brunanburh ballad, and takes its name from its hero, a servant or companion of the mighty Hygelac, king of the Geatas (Jutes or Goths). At a distance from his home lay the kingdom of the Scyldings, a Danish tribe, ruled over by Hrothgar. There stood Heorot, the high hall of heroes, the greatest mead48-house ever raised. But the land of the Danes was haunted by a terrible fiend, known as Grendel, who dwelt in a dark fen49 in the forest belt, girt round with shadows and lit up at eve by flitting flames. Every night Grendel came forth50 and carried off some of the Danes to devour51 in his home. The description of the monster himself and of the marshland where he had his lair52 is full of that weird53 and gloomy superstition54 which everywhere darkens and overshadows the life of the savage55 and the heathen barbarian56. The terror inspired in the rude English mind by the mark and the woodland, the home of wild beasts and of hostile ghosts, of deadly spirits and of fierce enemies, gleams luridly57 through every line. The fen and the forest are dim and dark; will-o'-the-wisps flit above them, and gloom closes them in; wolves and wild boars lurk58 there, the quagmire59 opens its jaws60 and swallows the horse and his rider; the foeman comes through it to bring fire and slaughter to the clan-village at the dead of night. To these real terrors and dangers of the mark are added the fancied ones of superstition. There the terrible forms begotten61 of man's vague dread62 of the unknown—elves and nickors and fiends—have their murky63 dwelling-place. The atmosphere of the strange old heathen epic is oppressive in its gloominess. Nevertheless, its poetry sometimes rises to a height of great, though barbaric, sublimity64. Beowulf himself, hearing of the evil wrought65 by Grendel, set sail from his home for the land of the Danes. Hrothgar received him kindly66, and entertained him and his Goths with ale and song in Heorot. Wealtheow, Hrothgar's queen, gold-decked, served them with mead. But when all had retired67 to rest on the couches of the great hall, in the murky night, Grendel came. He seized and slew68 one of Beowulf's companions. Then the warrior37 of the Goths followed the monster, and wounded him sorely with his hands. Grendel fled to his lair to die. But after the contest, Grendel's mother, a no less hateful creature—the "Devil's dam" of our medi?val legends—carries on the war against the slayer69 of her son. Beowulf descends71 to her home beneath the water, grapples with her in her cave, turns against her the weapons he finds there, and is again victorious72. The Goths return to their own country laden73 with gifts by Hrothgar. After the death of Hygelac, Beowulf succeeds to the kingship of the Geatas, whom he rules well and prosperously for many years. At length a mysterious being, named the Fire Drake, a sort of dragon guarding a hidden treasure, some of which has been stolen while its guardian74 sleeps, comes out to slaughter his people. The old hero buckles75 on his rune-covered sword again, and goes forth to battle with the monster. He slays76 it, indeed, but is blasted by its fiery77 breath, and dies after the encounter. His companions light his pyre upon a lofty spit of land jutting78 out into the winter sea. Weapons and jewels and drinking bowls, taken from the Fire Drake's treasure, were thrown into the tomb for the use of the ghost in the other world; and a mighty barrow was raised upon the spot to be a beacon79 far and wide to seafaring men. So ends the great heathen epic. It gives us the most valuable picture which we possess of the daily life led by our pagan forefathers80.
But though these poems are the oldest in tone, they are not the oldest in form of all that we possess. It is probable that the most primitive81 Anglo-Saxon verse was identical with prose, and consisted merely of sentences bound together by parallelism. As alliteration, at first a mere30 memoria technica, became an ornamental adjunct, and grew more developed, the parallelism gradually dropped out. Gnomes82 or short proverbs of this character were in common use, and they closely resembled the medi?val proverbs current in England to the present day.
With the introduction of Christianity, English verse took a new direction. It was chiefly occupied in devotional and sacred poetry, or rather, such poems only have come down to us, as the monks83 transcribed84 them alone, leaving the half-heathen war-songs of the minstrels attached to the great houses to die out unwritten. The first piece of English literature which we can actually date is a fragment of the great religious epic of C?dmon, written about the year 670. C?dmon was a poor brother in Hild's monastery85 at Whitby, and he acquired the art of poetry by a miracle. Northumbria, in the sixth and seventh centuries, took the lead in Teutonic Britain; and all the early literature is Northumbrian, as all the later literature is West Saxon. C?dmon's poem consisted in a paraphrase86 of the Bible history, from the Creation to the Ascension. The idea of a translation of the Bible from Latin into English would never have occurred to any one at that early time. English had as yet no literary form into which it could be thrown. But C?dmon conceived the notion of paraphrasing87 the Bible story in the old alliterative Teutonic verse, which was familiar to his hearers in songs like Beowulf. Some of the brethren translated or interpreted for him portions of the Vulgate, and he threw them into rude metre. Only a single short excerpt88 has come down to us in the original form. There is a later complete epic, however, also attributed to C?dmon, of the same scope and purport89; and it retains so much of the old heathen spirit that it may very possibly represent a modernised version of the real C?dmon's poem, by a reviser in the ninth century. At any rate, the latter work may be treated here under the name of C?dmon, by which it is universally known. It consists of a long Scriptural paraphrase, written in the alliterative metre, short, sharp, and decisive, but not without a wild and passionate90 beauty of its own. In tone it differs wonderfully little from Beowulf, being most at home in the war of heaven and Satan, and in the titanic91 descriptions of the devils and their deeds. The conduct of the poem is singularly like that of Paradise Lost. Its wild and rapid stanzas92 show how little Christianity had yet moulded the barbaric nature of the newly-converted English. The epic is essentially93 a war-song; the Hebrew element is far stronger than the Christian; hell takes the place of Grendel's mere; and, to borrow Mr. Green's admirable phrase, "the verses fall like sword-strokes in the thick of battle."
In all these works we get the genuine native English note, the wild song of a pirate race, shaped in early minstrelsy for celebrating the deeds of gods and warriors, and scarcely half-adapted afterward40 to the not wholly alien tone of the oldest Hebrew Scriptures94. But the Latin schools, set up by the Italian monks, introduced into England a totally new and highly-developed literature. The pagan Anglo-Saxons had not advanced beyond the stage of ballads95; they had no history, or other prose literature of their own, except, perhaps, a few traditional genealogical lists, mostly mythical96, and adapted to an artificial grouping by eights and forties. The Roman missionaries97 brought over the Roman works, with their developed historical and philosophical98 style; and the change induced in England by copying these originals was as great as the change would now be from the rude Polynesian myths and ballads to a history of Polynesia written in English, and after English prototypes, by a native convert. In fact, the Latin language was almost as important to the new departure as the Latin models. While the old English literary form, restricted entirely99 to poetry, was unfitted for any serious narrative100 or any reflective work, the old English tongue, suited only to the practical needs of a rude warrior race, was unfitted for the expression of any but the simplest and most material ideas. It is true, the vocabulary was copious101, especially in terms for natural objects, and it was far richer than might be expected even in words referring to mental states and emotions; but in the expression of abstract ideas, and in idioms suitable for philosophical discussion, it remained still, of course, very deficient102. Hence the new serious literature was necessarily written entirely in the Latin language, which alone possessed the words and modes of speech fitted for its development; but to exclude it on that account from the consideration of Anglo-Saxon literature, as many writers have done, would be an absurd affectation. The Latin writings of Englishmen are an integral part of English thought, and an important factor in the evolution of English culture. Gradually, as English monks grew to read Latin from generation to generation, they invented corresponding compounds in their own language for the abstract words of the southern tongue; and therefore by the beginning of the eleventh century, the West Saxon speech of ?lfred and his successors had grown into a comparatively wealthy dialect, suitable for the expression of many ideas unfamiliar103 to the rude pirates and farmers of Sleswick and East Anglia. Thus, in later days, a rich vernacular104 literature grew up with many distinct branches. But, in the earlier period, the use of a civilised idiom for all purposes connected with the higher civilisation105 introduced by the missionaries was absolutely necessary; and so we find the codes of laws, the penitentials of the Church, the charters, and the prose literature generally, almost all written at first in Latin alone. Gradually, as the English tongue grew fuller, we find it creeping into use for one after another of these purposes; but to the last an educated Anglo-Saxon could express himself far more accurately106 and philosophically107 in the cultivated tongue of Rome than in the rough dialect of his Teutonic countrymen. We have only to contrast the bald and meagre style of the "English Chronicle," written in the mother-tongue, with the fulness and ease of B?da's "Ecclesiastical History," written two centuries earlier in Latin, in order to see how great an advantage the rough Northumbrians of the early Christian period obtained in the gift of an old and polished instrument for conveying to one another their higher thoughts.
Of this new literature (which began with the Latin biography of Wilfrith by ?ddi or Eddius, and the Latin verses of Ealdhelm) the great representative is, in fact, B?da, whose life has already been sufficiently108 described in an earlier chapter. Living at Jarrow, a Benedictine monastery of the strictest type, in close connection with Rome, and supplied with Roman works in abundance, B?da had thoroughly109 imbibed110 the spirit of the southern culture, and his books reflect for us a true picture of the English barbarian toned down and almost obliterated111 in all distinctive112 features by receptivity for Italian civilisation. The Northumbrian kingdom had just passed its prime in his days; and he was able to record the early history of the English Church and People with something like Roman breadth of view. His scientific knowledge was up to that of his contemporaries abroad; while his somewhat childish tales of miracles and visions, though they often betray traces of the old heathen spirit, were not below the average level of European thought in his own day. Altogether, B?da may be taken as a fair specimen113 of the Romanised Englishman, alike in his strength and in his weakness. The samples of his historical style already given will suffice for illustration of his Latin works; but it must not be forgotten that he was also one of the first writers to try his hand at regular English prose in his translation of St. John's Gospel. A few English verses from his lips have also come down to us, breathing the old Teutonic spirit more deeply than might be expected from his other works.
During the interval114 between the Northumbrian and West Saxon supremacies—the interval embraced by the eighth century, and covered by the greatness of Mercia under ?thelbald and Offa—we have few remains of English literature. The laws of Ine the West Saxon, and of Offa the Mercian, with the Penitentials of the Church, and the Charters, form the chief documents. But England gained no little credit for learning from the works of two Englishmen who had taken up their abode115 in the old Germanic kingdom: Boniface or Winfrith, the apostle of the heathen Teutons subjugated116 by the Franks, and Alcuin (Ealhwine), the famous friend and secretary of Karl the Great. Many devotional Anglo-Saxon poems, of various dates, are kept for us in the two books preserved at Exeter, and at Vercelli in North Italy. Amongst them are some by Cynewulf, perhaps the most genuinely poetical of all the early minstrels after C?dmon. The following lines, taken from the beginning of his poem "The Ph?nix" (a transcript117 from Lactantius), will sufficiently illustrate his style:—
I have heard that hidden Afar from hence
On the east of earth Is a fairest isle118,
Lovely and famous. The lap of that land
May not be reached By many mortals,
Dwellers119 on earth; But it is divided
Through the might of the Maker From all misdoers.
Fair is the field, Full happy and glad,
Filled with the sweetest Scented120 flowers.
Unique is that island, Almighty121 the worker
Mickle of might Who moulded that land.
There oft lieth open To the eyes of the blest,
With happiest harmony, The gate of heaven.
Winsome122 its woods And its fair green wolds,
Roomy with reaches. No rain there nor snow,
Nor breath of frost, Nor fiery blast,
Nor summer's heat, Nor scattered123 sleet124,
Nor fall of hail, Nor hoary125 rime,
Nor weltering weather, Nor wintry shower,
Falleth on any; But the field resteth
Ever in peace, And the princely land
Bloometh with blossoms. Berg there nor mount
Standeth not steep, Nor stony126 crag
High lifteth the head, As here with us,
Nor vale, nor dale, Nor deep-caverned down,
Hollows or hills; Nor hangeth aloft
Aught of unsmooth; But ever the plain,
Basks127 in the beam, Joyfully128 blooming.
Twelve fathoms129 taller Towereth that land
(As quoth in their writs Many wise men)
Than ever a berg That bright among mortals
High lifteth the head Among heaven's stars.
Two noteworthy points may be marked in this extract. Its feeling for natural scenery is quite different from the wild sublimity of the descriptions of nature in Beowulf. Cynewulf's verse is essentially the verse of an agriculturist; it looks with disfavour upon mountains and rugged130 scenes, while its ideal is one of peaceful tillage. The monk speaks out in it as cultivator and dreamer. Its tone is wholly different from that of the Brunanburh ballad or the other fierce war-songs. Moreover, it contains one or two rimes, preserved in this translation, whose full significance will be pointed131 out hereafter.
The anarchy132 of Northumbria, and still more the Danish inroads, put an end to the literary movement in the North and the Midlands; but the struggle in Wessex gave new life to the West Saxon people. Under ?lfred, Winchester became the centre of English thought. But the West Saxon literature is almost entirely written in English, not in Latin; a fact which marks the progressive development of vocabulary and idiom in the native tongue. ?lfred himself did much to encourage literature, inviting133 over learned men from the continent, and founding schools for the West Saxon youth in his dwarfed134 dominions135. Most of the Winchester works are attributed to his own pen, though doubtless he was largely aided by his advisers136, and amongst others by Asser, his Welsh secretary and Bishop137 of Sherborne. They comprise translations into the Anglo-Saxon of Bo?thius de Consolatione, the Universal History of Orosius, B?da's Ecclesiastical History, and Pope Gregory's Regula Pastoralis. But the fact that ?lfred still has recourse to Roman originals, marks the stage of civilisation as yet mainly imitative; while the interesting passages intercalated by the king himself show that the beginnings of a really native prose literature were already taking shape in English hands.
The chief monument of this truly Anglo-Saxon literature, begun and completed by English writers in the English tongue alone, is the Chronicle. That invaluable138 document, the oldest history of any Teutonic race in its own language, was probably first compiled at the court of ?lfred. Its earlier part consists of mere royal genealogies139 of the first West Saxon kings, together with a few traditions of the colonisation, and some excerpts140 from B?da. But with the reign141 of ?thelwulf, ?lfred's father, it becomes comparatively copious, though its records still remain dry and matter-of-fact, a bare statement of facts, without comment or emotional display. The following extract, giving the account of ?lfred's death, will show its meagre nature. The passage has been modernised as little as is consistent with its intelligibility142 at the present day:—
An. 901. Here died ?lfred ?thulfing [?thelwulfing—the son of ?thelwulf], six nights ere All Hallow Mass. He was king over all English-kin5, bar that deal that was under Danish weald [dominion]; and he held that kingdom three half-years less than thirty winters. There came Eadward his son to the rule. And there seized ?thelwold ?theling, his father's brother's son, the ham [villa] at Winburne [Wimbourne], and at Tweoxneam [Christchurch], by the king's unthank and his witan's [without leave from the king]. There rode the king with his fyrd till he reached Badbury against Winburne. And ?thelwold sat within the ham, with the men that to him had bowed, and he had forwrought [obstructed] all the gates in, and said that he would either there live or there lie. Thereupon rode the ?theling on night away, and sought the [Danish] host in Northumbria, and they took him for king and bowed to him. And the king bade ride after him, but they could not outride him. Then beset143 man the woman that he had erst taken without the king's leave, and against the bishop's word, for that she was ere that hallowed a nun144. And on this ilk year forth-fared ?thelred (he was ealdorman on Devon) four weeks ere ?lfred king.
During the Augustan age the Chronicle grows less full, but contains several fine war-songs, of the genuine old English type, full of savagery145 in sentiment, and abrupt146 or broken in manner, but marked by the same wild poetry and harsh inversions147 as the older heathen ballads. Amongst them stand the lines on the fight of Brunanburh, whose exordium is quoted above. Its close forms one of the finest passages in old English verse:—
Behind them they Left, the Lych to devour,
The Sallow kite and the Swart raven149,
Horny of beak,— and Him, the dusk-coated,
The white-afted Erne, the corse to Enjoy,
The Greedy war-hawk, and that Grey beast,
The Wolf of the Wood. No such Woeful slaughter
Aye on this Island Ever hath been,
By edge of the Sword, as book Sayeth,
Writers of Eld, since of Eastward151 hither
English and Saxons Sailed over Sea,
O'er the Broad Brine,— landed in Britain,
Proud Workers of War, and o'ercame the Welsh,
Earls Eager of fame, Obtaining this Earth.
During the decadence152, in the disastrous153 reign of ?thelred, the Chronicle regains154 its fulness, and the following passage may be taken as a good specimen of its later style. It shows the approach to comment and reflection, as the compilers grew more accustomed to historical writing in their own tongue:—
An. 1009. Here on this year were the ships ready of which we ere spake, and there were so many of them as never ere (so far as books tell us) were made among English kin in no king's day. And man brought them all together to Sandwich, and there should they lie, and hold this earth against all outlanders [foreigners'] hosts. But we had not yet the luck nor the worship [valour] that the ship-fyrd should be of any good to this land, no more than it oft was afore. Then befel it at this ilk time or a little ere, that Brihtric, Eadric's brother the ealdorman's, forwrayed [accused] Wulfnoth child to the king: and he went out and drew unto him twenty ships, and there harried155 everywhere by the south shore, and wrought all evil. Then quoth man to the ship-fyrd that man might easily take them, if man were about it. Then took Brihtric to himself eighty ships and thought that he should work himself great fame if he should get Wulfnoth, quick or dead. But as they were thitherward, there came such a wind against them such as no man ere minded [remembered], and it all to-beat and to-brake the ships, and warped156 them on land: and soon came Wulfnoth and for-burned the ships. When this was couth [known] to the other ships where the king was, how the others fared, then was it as though it were all redeless, and the king fared him home, and the ealdormen, and the high witan, and forlet the ships thus lightly. And the folk that were on the ships brought them round eft to Lunden, and let all the people's toil157 thus lightly go for nought158: and the victory that all English kin hoped for was no better. There this ship-fyrd was thus ended; then came, soon after Lammas, the huge foreign host, that we hight Thurkill's host, to Sandwich, and soon wended their way to Canterbury, and would quickly have won the burg if they had not rather yearned159 for peace of them. And all the East Kentings made peace with the host, and gave it three thousand pound. And the host there, soon after that, wended till it came to Wightland, and there everywhere in Suth-Sex, and on Hamtunshire, and eke on Berkshire harried and burnt, as their wont160 is. Then bade the king call out all the people, that men should hold against them on every half [side]: but none the less, look! they fared where they willed. Then one time had the king foregone before them with all the fyrd as they were going to their ships, and all the folk was ready to fight them. But it was let, through Eadric ealdorman, as it ever yet was. Then, after St. Martin's mass, they fared eft again into Kent, and took them a winter seat on Thames, and victualled themselves from East-Sex and from the shires that there next were, on the twain halves of Thames. And oft they fought against the burg of Lunden, but praise be to God, it yet stands sound, and they ever there fared evilly. And there after mid19-winter they took their way up, out through Chiltern, and so to Oxenaford [Oxford], and for-burnt the burg, and took their way on to the twa halves of Thames to shipward. There man warned them that there was fyrd gathered at Lunden against them; then wended they over at Stane [Staines]. And thus fared they all the winter, and that Lent were in Kent and bettered [repaired] their ships.
We possess several manuscript versions of the Chronicle, belonging to different abbeys, and containing in places somewhat different accounts. Thus the Peterborough copy is fullest on matters affecting that monastery, and even inserts several spurious grants, which, however, are of value as showing how incapable161 the writers were of scientific forgery162, and so as guarantees of the general accuracy of the document. But in the main facts they all agree. Nor do they stop short at the Norman Conquest. Most of them continue half through the reign of William, and then cease; while one manuscript goes on uninterruptedly till the reign of Stephen, and breaks off abruptly163 in the year 1154 with an unfinished sentence. With it, native prose literature dies down altogether until the reign of Edward III.
As a whole, however, the Conquest struck the death-blow of Anglo-Saxon literature almost at once. During the reigns164 of ?lfred's descendants Wessex had produced a rich crop of native works on all subjects, but especially religious. In this literature the greatest name was that of ?lfric, whose Homilies are models of the classical West Saxon prose. But after the Conquest our native literature died out wholly, and a new literature, founded on Romance models, took its place. The Anglo-Saxon style lingered on among the people, but it was gradually killed down by the Romance style of the court writers. In prose, the history of William of Malmesbury, written in Latin, and in a wider continental165 spirit, marks the change. In poetry, the English school struggled on longer, but at last succumbed166. A few words on the nature of this process will not be thrown away.
The old Teutonic poetry, with its treble system of accent, alliteration, and parallelism, was wholly different from the Romance poetry, with its double system of rime and metre. But, from an early date, the English themselves were fond of verbal jingles167, such as "Scot and lot," "sac and soc," "frith and grith," "eorl and ceorl," or "might and right." Even in the alliterative poems we find many occasional rimes, such as "hlynede and dynede," "wide and side," "Dryht-guman sine drencte mid wine," or such as the rimes already quoted from Cynewulf. As time went on, and intercourse168 with other countries became greater, the tendency to rime settled down into a fixed169 habit. Rimed Latin verse was already familiar to the clergy170, and was imitated in their works. Much of the very ornate Anglo-Saxon prose of the latest period is full of strange verbal tricks, as shown in the following modernised extract from a sermon of Wulfstan. Here, the alliterative letters are printed in capitals, and the rimes in italics:—
No Wonder is it that Woes171 befall us, for Well We Wot that now full many a year men little care what thing they dare in word or deed; and Sorely has this nation Sinned, whate'er man Say, with Manifold Sins and with right Manifold Misdeeds, with Slayings and with Slaughters172, with robbing and with stabbing, with Grasping deed and hungry Greed, through Christian Treason and through heathen Treachery, through guile24 and through wile173, through lawlessness and awelessness, through Murder of Friends and Murder of Foes174, through broken Troth and broken Truth, through wedded175 unchastity and cloistered176 impurity177. Little they trow of marriage vow178, as ere this I said: little they reck the breach179 of oath or troth; swearing and for-swearing, on every side, far and wide, Fast and Feast they hold not, Peace and Pact180 they keep not, oft and anon. Thus in this land they stand, Foes to Christendom, Friends to heathendom, Persecutors of Priests, Persecutors of People, all too many; spurners of godly law and Christian bond, who Loudly Laugh at the Teaching of God's Teachers and the Preaching of God's Preachers, and whatso rightly to God's rites181 belongs.
The nation was thus clearly preparing itself from within for the adoption182 of the Romance system. Immediately after the Conquest, rimes begin to appear distinctly, while alliteration begins to die out. An Anglo-Saxon poem on the character of William the Conqueror183, inserted in the Chronicle under the year of his death, consists of very rude rimes which may be modernised as follows—
Gold he took by might, And of great unright, From his folk with evil deed For sore little need. He was on greediness befallen, And getsomeness he loved withal. He set a mickle deer frith, And he laid laws therewith, That whoso slew hart or hind148 Him should man then blinden. He forbade to slay70 the harts, And so eke the boars. So well he loved the high deer As if he their father were. Eke he set by the hares That they might freely fare. His rich men mourned it And the poor men wailed184 it. But he was so firmly wrought That he recked of all nought. And they must all withal The king's will follow, If they wished to live Or their land have, Or their goods eke, Or his peace to seek. Woe150 is me, That any man so proud should be, Thus himself up to raise, And over all men to boast. May God Almighty show his soul mild-heart-ness, And do him for his sins forgiveness!
From that time English poetry bifurcates185. On the one hand, we have the survival of the old Teutonic alliterative swing in Layamon's Brut and in Piers186 Plowman—the native verse of the people sung by native minstrels: and on the other hand we have the new Romance rimed metre in Robert of Gloucester, "William of Palerne," Gower, and Chaucer. But from Piers Plowman and Chaucer onward38 the Romance system conquers and the Teutonic system dies rapidly. Our modern poetry is wholly Romance in descent, form, and spirit.
Thus in literature as in civilisation generally, the culture of old Rome, either as handed down ecclesiastically through the Latin, or as handed down popularly through the Norman-French, overcame the native Anglo-Saxon culture, such as it was, and drove it utterly187 out of the England which we now know. Though a new literature, in Latin and English, sprang up after the Conquest, that literature had its roots, not in Sleswick or in Wessex, but in Greece, in Rome, in Provence, and in Normandy. With the Normans, a new era began—an era when Romance civilisation was grafted188 by harsh but strong hands on to the Anglo-Saxon stock, the Anglo-Saxon institutions, and the Anglo-Saxon tongue. With the first step in this revolution, our present volume has completed its assigned task. The story of the Normans will be told by another pen in the same series.
[1] The original of this heathen charm is in the Old High German dialect; but it is quoted here as a good specimen of the early form of alliterative verse. A similar charm undoubtedly189 existed in Anglo-Saxon, though no copy of it has come down to our days, as we possess a modernised and Christianised English version, in which the name of our Lord is substituted for that of Balder.
[2] It is right to state, however, that many scholars regard Beowulf as a late translation from a Danish original.
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1
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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supplanting
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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rime
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| n.白霜；v.使蒙霜 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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quantitative
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| adj.数量的，定量的 | |
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prosody
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| n.诗体论，作诗法 | |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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alliteration
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| n.（诗歌的）头韵 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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wrenching
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| n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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beguiled
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| v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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hewed
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的过去式和过去分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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gory
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| adj.流血的；残酷的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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fen
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| n.沼泽，沼池 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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51
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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52
lair
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| n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处 | |
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53
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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54
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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55
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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57
luridly
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| adv. 青灰色的(苍白的, 深浓色的, 火焰等火红的) | |
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58
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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59
quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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60
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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61
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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63
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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64
sublimity
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| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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68
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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slayer
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| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
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70
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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buckles
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| 搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 ) | |
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slays
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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82
gnomes
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| n.矮子( gnome的名词复数 )；侏儒；（尤指金融市场上搞投机的）银行家；守护神 | |
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83
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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84
transcribed
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| （用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音） | |
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85
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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86
paraphrase
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| vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义 | |
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paraphrasing
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| v.释义，意译( paraphrase的现在分词 ) | |
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excerpt
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| n.摘录，选录，节录 | |
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purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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90
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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91
titanic
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| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
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92
stanzas
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| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
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93
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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103
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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104
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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108
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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110
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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111
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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112
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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113
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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114
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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115
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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117
transcript
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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118
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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119
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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120
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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121
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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122
winsome
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| n.迷人的，漂亮的 | |
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123
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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124
sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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125
hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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126
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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127
basks
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的第三人称单数 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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128
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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129
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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130
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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131
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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132
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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133
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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134
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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135
dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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136
advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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137
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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138
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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139
genealogies
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| n.系谱，家系，宗谱( genealogy的名词复数 ) | |
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140
excerpts
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| n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段 | |
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141
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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142
intelligibility
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| n.可理解性，可理解的事物 | |
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143
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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144
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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145
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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146
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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147
inversions
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| 倒置( inversion的名词复数 )； （尤指词序）倒装； 转化； （染色体的）倒位 | |
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148
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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149
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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150
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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151
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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152
decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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153
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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154
regains
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| 复得( regain的第三人称单数 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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155
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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156
warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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157
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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158
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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159
yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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161
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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162
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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163
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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164
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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165
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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166
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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167
jingles
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| 叮当声( jingle的名词复数 )； 节拍十分规则的简单诗歌 | |
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168
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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169
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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170
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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171
woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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172
slaughters
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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173
wile
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| v.诡计，引诱；n.欺骗，欺诈 | |
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174
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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175
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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176
cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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177
impurity
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| n.不洁，不纯，杂质 | |
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178
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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179
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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180
pact
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| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
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181
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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182
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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183
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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184
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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185
bifurcates
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| n.（指道路、河流、树枝等）分岔，分成两支( bifurcate的名词复数 )；使分枝，使分叉；分叉的v.（指道路、河流、树枝等）分岔，分成两支( bifurcate的第三人称单数 )；使分枝，使分叉 | |
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186
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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187
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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188
grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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189
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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