PROFESSORBORGES

ACOURSEONENGLISHLITERATURE

JORGELUISBORGES

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TABLEOFCONTENTS

ABOUTTHISBOOK

CLASS1TheAnglo-Saxons.GenealogyoftheGermanickings.Poetryandkennings.

CLASS2Beowulf.DescriptionoftheGermans.Ancientfuneralrites.

CLASS3Beowulf.Braveryandboastfulness:Beowulfascomparedtothecompadritos.

CLASS4TheFinnsburhFragment.TheVikings.AnecdotesfromBorges’striptoYork.“TheBattleofBrunanburh.”Tennyson’stranslation.

CLASS5“TheBattleofMaldon.”Christianpoetry.“Caedmon’sHymn.”Therunicalphabet.CharacteristicsofAnglo-Saxonelegies.

CLASS 6 The origins of poetry in England. The Anglo-Saxon elegies.Christianpoetry:“TheDreamoftheRood.”

CLASS 7 The two books written by God. The Anglo-Saxon bestiary.Riddles.“TheGrave.”TheBattleofHastings.

CLASS8Abrief historyuntil the eighteenth century.The life of SamuelJohnson.

CLASS9Rasselas,PrinceofAbyssinia,bySamuelJohnson.ThelegendoftheBuddha.Optimismandpessimism.LeibnizandVoltaire.

CLASS 10 Samuel Johnson as seen by Boswell. The art of biography.Boswellandhiscritics.

CLASS 11The romanticmovement. The life of JamesMacpherson. TheinventionofOssian.OpinionsaboutOssian.PolemicwithJohnson.ReappraisalofMacpherson.

CLASS12LifeofWilliamWordsworth.ThePreludeandotherpoems.

CLASS13ThelifeofSamuelTaylorColeridge.AstorybyHenryJames.ColeridgeandMacedonioFernández,compared.ColeridgeandShakespeare.InColdBlood,byTrumanCapote.

CLASS14Coleridge’sfinalyears.ColeridgecomparedtoDanteAlighieri.Coleridge’spoems.“KublaKhan.”Coleridge’sdream.

CLASS15The life ofWilliamBlake.Thepoem“TheTyger.”BlakeandSwedenborg’sphilosophy,compared.ApoembyRupertBrooke.Blake’spoems.

CLASS 16Life of ThomasCarlyle.Sartor Resartus by Carlyle. Carlyle,precursorofNazism.Bolívar’ssoldiers,accordingtoCarlyle.

CLASS17TheVictorian era. The life of CharlesDickens. The novels ofCharles Dickens. William Wilkie Collins. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, byDickens.

CLASS 18The life of Robert Browning. The obscurity of his work. Hispoems.

CLASS19RobertBrowning’spoems.AchatwithAlfonsoReyes.TheRingandtheBook.

CLASS20ThelifeofDanteGabrielRossetti.EvaluationofRossettiasapoetandapainter.Thethemeofthedouble(fetch).Abookofexhumedpoems.Rossetti’spoems.Historycyclicallyrepeated.

CLASS21Rossetti’spoem.RossettiasseenbyMaxNordau.“TheBlessedDamozel,”“EdenBower,”and“TroyTown.”

CLASS22ThelifeofWilliamMorris.Thethreesubjectsworthyofpoetry.KingArthur and themyth of the return of the hero.Morris’s interests.MorrisandChaucer.“TheDefenceofGuenevere.”

CLASS23“TheTuneoftheSevenTowers,”“TheSailingoftheSword,”andTheEarthlyParadise,byWilliamMorris.TheIcelandicsagas.ThestoryofGunnar.

CLASS24TheStoryofSigurdtheVolsung,byWilliamMorris.ThelifeofRobertLouisStevenson.

CLASS 25The works of Robert Louis Stevenson:NewArabian Nights,“Markheim,”TheStrangeCaseofDr.JekyllandMr.Hyde.JekyllandHydeinthe movies. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. “Requiem,” byStevenson.

EPILOGUE

AFTERWORD,byMartínArias

BORGESINCLASS,byMartínHadis

ENDNOTES

INDEX

“Iknow,orratherI’vebeentoldbecauseIcannotsee,thatmoreandmorestudentskeepcomingtomyclasses,andthatmanyofthemarenoteven registered. So, I guess we can assume theywant to listen tome,right?”

JorgeLuisBorges,interviewwithB.D.,1968,publishedinClarínonDecember7,1989

Citations from Literaturas germánicas medievales [MedievalGermanic Literature] and Breve antología anglosajona [Brief Anglo-Saxon Anthology] refer to the 1997 edition of Obras completas encolaboración [Complete Collaborative Works] (OCC) published byEmecéEditores.

Other citations fromotherworksbyBorges refer to the editionofhis Obras completas [Complete Works] (OC), published by EmecéEditoresinBuenosAiresin1997.

Whenachapternumberofasagaisindicatedinanote,thisalwayscorrespondstotheeditionthatappearsintheBibliography,attheendofthisvolume.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: In certain passages, we have retainedBorges’stranslationsintoSpanishofpoetryoriginallywritteninEnglish.We have added alongside, in brackets, the corresponding lines of theEnglishoriginalexceptwhenthoselinesappearinthetextnearby.

ABOUTTHISBOOK

These classes were recorded by a small group of students of Englishliterature so that other students, who couldn’t attend class because they wereworking, would be able to study the material. The transcriptions of theserecordings,producedbythesamestudents,formthebasisofthisbook.

Thetapeshavebeenlost;theywereprobablyusedtotapeotherclasses,in other subjects. Such carelessness might seem unpardonable to us today.However, we need to understand that in 1966—the year these lectures weregiven—JorgeLuisBorgeswasnotyetconsidered the indisputablegeniushe istoday. With the constant political changes in Argentina, his statements aboutcurrentevents receivedmorepublicity thanhis literarywork.Formanyof thestudents in his class, Borges—though an eminent writer and director of theNational Library—must have simply been one more professor. Thetranscriptionsof theclasses, therefore,weremadefor thepurposesofstudyingthematerial,andwereprobablydonequicklyinordertopreparefortheexam.

Wemight, in fact, be grateful for this: therewas no attempt tomodifyBorges’sspokenlanguage,noredithissentences,whichhavereachedusintactwith their repetitions and their platitudes. This fidelity can be verified bycomparingBorges’slanguageherewiththatofothertextsofhisoraldiscourse,suchashismanylecturesandpublishedinterviews.Thetranscribersalsomadecertain to note under the transcription of each class the phrase: “A faithfulversion.” This faithfulness was maintained, fortunately, not only in Borges’sdiscourse,butalsoinasidesandcolloquialismstheprofessorusedtoaddresshisstudents.

On theotherhand,due to the transcibers’ rush and lackof scholarship,each proper name, title, or foreign phrase was written phonetically such thatmostofthenamesoftheauthorsandtitlesoftheworkswerewrittenwrong;therecitations in Anglo-Saxon and English, as well as etymological digressions,werecompletelyillegibleintheoriginaltranscriptions.

Everysingleoneofthenamesappearinginthetexthadtobechecked.Itwasnotdifficulttofigureoutthat“Roseti”wasDanteGabrielRossetti.Ittookconsiderablylonger,however,topuzzleoutthat“WadoThoube”was,infact,thepoetRobertSouthey,orthatthetranscriberhadwritten“Bartle”ateachmentionof the philosopher George Berkeley.Many of these names required laborioussearches.Suchwas thecaseof theJesuit from theeighteenthcentury,Martino

Dobrizhoffer—who appeared in the original as “Edoverick Hoffer”—or ofProfessorLivingstonLowes,whosenamewastranscribedasifitwerethetitleofabook,“LyricsandLows.”

The transcribers’ lack of familiarity with the literary texts underdiscussionwasobviousonmanyoccasions.Namesaswellknownas thoseofDr.JekyllandMr.Hydeappearintheoriginalwithstrangespellings,threateningtoturntheterribledualityofthecharacterintoamultiplicity.Forexample,Dr.Jekyllis“Jaquil,”“Shekli,”“Shake,”“Sheke,”and“Shakel,”whereasMr.Hydeis“Hi,”“Hid,”and“Hait,”variations thatsometimesappearon thesamepageand even in the same paragraph. It was often difficult to determine if all thevariationsreferredtothesameperson.Hence, theheroHengestappearsinonelinewith the correct spelling, but in the next he’s turned into “Heinrich”; thephilosopherSpenglerishidingbehindthenames“Stendler,”“Spendler,”orevenfurtherremoved,“Schomber.”

Borges’s poetic citations were equally illegible. Some, once revealed,turnedouttobecomic.PerhapsthemostsignificantofthesewasthelinefromLeaves of Grass: “Walt Whitman, un cosmos, hijo de Manhattan” [“WaltWhitman,acosmos,ofManhattantheson”]appearsintheoriginaltranscriptionas “WaltWhitman, un cojo, hijo deManhattan” [“WaltWhitman, a gimp, ofManhattantheson”],avariationthatsurelywouldhavedisturbedthepoet.

Duringhisclasses,Borgesoftenaskedhisstudentstolendhimtheireyesand their voices to read poems out loud. As the student read, Borges wouldcomment on each stanza. In the original transcription, however, the poemsrecitedby thestudentswere removed. In theirabsence,Borges’scommentsonthestanzasappearedoneontopoftheotherandwerewhollyindecipherable.Inorder torestorecoherence to theseclasses, therecitedstanzaswerefound,andBorges’scommentarieswere interspersed througha truly laboriouseditingandreassemblingtask.

SuchworkrequiredtherestitutionofquotesinOldEnglishthathadbeentranscribed phonetically from the original. Though seriously distorted, thesewererecognizableandwerereplacedwiththeoriginaltexts.

Punctuation in Borges’s text, inconsistent in the quick, originaltranscription,hadtobecompletelychanged,alwayswiththegoaloffollowingtherhythmofthespokenpresentation.

Thiseditionrequiredthecorrectionofallpossiblefacts,fixingerrorsoftranscriptionandmakingthenecessarycorrections.Theoriginalsourcesofmostof the textswere found, andendnoteswere added,offering thepoems in their

originallanguages(iftheywerebrief)orinfragments.In some cases, for the sake of the reader, certain minor changes were

necessary:

1.Missingwordswere added (conjunctions, prepositions, etcetera) thatBorgessurelyspoke,despitetheirabsenceintheoriginaltranscription.2. Other conjunctions used in spoken language, but that madecomprehensionofthewrittentextmoredifficult,wereeliminated.3. In a few places, it was necessary to bring a subject and verb closertogether where Borges’s enthusiasm led him into a long digression—apractice that isacceptable in spoken language,but inawritten text, thethreadofdiscourseiscompletelylost.Theorderofphrasesinasentencewaschangedaround,butwithoutomittingasinglespokenword.

As none of these changes altered the words or the essence of Borges’sdiscourse, we preferred not to indicate when this was done, so as to avoiddisturbing the reader. On other occasions, words not spoken by Borges wereaddedtothetextinbracketstofacilitatecomprehension.

Theendnotesmostlysupply informationaboutworks,people,oreventsinordertoenrichthereadingoftheseclasses.WemostlyresistedthetemptationtolinksubjectsintheseclasseswiththerestofBorges’soeuvre.Therelationshipbetween Borges the writer and Borges the teacher is so close that it wouldrequireanalmostinfinitequantityofnotes;moreover,ourgoalhasnotbeentocarryoutacritiqueorananalysisofthetext.

Manyofthenotesarebriefbiographies;therelativelengthofeachdoesnotreflectourjudgmentastothevalueofthepersonorthing,butrather,inmostcases,was determined by two factors: 1) how unknown a particular referencemightbe,and2)itsrelevancewithinthecontextoftheclass.Hence,Ulfilas,theGothic minister, and Snorri Sturluson, the Icelandic historian, receive a fewlines; while those figures who are more recent or well known—or onlymentionedinpassing—havenotescontainingonlytheirdates,nationality,andafewfactsthatallowforeasyidentification.

The reader will find that many of these short biographical notescorrespondtofamousfigures,butthatdoesnotmeanthatweassumethereaderis not familiar them. The presence of these notes allows the reader to situatethesefigureshistorically,thisinconsiderationofthelibertywithwhichBorgesleapsfromcenturytocentury,continenttocontinent,contrastingandcomparing.

We don’t know if Borges knew about the existence of thesetranscriptions;we are, nevertheless, certain that hewould be pleased to knowthatthesepagescarryonhisworkasateacher.Alimitlessnumberofreaderscannowjoinall thosestudents towhomBorges taughtEnglish literature formanyyearswithdedicationandaffection.

We hope the reader enjoys reading this book as much as we enjoyededitingit.

MARTÍNARIASMARTÍNHADISBuenosAires,February,2000

CLASS1

THEANGLO-SAXONS.GENEALOGYOFTHEGERMANICKINGS.POETRYANDKENNINGS.

FRIDAY,OCTOBER14,1966

English literature starts to develop at the end of the seventh or thebeginning of the eighth century.The firstworkswe have come from that era,predating any from any other European literature. In these first two units,wewilldiscussthisliterature:Anglo-Saxonpoetryandprose.Inordertolearnthematerial in theseclasses, itwouldbehelpfulforyoutoconsultabookIwrotewith Ms. Vázquez called Literaturas germánicas medievales [MedievalGermanicLiteratures].1ItwaspublishedbyEditorialFalbo.Beforecontinuing,I would like to make clear that this course will be undertaken from thestandpoint of literature, with references made to the economic, political, andsocialcontextonlywhennecessaryfortheunderstandingofthetexts.

Letusbeginthisfirstclass,then,inwhichwewilldiscussepicpoetryandthe Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in the British Isles after the departure of theRoman legions. We are talking about the fifth century, the year 449,approximately.TheBritishIsleswereRome’sremotestcolony, theonefarthesttothenorth,andithadbeenconqueredallthewaytoCaledonia,partofpresent-day Scotland, which was inhabited by the Picts, a people of Celtic originseparatedfromtherestofBritainbyHadrian’sWall.TothesouthlivedtheCelts,who had converted to Christianity, and the Romans. In the cities, educatedpeople spokeLatin; the lower classes spokevariousGaelicdialects.TheCeltswereapeoplewho lived in the regionsof Iberia,Switzerland,Tirol,Belgium,France—andBritain. Theirmythologywaswiped out by theRomans and thebarbarian invasions, except inWales and Ireland, where some remnants of itwerepreserved.

In theyear449,Romecollapses and its legionswithdraw fromBritain.

ThiswasanextremelyimportanteventbecausethecountrywasleftwithoutthedefensesithadcountedonandwasvulnerabletoattacksbythePictsfromthenorth and the Saxons from the east. The Saxons were thought of as aconfederation of marauding tribes, for Tacitus does not refer to them as a“people”inhisGermania.Theywere“ofNorth-SeaGermanicstock,”andwererelatedtotheVikings,whocamelater.TheyinhabitedtheLowerRhineregionandtheLowCountries.TheAnglosinhabitedsouthernDenmark,andtheJutes,as their name indicates, lived in Jutland. And so it happened that a Celticchieftain, a Britain, upon seeing that the south and the west were beingthreatenedbymarauders,realizedhecouldpit themagainsteachother.Tothisend,he summoned the Jutes tohelphim inhis struggleagainst thePicts.Andthat’s when two Germanic chieftains arrive: Hengest, whose name means“stallion,”andHorsa,whosenamemeans“mare.”2

“Germanic,” then, is the generic designation of a group of tribes, eachwith a different ruler, who spoke similar dialects, out of which camemodernDanish,German,English,etcetera.Theysharedsomeofthesamemythologies,thoughonly theNorseonehas survived,and thenonly in the remotestpartofEurope: Iceland. We know of certain connections between them from themythologypreservedintheEddas:forexample,thattheNorsegodOdinwastheGermanWotanandtheEnglishWoden.3Thenamesofthegodshavepersistedinthenamesofthedaysoftheweek,whichweretranslatedfromLatintoOldEnglish:Mondayisthedayofthemoon.ThedayofMars,Tuesday,isthedayofthe Germanic god of war and glory. The day ofMercury became the day ofWodeninWednesday.ThedayofJovebecameThursday,dayofThor,withhisNorsename.Fridayis thedayofVenus, thegoddessofbeauty; inGermanit’sFrija, and Frig in England. Saturday is the day of Saturn. The Lord’s day—domingo[inSpanish],andinItaliandomenica—remainedthedayofthesun,Sunday.

VerylittleofAnglo-Saxonmythologyhasbeenpreserved.WeknowthattheNorsemenworshippedthevalkyries—warriorgoddesseswhocouldflyandwhocarriedthesoulsofdeadwarriorstoparadise;wealsoknowthatthesewereworshipped in England, thanks to a trial held in the ninth century of an oldwomanaccusedofbeingavalkyrie.Inotherwords,Christianitychangedthesewarrior women who carried the dead to paradise on their flying horses intowitches.Theoldgodswerecommonlyinterpretedasdevils.

Although the Germanic peoples were not politically unified, they did

acknowledge unity of a different kind: national unity. Thus foreigners werecalledwealh,whichbecomes“Welsh” inEnglish,andmeans“thepeople fromWales,”galeses [inSpanish].Thiswordalsoremainsintheword“Galicia,”orgalo[inSpanish].Thatis,thenamewasusedforanyonewhowasnotGerman....So,theCelticchieftainVortigernsummonedthePictstohelphim,butwhentheylaunchedtheiroar-drivenboats—theydidn’thavesails—andtheylandedinKentCounty, theCeltsimmediatelywagedwaranddefeatedthemquiteeasily.Soeasily, in fact, that theydecided to invade their entire country.This cannotreallybecalledanarmedinvasion,becausetheconquestwascarriedoutalmostpeacefully. Immediately thereafter the first Germanic kingdom of England isformed,withHengestas itsruler.Thereafter,manyothersmallkingdomswereformed.Atthesametime,theGermanswereabandoning,enmasse,thesouthernregionsofDenmarkandJutland,andfoundingNorthumbria,Wessex,Bernicia.ThisentireassortmentofsmallkingdomsconvertedtoChristianityonecenturylater as a result of the efforts of monks who hailed from Rome and Ireland.These efforts, at first complementary, soon grew into rivalries between themonks from those two places. There are several interesting aspects of thisspiritual conquest, the first being the way the pagans accepted Christ. TheVenerableBedetellsofakingwhohadtwoaltars:onedevotedtoChristandtheothertothedevils.4Thesedevilswere,withoutadoubt,theGermanicgods.

Here we come to another problem. The Germanic kings were directdescendentsoftheirgods.Andachieftaincouldnotbeprohibitedfrompayinghomagetohisancestors.Thus,theChristianpriests,whoseresponsibilityitwastorecordthegenealogiesofthekings—someofwhichhavebeenpassedontous—foundthemselvesinthedilemmaofnotwantingtocontradictthekingsand,atthesametime,notrefutetheBible.Thesolutiontheycameupwithwasreallyvery curious. We must realize that for the ancients the past did not extendbeyondfifteenortwentygenerations:theycouldnotconceiveofapastaslongaswedo.So,afterseveralgenerations,wecometoakinshipwiththegods,whointurnarerelatedtotheHebrewpatriarchs.Hence,forexample,wehaveOdin’sgreat-grandfather, the nephewof oneof the patriarchs.And from there, it is adirect line toAdam.At themost, their conceptof thepast extended to fifteengenerations,orabitmore.

Theliteratureof thesepeoplesspansmanycenturies,andmostof ithasbeenlost.BecauseoftheVenerableBede,wedateitsbeginningstoaroundthemiddle of the fifth century. And from the year 449 until 1066, the Battle ofHastings,outofthisentireperiod,thereremainonlyfourmaincodicesandafew

otherbits.5Thefirstcodex,theVercelliBook,wasdiscoveredinthemonasteryofthesamenameinthenorthofItalyinthelastcentury.Itisanotebookwrittenin Anglo-Saxon, assumed to have been brought there by English pilgrims ontheirwaybackfromRome,andwho,fortunatelyforus,forgotthemanuscriptintheconvent.Thereareothercodices:TheAnglo-SaxonChronicle,a translationofBoethius,oneofOrosius,laws,andDialoguesofSolomonandSaturn.6Andthatisall.Thencometheepicpoems.ThefamousBeowulf,acompositionofalittlefewerthan3,200lines,suggests,perhaps,thattherewereotherepicpoemsthat vanished.But they are all completelyhypothetical.Moreover, consideringthattheepicpoemappearsaftertheproliferationofshortcantosandarisesfromthem,itisalsoreasonabletobelievethatthatoneisunique.

In every instance, poetry comes before prose. It seems that man singsbeforehe speaks.But there areothervery important reasons for this.Averse,oncecomposed,servesasamodel.Itisrepeatedoverandoveragain,andthenwehaveapoem.Prose,ontheotherhand,ismuchmorecomplex,andrequiresagreatereffort.Moreover,wemustnotforgetthemnemonicvalueofverse.Thus,inIndia,thecodicesarewritteninverse.7Iassumetheymusthavesomepoeticvalue;thisisnotwhytheywerewritteninverse,butratherbecauseinthatformitwaseasiertorememberthem.

Wemustlookcloselyatwhatwemeanby“verse.”Thiswordhasaveryelastic meaning. It is not the same concept for all peoples in all eras. Forexample,wethinkofrhymedandisosyllabicverse;theGreeksthoughtofsungverse,notedforitsparallelstructures,foritsphrasesthatbalancedoneanother.Germanic verse is nothing like this. It was difficult to discover the rules thatdeterminehow these verseswere constructed, because in the codices the linesaren’t written—as are ours—one under the other, but rather continuously.Moreover,theyhavenopunctuation.Butfinally,itwasdiscoveredthateachlinehas threewordswhose first syllables are stressed and that they are alliterated.Rhymes have also been found, but these are accidental: thosewho listened tothis poetry probably didn’t hear them. And I say those who listened becausethesepoemsweremeanttobereadorsung,accompaniedbyaharp.ThereisaGermanistwhosays that alliteratedversehas theadvantageof formingaunit.Butwemustmentionhere itsdisadvantage,which is that itdoesnotallowforstanzas. Indeed, if we hear a rhyme in Spanish, we are led to expect aconclusion;thatis,ifafour-linestanza’sfirstlineendsin-ía,followedbytwoversesendingin-aba,weexpectthefourthlinetoalsoendin-ía.Butthisdoes

nothappenwithalliteration.Afterseveralverses,thesoundofthefirstone,forexample, has vanished from ourminds, and hence the sensation of the stanzadisappears.Rhymingallowsforlinestobegroupedtogether.

Later,theGermanicpoetsdiscoveredtherefrainanduseditinfrequently.But poetry had developed another hierarchical poetic instrument: that is,kennings—descriptive, crystallized metaphors.8 Because poets were alwaystalking about the same things, always dealingwith the same themes—that is:spears,kings,swords, theearth, thesun—andasthesewerewordsthatdidnotbegin with the same letter, they had to find a solution. The only poetry thatexisted,asIhavesaid,wasepicpoetry.(Therewasnoeroticpoetry.Lovepoetrywould appear much later, in the ninth century, with the Anglo-Saxon elegiacpoems.)Forthispoetry,whichwasonlyepic,theyformedcompoundwordstodenotethingswhosenamesdidnotbeginwiththerequisiteletter.Thesekindsofformations are quite possible, and normal, in the Germanic languages. Theyrealized that these compoundwords couldverywell beused asmetaphors. Inthis way, they began to call the sea “whale-road,” “sail-road,” or “fish-bath”;theycalledtheship“sea-stallion”or“sea-stag”or“sea-boar,”alwaysusingthenamesofanimals;asageneralrule, theythoughtof theshipasa livingbeing.The king was called “the people’s shepherd” and also—this surely for theminstrels’ sake, for theirownbenefit—“ring-giver.”Thesemetaphors, someofwhich are beautiful, were employed like clichés. Everybody used them, andeverybodyunderstoodthem.

InEngland,however,poets finally realized that thesemetaphors—someof which, I repeat, were very beautiful, like the one that called the bird the“summerguardian”—endeduphobblingpoetry,sotheywereslowlyabandoned.In Scandinavia, on the other hand, they carried them to their final stage: theycreatedmetaphorsoutofmetaphorsbyusingsuccessivecombinations.Thus,ifashipwas“sea-horse”andtheseawas“gull’sfield,”thenashipwouldbe“horseofthegull’sfield.”Andthiscouldbecalledametaphorofthefirstdegree.Asashieldwasthe“pirate’smoon”—shieldswereroundandmadeofwood—andaspearwasthe“shield’sserpent,”forthespearcoulddestroytheshield,thatspearwouldbethe“serpentofthepirate’smoon.”

Thisishowanextremelycomplicatedandobscurepoetryevolved.Itis,ofcourse,whathappenedinlearnedpoetry,withinthehighestspheresofsociety.And,asthesepoemswererecitedorsung,itmustbeassumedthattheprimarymetaphors, those that served as the foundation, were already familiar to theaudience.Familiar,evenveryfamiliar,almostsynonymouswiththeworditself.

Bethatasitmay,thepoetrybecameveryobscure,somuchsothatfindingtherealmeaningislikesolvingapuzzle.Somuchsothatscribesfromsubsequentcenturiesshow,inthetranscriptionsofthesesamepoemswehavenow,thattheydidnotunderstandthem.Here’safairlysimplekenning:“theswanofthebeerofthedead,”which,whenwefirstseeit,wedon’tnowhowtointerpret.So,ifwebreak it down,we see that “beer of the dead”meansblood, and “swanof theblood”meansthebirdofdeath,theraven,soweseethat“swanofthebeerofthedead” simplymeans “raven.”And in Scandinavia, whole poemswerewrittenlikethisandwithincreasingcomplexity.ButthisdidnothappeninEngland.Themetaphorsremainedinthefirstdegree,withoutgoinganyfurther.

As for the use of alliteration, it is interesting to note that a verse isconsideredalliterativeevenifitcontainsstressedwordsbeginningwithdifferentvowels.Ifaversecontainsawordwiththevowela,anotherwith,andanotherwithi,theyarealliterated.Infact,wecannotknowexactlyhowthevowelswerepronouncedinAnglo-Saxon.Undoubtedly,OldEnglishhadamuchmoreopensoundandwasmorevoiced thanEnglish isnow.Now, inEnglish, consonantsserveas thehighpointsof thesyllables.On thecontrary,Anglo-SaxonorOldEnglish—thesewordsaresynonymous—washighlyvocalic.9

Besidesthis,theAnglo-SaxonlexiconwascompletelyGermanic.BeforetheNormanConquest,theonlyothersignificantinfluencewastheintroductionofabout fivehundredwords fromLatin.Thesewordswere, for themostpart,religious, or, if not religious, they named concepts that had not previouslyexistedamongthosepeoples.

As far as the religious conversion of theGermanic peoples, it isworthnoting thatbeingpolytheistic, theyhadnoproblemacceptingyetanothergod:onemoreisnothing.Forus,forexample, itwouldberatherdifficult toacceptpolytheisticpaganism.But for theGermanicpeoples, itwasnot;at firstChristwas merely a new god. The issue of conversion, moreover, presented fewproblems.Conversionwasnot,asitisnow,anindividualact;rather,ifthekingconverted,theentirepeopleconverted.

ThewordsthatfoundaplaceinAnglo-Saxon,becausetheyrepresentednew concepts were, for example, ones like “emperor,” a notion they did nothave.Evennow,theGermanwordkaiser,whichmeansthesamething,comesfrom theLatincaesar.TheGermanicpeoples, in fact, knewRomewell.Theyacknowledgeditasasuperiorcultureandadmiredit.ThatiswhyconversiontoChristianitymeantconversiontoasuperiorcivilization;ithad,withoutadoubt,incontrovertibleappeal.

In the next class, we will look at Beowulf, a poem from the seventhcentury,theoldestepicpoem,priorto“SongoftheCid”fromtheninthortenthcentury, and Chanson de Roland, written a century before Cid and theNibelungenlied.10 It is the oldest epic poem in all of European literature.WewillthencontinuewiththeFinnsburhFragment.

CLASS2

BEOWULF.DESCRIPTIONOFTHEGERMANS.ANCIENTFUNERALRITES

UNDATED,PROBABLYOCTOBER15,19661

Inourlastclass,Isaidthattodaywewoulddiscusstheepicpoem,Beowulf.Asweshallsee,theprotagonistisaknightwhoembodiesallthevirtuesheldinhighregardduringtheMiddleAges:loyalty,bravery—thisisallinthebookbytheVenerableBede.Butlet’sdigintoBeowulf.Thenameinitselfisametaphorthatmeans“bee-wolf,”inotherwords“bear.”Itistrulyalongpoem:itcontainsa little fewer than 3,200 lines, all of which follow the law of Germanicversification:alliteration.Itslanguageisintricate;itmakesconstantuseofwhatiscalled“hyper-baton,”thatis,thealterationofthelogicalsequenceofwordsinasentence.WeknowthiswasnottheusualformoftheGermaniclanguage,andmuchlesssoofitspoetry,becauseanotherfragmentthathasbeenpreserved,theFinnsburhFragment,employsverydirectlanguage.

It was previously believed that the style of Beowulf belonged to aprimitive,barbaricstageofpoeticcreation.Subsequently,however,aGermanistdiscovered that lines from the Aeneid were woven into the poem, and thatelsewhere,passages from that epicpoemwerebrought in, then interspersed inthetext.Hence,wehaverealizedthatwearenotdealingwithabarbaricpoem,butratherwiththeerudite,baroqueexperimentofapriest,thatis,someonewhohadaccesstoLatintexts,andwhostudiedthem.

The author took an ancientGermanic legend and turned it into an epicpoemthatfollowsthesyntacticrulesofLatin.Thankstothosefewinterpolatedlines,wecanseethattheauthorsetouttocomposeaGermanAeneid.OneclearindicatorofthisistheaforementionedcontrastwiththedirectlanguageusedintheheroicFinnsburhFragmentandtheothertextswehavefromthatera(suchasincantations,etcetera).Buttheauthorfacedaprobleminattemptingtocarryout

hisintention:accordingtothedecorumofthetime,hecouldnotpraisethepagangods.Intheeighthcentury,thepaganerawasquiterecent,andstillverymuchalive among thepopulace. Itwasnotuntil the seventeenth century, almost tencenturies later, that we see Góngora speak calmly, without qualms, about thepagangods.2However,[theauthorofBeowulf]couldnotspeakaboutChristandtheVirgin,either.Thefactis,henevernamesthemanywhere.Buttwoconceptsmake theirappearance,andwedonotknowif theauthorunderstood that theycontradictedeachother.Theword“god”appears,asdoeswyrdor“fate.”Fate,inGermanicmythology,was apowergreater thaneven thegods themselves.Weknow this from Norse mythology. Wyrd has survived in modern English:ShakespeareusesitinMacbethtospeakof thewitches, thoughitprobablydidnothavethesamemeaning.Inanycase, theword[inBeowulf] isnot“witch,”but“emissaryoffate,”“weirdsister,”“sisteroffate.”3ThroughoutBeowulf,theconceptsofGod—thenewGod,and theoldone, theoneofwyrd—arewovenintothetextandusedindiscriminately.

TheGermanistKerhascriticizedBeowulf,forheconsiderstheplottobechildish.4a>Theideaoftheherowhokillsanogre,thatogre’smother,andthenadragon,belongs toachildren’s tale.But theseelementsare, in fact, inevitable;theyaretherebecausetheymustbe.Oncehechosethatlegend,theauthorcouldnotpossiblyomittheogre,thewitch,orthedragon.Thepublicexpectedthem,because it knew the legend. Moreover, these monsters were symbols of thepowersofevil;theyweretakenveryseriouslybythataudience.

One of the poem’s most curious aspects is that it takes place first inDenmarkand then in southernSweden.This indicates that after threehundredyearsof living innewlands, theAnglo-Saxonsstill felthomesickfor theiroldhomelandsontheBalticSea;thisfurthersuggeststhatthereisastrongaffinitybetween the Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons. The characters in the poem areScandinavian. The hero himself is a Swedish prince. This might tempt somescholarstoclaimthattheloreoftheGothscontainsthelegendoftheirorigins,whichsaystheycomefromNorthernEurope.Butthereisnoproofofthis.(WeactuallyknowthatthefirstnewsofthesepeoplehasthemhailingfromsouthoftheDanube.)However,CharlesXII ofSwedenbelieved this.Somuch so thatduringaconflictwiththepope,hewrotetohim[thepope],warninghimnottofeeltoosecure;hesaidhisancestorshadalreadyenteredRomeonce,andtheirdescendantswerenolessbrave.Hewashintingatapossibleinvasionthatwouldrepeat the Gothic invasions of Italy. (Now, if we look closely at the word

“Geats,”weseethat itcaneasilybeassociatedwith“Goths.”5a>Hence, ifweidentify the Geats with the Goths, the Spaniards would be relatives of theNorsemen. Hence, all descendents of the Spaniards would be relatives ofBeowulf!)

IntheOdysseyandtheIliad,weseethatthebloodyandbellicoseeventsare the most paramount. The poet of Beowulf was interested in hospitality,manners,gift-giving,andminstrelsmore than inmilitaryfeats; inotherwords,hewas interested inwhatwewouldnowcall “social life.”Allof these thingswerevaluedatthattimeandmusthavebeenquiteappealingtotheSaxons,wholived in a violent era and in inhospitable lands. Europe was colder then.WeknowthisbecauseresearchhasshownthattheanimalswholivedatthattimeinthesouthofEuropenowliveinthenorth.Forexample,reindeerusedtoliveinGermanyandarenowfoundonlyinScandinavia.Englandwasamarshyland.TheGermans considered it to be a terrible, noxious place.They populated allthoseswampswithevilbeings,devils.Moreover,thepsychologyofthesepeopleisrevealedbythefactthattheycountedtheyearsbythewinters,andthedaysbythenights.Thecold thatprevailed in that land iswhat constantly showsup inthesetexts;alwaysmentionedaretheterrorsofthesnow,thehardshipsofwinter.Thearrivalofspringwaswelcomedasagreatevent.

Returningtothepoem,thefirstepisodedealsextensivelywiththemythicking of Denmark, Scyld Scefing, which means “shield with the sheaf.” Thisnameisderivedfromthe legendofhisorigins.Oneday,ababyarrivesonthecoastofDenmarkinamysteriousship.Therewasnobodymanningtheship,andthe child is lying on the bottom, on a bed ofweapons, sheaves ofwheat, andjewels.Thisprodigiouschildbecomeskingandwassostrongthathemadehispeoplegreat.Thisis,intheconceptoftheera,a“goodking”:onewhoterrifieshisneighbors,isstrong,andisawarrior,andwhosemenfearandrespecthim.Timepassesandthekinggrowsold;hefeelsthatthehourofhisdeathisuponhim.Soheplanshisfuneralandgivesordersforittobecarriedoutaccordingtohis instructions.These includebuildinga shipexactly like theonehecame inand placing him next to the mast surrounded by weapons and jewels, thenpushinghimouttosea.

Allpeopleshavebelievedthattheterritoryofdeathliesbeyondthesea.Lifewasassociatedwiththecourseofthesun;sincethesunisbornintheeastand dies in thewest, a parallelwas drawn to human life. Itwas believed thatwhenitwasover,onewenttothelandwherethesundies,tothewest,beyondthesea.Hence,intheCelticlegends,paradisewasthoughttobeinthewest.In

Greekmythology, thekingdomofdeathwasbeyondthewater,andonehad tocrossthewatertoreachit.So,thisshiptheypushouttoseahasthatmeaning.Next comes adescriptionof the ship and theking lyingnext to themast, andthenofthesubjectscrying,pushingtheshipouttosea.Thisisoneofthemostpowerfulscenesinthepoem.6Wecannotknowifinthemindofthepoet—whogenuinely felt this scene—if this king being pushed out to sea (in the ship hearrivedin)isasymbolofmanmysteriouslyreturningtotheplacefromwhichhemysteriously came. In any case, this ritual of launching the ship is not aninvention of this poet but rather a Germanic custom. Ships containing theskeletonsofmenandanimalshavebeenfoundatthebottomofthesea.Wecandeducefromthisthattheynotonlypushedthedeadouttosea,butontheirlasttrip,theywereaccompaniedbytheirservantsandtheirfavoriteanimals.ItwasaGermaniccustomtoburythedeadwiththeirdogsattheirfeet.InthebookBeauGeste,theherosaysthathe“hadhisViking’sfuneralwithadogathisfeet.”7Hewastalkingaboutasergeantwhohadbeenburied.Thereisanancienttextthatalsosaysthataftertheshipwaslaunched,itwouldbesetonfire.

The author [ofBeowulf] intentionally described different burial rites oftheGermanicpeople.Thiscanbeseenattheendofthepoem,withBeowulf’sfuneralnexttothesea,onapyresohighitcanbeseenbysailorsoutatsea,andthatisheapedwithweapons,shields,andhelmets.ThisdetailalsoappearsintheOdyssey,wherethereisalsoafuneralrite.

In the next class we will continue our study ofBeowulf and probablyexaminetheFinnsburhFragment.

CLASS3

BEOWULF.BRAVERYANDBOASTFULNESS:BEOWULFASCOMPAREDTOTHECOMPADRITOS.

MONDAY,OCTOBER17,1966

Inthepreviousclass,wediscussedtheepicpoemBeowulf.Today,wewillpick upwherewe left off. I recounted one of themost poetic episodes of thepoem: the one about the child who arrives mysteriously on the coast ofDenmark,whobecomeskingandinstillsfearinhisenemies.Thepoetnotesthathe is agoodkingbecausewhat is expectedof aking is thathebe strongandwarlike and that his neighbors fear his people. Then the years pass andwhendeath approaches, he gives instructions for his funeral. So they prepare thefuneralship.

Thepoet says that this shipwas“isigondutfus.”The firstwordmeans“frozen,”andisrelatedtotheEnglishword“iced”andtheGermanwordeisig.Butwe don’t know if the ship is coveredwith ice (it is strange that the poethadn’t spoken of ice earlier), or if hemeant “resplendent,” “shimmering,” “asclearas ice.”The thirdword isdifficult to translatebecause fusmeans “eager”andutmeans“out.”1Inotherwords,theshipwaseagertoleave,asifitwerealivingbeing.Thentheshipisdescribed;thepoetsaysthatitflewaflagmadeofgoldfabric,andthatthekingwasplacedinaseatedposition,leaningagainstthemast: “Thepowerfuloneagainst themast.”Thenhisvassals, crying,push theship out to sea, and thenwe have these lines that I know by heart: “Nobody,neither the counselors in their assemblies nor the heroes under the heavens,knowswhoreceivedthatcargo.”Anditissaidthattheshipwaspushedfarawaybythepowerofthesea:“Underthepowerofthesea,ittraveledfar.”Now,anancestorisalsomentioned,whoisalsocalledBeowulf,liketheeponymousheroofthepoem,butheisadifferentBeowulf.Andthisletsusimaginethatthereisaconnection between the royal house of Denmark and the royal house of the

Geats—thattribethatisabitmysterious—whichsomehaveidentifiedwiththeJutes who invaded England, and others, with the Goths, in other words, theancestors of the Spaniards, who were the Visigoths. But there is a lot ofdisagreementaboutthis.

Onepeculiar featureofBeowulf is that the storywe are looking at is aprimitive one—even puerile, according to some.Yet the atmosphere inwhichthisbarbarousandprimitivefabletakesplaceisnotthefantasticalatmosphereofafairytaleeveniftheeventsthattakeplaceare.Thestoryaboundsinrealisticdetails, especially regarding the genealogy of the characters. It has, as theEnglish Germanist Ker has said, the solid atmosphere of a realist novel.2Theeventsarefantastical,butwefeel thecharactersasreal,asgarrulousas if theywere right there, and given to oratory; they are characters who like goodmanners, conviviality, ceremony. It is true that all of this was highly valuedduringthatdangerousera,aviolenterawhenpeopleperhapsdidnotmuchlikeviolence; it was a barbarous era that nonetheless was drawn to culture, thatenjoyedculture.

ThepoetliststhenamesofthekingsoftheroyalhouseofDenmark,untilhe gets to a king named Hrothgar. These consonant clusters are common inAnglo-Saxon,buthavesincebeenlost:hr,andtherunicletterfollowingit,canbe transcribed as th.3Wehave another example in theAnglo-Saxonword for“ring.”InGermanand,Ithink,inScandinavianlanguages,itisring,whereastheAnglo-Saxons saidhring, and there are other analogous sounds. For example,“neigh” in English is the verb hnægan in Anglo-Saxon.4 There are otherconsonantclusterswecannotpronounce,becausewedon’tknowhowtheywerepronounced.Forexample,for“haughty”theysaidwlanc.Idon’tknowhowthewlshouldbepronounced.It’spossibletheWwaspronouncedasaU.Butlet’sreturntothepoem.

ThepoetnamesseveralkingsuntilhefinallygetstoHrothgar,thekingofDenmark,whobuildsapalacecalledHeorot.Andthispalace,thepoettellsus,isthemostsplendidofpalaces,thoughweshouldimagineitbuiltofwood.Ihaveseen beautiful houses in the United States, luxurious houses—the house ofLongfellow,thehouseofEmerson—housesthatarethreehundredyearsold,andthese houses are built of wood. Currently, in Buenos Aires, to say “a woodhouse”istomeanashack.ThisisnotthecaseinNewEngland:awoodhousecanbeverybeautiful,withmanyfloors,asalon,alibrary,andtheyarewellbuiltsotherearenodrafts.

Thekingbuildsthepalace,andthepoettellsusthatthisisthepalacethatshinesoveralltheneighboringkingdoms;inotherwords,itisfamous.Wecanimaginealargecentralhallwherethekingmeetswithhisvassalsandwherehedines.Iassumetheyateporkanddeeranddrankbeerfromdrinkinghorns;winewasquite rare, as it had tobebrought from the south. In thepoem, there is aminstrelwho livensup thebanquetssingingandaccompanyinghimselfon theharp. The harp was the national instrument of all the Germanic peoples. Themusicwouldbe,undoubtedly,verysimple.

Thekinghashiscourt.Andtherehehandsoutgoldringsandbraceletstohisvassals.Thisiswhyoneoftheking’stitlesis“ring-giver”orbeahgifa.Wefind this word, beag, in French as bague, meaning “ring.” The king is verypowerful,butthedinofthecourt,orthemusic,frightensordisturbsamonsterwholivesnearbyinanareafullofswamps,marshes,andmoors.SomebelievethatcertainregionsofEnglandarerecognizableinthedescriptionofwherethemonster, named Grendel, lived. Lincolnshire, for example. But this is pureconjecture.Themonsterisdescribedaslookinglikeahumanbeing,butgigantic.HeisanogreandapparentlybelongstoancientGermanmythology,butasthepoetisChristian,hewantedtotiehimtotheChristiantradition,ratherthanthepagantradition,sohetellsusthatheisadescendentofCain.Andthismonsterwandersaroundthemoorsandliveswithhismotherunderalake,sodeepdownthattheheroswimsforanentiredaytoreachtheundergroundcavernwhereheliveswith hismother,who is awitch.The poet calls her “the she-wolf of thesea,” “the sorceress of the sea.” There are also storms, whichmake this lakeseemlikethesea,andthereisadescriptionoftheforestssurroundingthelake.Itsaysthatcrowsareafraidtoflynearthelake,forit isazoneoftempests,fog,solitude,andbecauseofwhatcouldbecalledsacredhorror.Thedescriptionofthelakeanditssurroundingslastsabouttwentylines.Now,thisdoesnotsurpriseus,butrememberthatthepoemwaswrittenattheendoftheseventhcenturyor,accordingtothescholars,thebeginningoftheeighth,anditisfullofsentimentfor the naturalworld. This sentiment does not appear in other literatures untilmuchlater.Oneoftensays,toohastily—becauseinadditiontoBeowulf,thereisalso Shakespeare—that this sentiment for nature is the same as the romanticsentiment. In other words, the same as in the eighteenth century, about tencenturiesafterBeowulf.Thetruthisthattherearebooks,notablebooks,inwhichthenaturalworldaswefeelitnowmakesnoappearance.Andtoturntothemostfamousexample,Ibelieve—Idon’tknowifIamcertain—IsuspectthatinDonQuixote,itdoesnotrainasingletime.ThelandscapesdescribedinQuixotehave

nothing in common with the landscapes of Castile: they are conventionallandscapes,fullofmeadows,streams,andcopsesthatbelonginanItaliannovel.On the other hand, in Beowulf, we sense nature as something fearsome,somethingthatishostiletoman;thesenseofnightanddarknessasfearsome,asit surely was for the Saxons, who had settled in an unknown country whosegeography they discovered only as theywere conquering it. Undoubtedly, thefirstGermanicinvadershadnopreciseideaofEngland’sgeography.ItisabsurdtoimagineHorsaorHengestarrivingwithamap.Completelyunbelievable.Wedon’tevenknowif theywouldhaveunderstoodBeowulf,which iswritten inavery contorted language and is full of metaphors that, undoubtedly, were notused by the Anglo-Saxons in their spoken language. In any case, thesemetaphorsneverappearintheirprose.AndintheScandinavianNorseregions,those most closely connected to the Saxons, we find a very marked anddeliberatedivisionbetweenprose,whichcanbeveryeloquentandfullofpathos,butisverysimple,andthelanguageofpoetry,whichisfilledwithkennings,thenameforthosemetaphorsthat,aswehaveseen,reachedanextraordinarylevelofcomplexity.

So, King Hrothgar rules over Denmark. Naturally, nobody thought ofempiresatthattime;theideaofempireistotallyforeigntotheGermanicmind.Buthewasaprosperousking,avictorious,opulentking,andhiscourt’sjubilantcelebrations—one of the metaphors for the harp is “wood of joy” or “party-wood”—upsetsGrendel,whoattacksthecastle.Thefableispoorlywrought,foratthebeginningwehaveaverypowerfulking,andthenthissamekingandhisvassalsandhistroops,theonlymeasuretheytakeistopraytothegods,toaskforhelp from their ancient gods,Odin,Thor, and theothers.Thepoet tells usthat all their prayerswere in vain. The gods have no power at all against themonster.Andthus,improbably,twelveyearspass,andeveryfewnightstheogrebreaksdownthecastle’sdoubledoors—therewerenootherdoors—enters,anddevours one of themen.And the king does nothing.Then news of the ogre’sattacksspreads.Theogreisgiganticandinvulnerabletoallweapons.ThenewsreachestheneighboringcountryofSweden.AndinSwedenthereisayouth,aprince,Beowulf,andthroughouthischildhoodthisprincehasshownhimselftobe clumsy, slow, but hewants to gain famewith a great feat.He has alreadyfoughtinawaragainsttheFranks,butthisisn’tenoughforhim,sohedepartsinaboatwithfourteencompanions.

Naturally,thepoetmakestheseastormy,sothatthetripwon’tbeeasy,soitwillbedifficult,andBeowulflandsinDenmark.Theking’ssentinelcomesout

togreethim,anaristocratlikeBeowulf,aprince.Beowulfsaysthathehascometo save the country and is received courteously by the court. There is onecharacter, however, who questions Beowulf’s personal courage, so Beowulfproposesakindofcontest,aswimmingrace,whichimprobablylaststendays,acompetitionagainstanother famousswimmernamedBreca.The twoswimfortendaysandtennights.Theyfightagainstseamonsters,whodragBeowulf tothebottomofthesea,wherehekillsthemwithhisswordorchasesthemaway.Thenhesurfaces,keepsswimming,andwinstherace.

Now,wefindourselvesupagainstamoderncustom,amodernprejudicethatdistancesusfromthepoem.Todaywesay,orbetter,wehavetheidea,thatabravemanshouldnotbeabraggart.WethinkthatallbraggingislikethatoftheMiles Gloriosus, of the Latin comedy, who is a coward.5 But, generallyspeaking,thisideadidnotexistinantiquity.Heroesboastedoftheirdeeds,andwerepermittedtodoso.Infact,doingthisgavethemcourage.I’dliketoreciteheresomecoupletsofthecompadritos[toughs,braggarts]fromthebeginningofthe century inBuenosAires. I don’t think anybodywould think amanwas acowardbecausehesaid:

Soydelbarrio’eMonserrádonderelumbraelacero,loquedigoconelpico,losostengoconelcuero.

[I am from theMonserratneighborhood, /wherebladesabound, /what Isaywithmylips,/Ibackupwithmyhide.]

or:

Yosoydelbarriodelnorte,soydelbarriodelRetiro,yosoyaquelquenomiroconquiéntengoquepelear,yaquíenelmilonguearningunosepusoatiro.

[I’mfromthenorthernneighborhood, / I’mfromRetiro, / Ineverstop to

look/atwhoIhavetofight,/andhereinthefray/nobodywasuptothedare.]

or:

Hágaseaunlao,seloruego,quesoydelaTierre‘elFuego.

[Stepaside,ifyouplease,/forIamfromTierradelFuego.]

Thatis,fromtheneighborhoodaroundthepenitentiary.In any case, Beowulf had a lot in common with our compadritosfrom

MonserratorRetiro.Beowulfwantedtoboastabouthowbravehewas.Andnoonethoughthewasacoward.Tofindamorefamousexample,wecanturntotheIliad, inwhichthewarriorsstatewhotheyare,andtheirreputationsdonotsuffer.Onthecontrary, theyareenhanced.It isanecessarypreludetocombat,theirwaytowarmup.Theycouldeveninsulteachother,too,andcouldaccuseeachotherofcowardice.

In Beowulf, after the swimming race and the battle against the seamonsters,everyonegoestobedandfallsasleep.Thisisanotherpoorlywroughtepisode:theyareexpectingtheogre’sattack,yettheysleeppeacefully.Theonlyonewho stays awake isBeowulf, andBeowulf isunarmed,becauseheknowsthat no weapon can harm the monster. Moreover, he has confidence in hisphysicalstrength,whichisextraordinary.Thepoettellsusthathehasinhisfistthestrengthofthirtymen.

Then the monster arrives, circles the castle, and although the door islocked with strong iron bars, he breaks it down, surprises the first sleepingwarrior he comes upon, and devours him whole, raw. Also, he devours thewarrior’s hands and feet, then rashly approachesBeowulf.And thenBeowulf,whohasnotyetrisen,grabstheogre’shandandbreaksit.Andthetwobegintofight—a fightothersdonotparticipate in—whichallows thehero to showoffevenmore.AndBeowulf,withonlythestrengthofhishands—imaginewehavebeforeus anorthernHercules—pullsoff theogre’s armand shoulder.As theyfight,theyshout.Thisisrealistic.Forexample,wheninfantrymencharge,theyshout.ThereisapoembyKiplingthatdescribesthis.So,theyarebothshouting.TheentirepalaceofHeorottrembles,itisabouttocollapse,butfinallytheogrereceivesamortalwoundand runsoff todie inhis swamp.Thenextday, they

celebratethedeathoftheogreandhanghisarminthehallasatrophy.Thereisanotherbanquet,butthatnighttheogre’smother,whoisawitchandalsoverystrong,comestorecoverherdeadson’sarm,andshetakesitandkillsawarrior.ThenBeowulf decides to look for the swampwhere the ogre lives, and that’swhereweget thedescriptionof the swamp,oneof the classicpassages in thepoem.SomemenwanttoaccompanyBeowulf,butheisthehero:itisbetterforhim to perform his feats alone, asHercules did centuries before.And he seespiecesofflesh,humanflesh,possiblytheogre’s,intheswamp.Andthereisalsofoam,whichseemstobebloody.Theherodivesinandswimsforawholedaybefore he reaches the cavern. The cavern is dry; it is illuminated by asupernatural,magicallight.Andthereistheogre’smother,horrible,asstrongastheogrehimself.Beowulffightsherandisonthevergeofbeingdefeated:sheisactuallystrongerthanherson.But[Beowulf]managestograbaswordhangingonthewall.Theogre’smotherisnotinvulnerabletoiron;hekillsherwiththesword, but the sword melts because the witch’s blood contains some kind ofpoison. Then, Beowulf takes the ogre’s head and also the hilt of the sword,though not the blade, which has melted. On shore, they are waiting for himanxiously.Herisestothesurfacewiththistrophy,andherethepoetinventsanincidentaldetail:thegiant’sheadissoheavythattwomenareneededtocarryit.ThenBeowulf,coveredinblood,woundedandtriumphant,returnstoHrothgar’spalace,whereHrothgarthankshimforwhathehasdoneandshowershimwithgifts—acceptingthesegiftsisnotdishonorable—andBeowulfreturnstohisownkingdom,inthesouthofSweden.

Now, Beowulf was not actually Swedish. The Swedes belonged to adifferenttribe.TheGeatswereenemiesoftheSwedes....Well,inthisway,fiveyears passed . . . excuse me, fifty years, “fifty winters,” the poet says. TheSaxonscountedtimebywintersbecauseoftheharshnessoftheclimate.Inthemeantime,Beowulf performsmanymilitary feats, but the poetmentions themonlyinpassingbecauseheis interestedonlyinBeowulf’sfirstandlastfeat.Ithas been said that one of the aims of the poemwas to portray an exemplaryprince, according to the concept of the time. That is, one who is strong—supernaturallystrong,forhehasthestrengthofthirtymen—aswellasaslayerofmonsterswhoareadangertoeveryone—againthiscoincideswithHercules—andalsojust.Becausewhenhediesattheendofthepoem,heinvokesGodandsays thatheneverdealtoutdeath toasinglerelative in thegreatbanquethall.Andthis isconsidered tobearatherextraordinaryfact,and itprobablywasatthetime.

Fiftyyearspass,fiftyyearsofvictories,and,finally,atriumphantpeace,andthenanothercharacterappears,adragonwhohaslivedfortimeimmemorialinacaveguardingtreasures.Theideaofthedragonasaguardianoftreasuresiscommon in ancient Germanic myth. We remember the case of Sigurd, orSiegfried, and the dragon; and there was also the griffin in Pliny’s NaturalHistory, who guards mountains of gold and fights against the one-eyedArimaspians.6TheideaofthedragonastheguardianoftreasuresissocommonthatinNorsepoetryoneofthemostcommonmetaphorsforgold—immediatelyunderstoodbyeverybody—was“thedragon’sbed.”Thatis,peopleimaginedthegold,andthedragonlyingontopofit,sleepingonitinordertoguarditbetter.Thepoettellsusaboutanescapedslavewhoentersthecavewhenthedragonisasleepandstealsagoldenpitcher.Thentheslavedisappearsfromthefable.Thefollowingday, thedragonawakes,notices that thegoldenpitcher isgone, andleaves his cave, thinking he must take revenge for the theft. Then we see ahuman trait:beforedestroying theGeats’ land,hegoesback into thecaveandcarefully looks through everything, just to make sure the pitcher isn’t theresomewhere.Buthedoesn’tfindit,soheterrorizesthekingdomoftheGeats,justastheogre,halfacenturybefore,haddoneinDenmark.ThenthenewsofwhatishappeningreachesoldBeowulf,andagainhedecidestofightamonster.Andifwewanttouseourimaginationsalittle,wecanseethisasastoryaboutamanpursuedbyafate:tofightamonsteranddie.Thedragonis,insomeway—andwhetherornotitisunderstoodthiswaybythepoet,itreallyshouldn’tmattertous because an author’s intentions are less important than the success of hisexecution—thedragonisyetanotherencounterwithhisfate.Thatis,thedragonisagaintheogreofDenmark.Andthekinggoestherewithhismen,whowanttohelphim,buthesaysno,he’llmanageonhisownashedidfiftyyearsbeforewith the ogre and the ogre’smother.He reaches themouth of the cave of thedragon, who has been described with many metaphors—he has been called“spottedhorrorofdusk”and“guardianofgold”—andBeowulfchallengeshim.The dragon emerges, and they engage in battle. There is a rather bloodydescriptionofthebattle;Beowulfslaysthedragon,butthedragonbreathesfire,andBeowulfknowsthatthisfirewillpoisonhim.AndthereisaservantnamedWiglaf,theonlyonewhohasaccompaniedhimthere;andthekingsaysthatheisgoingtoofferhissoultotheLord—thisparagraphisChristian—andheknowshe will be going to heaven because his life has been righteous, and he givesinstructionsforhisfuneral.Thefuneralisnotliketheonewesawearlier:therewill be no funeral ship. He tells them to erect a pyre and pile it high with

helmets, shields, and shining armor—“Helmum behongen, hildebordum,beorhtumbyrnum,swahebenawæs.”Helmumbehongenmeans“adornedwithhelmets”—the Germanic word helm is the same. And hildebordum is “battleboard”:that’swhattheshieldwascalled,whichwasround,madeofwood,andwrappedinleather.Andthenbeorhtumbyrnummeans“brightarmor,”andswahebenawæsmeans “just as heordered.”Then they lie himout on topof thepyreandset itonfire,andhehasinstructedthemtobuildaburialmoundthatcanbeseenfromthesea,sothatpeoplewillrememberit.Heisthenburiedinthe burial mound, and twelve warriors on horseback ride circles around theking’stombandsinghispraisesandcelebratehisbravedeeds.

Now, in a medieval text about the history of the Goths, by Jordanes,Attila’sburialandthesameritualisdescribed:thepyre,theburialmound,andthewarriorswho ride circles around it singingpraisesof theking.7 It is clearthatthepoetwasaneruditepoet:inhispoemhewantedtodescribethevariousfuneralritesoftheGermanicpeoples.(TheyconsideredAttilatobeoneoftheirown, even though he was a Hun, because many Germanic kings were hisvassals.) The poem endswith praise ofBeowulf, and this praise is quite odd.ThoughIdon’tagree,somehavebelievedittobeaninterpolation,foronemightexpecttheretobementionoftheogre,aswellasofthedragon,andoftheotherSwedesagainstwhomhefought,andhisvictories,butnoneofthisismentioned.Thepenultimate line says that hewasmannamildust, themildest ofmen, thekindestofmen,andonemosteagerforpraise.Thisalsocontradictsourcurrentsensibility,becauseweliveinaneraofpropaganda:aman’sdesiretobefamousis not seen as an admirable characteristic. Butwe have to remember that thispoemwaswrittenintheMiddleAges.IntheMiddleAges,itwasbelievedthatallpraisewas just: thatmenwished tobepraised,deserved tobepraised.Thepoemendswiththesewords:“themildestofmenandthemosteagerforpraise.”Nothing is said about his courage. However, we have seen that courageexemplifiedthroughouttheentirepoem.

There’sanothercuriousaspectofthispoem,andthisistheappearanceofa minstrel, and this minstrel sings—but doesn’t finish—a Germanic legendpredatingBeowulf:thestoryofaprincessfromDenmarknamedHildeburh.Hernamemeans“castleofwar”or“castleofthebattle.”Now,thisfragmentassungbytheminstrelmightnotbethesameasthesong—theoldballad—becausethelanguageisliketherestofBeowulf.Thatis,itisinrhetoricallanguagewithanabundanceofmetaphors,andundoubtedlyGermanicprimitivepoetrywasmuchsimpler. We can see this, for example, in The Lay of Hildebrand; although

composedmoreor lessat the same timeasBeowulf, it corresponds to amuchmoreprimitiveera,fortherearefewalliterations,andIbelievethereisonlyonemetaphor,andeventhatisadubiousone:armoriscalled“battlevestments,”or“war vestments,” which may or may not be a metaphor. It is far from thecomplexityof“weaveofmen”for“battle,”aswefindamongtheNorsemen,or“swan-road”for“sea.”

Now, this story is told only in part, and it is the subject of the otherancientAnglo-Saxonepicfragment,FinnsburhFragment,whichcontainsaboutsixty linesandmustbe, Isuspect,prior toBeowulfbecauseof thedirectnessofthelanguage.8

ThefablechosenbytheauthorofBeowulfdoesnotlenditselftopathos.Initwehavetwofeatsperformedbythesamehero.Thetwoareseparatedbyaninterval of fifty years, and there is no conflict in the poem. In other words,Beowulfalwaysfulfillshisdutyasabraveman,andthat’sall.Hediesbravely.The poem is full of pious pronouncements. Some are obviously pagan, forexample,whenitsaysthatitis“bettertoavengethanmournadeadfriend.”Thisis clearlypagan. Itbelongs toanerawhen revengewasnotonlya rightbutaduty—a man was obliged to avenge the death of his friend. So there is noconflict. The story ofHildeburh, on the other hand,which is interpolated intoBeowulf, contains conflict. This is the story. There is a princess in DenmarknamedHildeburh,andthere isdiscordbetweentheDanesandtheFrisians, thepeoplefromtheLowCountries.Andsoitisdecidedthataprincess,theprincessofDenmark,willmarry the king of the Frisians, so that through this alliancebetweenthetworoyalhouses,theconflictwillberesolved.Thispracticewassocommon thatoneof themetaphors for theprincessused in theSaxonpoemis“peace-weaver,” not because she was particularly peaceful but because sheservedtoweavepeacebetweenneighboring,rivalnations.HildeburhmarriesthekingoftheFrisiansandthenherbrothercomestovisither,arrivingatcourtwithsixtywarriors. They are received hospitably and given lodgings in rooms thatsurroundacentralhallwithtwodoors.Identical,let’ssay,toHrothgar’spalace.But at night, the Frisians attack. The Danes defend themselves and fight forseveraldays,duringwhichtheprincessofDenmark’sbrotherkillshisnephew.Finally, theFrisians realize that theyarenomatch for theDanes.BothAnglo-SaxonpoemsexpresstruesympathyfortheDanesandfortheGeats,thatis,fortheNorsemen. After a few days, when [the Frisians] realize that they can nolonger fight, that they are unable to defeat them [the Danes], they propose atruce,whichtheprincess’sbrotheraccepts.Hewaitsforthewintertobeoverto

set sail—because during the winter, the sea was obstructed by ice—then hereturnstohiscountry.Thereheassemblesaforcelargerthantheonewithsixtywarriorsthatpreviouslyaccompaniedhim.Hereturns,attackstheFrisians,killstheking,andcarrieshissister,theprincess,backwithhimtohiscountry.

Now,ifthispoemexistedinitsentirety—andwehavetoassumethatitoncedid—wewouldhavethepossibilityofatragicconflict,becausewewouldhavethestoryoftheprincesswhosesondiesbythehandofhisuncle.Inotherwords,thepoetwouldhavemoreopportunityforpathosthaninBeowulf,whichsimply recounts two brave feats, neither credible to us, against an ogre and adragon. In thenext classwearegoing to examine—andwecan examine it ingreat detail—the Finnsburh Fragment. We’ll leave out the beginning of thefragment,becauseI’vealreadytoldit.WewillstartfromthemomenttheDanesrealizethattheFrisianshaveforciblyenteredtheirroomsandaregoingtoattackthem,andwewillcontinueuntil theFrisians realize theyarenomatch for theDanes and that they have been defeated by them.We are going to analyze italmost line by line. There are about sixty lines. You will see how direct thelanguage is, so different from the pompous language of Beowulf. Maybe itsauthorwasamanofaction.In thecaseofBeowulf,ontheotherhand,wecanimagine the author as amonk, fromNorthumbria, in the north of England, areaderofVirgil,whosethimselfthetask,quiteaudaciousatthattime,towriteaGermanicepicpoem.Andthisbringsustoasmallproblem,whichisthis:whyis it that in the Germanic nations—and here I am thinking of Ulfilas, I amthinking of the Saxons, I am thinking later ofWycliff, and of England in thesixteenth century, of Luther—why were there translations of the Bible in theGermanicnationsbeforetheLatinnations?9

ThereisaGermanistofJewishorigin,Palgrave,whohadananswer,andthe answer is this: the Bible thatwas read in theMiddleAgeswas theLatinVulgateBible,thatis,itwasaLatintext.10Now,ifanyonewouldhavethoughtoftranslatingtheBibleintoProvençalorItalianorSpanish—theselanguagesaretoo similar to Latin for the translation not to run the risk of seeming like aparodyoftheoriginal.Ontheotherhand,theGermaniclanguagesaresototallydifferentfromLatinthatthetranslationcouldbeundertakenwithoutrunningthatrisk.WhatImeanis,intheMiddleAges,thosewhospokeProvençalorSpanishor Italian knew that they were speaking a language that was a variant or acorruption of Latin. So it would have seemed irreverent to go from Latin toProvençal. On the other hand, the Germanic languages were totally different.

[TranslationsoftheBible]thatwereundertakenforpeoplewhoknewnoLatindid not run any risks. Now, maybe we can apply this to Beowulf. Why wasBeowulf the first epic poem written in a vernacular language? Because thatvernacularlanguagewasprofoundlydifferentfromLatin,sothatnobodyreadingBeowulfcouldthinkthattheywerereadingaparodyoftheAeneid.Ontheotherhand,quitealotoftimehadtopassfortheRomance-languageminstrelstohavethecouragetotryepicpoetryintheirownlanguage.

Inthenextclass,then,wewilllookattheFinnsburhFragment,andatamuchlaterAnglo-Saxonepicpoem,andwiththatwe’llbringthefirstunittoanend.

CLASS4

THEFINNSBURHFRAGMENT."THEBATTLEOFBRUNANBURH."THE VIKINGS. ANECDOTES FROM BORGES'S TRIP TO YORK.TENNYSON'STRANSLATION.

FRIDAY,OCTOBER21,1966

Inthepreviousclass,wetalkedabouttheheroicFinnsburhFragment.Thisfragment was discovered at the beginning of the eighteenth century and waspublished by an antiquarian, who would now be called a scholar. Then themanuscriptwas lost. This fragment corresponds to part of a ballad sung by aminstrelinHrothgar’scourt,intheepicpoemBeowulf.1Ithinkinthepreviousclass I gave you a summary of the story of Princess Hildeburh of Denmark,whosebrother[Hrothgar]marrieshertothekingofFrisia,akingdomintheLowCountries,topreventawarbetweentheDanesandtheFrisians.Afterawhile—whichmusthavebeenconsiderable,becauselater,shealreadyhasagrownson—herbrothergoes tovisither,accompaniedbysixtywarriors.Theyaregivenlodgingsinachamberoffthecentralhall,whichhasdoorsonbothsides.Thenthepoembeginswiththeguardsseeingsomethingshining,aglowinthenight’sdarkness. And thenwe assume, based onwhat follows, that there are severalspeculationsaboutthereasonfortheglow.“‘Theeavesarenotburning,’saidtheking[Hrothgar],anoviceinbattle,‘norisdaydawning,norisadragonflyingtowardus,’”—suchanexplanationwaspossibleatthattime—“‘noraretheeavesofthishallburning:anattackisunderway.’”Andwecanseefromthepreviouslinesthattheglowtheyhaveseenistheglowofthemoon“shiningthroughtheclouds”andontotheshieldsandspearsoftheFrisianswhohavecometoattackthem,treacherously.

Thelanguageisextremelydirect,andI’dlikeyoutohearthefirst[lines],soyoucanhearagainthehardsoundsofOldEnglish,whichissomuchbettersuitedtoepicpoetrythanmodernEnglish;modernEnglishnolongerhasopen

vowels,andtheconsonantsoundsaren’tashard.“Hornasbyrnaðnaefre?”Hornasheremeans“eaves”;“byrnaðnaefre”is

“neverburn”or“arenotburning.”“Hleorrodeða,heaðogeongcyning” is:“theking,anoviceinbattle.”“Neðisnedagaðeastan,neherdraca...”––dracais“dragon”—“. . .ne fleogeð,neherðisseheallehornasnebyrnað,acher forðberað,”and then thekinghas somekindofvisionofwhat isgoing tohappennext.Heisnottalkingaboutthepresent.Hesays:“Thebirdsaresinging.”Thesearethebirdsofpreythatwillswoopdowntothebattlefield.Thenhesays,“thewoodofbattleresounds”—“guðwudu,”inotherwords,“thespear.”“Shieldwillanswersword,”andthenhespeaksofthemoonthatreflectsoffthearmoroftheattackers.Thenhe tellshiswarriors toawaken, torise, to thinkaboutcourage.Manyknightsadornedwithgold—withgoldembroideryon theircloaks—rise,strapontheirswords,drawthem,andadvanceuponthetwodoorstodefendthehallofFinn.

ThepoemistitledFinnsburh,“thecastleofFinn.”Thewordburhorburgis aword you know, and itmeans “castle” and has remained in the names ofmanycities:Edinburgh,“castleofEdin”;Strasbourg,Gothenburg—inthesouthofSweden—andtheCastiliancityofBurgos,whichisaVisigothname.Thenwehavewordslike“bourgeois,”someonewholivesinacity,and“bourgeoisie.”InFrench,itgaverisetothewordburgraves,thecountsofthecity(thenameofaplaybyHugo),aswellasotherwords.2

The poem, then, names the warriors who come to the defense of thestronghold.Andonenameinparticularstandsout:thisisHengest,andthepoemsays“Hengesthimself.”IthasbeensuggestedthatthisHengestisthesamewhowill later establish the first Germanic kingdom in England. This is plausiblebecauseHengestwasaJute.WesurelyrememberthatJutlandisthenameforthenorthernpartofDenmark.BeforebecomingthecaptainwhoestablishesthefirstGermanickingdominEngland,HengestcouldhavefoughtamongfellowDanes.Moreover,ifthisHengestwerenotthesameHengestwhobegantheconquestofEngland, I don’t see why the author would have mentioned him with suchemphasis in these verses. The poet was Anglo-Saxon, and the conquest ofEnglandtookplaceinthemiddleofthefifthcentury.Thepoemis,supposedly,from the endof the seventh century. (It couldbe earlier, for the style ismuchmoredirectandhasnoneofthoseLatinateinversionsandcomplicatedkennings—the kinds of metaphors in Beowulf.) So, an English audience would beinterestedinknowingthatthisprotagonistwasoneofthefoundersoftheSaxonkingdomsofEngland.

ThenthepoetturnshisattentiontothosewhoaretreacherouslyattackingtheDanes.AndamongthemisGarulf,sonofQueenHildeburhandthenephewofoneofthedefenders,atwhosehandshepossiblydies.Someonetellshimthathe is tooyoung, thatheshouldnotriskhis life in theattack, that therewillbemanywhowish to takehis lifebecausehe is theprince, thesonof thequeen.Butheisabraveyoungman,undauntedbythisadvice,andheasksforthenameofoneofthedefenders.(Now,thisbelongstoanaristocraticera.He,asaprince,wouldnot fight just anybody:he couldonly fight someoneof his same rank.)Thenthedefenderanswers:“Siegfriedismyname,IamprinceoftheSecgen”—alltracesofthistribehavebeenlost—“Iamafamousadventurer,Ihavefoughtmanyabattle,andnowfatewilldecidewhatyoushallgetfromme,orwhatImustawaitfromyou,”inotherwords,fatewilldecidewhowillwingloryandwho,death.

Thename“Sigeferð”means“victoriousspirit”anditisclearlytheSaxonformof thename“Siegfried,”made famousbyWagner’soperas, theonewhokillsthedragon(itsNorseequivalentwouldbe“Sigurd”intheVölsungasaga).3Thenthebattleisfoughtandthepoettellsusthattheshields,asGarulf,theson,foresaw,fallundertheblowsofthespears.Andmanyoftheattackingwarriorsfall, and the first to fall isGarulf, theyoungFrisian,whowas toldnot to riskfightinginthefrontlines.Thebattlecontinues,somewhatimplausibly,forfivedays,andmanyFrisians fall,butnoneof thedefendersdo.Thepoetgetsveryexcitedhereandsays, “Ihaveneverheard it said that sixtyvictorious fightersbore themselves better in a battle of men.” Here the phrase “battle of men”seemsredundant:allbattlesarebattlesofmen.But it reallygives thesentencemore power. And then we have this curious word, sigebeorna, “warriors ofvictory,”“menofvictory,”or“victoriouswarriors.”ThepoetalsosaysthatthehallofFinnsburhglowedwith theshimmeringof theswords,“as ifFinnsburhwereinflames.”IthinkthereisananalogousmetaphorintheIliad,comparingabattletoafire.Thecomparisonreferstotheglowofthearmsaswellasitsmoralstature.

PerhapsIdonotneed toremindyouthat inNorsemythology,Valhalla,Odin’sparadise,isilluminated,notwithcandlesbutwithswordsthatshinewiththeirownsupernaturalglow.Thenthe“protectorofthepeople”—asthekingoftheFrisiansiscalled—askshowthebattleisgoing.Theytellhimtheyhavelostmanymen and that one of the Frisians haswithdrawn, that his shield and hishelmethavebeendestroyed,andthenoneoftheyouths....Andhereendsthefragment, one of the oldest of all Germanic literature, definitely older than

Beowulf.Weknowtherestofthestoryfromothersources.Weknowthatatruceisdeclared,andayearlater,thekingoftheDanes,thebrotherofthequeen,isgiven permission to return toDenmark.He leaves after that year, then returnswithanexpedition,defeatstheFrisians,destroysthecastleofFinn,andfinallygoeshomewithhissister.Soherewehaveatragicconflict:aprincesshaslostherson,possiblybythehandofhisuncle,herbrother.Itisapitythatmoreofthispoemhasnotbeenpreserved,foritissorichinpatheticpossibility;butweshouldbegratefulforthesixty-oddlinesthathavebeenpreserved.

The twoAnglo-Saxonepicpoemswehave lookedatsofarhaveNorsesubjectmatter.Butthenthereisanother,muchlater,thattakesplaceinEngland.And it narrates feats of arms between theSaxons and theNorsemen.Becausearound the eighth century, England—already a Christian country—began tosuffer from the depredations of the Vikings. They came primarily fromDenmark. Some were also Norwegians, but they were all considered Danish.Andit isnotimpossible,actuallyit’squiteprobable,thatsomewereSwedes.IwouldliketopauseheretotalkabouttheVikings.

The Vikings were perhaps the most extraordinary of all the GermanicpeoplesoftheMiddleAges.Theywerethebestsailorsoftheirtime.Theyhadships,whichtheycalled“longships,”thathadadragon,theheadofadragon,ontheprow.Theyhadmasts,sails;andtheywerefittedwithrowsofoars.Itwassaidof oneof theNorwegiankings,Olaf, that hewas so agile he could jumpfromoartooarashesailedtheship.4ThemaritimeandbellicoseadventuresoftheVikingswereextraordinary.Tobeginwith,wehavetheconquestofnorthernandcentralEngland,where they foundeda regioncalledDanelaw,“the lawoftheDanes,” because that is whereDanish law ruled. That’s where the peoplesettled. They were farmers, and they were also warriors, and they ended upmingling with the Saxons and disappearing among them. But they left manywords in theEnglish language.Generally speaking, languages take nouns andadjectives from other languages. But English still has Norse pronouns. Forexample,theword“they”isaDanishword.TheSaxonssaidhi,butasEnglishhad “he,” the words were confused, and they ended up adopting the Danish“they.”5 The word “dream” is also Danish. In the dialect of the farmers ofYorkshire,thesiteofoneoftheprincipalDanishsettlements,manyNorsewordspersist.WhenIwasinYork,Ihadtheopportunitytospeakwiththeartcritic,SirHerbertRead,andhetoldmethatyearsbefore,aDanishorNorwegianship—Icannot remember which—was shipwrecked off the coast of Yorkshire.6

Naturally,thepeoplewholivedinthetownwenttohelptheshipwreckedsailors.Hespokewiththecaptain,whospokeEnglish,likealleducatedScandinavians—inDenmark,Sweden,andNorway,Englishis taught inprimaryschool—butthe sailors and the less educated people did not speak English, though theymanaged to communicate with the fishermen and farmers who came to help.And this is remarkable, ifweconsider thatat least tenorelevencenturieshadpassed.Nevertheless,therewerestillenoughremnantsoftheNorselanguageinEnglish for these common folks to understand each other. He said that aYorkshirefarmerwouldnotsay,“IamgoingtoYork,”butrather“I’mgoingtillYork,” and that “till” isNorse.We could offermultiple examples.But for thesakeofbrevity,here’sone:thedayoftheweek“Thursday,”whichinSaxonisthunresdæg, and contains the Norse name for Thor. But let’s return to theVikings.

TheVikingswere individual adventurers. This is one reason therewasneveraNorseempire.TheNorsemenhadnoconsciousnessofrace.Eachpersonpledgedloyaltytohistribeandhischief.TherewasamomentinEnglishhistorywhen therecouldhavebeenaNorseempire,whenCnutwaskingofEngland,Denmark,andNorway.7Buthehadnoconsciousnessofrace.HechoseSaxonsandDanes,indiscriminately,asgovernorsandministers.Thetruthis,theideaofempirewasaRoman idea,one totally foreign to theGermanicmind.But let’slook at what the Vikings did. They established kingdoms in England and inFrance, in thecountyofNormandy,whichmeans“men from thenorth.”Theysacked London and Paris. They could have remained in those cities, but theypreferredtodemandatributeandwithdraw.TheyestablishedaDanishkingdomin Ireland. It is believed that the city of Dublin was founded by them. Theydiscovered America—they settled on the east coast of America—and theydiscovered Greenland.8 This idea of calling it Greenland is almost like anauctioneer’s trick, becauseGreenland is a landof ice floes.But theynamed itGreenlandtoattractcolonists.ThentheyabandonedAmerica.Theycouldhavebeen the conquerors of America, but such a poor land, a land inhabited byEskimos and redskins, a land without precious metals—they never reachedMexico—held no interest for them. Then, to the south, they sacked cities inFrance, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, and even reached Constantinople. TheByzantine emperor of Constantinople had a guard of Scandinavian warriors.9TheyhadcomefromSweden,aftertraversingallofRussia.Ithasbeensaidthatthe first kingdom of Russia was founded by a Norseman named Rurik, from

whom the country derives its name.Viking graves have been found along thebanksoftheBlackSea.Theyalsoconqueredthosesmallislandstothenorthofthe British Isles, the Shetlands, the Orkneys.10 The inhabitants now speak adialectthatcontainsmanyNorsewords,andthereisacertainJarlwhoisspokenof,anearlofOrkney...“travelertoJerusalem,”theycalledhim.11Andtherewerealso reportsaboutanotherVikingwhosackedacity in Italy,erroneouslythinkingitwasRome,thenhesetitonfiretohavethehonorofbeingthefirstNorseman to set fire to Rome.12 It turned out to be a tiny port town of noimportance,buthehadhismomentofglory,hismilitaryjoy.Theyalsosackedcities inNorthAfrica. In theNorse language, there’s aword,Serkland, whichmeans “land of Saracens,” and that word refers indistinctly to Portugal,Morocco,andAlgeria—fortheMoorslivedthere.AllofthatwasthelandoftheSaracens.And farther south iswhat theNorsehistorians calledBlaland,“blueland,”“landofbluemen,”orratherNegroes,becausetheymixedthecolorsupalittle.Besidesoneword,sölr,whichmeans“yellowed”and isused todescribefallowfieldsandthesea,theyhavenocolors.Thesnowisoftenspokenof,buttheyneversaythesnowiswhite.Bloodisspokenof,buttheyneversayitisred.Theytalkaboutthefields,buttheyneversaytheyaregreen.Wedon’tknowifthis is the result of some kind of colorblindness or if it was simply a poeticconvention.TheHomericGreekssaid“thecolorofwine.”Butwedon’tknowwhatcolorwinewasfortheGreeks;theydon’ttalkaboutcolors,either.Ontheotherhand,Celticpoetry that iscontemporaneousorprior toGermanicpoetry,containsanabundanceofcolors—it’sfullofcolors.There,everytimeawomanismentioned,theyspeakaboutherwhitebody,herhairthecolorofgoldorfire,herredlips.Theyalsotalkaboutthegreenfields,andspecifythecolorsoffruits,etcetera.Inotherwords,theCeltslivedinavisualworld;theNorsedidnot.

Andnow,aswearediscussingepicpoetry,let’stakealookatsomemuchlater epic compositions that are still considered to be from the ninth century.Firstofall,wewill lookat theode, the“BattleofBrunanburh,”writtenat thebeginningofthetenthcentury.ItappearsintheAnglo-SaxonChronicle.13Thereare several versions, and those of youwho knowEnglish can look at a reallysplendid translation of it among the works of Tennyson. That is, it is readilyavailable.Tennysondid not knowAnglo-Saxon, but one of his sons studied aprimitive form of English and published a prose translation of the work in aspecialized magazine. This translation interested the father, to whom the sonsurelyexplainedtherulesofAnglo-Saxonmeter.Hewastoldthatitwasbased

on alliteration, not rhyme, and that the number of syllables in each line wasirregular,soTennyson,apoetwhowasquitehookedonVirgil,triedforonceinhis life, andwith unquestionable success, this experiment that had never beentried in any language,whichwas towrite inmodernEnglish an almost literaltranslationofanAnglo-Saxonpoem,andusingAnglo-Saxonmeter.14Thetruthis, Tennyson stretches the rules of this meter slightly. For example, there aremore alliterations and one better alliteration inTennyson’s version than in theoriginal poem. In any case, his version deserves to be read. In any edition ofTennyson’spoemsyouwill find the“BattleofBrunanburh.”15Andbeforewetalk about thisode,we should talk about thebattle.According to thepoem, itwasoneofthelongestandbloodiestwagedinEnglandduringtheMiddleAges,foritbeganatdawnandlastedtheentiredayuntildusk,whichisverylongforabattleintheMiddleAges.16ThinkofourfamousbattleofJunín,whichlastedthree-quartersofanhour;notasingleshotwasfired,and theentirebattlewaswagedwithsabersandspears.17WecanseethatawholedayforabattleintheMiddleAgesmeantitwasverylong,analogoustothelongbattlesoftheCivilWar in theUnitedStates, thebloodiestof thenineteenthcentury, and the longbattlesoftheFirstandSecondWorldWars.

The circumstances of the battle are quite curious. There is an alliance,whichwouldat firsthaveseemed invincible,betweenConstantine, thekingofScotland—Scotlandwas an independent kingdomat the time—andhis son-in-lawOlaf—in this poem he is calledAnlaf—theDanish king ofDublin. Theyfought against the Saxons of Wessex. (Wessex means “land of the westernSaxons.”)AlsofightingwerefiveBritish—inotherwords,Celtic—kings.Sowehave this coalitionofScots,Norsemen from Ireland, andBritishkings againsttheSaxonkingAthelstan,whichmeans“noblestone,”andoneofhisbrothers.There is one detail that has never been explained. According to all thechronicles, theDanish king ofDublin leavesDublin to invadeEngland.Whatonewould naturally expect is for him to cross theNorthChannel and land inEngland.Forunknownreasons, though—perhapshewashoping fora surpriseattack—hetookhisships—fivehundred,eachcarryingonehundredwarriors—all thewayaround thenorthofScotlandand landed inaplace,whichhasnotbeenwell identified,ontheeastcoastofEngland,notonthewestcoastaswewouldexpect.TherehejoinedforceswiththeScotsofConstantineandwiththelastBritishkings,whocamefromWales.Andthustheymadeupaformidablearmy.ThenKingAthelstanandhisbrotherEdmundadvancefromthesouthto

meetthem.Thetwoarmiesmeet,confronteachother,anddecidetowaittillthefollowing day to begin the battle—battles in those days were a little liketournaments.KingAnlafdevisedaplan todiscover the locationand layoutoftheSaxoncamp.Hedressedupasaminstrel,tookaharp—clearlyheknewhowtoplaytheharpandsing—andpresentedhimselfinthecourtoftheSaxonking.Thetwolanguages,asIhavesaid,weresimilar.Moreover,asIhavealsosaid,atthattime,warswerenotseenasbeingwagedbetweenonepeopleandanother,but rather between one king and another, hence the appearance of a Danishminstrelwouldnothavealarmedorsurprisedanybody.TheyleadtheminstreltoKingAthelstan,hesingsinDanish,thekingenjoyslistening,thenhegiveshim,possiblytossesathim,somecoins.Theminstrel,whohasobservedthelayoutoftheSaxoncamp, leaves.Andheresomethinghappens that isnotmentioned intheChronicle, but which is not difficult to imagine. King Anlaf has receivedsomecoins.TheyhavebeengiventohimbytheSaxonking,whomheplanstokill, or in any case, defeat, the following day. He might be thinking severalthings.Hemight be thinking—and this is themost probable—that these coinswillbringhimbadluckin thebattlehewillwagethefollowingday.Buthe isprobablyalsothinkingthatitisnotrighttoacceptmoneyfromamanhemeanstofight.Now,ifhethrowsthecoinsaway,theycanbefound,andhistrickmightbediscovered.Sohedecidestoburythem.ButamongtheSaxonking’smenwasonewhohadfoughtunderAnlaf,andhehassuspicionsabouttheidentityofthephonyminstrel.Hefollowshim,seeshimburyingthecoins,andhissuspicionsare thereby confirmed. So he goes back and tells the king, the Saxon: “ThatminstrelwhowassinginghereisreallyAnlaf,kingofDublin.”18Andthekingsays, “Why didn’t you tell me before?” And the soldier, obviously a noblepersonage,says,“King, Ihavesworn loyalty toyou.WhatwouldyouthinkofmyloyaltyifIbetrayedamanIhadswornloyaltytointhepast?Butmyadviceis thatyourearrangeyourcamp.”So thekingheeds thesoldier, rearrangeshiscamp,and in the spotheoccupiedpreviously—this is somewhatperfidiousonthepartoftheSaxonking—heleavesabishopwhohasarrivedwithhispeople.Before dawn, the Scots, Danes, and Britons attempt a surprise attack, dulykillingthebishop,andthenthebattleiswagedandlastsalldayandisrecountedin“BattleofBrunanburh.”Now,thisbattlewasrecountedbythegreatIcelandicpoetaswell,theVikingpoetEgilSkallagrímsson,whofoughtwiththeSaxonsagainsthisNorsebrothers.Andinthatbattle,oneofEgil’sbrothersdiedwhilefightingalongsidehim;Egil celebrated theSaxonvictory afterward in apoem

that is famous in the history of Old Norse literature.19 And that poem, thatpanegyric to theking, includesanelegy tohisbrother. It is a strangepoem:apanegyric, a poemof victory, that includes a sad elegy about the death of hisbrotherwhofellnexttohiminbattle.

But letus return to thepoem.Wedon’tknowwhowrote it.Probablyamonk.Thisman,althoughwritingatthebeginningofthetenthcentury,hadhisheadfullofallthepreviousSaxonepicpoetry.WefindasentencefromBeowulfburiedinthepoem.Hetalks,forexample,offiveyoungkingsputtosleepwithasword.Itisoneofthefewmomentsoftendernessinthepoem,howhespeaksabout those young kings. . . . Onewould expect, in a poem composed in theMiddle Ages, expressions of gratitude to God, that it would thank God forhavingbestowedvictoryontheSaxonsratherthantheenemy.Butthepoetsaysnothing of the sort; the poet extols the glory of the king and his brother, “thelongglory,”“longMars,”thepoemsaysliterally,“ealdorlangnetyr.”(Thewordtyrwouldbe equivalent to the classical godMars,which alsomeans “glory.”)“Theywon by the edge of their sword near Brunanburh”—“sweorda ecgum,”“bytheedgeofthesword.”Thenthepoemsaysthattheyfoughtthewholedaylong,“Fromthemomentthesun”—“mæretungol,”“thatfamousstar,”hecallsit—“slid over the fields till the glorious creature sank into theWest.” Then hedescribesthebattle,andthepoetclearlyfeelshappyatthedefeatofhisenemies.HespeaksabouttheastuteScottishtraitor,Constantine,whohadtoreturntohislandinthenorthandhadnoreasontoboastaboutthemeetingofthespears,therustlingofthestandards. . . .Heusesalotofmetaphorstodescribethebattle.But first he talks aboutAnlaf.He says thatAnlafhad to flee inhis boats andseekrefugeinDublin,accompaniedbyafewmenwhohadbarelyescapedwiththeirlives.AndhesaysthattheSaxonsspentalldaychasingtheenemiestheyhated.ThereisonementionofGodinthepoem,onlyone,andthisiswhenhecalls the sun the“brightcandleofGod,”“godescondelbeorht.” It is theonlymentionofthedivinity.Thepoem,thoughclearlywrittenbyaChristian—weareat the beginning of the tenth century—is infused with the ancient Germanicheroicspirit.Afterdescribingthebattle,thepoetpauseswithobviousdelightatthe crow,withhis beak “ashard as a horn,” that eats, devours, the corpsesofmen.Andhealso talksabout“thatgreybeast in theforest,”aboutwolves thateat the corpses.All of thiswith a kindof joy.Andwhenhe speaks about theDanesreturningtoDublin,hesaysthattheyreturninshame,becausedefeatwasconsidered a disgrace, especially when accompanied by flight. Anlaf andConstantine,accordingtotheGermanicethic,shouldhavemadesuretheydied

inthebattletheylost.Itwasdisgracefulthattheyweresaved,thattheycameoutofitalive.Afterthat,thepoettellsusaboutthekingandtheprince.HesaysthattheyreturnedonhorsebacktoWessex,“eachinhisglory.”20Andafterthisverseof exaltation, something happens that is also peculiar in the Middle Ages,becauseweneedtorememberthatthepeopleatthattime,liketheIndiansinthePampas here, wouldn’t have had much historical consciousness. This poet,however,whowasobviouslyaneducatedman—hehadalltheancientmetaphorsathisfingertips,aswellasall therulesofGermanicverse—hesaysthatneverhadsuchagreatbattlebeenwagedonthisisland,England,notsincetheSaxonsandtheAnglos,“proudwar-smiths”(hesaysthisasifwarwereatool,anirontool),cametotheseislandsmotivatedby—andhereTennysontranslated“bythehungerofglory.”Andhetellsusthat“overthebroadbillowbrokeintoBritainwithhaughtywar-workers.”

Inotherwords,thispoetfromthetenthcentury,fromthebeginningofthetenthcentury,isrecallingtheGermanicconquestofEnglandwhichoccurredinthe fifth century; he connects hismemory of this present victory,whichmusthavebeenverymovingfortheSaxons—foritwasmorecommonfortheNorseto defeat them, and rare for them to be the victors—he linked it to the oftensecularvictoriesenjoyedbythefirstGermanicpeopleswhoarrivedinEngland.

InthenextclasswewilllookatanotherAnglo-Saxonepicpoem,onethatcommemorates aNorwegian victory over theAnglo-Saxons, not a defeat.Wewill then talk aboutChristianpoetryproper, that is, poetrybasedon theBibleandonChristiansentiment.

CLASS5

"THEBATTLEOFMALDON." CHRISTIAN POETRY. "CAEDMON'SHYMN." THE RUNIC ALPHABET. CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGLO-SAXONELEGIES

MONDAY,OCTOBER24,1966

Duringthelastdecadeofthetenthcentury,aneventtookplaceinEnglandthat had only relative military importance, but it had great relevance for thehistory of English literature, for out of it came the ballad of “The Battle ofMaldon,”whichtellsofadefeatratherthanavictory.Onecouldsaythatdefeatsarebetterthanvictoriesforpoetry.Letusconsider,asoneexample,thefamousChansondeRoland,oneofthegreatpoemsofFrenchliterature,whosesubject,as youwell know,was a defeat of the rearguard ofCharlemagne’s army by agroupofBasquemountaindwellers,whofigureasSaracensinthepoem.

In The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, written by the monks of severalmonasteries, one can read that in the last decade of the tenth century—inapproximatelytheyear990,Idonotremembertheexactdate—OlafTryggvasonlandedontheeastcoastofEnglandandwenttofindByrhtnoth,theearlofthetown.1TheVikingsdemandedthathepay thema tribute.So,whatdidhedo?Herefusedtopaythetribute.Thisallhappenedalongthebanksofariverthatistoday called Blackwater. Combat ensued between the Vikings, who were theleadingwarriors and sailors of the era, and a small group ofmilitiamen. TheSaxonmilitiamenweredefeatedbytheVikings,andsoonthereafter,thekingofEngland,whowasnamedÆthelred,andlaternicknamed“theUnready,”agreedtopaytheDanesanannualtribute,andthegovernmentcontinuedtocollectitforalongtimeafterthethreatofVikinginvasionshadalreadypassed.2

Itappearsthatthepoetwitnessedthebattlefirsthand,probablyasoneofthecombatants.Thiscanbededucedbytheabundanceofspecificdetails.IntheMiddleAges,circumstantialdetailswereneverinvented.Now,theyareusedby

allandanynovelist,andanyjournalist.Atthattime,peoplethoughtdifferently;theythoughtplatonically,allegorically.Theabundanceofcircumstantialdetailsin“TheBattleofMaldon”isproofofitsauthenticity—orrather,nobodywouldhavethoughttoinventthem.TheballadhaspreservedseveralfeaturesofancientSaxonepicpoetry.Forexample,thecharacterstalktoomuch—theymakelittlespeechesthataresomewhatimplausibleinthemiddleofabattle.

Also preserved are certain formulas from ancient epic poetry, formulaswealreadysawin“Finnsburh”andinBeowulf.Ingeneral,thelanguageisoraland colloquial and, evenmore important,we feel that everything recounted intheballadistrue.Thingscouldnothavehappenedinanyotherway,unlessweimaginetherewasatthetimeabrilliantandanonymousnovelist.Butingeneralitisassumed,andcanbefeltthroughoutthestoryoftheballad,thatthingshadtohavehappenedthatway,oratleastthatishowtheywererecountedafterwardamong the people. There is a French anthology published by Aubier thatcontains a map of the battle. And with this map we can follow the variousalternativesofthebattle,orratherthecombat.Theword“battle”istoobigforMaldon.

Unfortunately,thepoemisonlyafragment.Wedon’tknowhowthepoetstartedorhowheended,butmostprobablyhebeganbysaying,“Iwill tellofwhathappenedinMaldon”ormaybe“Iwasthere,”orsomethingofthesort.Thefragmentbeginswiththewords“brocenwurde,”“wasbroken.”Andwe’llneverknowwhatwasbroken.Wedon’tknow if it refers to a siegeor themenwhoremainedthere.Thenthenarrationbegins,butwedon’tknowwhothesubjectis.Weimagineittobetheearl,becauseheordershismentofallout,tospurtheirhorseson,towhiptheirhorsessotheywilladvance.Heisobviouslyspeakingtoa group of warriors, who were probably peasants, fishermen, woodsmen, andamongthemaretheearl’sguards.Thentheearltellsthemtoformaline.Faroff,theywill see the tall boats of theVikings, those boatswith the dragonon theprowandthestripedsails,andtheNorwegianVikings,whohavealreadylanded.Thenthereappearsinthescene—becausethispoemisverybeautiful—ayoungman,whom,weare told, isoffanmæg, “of the familyofOffa.”Now, asOffawasthekingofoneofthosesmallEnglishkingdoms,wesuspectthismightnotmean Offa himself, but rather that the man was from that kingdom. TheKingdom ofMercia, I think it was.And this youngman is, aswe can see, ayoungaristocratpassingthrough;heisnotthinkingaboutwarbecausehehasafalcononhisfist;thatis,heisdoingwhatiscalledfalconry.Butwhentheearlissues these orders, the young man understands that the lord will not abide

cowardice, and he joins the battle.And something happens, something that isrealistic and has symbolic value, something amovie director would use now.Theyoungmanrealizesthatthesituationisserious,soheletshisbelovedfalcon(theepitaph“beloved”isveryrareinthisironpoetryoftheSaxons)flyoffintotheforest,andhejoinsthebattle.Thetextsays:“Helethisbelovedfalconflyfromhisfisttotheforest,andheenteredthebattle”:

helethimþaofhandonleofnefleoganhafocwiðþæsholtesandtoþærehildestop

And the poet adds that whosoever saw him act in this way would haveimmediately understood that hewould not hesitate at thatmoment to take uparms. In fact, the young man is later killed. And here we can see severalsymbols,butunintentionalones,ofcourse.Wemight think that thefalcon isasymbol of the young man’s life. And we might also think that releasing thehuntingfalconandenteringthebattlesymbolizesatransitionfromoneformoflifetoanother.Theyoungmanceasestobeayoungcourtesanandturnsintoawarriorwhoiswillingtodie,notforhisnation—fortheconcept