The Complete Old English Poems PDF
Preview The Complete Old English Poems
THE COMPLETE OLD ENGLISH POEMS THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor Edward Peters, Founding Editor A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher. THE COMPLETE OLD ENGLISH POEMS Translated by CRAIG WILLIAMSON With an introduction by TOM SHIPPEY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS PHILADELPHIA Copyright © 2017 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 www.upenn.edu/pennpress Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Williamson, Craig, translator. | Shippey, T. A., writer of introduction. | Container of (expression): Alfred, King of England, 849–899. Old English version of Boethius De consolatione philosophiae. English (Williamson) Title: The complete Old English poems / translated by Craig Williamson ; with an introduction by Tom Shippey. Other titles: Container of (expression): Caedmon manuscript. English (Williamson) | Container of (expression): Exeter book. English. | Container of (expression): Vercelli book. English. | Container of (expression): Beowulf. English (Williamson) | Container of (expression): Judith (Anglo-Saxon poem). English (Williamson) | Middle Ages series. Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2017] | Series: The Middle Ages series Identifiers: LCCN 2016048011 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4847-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: English poetry—Old English, ca. 450–1100—Translations into English. | Epic poetry, English (Old)—Translations into English. | Didactic poetry, English (Old)—Translations into English. | Riddles, English (Old)—Translations into English. Classification: LCC PR1508 .C47 2017 | DDC 829/.1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016048011 Wilt þu, fus hæle, fremdne monnan, wisne woðboran wordum gretan, fricgan felageongne ymb forðgesceaft, biddan þe gesecge sidra gesceafta cræftas cyndelice cwichrerende, þa þe dogra gehwam þurh dom godes bringe wundra fela wera cneorissum? Are you willing to trade talk with a stranger, Give a seer or singer, poet or prophet, A greeting, a welcome with wise words, Question the far-traveler about creation, Its natural power, its bodying forth Into everyday wonder through God’s grace, Its life-quickening capacity and clout, Its marvelous moving among men? —from The Order of the World DEDICATION POEM WEAVING WISDOM Are you willing to trade talk with a stranger, Unwrap riddles, mix words with the wise, Wonder how and why each element Of creation quickens from cell to star, Each song shapes from Beowulf to blessing, Each primrose or prayer begins to bloom? Each day through dom—through judgment, Through honor or ordinance, majesty or meaning, Some mystery offers itself up for unraveling To those who can thread thoughts and hear The shuttle singing, click and clack, Across the web, across the centuries. And you, wanderer of landscape or light, Can you read runes, sift evidence, Draw conclusions or a straight line, Craft arguments in prose or a pot in clay, Chart the universe, charm the moment With child’s play? Here’s an Anglo-Saxon proverb: A wise man or woman never wearies Of asking questions about creation, Never tires of digging up ideas and artifacts, Never says, “No,” to the dirt of history Or the mind mucking back through memory, Rooting about for tribal glory or plain truth. So that by repeating, rehearsing, revising, We take the cunning wonder of the world And weave it into a nest of numbers, A house of hypotheses, a web of words. The Anglo-Saxon poet says, Leorna ðas lare— Learn this lore. So scholars wrote riddles, Teasing the wits of would-be solvers, Celebrating the mystery of moon and mailcoat, Warhorn and harrow, piss and plow, Weathercock, wine-cup, web and loom. And across the bridge of language that lifts Over the river of years, here is my riddle: What shapes us all from morning to meandering, From ancient galaxies to ribonucleic acid, From certainty to serendipity, dawn to doom, galaxies to ribonucleic acid, From certainty to serendipity, dawn to doom, From quarks to quasars, from proofs to passions, From kisses to calibrations, love to longevity, From warriors to websongs, high art to half-lives, From the flowers of heaven to the fields of Einstein? Let each student who loves a mystery, Either as a shaman or as a detective, Inquire after the wonders of creation, The order of the world, inscribe in her book Or his understanding the searorun, The secret skill or inwrought power, Of each elemental thing, each nascent thought, Each truth-song inscribed in number or narrative. Be bold to question, quick to doubt, Eager to imagine, proud of precision, Humble at the end of a proof or poem. Give thanks that some part of this grand, Unabating, intimate mystery remains Unknown, whether you want to call it A unified field, a world-wide web, Or a shuttle singing through the loom of time. —Craig Williamson CONTENTS Introduction by Tom Shippey Note on the Texts, Titles, and Organization of the Poems List of Abbreviations On Translating Old English Poetry THE JUNIUS MANUSCRIPT Introduction Genesis (A and B) Exodus Daniel Christ and Satan THE VERCELLI BOOK Introduction Andreas: Andrew in the Country of the Cannibals The Fates of the Apostles Soul and Body I Homiletic Fragment I: On Human Deceit The Dream of the Rood Elene: Helena’s Discovery of the True Cross THE EXETER BOOK Introduction Christ I: Advent Lyrics Christ II: The Ascension Christ III: Judgment Guthlac A
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