The Phoenix

131 Pages·3.761 MB·English

by  Norman Francis Blake

THE PHOENIX
PR
1750
.A2
B52x Edited by
1990
N.BLAKE
Illustrations of the phoenix from Bestiaries
Above MS. C.C.C.C. 53fo\. 200b: left the phoenix in a ball of spices
looks at the sun; right the phoenix lies dead in the ball, and a little
winged dmgon which will become the new phoenix fliesaway.
Below MS. Royal 12CXIX fo\. 49b: left the phoenix plucks twigs
from a tree; right the phoenix isimmolated on an altar.
P'~
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The Phoenix
Edited by
N. F. BLAKE
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER PRESS
WESTERNMICHIGAN UNIVERSITYliBRARIES
KAlAMAZOO, MICHIGAN 49008
PREFACE
BEOAUSEof high printing costs, modem editions of Old
English texts can never be lIBcomprehensive lIBtheir
editors would wish. Consequently in this edition of The
Phoenix I have attempted to provide students and scholars
with a sound text together with such comment lIBis neces-
sary for an understanding ofthe poem and its background.
It hllBnot, however, been possible to reproduce all the
theories which have been put forward about the poem
and particular passages in it. Similarly it hllBbeen im.
possible to include complete references in the glossaries.
Nevertheless I have decided to add in appendioes the two
Latin sources of the Old English poem and the prose
versions of the phoenix story in Old English and Old
Icelandic so that the poem can be placed in its West
European background and so that the poet's achievement
can be more readily evaluated by a comparison of the
various accounts, which are here gathered together in one
book for the first time.
I should like to thank the Librarian of Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge, for permission to reprint the illustra-
tion from MS. C.C.C.C.53 fol. 200b; the Trustees of the
British Museum for permission to reprint the illustration
from MS. Royal 12 C XIX fol. 49b; HlHder-Pichler.
Tempsky Verlagsbuchhandlung, Vienna, for permission to
reprint the pllB88ge from Ambrose's Hexameron from
Corpu8 8criprorum EcdesiaBticorum Latinorum, vol. 32,
pars I (1896),pp. 197.8; B.G.Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft,
Leipzig, forpermission to reprint the Carmende avephoenics
from A. Riese's Anthologia Latina, pars prior (1906),
No. 485a. The texts of the Old English and Old Icelandic
f'1"'>BC versions are based on manuscripts in the British
Museum and Det Amamagn"",nske Institut, Copenhagen,
respectively and I should like to thank these institutions
for putting these manuscripts at my disposaJ. The text
of The Phoenix is based on the facsimile edition of The
Exeter Book (1933). I should like to thank the Librarian
••
vi PREFAOB
ofthe Societyof Antiquaries of London for permissionto
see the Douce bequest. I have also had the privilege of
workingin severalother librariesin the courseofthe pre-
paration of this book, but I should particularly like to
thank the staff of the Harold CohenLibrary in the Uni-
versity ofLiverpoolfor answeringmy queriesand carrying
out myrequests sopromptly and courteously.
I am greatly indebted to many of my colleagues in
Liverpoolwhohave willinglyhelpedmewith many details
of the phoenix myth, such as the Egyptian and Greek
accounte. Their assistance made my task easier and I
thank them for it. I should like to extend my warmest
thanks to Professor Simeon Potter who has followedthe
progress of the edition with interest and who has made
comments and suggestions at all stages. The edition owes
much to his kindly help and penetrating criticism. Pro-
fessorBrooklikewiseread through the typescript and the
proofs,andhehassuggestedmanyimprovements. I should
like to thank him not only for that, but also for all the
advice he has offered me in his rOleof general editor.
Finally I should like to thank MissM.Burton for typing
out mydraft copysoaccurately.
N. BLAKII
Liverpool,1963
ADDITIONAL PREFACE
I am gratefulto Professor Swanton for agreeingto reprint
thiseditioninthe ExeterSeries.Afewmisprintshavebeen
corrected, and the bibliography has been brought up to
date.Theadditionalitemshavebeenlistedtogetherandnot
broken downinto separatecategories.In factmostofwhat
has been written on the poem sincethis edition was first
published has been of a literary critical nature. Conse-
quently there is not much in the text or the commentary
that I would wish to alter, though naturally the mtro-
ductionwouldtoday besomewhatdifferent.
N. BLAKE
Sheffield,1990
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE V
ABBREVIATIONS viii
INTRODUCTION I
The Manuscript I
Language 3
The Development of the Phoenix Story 8
Paradise 13
Sources, Authorship and Date 17
The Form 24
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 36
ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 43
TEXT
ThePhoenix 4~
NOTES 68
ApPENDICES
I (a) Carmen deavephoenice 92
(b) Ambrose's Hexameron Bk. V,ch. 79·80 96
II (a) The Prose Phoenix 98
(b) An Old Norse Version of TheProse
Phoenix 100
GLOSSARIES
Old English 104
Latin 125
Illustrations of the phoenix from Bestiaries Frontispiece
vii
ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anglla BeiblaU
Bonner Beilrage zur AngliBtik
BBA
Beitrage zur GtlJChiChte der deul8Chen
Beilr.
8praChe und Lilera/ur, edited by H. Paul
and W. Braune
N. F. Blake, 'Some Problems of Inter-
Blake
pretation and Translation in the OE
Phooni2:', Anglla, lxxx (1962),50-62
Bright J. W. Bright, AnA nglo-8axon Reader.
New York, 1891
BT An Anglo-8axon Dictionary based on the
manuscript collections ofthe late J. Bos-
worth, edited and enlarged by T. N.
Toller. With Supplement by T. N.
Toller. Oxford,1898-1921
Campbell A.Campbell, Old English Grammar. Ox-
ford,1959
Carmen Carmen deave phoenice (Appendix I (a))
Cook A. S.Cook, TheOldEngliskElene, Phoenix,
and Physiologus. New Haven, 1919
EETS Early English Text Society
Emerson O. F. Emerson, 'Originality in Old Eng.
lish Poetry', RE8, ii (1926),18-31
Ettmfiller L.Ettmfiller, Engla and 8eaxna 8c8pas and
B&eras. Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1850
Fitzpatrick M.C.Fitzpatrick, Lactami deavephoonice.
DiBS.Philadelphia, 1933
Gollancz I. Gallancz, The Exeter Book, part 1.
EETS Original Series 104. London, 1895
C.W. M.Grein, Bibliothek derangelsiichsi·
Grein
sChen POtIJie,vol. I. Gottingen, 1857
viii
ABB1UllVlATIONS ix
Grundtvig N. F. S. Grundtvig, Phenix-Fnglen, et
angelBacll8i8kKvad. Copenhagen,1840
Hall J. L. Hall, Juditk, P"-oix, and other
Anglo-Saxon Poema. NewYork, 1902
JEGP JO1trnaolfEnglishandGermanicPhilology
Kennedy C. W. Kennedy, The Poemaof Cynewulf.
London, 1910 .
Krapp-Dobbie The Exeter Book, edited by G. P. Krapp
and E. v. K. Dobbie. NewYork, 1936
MHG MiddleHighGerman
MLN Modern Language N 01e8
NQ N01e8 and Queriea
OE OldEnglish
OED The OxfordEnglish Didionary
OHG OldHigh German
ON OldNorse
OrosiuB King Alfred's OrOBius,part I, edited by
H. Sweet. EETS Original Series 79.
London, 1883
Pat. Gr. PatrologiaGrmca,edited by J.-P. Migne
Pat. Lat. PatrologiaLatina, edited by J.-P. Migne
PMLA Publications of theModern Language As-
sociationofAmerica
PP The PrOBePhoenix (AppendixII (a))
RES Reviewof English Studiea
Schlemilch W.Schlemilch,'Beitrage zurSpracheund
Orthographie spiltaltengl. Sprachdenk-
mliJer der tJbergangszeit (1000-1150)',
Stud., xxxiv (1914)
Schlotterose O. Schlotterose, 'Die altenglische Dich-
tung "Phoenix"', BBA, xxv (1908)
Sievers-Brunner Altenglische Grammatik nach der Angel-
sach.sischenGrammatik von E. Sievers, re-
visedbyK.Brunner. 2ndedition. Halle,
1951
" ABBBBVIA.TIONS
Stud. Studien zur engliscJ>enPhilologie, ed. L.
Mor.bach, Halle
Sweet H. Sweet, An Anglo.Saxon Reader. 0,,·
ford, 1876
Thorpe B. Thorpe, Codex ExonienlliB. London,
1842
INTRODUCTION
THEMANUSCRIPT
THEOld English poem The Phoenix is found in the poetic
codex known as the Exeter Book, which is now in the
library of Exeter Cathedral. It has been there at least
sinee 1072, for a book described as .;. mycel Englise bOe be
gehwilcum jJingum on liolYwiBan geworht, which is usually
understood to refer to the Exeter Book, is found listed
among the donations of Bishop Leofric. This Leofric
became Bishop of Devon and Cornwall in 1046. He was
confirmed in his bishopric by William the Conqueror and
he died in 1072,about which time the list of his donations
was made.
Afacsimile ofthe Exeter Book together with an account
of its history and palaeography was edited in 1933 by
R. W. Chambers, M. Forster and R. Flower, where a full
description of the codex can be found. The Phoenix is
written on folios 55b-65b. The handwriting is clearly
legible and reading the text presents no difficulty. Only a
few points about the manuscript which concern the text
printed here need be mentioned. Accents are used in the
codex, but they have not been retained in the text.' The
few abbreviations that occur, e.g. Jxiii (panne 31) and
wundro (wundrum 63), have been expanded silently. The
ampersand has been expanded to and, as a plus nasal is
represented by 0in the Exeter Book. The characters 5 and
wynn have been modernised to g and w respectively.
Compound words, the elements of which are often written
separately in the manuscript, arewritten 88 one word in the
text. The scribe has divided the poem into eight sections
(1-84, 85-181, 182-264, 265-349, 350-423, 424-517, 518·88
and 589-677)by the use of capital letters at the beginning
of each section. This division into sections has not, how.
ever, been retained in this edition. It might also be noted
1Alist of theaemay be found in Krapp-Dobbie. pp. lxxxii ft.
I