In presenting to the public the following translations of the Old
English (Anglo-Saxon) poems, ELENE, JUDITH, ATHELSTAN, BYRHTNOTH, and
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD, it is desirable to prefix a brief account of them
for the information of the general reader.
I. The ELENE, or Helena, is a poem on the expedition of the Empress
Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, to
Palestine in search of the true cross, and its successful issue. The
mediæval legend of the Finding of the Cross is given in the _Acta
Sanctorum_ under date of May 4, assigned by the Church to the
commemoration of St. Helena's marvellous discovery. The Latin work is
the Life of St. Quiriacus, or Cyriacus, Bishop of Jerusalem, that is,
the Judas of the poem. It has been usually thought that the Old English
poet used this Life as his source; but Glöde, in a recent volume of
_Anglia_ (IX. 271 ff.), has given reasons for thinking that the poet
used some other Latin text. He rejects ten Brink's conjecture that the
legend of Elene had come to England in a Greek form. As to the author of
the poem, we know his name, but very little else about him. He has left
us his name, imbedded in runic letters as an acrostic, in the last canto
of the poem, q.v. These letters spell the word CYNEWULF; but who was
Cynewulf? The question is hard to answer, and has given rise to much
discussion, which cannot be gone into here. A good summary of it will be
found in Wülker's _Grundriss zur Geschichte der Angelsächsischen
Litteratur_ (p. 147 ff., 1885), an indispensable work for students of
Old English literature. The old view, propounded in the infancy of
Anglo-Saxon studies, and held by Kemble, Thorpe, and, doubtfully,
Wright, that he was the Abbot of Peterborough and Bishop of Winchester
(992-1008), has been abandoned by all scholars, so far as I know, except
Professor Earle of Oxford (see his "Anglo-Saxon Literature," p. 228).
The later view of Leo, Dietrich, Grein and Rieger, our chief
authorities, that he was a Northumbrian, and of Dietrich and Grein, that
he was Bishop of Lindisfarne (737-780), has more to be said for it.
Sweet and ten Brink also hold that he was a Northumbrian of the eighth
century, but not the Bishop of Lindisfarne, while Wülker regards him as
a West-Saxon. Professor Henry Morley, in the current edition of his
"English Writers," has devoted a chapter (Vol. II. Chap. IX., 1888) to
Cynewulf, and virtually concludes that we know nothing about him except
that he was a poet and probably lived in the eighth century. We shall
not go far wrong in regarding him as a Northumbrian poet of the eighth
century, possibly the Bishop of Lindisfarne, even though his works
remain to us only in the West-Saxon dialect. As in the ELENE, so in the
CHRIST and the JULIANA, Cynewulf has left us his name, hence all agree
in ascribing to him these poems at least. To these some of the RIDDLES,
if not all, are usually added, but this is now contested. Other poems,
as the GUTHLAC, PHOENIX, CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL, ANDREAS, DREAM OF
THE ROOD, and several other shorter poems, have been ascribed to him
with more or less probability, and very recently Sarrazin (in _Anglia_,
IX. 515 ff.) would credit him with the authorship of even the
BÉOWULF(!). We might as well assign to him, as has been suggested, all
the poems in the two great manuscripts, the Exeter Book and the Vercelli
Book, and be done with it. It is desirable that his authorship of the
DREAM OF THE ROOD, which ten Brink and Sweet assign to him, but Wülker
rejects, should be proved or disproved; for with this is connected the
question of his Northumbrian origin, and some lines from this poem have
been inscribed in the Northumbrian dialect on the Ruthwell Cross in
Dumfriesshire.
However it may be, a poet named Cynewulf wrote the ELENE, and thereby
left us one of the finest Old English poems that time has preserved, on
a subject that was of great interest to Christian Europe. A collection
of "Legends of the Holy Rood" has been issued by the Early English Text
Society (ed. Morris, 1871), from the Anglo-Saxon period to Caxton's
translation of the _Legenda Aurea_; but they are arranged without
system, and no study has been made of the date and relation of the
several forms of the story. If Cynewulf made use of the Latin Life of
Cyriacus in the _Acta Sanctorum_, he expanded his source considerably
and showed great skill and originality in his treatment of the subject,
as may be seen by comparing the translation with the Latin text in
Zupitza's third edition of the ELENE (1888), or in Professor Kent's
forthcoming American edition, after Zupitza. The Old English text was
discovered by a German scholar, Dr. F. Blume, at Vercelli, Italy, in
1822, and the manuscript has since become well known as the Vercelli
Book (cf. Wülker's _Grundriss_, p. 237 ff.). A reasonable conjecture as
to how this MS. reached Vercelli may be found in Professor Cook's
pamphlet, "Cardinal Guala and the Vercelli Book." A Bibliography of the
ELENE will be found in Wülker, Zupitza, and Kent. English translations
have been made by Kemble, in his edition of the Codex Vercellensis
(1856), and very recently by Dr. R.F. Weymouth, Acton, England, after
Zupitza's text (privately printed, 1888). A German translation will be
found in Grein's _Dichtungen der Angelsachsen_ (II. 104 ff., 1859), and
of lines 1-275 in Körner's _Einleitung in das Studium des
Angelsächsischen_ (p. 147 ff., 1880). A good summary of the poem is
given in Earle's "Anglo-Saxon Literature" (p. 234 ff., 1884), and a
briefer one in Morley's "English Writers" (II. 196 ff.).
The ELENE is conceded to be Cynewulf's best poem, and ten Brink remarks
of the ANDREAS and the ELENE: "In these Cynewulf appears, perhaps, at
the summit of his art" (p. 58, Kennedy's translation). The last canto is
a personal epilogue, of a sad and reflective character, evidently
appended after the poem proper was concluded. This may be the last work
of the poet, and there is good reason for ten Brink's view (p. 59) that
"not until the writing of the ELENE had Cynewulf entirely fulfilled the
task he had set himself in consequence of his vision of the cross. Hence
he recalls, at the close of the poem, the greatest moment of his life,
and praises the divine grace that gave him deeper knowledge, and
revealed to him the art of song."
II. The JUDITH is a fragment, but a very torso of Hercules. The first
nine cantos, nearly three-fourths of the poem, are irretrievably lost,
so that we have left but the last three cantos with a few lines of the
ninth. The story is from the apocryphal book of Judith, and the part
remaining corresponds to chapters XII. 10 to XVI. 1, but the poet has
failed to translate the grand thanksgiving of Judith in the sixteenth
chapter. The story of Judith and Holofernes is too well known to need
narration. The poet, doubtless, followed the Latin Vulgate, as we have
no reason to think that a knowledge of Greek was a common possession
among Old English poets; but, as Professor Cook says, "the order of
events is not that of the original narrative. Many transpositions have
been made in the interest of condensation and for the purpose of
enhancing the dramatic liveliness of the story."
The Old English text is found in the same manuscript with the BÉOWULF
(Cotton, Vitellius, A, xv.), and, to my mind, this poem reminds the
reader more of the vigor and fire of BÉOWULF than does any other Old
English poem; but its author is unknown. It has been assigned by some
scholars to the tenth century, which is rather late for it; but
Professor Cook has given reasons for thinking that it may have been
written in the second half of the ninth century in honor of Judith, the
step-mother of King Alfred. It was first printed as prose by Thwaites at
the close of his "Heptateuch, Book of Job, and Gospel of Nicodemus"
(1698), and has been often reprinted, its shortness and excellence
making it a popular piece for inclusion in Anglo-Saxon Readers. A most
complete edition has been recently (1888) issued by Professor Albert S.
Cook, with an excellent introduction, a translation, and a glossary. A
Bibliography is given by Professor Cook (pp. 71-73), and by Wülker
(_Grundriss_, p. 140 ff.). To the translations therein enumerated may be
added the one in Morley's "English Writers" (II. 180 ff.). Professor
Cook has also given (pp. lxix-lxxii) the testimonies of scholars to the
worth of this poem. To these the attention of the reader is especially
called. The JUDITH has been treated by both ten Brink and Wülker as
belonging to the Caedmon circle, but the former well says (p. 47): "This
fragment produces an impression more like that of the national epos than
is the case with any other religious poetry of that epoch;" and Sweet
(Reader, p. 157) regards it as belonging "to the culminating point of
the Old Northumbrian literature, combining as it does the highest
dramatic and constructive power with the utmost brilliance of language
and metre."
III. The ATHELSTAN, or Fight at Brunanburh, is found in four manuscripts
of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" and in Wheloc's edition (1643), printed
from a MS. that was burnt in the unfortunate fire among the Cottonian
manuscripts (1731). It is entered under the year 937 in all but one MS.,
where it occurs under 938. The poem gives a brief, but graphic,
description of the fight between King Athelstan and his brother Edmund
on the one side, and Constantine and his Scots aided by Anlaf and his
Danes, or Northmen, on the other, in which fight the Saxons were
completely victorious. The poem will be found in all editions of the
"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" from Wheloc to Earle (1865), and has been
repeatedly reprinted, its brevity causing it to be often included as a
specimen of Old English, but it is omitted in Sweet's Reader. A
Bibliography will be found in Wülker's _Grundriss_ (p. 339 ff.). To the
English translations there mentioned,--which include a poetical one by
Lord Tennyson, after a prose translation by his son in the Contemporary
Review for November, 1876,--may be added the prose translation by
Kennedy in ten Brink (p. 91) and the rhythmical one by Professor Morley
in his "English Writers" (II. 316-17). ten Brink thinks that the poem
was not written by an eye-witness, and says (p. 92): "The poem lacks the
epic perception and direct power of the folk-song as well as invention.
The patriotic enthusiasm, however, upon which it is borne, the lyrical
strain which pervades it, yield their true effect. The rich resources
derived from the national epos are here happily utilised, and the pure
versification and brilliant style of the whole stir our admiration." It
well serves to diversify and enliven the usually dry annals of the
"Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," and cannot be spared in the great dearth of
poetry of this period.
IV. The BYRHTNOTH, or Fight at Maldon, relates in vigorous verse the
contest between the Saxons, led by the Ealdorman Byrhtnoth, and the
Danes at the river Panta, near Maldon in Essex, in which the Danes were
victorious and Byrhtnoth was slain. The incident is mentioned in four
manuscripts of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" under the year 991, but one
gives it under 993. The MS. in which the poem was contained was
unfortunately burnt in the great fire above-mentioned (1731); but Thomas
Hearne, the antiquary, had fortunately printed it, as prose, in his
edition, of the Chronicle of John of Glastonbury (1726); hence this is
now our sole authority for the text, which is defective at both the
beginning and the end. The poem has been highly esteemed by scholars,
and is a very valuable relic of late tenth century literature. It has
been often reprinted, and translated several times in whole or in part.
Grein does not translate either the ATHELSTAN or the BYRHTNOTH. Körner
translates it in full, and so does Zernial in his Program "Das Lied von
Byrhtnoth's Fall" (1882). This monograph contains the fullest study of
the poem that has been made. It is translated into English, with some
omissions, by Kennedy in ten Brink (pp. 93-96); it is barely mentioned
by Earle (p. 147), and a summary of it is given by Morley in "English
Writers" (II. 319-320). A Bibliography will be found in Wülker's
_Grundriss_ (pp. 344-5). An edition of both ATHELSTAN and BYRHTNOTH has
been long announced in the "Library of Anglo-Saxon Poetry," but it has
not yet appeared.[1] Sweet says of the BYRHTNOTH (Reader, p. 138):
"Although the poem does not show the high technical finish of the older
works, it is full of dramatic power and warm feeling"; and ten Brink,
with more enthusiasm, calls it (p. 96) "one of the pearls of Old English
poetry, full, as it is, of dramatic life, and fidelity of an
eye-witness. Its deep feeling throbs in the clear and powerful
portrayal." He recognizes, however, "the tokens of metrical decline, of
the dissolution of ancient art-forms."
[1] Crow's "Maldon and Brunnanburh," 1897.
V. The DREAM OF THE ROOD is found in the Vercelli manuscript. Wülker's
_Grundriss_ gives the literature of the subject to the time of its
publication (1885). Soon afterwards Morley's "English Writers," Vol.
II., appeared (1888), in which an English translation is given (pp.
237-241); also Stopford Brooke, in his "History of Early English
Literature" (1892), has given an account of the poem, with partial
translation and epitome (pp. 436-443). (See also p. 337 and pp. 384-386
for further notice.) The poem is very briefly mentioned by Trautmann in
his monograph on Cynewulf (1898, p. 40). There are some very interesting
questions connected with the poem which cannot be discussed here. Was it
by Cynewulf? On the affirmative side we find Dietrich, Rieger, Grein,
ten Brink, D'Ham, and Sweet. On the negative, Wülker, Ebert, Trautmann,
Stephens, Morley, Brooke, and others. Pacius, who edited the text, with
a German translation, in 1873, thinks that we know nothing about the
poet. Brooke has propounded a theory, previously adumbrated by the
editors of the _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, Vigfusson and Powell, that an
older poem, possibly of Cædmonian origin, as shown by the long
six-accent lines, has been worked over by Cynewulf, with additions, and
that it is "his last work" (p. 440). Certain lines of the poem, in the
Northumbrian dialect, are found on the Ruthwell Cross, which fact
complicates the question of origin. These are compared by Brooke (p.
337). The other upholders of the Cynewulfian authorship think that this
Dream, occurring in the early part of Cynewulf's religious life, led to
the longer and more highly finished poem, the ELENE, written near the
close of his life. The questions of the relationship of the poem to the
Ruthwell Cross and to the ELENE deserve further discussion. With these
is connected the question of date, and the poem has been placed all the
way from 700 to 800 A.D., even a little before and a little after,
possibly 675 to 825 A.D., so as yet there is no common agreement. The
similarity of thought in the personal epilogue (II. 122 ff.) to the
epilogue of the ELENE (II. 1237 ff.) is striking, and they may be
compared by the curious reader. The translation is made from the
Grein-Wülker text (Vol. II., pp. 116-125), with emendations from others,
as seen in the notes. All can agree with Kemble (_Codex Vercellensis_,
Part II., p. ix) that "it is in some respects the most striking of all
the Anglo-Saxon remains, inasmuch as a departure from the mere
conventional style of such compositions is very perceptible in it. It
contains some passages of real poetical beauty, and a good deal of
fancy." Brooke says (op. cit., p. 443): "This is the last of the
important poems of the eighth century. It is good, but not very good.
The older part, if my conjecture be right, is the best, and its
reworking by Cynewulf has so broken it up that its dignity is much
damaged. The shaping is rude, but the imagination has indeed shaped
it." ten Brink says (p. 53): "Cynewulf himself has immortalized this
vision in a poem, giving utterance to an irrepressible emotion, but
still exhibiting the delicate lines of a beautifully designed
composition." The other Germans are usually so taken up with technical
and mechanical questions that they leave no room for æsthetic
considerations. Whether Cynewulf wrote the poem or not,--and the
probabilities favor his authorship, though we may not hesitate to say
with Morley, "I don't know,"--it is certainly the work of a gifted
Christian poet, who reverences the cross as the means of the redemption
of mankind.
This brief Introduction will, it is hoped, be sufficient to interest the
reader in the accompanying translations of some of the finest pieces of
Old English poetry that remain to us from the eighth, ninth, and tenth
centuries. The earlier period was the golden age of Old English poetry
in the Northumbrian dialect, which poetry, there is good reason to
think, was copied into the West-Saxon dialect, and it now remains to us
only in that form; for, when the Northmen harried Northumbria, destroyed
its monasteries, massacred its inhabitants, and settled in its homes,
manuscripts perished, and the light of learning in Western Europe was
extinguished. It is sufficient to recall King Alfred's oft-quoted
lament, in the Preface to his translation of Pope Gregory's "Pastoral
Care," to realize the position held by Northumbria in respect to
culture, and when learning was restored in Wessex by the efforts of the
king himself, and poetry again revived, it shone but by a reflected
light. Still we should treasure all that remains, and the Old English
language should be at least as well known as Latin is now, and should
occupy as prominent a position in education and general culture. Until
that millennial period arrives, translations of Old English poems may
not be without service.