Sherry Chandler

hwat!

Back when I wasn’t able to read much, Harry Rutherford put up a post about Anglo-Saxon literature. I only made it through the first few lines, but what I did manage to read amused me so I made a mental note to read it later when I was capable of doing something besides watch the monochrome Jackson Pollock inside my left eye.

Here is part of what Harry had to say:

I was lying awake last night, unable to sleep because of the heat, and wondering whether translating a bit of Anglo-Saxon poetry would get me out of my lengthening barren spell. I think the majority of people who did my degree resented having to spend such a lot of time on Anglo-Saxon, but I always liked it.

I think what sticks with me about A-S verse is a mood more than anything. I remember hearing a documentary on Radio 4 a few years ago about different conversational styles across Europe. Apparently in Finland they have a culture of only speaking if they’ve got something important to say, with the result that for long periods at Finnish dinner parties, everyone is just sitting eating in silence. And then when they do speak, they speak slowly and deliberately. I suspect that the Anglo-Saxons had something of the same serious-minded taciturnity, laced with a mix of testosterone and pessimism. If that’s right, they probably looked on linguistic virtuosity with some suspicion. But I find that quality of seriousness makes up for any lack of verbal fireworks.

…

Feasting in the hall was the image of the good things in life for the Anglo-Saxons, but … there’s always a sense of it as a refuge from the hostility of the world. That’s why exile is such a key theme, and why Grendel taking people from Heorot is so traumatic; because the hall is, above all, a safe haven.

Picture Governor Schwartzenegger as Beowulf and read the rest.

Possibly related posts:

View from the other side

Musing about Poets and Poetry

The Saxon

Donald Hall Named Poet Laureate

“War is not a time of joy.” — George W. Bush

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