On Monday morning I memorized the sixth verse of “Barcelone” by Boris Vian and the second verse of “Privé” by Serge Gainsbourg.
Just before 11:00 I logged on to Blackboard to watch the second Introduction to British Literature lecture. Once again it was divided into eight well planned chapter videos.
The lecture was on the topic of the Old English poems “Beowulf” and “Judith”.
Both poems are about heroism and from the 8th to 10th Centuries. The cultural background is Anglo Saxon but scholars are lately turning away from that description because it’s considered racist and inadequate to describe the people of Britain at that time. The people themselves would not have called themselves Anglo Saxon. The professor said that he would simply call it Early Medieval or Old English.
In the second video he talked further about the Franks Casket that we looked at last week. He had deliberately left the runic inscription around the border out so he could tell us about it by itself. The casket is made from whale bone and carved in runic around the border is a poem:
The tide lifted the fish onto a mountain
The king of the ocean grew miserable
where he swam onto the sand
Whale’s bone
I observed that if shifted to the present it could be a haiku or a tanka:
heaved on a mountain
swimming in sand
king of the ocean
grows miserable
whale bone
Many of the words are similar to modern English: “fisc flod huf on berig” would be “fish flood heaved on berg”. “Ban” is our “bone”.
This is one of the oldest Old English texts and it is a poem about the material on which the poem is written. It is representative of how text comes down but also unique. Other works have come to us in the form of inscriptions such as the Ruthwell Cross. Most Old English texts such as Beowulf are on parchment made from sheep or goats and survive in the four volumes from the Cotton Library.
But poetry in runes is not representative of what survives of Old English literature. Most of it was written in Roman letters but Beowulf has a few runic letters making thorn and wynn sounds on the first page making hybrid words. The form emerged after the spread of Christianity. The thorn descended from looking like a “p” to “y” and so when we see a sign that reads “ye olde …” the “ye” would be pronounced as “the”.
In the Franks Casket poem there is a break in the lines known as a caesura. On either side of the caesura are two half lines acoustically connected by alliteration.
Here is my attempt to apply alliteration to this poem in modern English:
the flood heaved the fish on the face of the berg
the gulf king groaned swimming grounded in grit
whale bone
Alliteration was widespread in Old English poetry and unlike rhyme it was not based on the ends but the beginnings of lines.
Another device was the kenning, which is a poetic compound made up of two or more nouns to stand for another noun. In Beowulf the ocean is called "whales riding”, “swans riding" and "sail road".
Video three says that Beowulf is the most important Old English poem, the only heroic epic in Old English and in fact it makes up 10% of all Old English poetry.
The manuscript is from the late 10th Century, probably composed in the English Midlands in the mid 8th Century but set in Scandinavia in the early 6th Century. It is about the origins of the Scandinavian immigrants to Britain.
Wayland the Smith who is depicted on the Franks Casket is also mentioned in Beowulf for having fashioned Beowulf’s breast webbing.
Hrothgar’s Hall of the poem is in Northern Denmark.
The poet is speaking to people who already know the history.
The poem depicts a code of ethics of a social world held together by mutual obligation. These are honour based warriors concerned with what is owed. The warriors are loyal followers of their lord and he responds with gifts. It is a treasure based society in which where there is no compensation there must be revenge.
The hero is celebrated for his accomplishments but also blows his own horn. “The most eager for fame". The poem is not just a celebration of heroism.
Beowulf opens as if it is a traditional oral tale. Other heroes are spoken of before Beowulf is mentioned. One figure is the fearsome Scyld Scefing who achieved kingship through military conquest. He has a son sent to him in solace named Beowulf but not the hero of the poem. This is hero is a less terrifying warrior with more Christian qualities.
The thematic explanation of the value system of this society is reflected in Scyld Scefing’s funeral. His tomb is a ship filled with treasure, fine weaponry, byrnies (coats of mail) and armour, showing that there is glory in death. In Sutton Hoo in England there is a similar burial site.
His grandson Hrothgar’s great accomplishment is the mead hall that he has built. Decorators are brought in from other lands. It is a message to the world. An advertisement of Hrothgar’s generosity.
Video four speaks of how Hrothgar’s ideal is threatened by the opposing values of a monster that is part man, part animal and part demon. Grendel’s hatred arises out of the pain he experiences from listening to the sounds of socializing. He especially hates the song that the mead hall poet sings in praise of god’s creation. He opposes the authority of both god and Hrothgar. The song is a poem within the poem and there is an alignment between the singer in the hall and the singer of Beowulf. This is a literary device known as “mise-en-abyme” which means “placed in the abyss”. It is a literary critical term to describe when something in the work mirrors the work such as when there is a play within a play.
We see part of a video of Benjamin Baghee singing from Beowulf.
Grendel is a descendent of Cain, the first murderer and he is triggered by poetry. He is the opposite of the heroic Hrothgar and is the living manifestation of transgression against god. His attacks cause a political crisis over which he rules.
The hall is not just symbolic of Danish power. It represents a system of loyalty and kinship that is threatened by Grendel with dishonour. The hall is made empty.
Beowulf is not mentioned at first and his first dialogue is with the watchman when his ship arrives.
What is Beowulf’s motivation for helping Hrothgar? Despite Beowulf's boasts the fact is that Beowulf’s father owes a debt to Hrothgar for helping him in war and so Beowulf has come out of obligation.
When Beowulf tears off Grendel’s hand with his own bare hands the professor describes this as a Punk Rock moment.
The poem’s narration confirms Hrothgar's prediction of Beowulf’s fame.
There are three encounters with monsters and each one has a different meaning.
The fight with Grendel is a battle against anarchy.
Beowulf’s struggle with Grendel's mother is less morally straightforward. During the celebration of Grendel’s death the poet sings of Finnsburg and Hildeburh’s loss of her son. To the Danish audience the heroes are Danes who break a truce for the sake of vengeance. But just as Hildeburh wants revenge, so does Grendel’s mother. A Danish audience of that era would feel some degree of sympathy with her because “It is always better to avenge.” This renders Beowulf morally compromised and less of a hero. I his battle with Grendel's mother his sword fails for the first time. The fight imagines Beowulf dying.
The third monster watches over a buried treasure that had been located by a survivor who tells the tale to the ground where the treasure is. The treasure cannot prevent Beowulf’s fate and it returns to the earth. Neither does glory save him.
There is a relation between the words “wyrm (dragon)" and "wyrd ( negative fate)”.
In the end Beowulf is only a man and it is the part Geat, part Swede Wiglaf who slays the dragon.
The final image is of Beowulf’s funeral and so the poem has gone full circle having begun with a funeral as well. The poem becomes a ring and so is it also a treasure? But the story is not entirely cyclical since Scyld Scefing had an heir while Beowulf does not. Beowulf leaves the future of the Geats uncertain since the Franks, the Frisians and the Swedes are all waiting to invade. Beowulf chose glory but failed to see the danger, as he has made victims of his countrymen. At the funeral a Geatish woman with bound up hair prophecies misery. This is a criticism of what happens when a king tries to be a hero. The treasure that is buried with Beowulf is not of the same quality as that of Scyld Scefing, since Beowulf's is the dragon's rusted treasure. The death of a certain negative heroism is outlined.
Video seven talks of Old English Christianity.
Beowulf was composed by the same culture that fashioned the Franks Casket. It represents both the pagan Germanic legends and Christianity. Some of the characters allude to Christ even though Beowulf is set before Christianity came to Scandinavia. This is an interpolation by the monks who probably wrote down the poem since the monasteries were oases of scholarship and also stations in a network for travelling scholars.
Adrian was a North African abbot of the monastery at Canterbury.
Alcuin was a Northumbrian monk who became a teacher at Charlemagne’s court.
Around the time of Beowulf a copy of the Gospels was prepared off Lindisfarne. It is a masterpiece of insular art of Celtic sources featuring knotwork and intertwined animals. A beautiful product of British Christianity.
In 793 a Viking raid on Lindisfarne wrecked the church. This was just after the beginning of the first Viking Age in Britain which lasted from 780 to 900. The second Viking Age was from 980 to 1066. During these times many Vikings settled in Danelaw and contributed many words to what became the English language, such as “bag", "birth", "egg", "window", "wing" and most words that begin with "sk" such as "sky".
The poem “Judith" is an inspired example of resistance against such invaders from 1002 to 1005.
The final video covers “Judith".
The poem comes from the same fire damaged manuscript as Beowulf. It is also composed in alliterative verse and represents a significant genre of Biblical themed writing. The monasteries engaged in translations of the Bible and linguistic work but also with the integration of cultural forms.
The poem employs conventions of heroic Anglo Saxon poetry that are also present in Beowulf.
Judith pretends to offer assistance to the enemy.
Holofernes is a gift giver like Hrothgar but is a monster like Grendel. He is pure appetite.
There are descriptions of noises of bellowing, bull bawling and brawling. The alliteration reflects the acoustics of the feast.
Judith is pious and composed.
The passage is reminiscent of Germanic traditions. She holds a sword while praying, asking for triumph and vengeance. In this sense she is a Hebrew Beowulf. Her prayer resembles Beowulf’s boasts. The poem is more descriptive than the Biblical version and extrapolates on the gruesome details. The beheading of Holofernes is more grizzly than that of Grendel.
Judith becomes a leader and by inheriting the possessions of Holofernes she takes his place.
Animalism is supplanted by godliness.
The beginning is missing but since the poem ends with a description of creation, that may be how it starts, to make for another circular story.
After the lecture I scrolled down and took the first of the weekly quizzes. We actually had until Wednesday to do it but I thought I’d get it over with while it was fresh in my mind. I was done in four minutes and got all five multiple choice questions right.
For lunch I had chips with salsa and a glass of orange juice.
During my siesta I dreamed I had to go someplace to make some repairs involving something I had in garbage bags but I needed to find some other items to finish. I went into a restaurant and my waiter was Graham who I know from the food bank line-up. He asked me what menu I planned to order from. I assumed that this question was a condition that was born out of the pandemic and asked, “You mean …?” He nodded and confirmed, “Breakfast, lunch or dinner?” Suddenly the manager, a greasy looking guy with a moustache and wearing a brownish orange tuxedo came up to tell me, “And don’t take as long to order as most of you people do!” I repeated, “You people?” Graham suggested something from the lunch menu, which were all Mexican snacks but I couldn’t hear him and had to ask him to repeat himself. He thought I was kidding but I pointed out the window at a little Volkswagen tractor trailer that was loudly backing up the hill past the restaurant.
In the afternoon I worked on transcribing my lecture notes but still had about six pages to go by the time dinner rolled around.
I had a small potato and two chicken drumsticks with gravy while watching The Count of Monte Cristo.
In this story two identical twin brothers are sons of a successful inventor named Gaston Griset who has developed a new type of propulsion for ships. He has sent his son Antoine to deliver the plans and the model to the government of France. But Antoine’s twin Francois stops him on the road, attacks him with his sword and replaces him. The Count of Monte Cristo is an old friend of the Griset family and financier of the father’s inventions. Presenting himself as his brother Francois comes to stay with the count in Paris while he presents the invention to the government officials. When Jacopo asks him where is Francois he is told that he died in a duel. The count goes with “Antoine" to see Philippe Verdeaux, the Minister of the Navy where they also meet Deputy Minister Marrat. “Antoine” also meets and is stricken with Philippe's daughter Suzanne. "Antoine" shows Verdeaux the ship model. Instead of paddle wheels it has a screw propeller at the back which would be less vulnerable to attack. Suzanne is clearly romantically interested in “Antoine” and comes to see him. She learns that the only difference between him and his late brother was that Francois was left handed. Meanwhile a wood cutter is walking along the road and finds the body of the real Antoine. He also finds that he is alive and takes him home to nurse back to health. That night two men sneak into “Antoine’s" room to steal the invention. He fights them but is knocked out. When they hear the count coming they escape. The count tells "Antoine” they should put the invention in the safe of the ministry. He then casually tosses “Antoine” back his sword but notices that he catches it with his left hand. Later that day after a successful demonstration the minister accepts the invention but he and the count are surprised when “Antoine" asks for compensation, but Verdeaux agrees that France will gladly pay. When the deal is toasted the count notices that “Antoine” raises his glass with his left hand. Meanwhile the real Antoine is somehow well enough to leave for Paris after this short period of recovery. Back in Paris “Antoine" is called to a meeting at the ministry. The count has Jacopo follow him. "Antoine" expects to see Verdeaux but instead he is met by Deputy Minister Marrat who tells him that Turkey will pay five million francs for the invention which would be split equally between them. "Antoine" agrees. Marrat says they will leave with the plans that night and they will be taking Suzanne as a hostage to keep Verdeaux quiet until they get to Switzerland. Before they leave Marrat’s men catch Jacopo spying and knock him out. Jacopo recovers and goes back to tell the count. Suddenly the real Antoine arrives and they all go to the stable where Francois and Marrat are about to leave with Suzanne. The count and the others arrive and there is the usual big fight. Antoine duels with Francois and wins. He wants to kill him but the count says he must answer to France. In the end Suzanne is even more romantic towards the real Antoine.
Suzanne was played by Mary Steele, who starred in “Girls at Sea” and "The Golden Disc" and was also in the cast of the TV series “The Human Jungle".
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