British Literature II

Pétur KnútssonWednesday 2 September 2015

Magoun 446 (first page):

• Literate poets create their own language• IIlliterate poets use a vast reservoir of

ready-made formulae

Magoun 447:

Questionable statements:• Oral poetry is composed entirely of

formulas?????• Lettered poetry is never formulaic????

But note Magoun refers only to metrical formulæ, which are not the same as linguistic formulae

• No fixed text• Not memorized word for word• Extempory composition, relying on

formulae

Magoun 447:

Magoun 447; debt to Parry and Lord:

Parry and Lord

• Milman Parry (1902-35), student of Meillet at the Sorbonne: associate professor at Harvard

• 1933-35 Parry and his assistant Albert Lord: field-work in Yugoslavia- the Serbo-Croat guslars. Mostly in Bosnia.

• Albert B. Lord (1912-91), The Singer of Tales, 1960: Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian oral poetry, and Homer.

• Francis Peabody Magoun (1995-1979), “The Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry,” in Speculum 1953

Magoun 448 quotes from:Tacitus, Germania (around A.D. 100)

Orality

Twisto = Týr/Tiw? Deus, Ju-piter, Zeus patér etc.

Orality

Magoun 459: first 28 lines of Beo: 75% are formulaic – probably more if the surviving corpus were larger450 formulaic sets

on x-dagumX = gear, eald, ær, fyrn etc.

Audience familiarity: wé gefrugnon (Magoun 453)

Eric Havelock, Preface to Plato

Orality

From Havelock:• Epigrams are pieces of information cast in a

permanent form; they are oral inscriptions.• If the king needs to send a series of commands

to his armies or his tax-collectors he will compose them in a fixed metrical form: poetry.

• Natural leaders are those who can say well what people wanted to hear – superior memory and striking use of words

• Achilles the effective speaker

Orality

Orality

• The king as a master of rhetoric, a master of the epigram, the memorable and repeatable truth.

Pétur Knútsson, “Lögheimili sannleikans”, Ritið 3/2010, 73-93

Saxo Grammaticus, writing in Latin around 1200, describes the Norwegian hero Ericus as a master of the spoken word. But Ericus’s speeches reported by Saxo are simply strings of proverbs and traditional knowledge. His mastery over words and his ability to persuade his listeners depends on his ability to follow tradition and say nothing unexpected. In Ynglingasaga, Óðinn is said to have “spoken so cleverly and smoothly, that it seemed to all who heard him that he spoke the simple truth (hann talaði svá snjallt og slétt, at öllum, er á heyrðu, þótti þat eina satt).

Pétur Knútsson, “Lögheimili sannleikans”, Ritið 3/2010, 73-93

Saxo p. 124

Saxo p. 122

“The Voice of Power”

Orality

How do you establish the “truth” of a past event in an oral society? From Njáls saga:• negotiation and agreement: “Þeir urðu allir á

þat sáttir, at þetta mundi svá vera”• Repetition: “I annat sinn sögðu þeir fram í dóm

lýsingarvætti og höfðu sár fyrir ok frumhlaup síðar, ok höfðu öll orð önnur þau sömu ok fyrr”

• Formal oath-taking: “Sönnunarmenn fylgja eiðum og [skulu] þeir ok eiða vinna”

Lögheimili sannleikans 84-5

Lögheimili sannleikans 85

• Magoun 456 Christ and Satan “only means that the surviving corpus of A-S poetry does not happen to contain verses which furnish supporting evidence” -.ie. later “Christian” poems

• 460 on Cynewulf: he allows for the formulaic style to continue among lettered poets

• Magoun 461

• 454 at least 15% repeated in first 25 of Beo• formulaic go 16 and 17, early Christian poetry

was oral• 455 “Cædmon ... established a tradition”• NB Beo not Xtian

Cædmon ......

Magoun 447:

Norton A, p. 92

– Who was Bede? – Don’t rely on the lectures!– Norton Vol. A p. 92. When and where did he live?

What did he write?

Cædmon

Norton A, p. 92

• formula –formulas/formulæ• oral-formulaic poetry

Cædmon

Cædmon

Hild (d. 680), daughter of Hereric, a nephew of Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumbria, and his wife Breguswith. She was baptised with Edwin in 627 and entered the religious life in 647, very likely after being widowed. In 657 she became abbess of the double monastery of Whitby, where she hosted the famous Synod of Whitby,* at which the English church decided to follow Roman practice in calculating the date of Easter. From Baker’s oldenglishaerobics.net

*664

CædmonFollow in Norton A, p.30

In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum broðor syndriglice mid godcundre gife gemæred ond geweorðad

In this abbess’s monastery was a certain brotherespecially glorified and honoured with a divinegift.

Cædmon

In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum broðor syndriglice mid godcundre gife gemæred ond geweorðad

þes ceorl, þeos abbudisse, þis land(ic séo) þisne ceorl, þás abbudissan, þis land(mid) þissum ceorle, þeosse abbudissan, þissum

landeþisses ceorles, þeosse abbudissan, þisses landes

Cædmon

In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum broðor syndriglice mid godcundre gife gemæred ond geweorðad

syndriglice especially – “sundurlega” (sérlega)

Cædmon

In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum broðor syndriglice mid godcundre gife gemæred ond geweorðad

godcund gifu, mid godcundre gife

Cædmon

In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum broðor syndriglice mid godcundre gife gemæred ond geweorðad

mæran, to glorify. weorðian, to honour.

Ic lufie hine. He is gelufod fram me.We lufiað hi. Heo us gelufod fram us.

Slide: What was OE like?

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

• 9 of these 18 half-lines are recorded elsewhere in OE poetry

• 8 synonyms (kennings) for God in 9 lines

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon Norton A, p. 30-31.

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,ece drihten, or onstealde. He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;þa middangeard moncynnes weard,ece drihten, æfter teodefirum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

x xx

x

xxx x

xx x

x xx

AlliterationSee also Norton, “Old and Middle English Prosody”, Vol. A, p. 24

“The verse unit is the single line”“divided into two half-lines of two stresses each by a strong medial caesura, or pause”

- try imagining these concepts without any writing

Alliteration“Common Germanic alliterative line”

Beowulf wæs breme, blæd wide sprangGurtun se iro guðhamum, gurtun sih iro

suert anaVasa sandr né sær né svalar unnirGamli Nói gamli Nói guðhræddur og vís

Alliteration

Hani krummi hundur svínhestur mús titlingurgalar krúnkar geltir hríngneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration

Hani krummi hundur svínhestur mús titlingurgalar krúnkar geltir hríngneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration

Hani krummi hundur svínhestur mús titlingurgalar krúnkar geltir hríngneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration

1

3

2

4

Alliteration

1

3

2

4

Alliteration

1 32 4/

Main stave - höfuðstafur

Alliteration

1 32 4/Wulf mín Wulf / wena me þína

Alliteration

1 32 4/séoce gedydon / þíne seldcymas

=

Alliteration

1 32 4/fæst is þæt eglond fenne biworpen

=

Alliteration

1 32 4/Yfir kaldan eyðisand einn um nótt ég sveima

In a somer sesoun whanne soft was the sonne.......

ac on a May mornyng, on Malvern hullesme bifel a ferly – of fairy, methoughte

Southern: Langland’s Piers Ploughman

Midlands: Gawain and the Green Knight

Siþen þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye,þe borgh brittened and brent to brondez and askezþe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wroghtwatz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe ...