I'm by nature solitary, scarred by iron
and wounded by sword, weary of battle.
I often see the face of war, and fight
hateful enemies; yet I hold no hope
of help being brought to me in battle
before I'm cut to pieces and perish.
At the city wall sharp-edged sword,
skillfully forged in the flames by smiths,
bite deeply into me. I must await
a more fearsome encounter; it is not for me
to find a physician on the battlefield,
one of those men who heals wounds with herbs.
My sword wounds gape wide and wider;
death blows are dealt me by day and by night.
(A shield)
The largest collection of Old Enflish poetry (Эксетерский кодекс)
Contains Anglo-Saxon lyrics, or elegies: «The Wanderer», «The Seafarer», «The Wife's Lament», «The Husband's Message», and «The Ruin».
Themes:
desolation and loneliness
separation of lovers
sorrows of exile
terrors and attractions of the sea religious allegory
Widsith — is an alliterative poem of 142 lines that provides an inventory of the peoples and characters — historical and fictitious — who comprise the world of early Germanic literature
It closes with a brief comment on the importance and fame of poets like Widsith
Widsith spoke forth, and unlocked the treasury of his words...
«Thus I journeyed through many foreign lands throughout this spacious earth. Good and evil I experienced there; separated from family, distant from noble kinsmen, I served far and wide. I can sing, therefore, and tell a tale, and mention before the assemblage in the mead-hall how royal benefactors have been generously kind to me...
Prominent Anglo-Saxon writers and scholars — Caedmon, Bede, Cynewulf, Alfred.
Caedmon (650 — 680)
Earliest of the Anglo-Saxon Christian poets.
Caedmon was an illiterate herdsmen who had a vision one night and heard a voice commanding him to sing of «the beginning of created things». Later Caedmon supposedly wrote the poem about the creation known as «Caedmon's Hymne», which Bede recorded in prose. Caedmon spent the rest of his life at the monastery writing poetry on biblical themes.
Caedmon's Hymne
Now we should praise the Guardian of the Heavenly Kingdom
The Ruler's power and His understanding.
The work of the Father of Glory, how He, eternal Lord
established the beginning of every woundrous thing.
Saint Bede the Venerable
Достопочтенный Беда (673 — 735), English Benedictine monk and scholar, chiefly known for his «Ecclesiastical History of the English People», a history of England from the Roman occupation to 731.
The central theme of his writings is that of the church as a force welding spiritual, doctrinal, and cultural unity out of violence and barbarism.
The work integrates a mass of laboriously collected information; its intellectual and artistic integrity set the standard for historical writing in medieval Europe.He was the first to tell Caedmon's legendary biography.
His works were written in Latin.
Knowledge of England before the 8th century rests substantially on Bede's work, and he introduced to historical writing the system of dating events from the birth of Jesus Christ. Bede wrote about 40 works. He was canonized in 1899; his feast day is May 27.