Editing Old English literature (section)

==== Heroic poetry ====
[[File:BLBeowulf.jpg|thumb|Remounted page from ''[[Beowulf]]'', [[British Library]] Cotton Vitellius A.XV]]
[[File:Beowulf Cotton MS Vitellius A XV f. 132r.jpg|thumb|First page of ''Beowulf'', contained in the damaged Nowell Codex]]

The Old English poetry which has received the most attention deals with what has been termed the Germanic heroic past. Scholars suggest that Old English heroic poetry was handed down orally from generation to generation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=British Library |url=https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/old-english-heroic-poetry |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=www.bl.uk |archive-date=2022-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013115813/https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/old-english-heroic-poetry |url-status=live }}</ref> As Christianity began to appear, re-tellers often recast the tales of Christianity into the older heroic stories.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

The longest at 3,182 lines, and the most important, is ''[[Beowulf]]'', which appears in the damaged [[Nowell Codex]]. Beowulf relates the exploits of the hero Beowulf, King of the [[Geats|Weder-Geats]] or [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], around the middle of the 5th century. The author is unknown, and no mention of Britain occurs. Scholars are divided over the date of the present text, with hypotheses ranging from the 8th to the 11th centuries.{{sfn|Downey|2015}}{{sfn|Neidorf|2014}} It has achieved much acclaim as well as sustained academic and artistic interest.{{sfn|Bjork|Niles|1998|p=ix}}

Other heroic poems besides ''Beowulf'' exist. Two have survived in fragments: ''[[Finnsburg Fragment|The Fight at Finnsburh]]'', controversially interpreted by many to be a retelling of one of the battle scenes in ''Beowulf'', and ''[[Waldere]]'', a version of the events of the life of [[Walter of Aquitaine]]. Two other poems mention heroic figures: ''[[Widsith]]'' is believed to be very old in parts, dating back to events in the 4th century concerning [[Ermanaric|Eormanric]] and the [[Goths]], and contains a catalogue of names and places associated with valiant deeds. ''[[Deor]]'' is a lyric, in the style of ''[[Consolation of Philosophy]]'', applying examples of famous heroes, including [[Wayland the Smith|Weland]] and Eormanric, to the narrator's own case.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=278}}

The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' contains various heroic poems inserted throughout. The earliest from 937 is called ''[[Battle of Brunanburh (poem)|The Battle of Brunanburh]]'', which celebrates the victory of King [[Athelstan]] over the Scots and Norse. There are five shorter poems: capture of the [[Five Boroughs of the Danelaw|Five Boroughs]] (942); coronation of [[Edgar of England|King Edgar]] (973); death of King Edgar (975); death of Alfred the son of King Æthelred (1036); and death of King [[Edward the Confessor]] (1065).{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=278}}

The 325 line poem ''[[The Battle of Maldon]]'' celebrates [[Earl]] [[Byrhtnoth]] and his men who fell in battle against the [[Viking]]s in 991. It is considered one of the finest, but both the beginning and end are missing and the only manuscript was destroyed in a fire in 1731.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=278-279}} A well-known speech is near the end of the poem:

{| class="wikitable"

|+ The Battle of Maldon (312-319)
! Modern English !! West Saxon{{sfn|Hamer|2015|p=66|ps=, Lists a number of sources: E.D. Laborde (1936), [[E.V. Gordon]] (1937), D.G. Scragg (1981), Bernard J. Muir (1989), J.C. Pope & R.D. Fulk (2001), [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] (1953), [[Norman Blake (academic)|N.F. Blake]] (1965), O.D. Macrae-Gibson (1970), Donald Scragg (1991), Jane Cooper (1993).}}
|- align="center"
| Thought shall be the harder, the heart the keener,<br />courage the greater, as our strength lessens.<br />Here lies our leader in the dust,<br />all cut down; always may he mourn<br />who now thinks to turn away from this warplay.<br />I am old, I will not go away,<br />but I plan to lie down by the side of my lord,<br />by the man so dearly loved.
|
{|
| align="right"| Hige sceal þē heardra,<br />mōd sceal þē māre,<br />Hēr līð ūre ealdor<br />gōd on grēote;<br />se ðe nū fram þis ƿīgplegan<br />Ic eom frōd fēores;<br />ac ic mē be healfe<br />be sƿā lēofan men
| align="left"| / heorte þē cēnre,<br />/ þē ūre mægen lȳtlað.<br />/ eall forhēaƿen,<br />/ ā mæg gnornian<br />/ ƿendan þenceð.<br />/ fram ic ne ƿille,<br />/ mīnum hlāforde,<br />/ licgan þence.
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