The Complete Old English Poems
Page 115
This poem is preserved in two copies—MS Cotton Julius A.II in the British Library and an incomplete version in the Lambeth Psalter, MS 427, Lambeth Palace Library (Dobbie, 1942, lxxxv–lxxxvi). This is a penitential poem which, as Raw points out, “illustrate[s] the movement which took place in the late Anglo-Saxon period away from that kind of prayer which was concerned with universal needs, and towards the expression, often in emotional and contrived language, of the more intimate feelings of the individual” (123). Keefer notes that the prayer “has no single liturgical source and seems to draw from a number of disparate influences (epithets for God that resonate with litanies, echoes of the Nicene Creed, and substantial confessional material)” (2010, 157). Raw identifies a tripartite structure to the poem: “In the first the poet calls on God, the best of doctors, to heal the soul which has been wounded by sin; in the second he contrasts the wretchedness of the man beset by sin with the happiness of the righteous; in the third he praises God’s nobility and power, contrasting his greatness with man’s smallness and propensity to sin” (123).
A Prayer
O beloved Lord, listen to my prayer,
O God, my Judge, my eternal Ruler.
Hear me and make me ready, Lord.
I know that my soul is wounded with sins,
But you may heal it, Lord of heaven, 5
Recover it, care for it, cure it, redeem it,
Lord of creation, Lord of all life,
For you are the finest of all physicians,
Gentlest of leeches in the wide world.
Hear me, bright Lord, Creator of peoples, 10
Lend me your mercy, grant me your grace.
Temper your judgment with generosity
For the unworthy penitent, a patient in need.
A man is a poor wretch who struggles to serve
The devil day and night, always attempting 15
To work his will earnestly here on earth.
Woe to that one for his dark delight
When he finally discovers he has foolishly traded
Torment for joy, suffering for salvation,
And finally reaps his hellish reward— 20
Unless he abandons evil, turns traitor to sin.
Blessed is the one who always obeys God,
Working his will earnestly here on earth
Both day and night. He will reap rewards,
A good return for his steadfast labor, 25
Provided he can carry his work through
To a proper conclusion, a perfect end.
O Light of all light, Joy of all life,
Grant me your grace, O glorious King,
Your everlasting favor, when I pray for a place 30
For my soul in heaven. You are gentle and good,
Almighty God. You govern creation,
Savior and Sustainer of all living things.
No person can ever properly praise you,
No wordsmith can shape your glory in words. 35
Even if we summoned the world’s wisest men
From across the broad plains of middle-earth,
We still could not see or say the vast truth,
Or finally know how unfathomably noble
You are in the end, our eternal Lord. 40
Nor could an army of angels or a supplication of saints,
The company of wise ones across heaven,
Ever reckon your power, spell out your glory,
Catch your wonder in words, O Lord of victory.
It’s a marvel and mystery to us how you know 45
Your own fame and glory, majesty and meaning,
King of all kings, creator of worlds,
Lord of angels, Shaper and Savior,
Greatest of glories, the living Christ.
You are the blessed child born in Bethlehem 50
To the Virgin Mary, the joy of all women,
To be helper and healer, comfort and consolation
To the children of men who trust and believe
In the living God and the eternal Light
Emanating from heaven. Your power and glory 55
Are so great, mighty Lord, that no man on earth
Can mark its boundaries, discover its depth,
Or comprehend its power, just as no angel,
No matter how wise, can measure your majesty.
I pray and promise you, almighty God, 60
That I believe in you, my beloved Savior.
You are the greatest and most wondrous,
Strongest and surest, purest and most powerful,
Mildest and most merciful of all gods,
And the eternal King of all creation. 65
I humble myself before you as the least of men,
A poor, wicked wretch who has so often sinned,
Embracing evil both day and night,
Having often done what I should have shunned,
Sometimes in words, sometimes in works, 70
Sometimes in thoughts, cunning and crafty,
Hostile and hateful. I am bound in sin.
Now I eagerly entreat you, Lord of heaven,
And beg you, the best of all beings,
The marvel of men, greatest of sons, 75
That you pity me and offer me mercy,
The gift of grace, almighty Lord,
High King of heaven, and the Holy Spirit as well.
Protect and sustain me, help me and heal me,
Almighty Father, so that I may work your will 80
Before I finally leave this fleeting life.
So I humbly pray, Lord of glory,
Please don’t turn me away from the doors
Of delight, the gates of joy, but deliver me
Into the arms of heaven with all of the angels, 85
Singing praise-songs to God with one holy voice.
Amen.
THURETH
This is a difficult poem that has rarely been translated. It is found in MS Cotton Claudius A.iii in the British Library. Fulk and Cain point out that the speaker “adopts the persona of the book itself, a benedictional/pontifical that it says was commissioned by Þureþ, for whom God’s favor is asked” and that this Thureth is “very likely the earl Þored … who held estates in Yorkshire during the reign of Æthelred II, when he witnessed some charters” (135). The poem employs the rhetorical device of prosopopoeia, which enables the inanimate object to speak. This is a device commonly used in the OE riddles (see, for example, Riddle 24, “Book or Bible,” in the Exeter Book). Ronalds and Ross, in their edition of the poem, point out that “unlike the inanimate speakers of the Riddles … the object makes only a small effort to characterize itself and that not in a riddling way, referring to its splendid ornamentation,” adding that “the main focus of the poem, once the halgungboc [hallowing book] has been introduced, is the donor’s piety” (369).
Thureth
I am a pontifical or blessing book.
May the Lord preserve the man who made me,
Artfully adorned me with ink and ornaments.
Thureth ordered me formed in thanksgiving
To praise and honor our holy Lord, 5
The one who created the light itself.
I praise each shaper in my scripted song.
Thureth is mindful of the myriad works
Of might and beauty that have been made
In this wondrous world. May the high Prince 10
Of all peoples offer Thureth a rich reward
For my holy beauty, because the Lord of heaven,
Mindful of many sacred treasures,
Beautiful earthy offerings, will accept and honor me
As a glorious gift. So a man will earn 15
His eternal reward if he holds to what is right
And acts justly and generously in his earthly life.
THE BOOK’S PROLOGUE TO ALDHELM’S DE VIRGINITATE
This poem, known simply as Aldhelm in ASPR, appears in MS 326 of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It occ
urs immediately following the table of contents of De virginitate and leads into the Latin salutation and preface of the work (see Whitbread, 1976, 193 ff., and Robinson, 1994, 184–85). This macaronic poem is difficult to translate because it contains elements of Latin and Greek interwoven with the Old English. Other examples of OE macaronic poetry include the epilogue to The Phoenix in the Exeter Book and the last half of The Rewards of Piety above. Whitbread says such macaronic poems “may be called mere exercises in ingenuity and in the literature of display” (1976, 193–94), and Robinson notes that a translation of this poem is “notoriously difficult … apparently because the poet’s ambition to compose a poem in three languages at once … exceeded his talents” (185). The device of the inanimate object speaking owes something to the classical tradition of prosopopoeia and also to the tradition of medieval riddle-creatures telling their tales. There is a speaking book in Thureth and also in OE Riddle 24, “Book or Bible.” Robinson argues that the end of this poetic prologue leads quite naturally into the following text of Aldhelm’s salutation to De virginitate, so that it is difficult to separate the poem from the rest of the work. I agree with this and have chosen to include the salutation at the end of the poem, enclosed in brackets. For editions of the poem along with translations and commentary, see Whitbread (1976), Robinson (1994), and Jones; I am indebted to their work for my own poetic translation here. Since the poem weaves back and forth between Old English, Latin, and Greek in such complex fashion, I have not indicated the separate languages in my poetic rendering. Jones (126–27) has a prose translation that does indicate these elements.
The Book’s Prologue to Aldhelm’s De virginitate
Thus the saintly and righteous Aldhelm,
A skilled word-smith and sound scholar,
A book-learned man and bishop in Briton,
Eminent in the land of the Anglo-Saxons,
Author and poet, composed and created me. 5
Now as a book, an opus and authority,
I must honestly convey the full content
Of his noble youth with a weight of words,
Relate his long labors, lament his woes.
I must speak the truth and not falsehood, 10
Revealing in the face of a sorrowful struggle
That recognition forever remained his friend
In a homeland where he could always claim
An abundance of aid, even when he was unfairly
Faulted and criticized. In simple words, 15
No slander ever sullied his good name.
His work was always steady and sure,
For restraint should never slide into slacking.
So he never excused himself from hard work
But would always pray eagerly for aid 20
Through his earnest thoughts and the faithful
Movements of his mind, the wholeness of his heart.
He hoped that the Lord of life, his Creator,
Might lend him strength, a poet’s power,
The gift of inspiration, a graceful imagination, 25
So that afterwards on earth, [he, Aldhelm,
The unhurried and humble servant of the Lord,
And his one Church might send his best wishes
For perpetual prosperity to the virgins of Christ.]
THE SEASONS FOR FASTING
This poem, which is concerned with Ember days and the Lent fasting season, was discovered in 1934 by Robin Flower in a copy of MS Cotton Otho B.xi made by Laurence Nowell in 1562; the original manuscript was largely destroyed in the Cottonian fire of 1731 (Hilton, 1; Leslie, 555). Hilton notes that “it is the longest regularly stanzaic poem in OE; its English position on the Ember fast controversy and its attack on lax priests are atypical of OE verse as is the poem’s intended lay audience” (iii). The poem shares some lines with The Creed (Sisam, 1953, 47–48), and it draws on homiletic works by Wulfstan and Ælfric (Fulk and Cain, 135; Richards, 2007, 355 ff.). Richards points out that “the proper observance of fasts … is our poet’s subject, and his major topics are three: the English calendar of seasonal fasts, Lenten observances, and priestly conduct, especially fasting after Mass” (2014, 57). The poem opens with a discussion of the Jews’ observation of the law of Moses and their fasting, then moves on to endorse the Ember dates set forth by Gregory, as opposed to the imported continental practices arising from the Benedictine Reform (Richards, 2007, 349 ff.). The later verses deal with the forty-day Lenten fast and the importance of priests setting a proper example for parishioners. The poem concludes with a lament over those lax priests who have fallen into slovenly or sinful ways. Greenfield notes that “the last three verses present a vigorous portrait of the sinful priests who, instead of observing the fast, hurry after mass to the tapster and persuade him it is no sin to serve oysters and wine before noon” (Greenfield and Calder, 234). There are many difficult and debated passages in the poem (see the notes in Hilton; Jones; and Richards, 2014, for a discussion of these passages).
The poem is incomplete in the final stanza, and I have supplied two lines to bring it to a proper conclusion.
The Seasons for Fasting
The people of Israel were mentored by Moses
In ancient days, instructed and enlightened
By that famous teacher, when the Lord of life,
The high King of heaven, with his own words
Appointed him counsel for the people’s sake 5
While he lived on earth and made clear to him
The meaning of mysteries and divine truths
So he could teach his beloved people the true way.
Then the leader of his people obeyed the teachings
Of heaven’s high King, and so did his followers 10
Who were taught the laws and lore of the nation.
If they weakened or wavered in their tasks,
God would send them a scourge from heaven
As a just reward for their unrighteous works.
In the throes of woe, they would beg for peace 15
And discover whether they could cease sinning.
The people’s glory was great, their power unparalleled,
Their armies unconquered, as long as they loved
Their God and guardian, the Lord of life—
But their end was wretched when they slew the Savior 20
On the gallows-tree, the Redeemer’s rood,
And buried him in a grave. That was the beginning
Of their unholy woe. Christ was concealed
For three days before revealing himself to men.
We have heard many men celebrate and set down 25
In their sacred books of wisdom that four fasts
Were held at that time, and afterwards pure meat
Was served—a clean calf or innocent lamb,
A sacrifice in token to their beloved Lord,
Who was seen as flawless in the eyes of the world. 30
Then the powerful Prince, Ruler of all realms,
Began to rise up from the grave in glory,
Seeking his heart’s homeland in heaven
With a host of angels, honoring his promise
That bliss everlasting would await us all 35
If we follow his teachings with a righteous spirit.
No one will enter heaven, glutted with wickedness,
Soaked with sin. That one is delivered to doom.
Now let us praise our perfect Prince,
Our beloved Lord, who accomplished great deeds 40
And freed us all if we follow him faithfully
For the length of our lives and fill our days
With charitable deeds, alms-giving and fasts,
As wise Moses taught, and if we keep the dates
For the Ember fasts among all English people, 45
As the great Pope Gregory in Rome decreed.
We ought to observe the initial Ember fast
In the first week of Lent in the month of March,
So called in the cal
endar of the Roman kingdoms,
And we should read out the twelve mysteries 50
And radiant miracles in the holy house of God,
Our Lord and Ruler, in the proper sequence
And sing praise-songs to the King of creation,
Exalting the name of the Giver of glory.
The second Ember fast comes after Eastertide 55
With worship and readings for the people of Britain
Who keep the calendar, the sacred schedule.
This is the time to sing God’s praise
With the faith and fervor the redemption holds
In the week following that sacred Sunday 60
That priests far and wide call Pentecost
In the month which men aptly name June.
The third Ember fast is appointed for everyone,
All God’s creation and the children of men,
And celebrated in church, his holy house. 65
It’s a time of bright song and week-long
Praise of the power and purpose of the Lord.
This fast takes place in the week leading up
To the equinox, which I’ve heard wise ones
Skilled in calendar-craft call September. 70
We ought to observe the fourth Ember fast
The week before the birth of our Lord,
When we praise and celebrate in words and works
The King of glory, and through our mysteries
Honor our Father as was done before, 75
Asking our Protector, our beloved Lord,
To shield and sustain us, gather us in glory,
And wrap us forever in his embracing arms.
These fasts are appointed on three days
Of each week—the fourth, sixth, and seventh— 80
That is Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday—
To serve and celebrate the Lord of life
At the ninth hour, to glorify God,
Gathering in the miracles and mysteries
Of the holy books. No one is allowed 85
To break the fast, taste food, or drink
Before that hour unless he is ill, as the law allows.
If any of the Bretons or the Franks from the south
Order you to observe any Ember ordinance
According to their own calendar calculations, 90
Which some claim Moses taught to his people,
You should never assent to this alternate schedule
But always follow the rule of the realm
That came from Pope Gregory of Rome,