Biographia Britannica literaria; or, biography of literary characters of Great Britain and Ireland. Anglo-Saxon period / arranged in chronological order.

  • Wright, Thomas, 1810-1877
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Biographia Britannica literaria; or, biography of literary characters of Great Britain and Ireland. Anglo-Saxon period / arranged in chronological order. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ledman to ledhte luminaries to light land ba[en]dum ; the inhabitants of the land ; and ge-fretwade and adorned foldan scedtas the districts of the earth leomum and leafum : with boughs and leaves: lif eac ge-scedp life also he created cy[n]na ge-hwylcum for all kinds bara Se cwice hwyrfap. that go about alive. (Beowulf, v. 178.) 3. These minstrel-poets had, by degrees, composed a large mass of national poetry, which formed collectively one grand mythic cycle. Their education consisted chiefly in committing this poetry to memory, and it was thus preserved from age to age. They rehearsed such por- tions of it as might be asked for by the hearers, or as the circumstances of the moment might require, for it seems certain that they were in the habit of singing detached scenes even of particular poems, just as we are told was done with the works of Homer in ‘the earlier times of Greece. Thus in Beowulf, on one occasion, the subject selected by the Bard as most appropriate, is Offa’s expe- dition against Finn, a romance of which, singularly enough, we have still a fragment left,*— Seer wees sang and swég There was song and sound samod set-geedere, all together, fore Healf-denes before Healfdene’s hilde-wisan, chieftains ; gomen-wudu gréted, the wood of joy was touched, gid oft wrecen : the song often sung : Sonne heal-gamen then joy in the hall Hr6p-gdres scép Hrothgar’s poet efter medo-bence along the mead-bench me’nan scolde, must excite, Finnes eaferum concerning Finn’s descendants, ‘SA hie se fa'r be-geat. when the expedition came upon them. (vw. 2119.) * The circumstance of our having a part of the very romance which the bard is introduced singing, gives a singular air of verity to the pictures of early manners in this interesting poem. The fragment first printed by Hickes, and reprinted in Kemble’s Beowulf under the title of ‘‘ The Battle