British Literature II Pétur Knútsson Wednesday 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 ( ), student of Meillet at the Sorbonne: associate professor at Harvard Parry and his assistant Albert Lord: field- work in Yugoslavia- the Serbo-Croat guslars. Mostly in Bosnia. Albert B. Lord ( ), The Singer of Tales, 1960: Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian oral poetry, and Homer. Francis Peabody Magoun ( ), “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 larger 450 formulaic sets on x-dagum X = 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

The king as a master of rhetoric, a master of the epigram, the memorable and repeatable truth. Pétur Knútsson, “Lögheimili sannleikans”, Ritið 3/2010, 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

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

Cædmon Follow 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 brother especially glorified and honoured with a divine gift.

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 lande þisses 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 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig. Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p

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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig. Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon’s Hymn Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

Cædmon Norton A, p 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 teode firum foldan, frea ælmihtig. x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Alliteration See 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 sprang Gurtun se iro guðhamum, gurtun sih iro suert ana Vasa sandr né sær né svalar unnir Gamli Nói gamli Nói guðhræddur og vís

Alliteration Hani krummi hundur svín hestur mús titlingur galar krúnkar geltir hrín gneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration Hani krummi hundur svín hestur mús titlingur galar krúnkar geltir hrín gneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration Hani krummi hundur svín hestur mús titlingur galar krúnkar geltir hrín gneggjar tístir syngur

Alliteration

/ Main stave - höfuðstafur

Alliteration / Wulf mín Wulf / wena me þína

Alliteration / séoce gedydon / þíne seldcymas =

Alliteration / fæst is þæt eglond fenne biworpen =

Alliteration / Yfir kaldan eyðisand einn um nótt ég sveima

In a somer sesoun whanne soft was the sonne ac on a May mornyng, on Malvern hulles me 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 askez þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wroght watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe...