Old English Lyrical or Elegiac or Personal Poetry

                                               

                                   Old English Lyrical or Elegiac or Personal Poetry

 It is quite natural for a poet to introduce personal elements into his poetry. And the Anglo-Saxon scope who usually sang of heroes and battle was no exception to this general rule. He to all times choose personal elements and experiences as his subject, and sang of his private agonies, hopes and apprehensions.Generally, however, in this personal poems of the Anglo-Saxon period an elegiac note prevails --- a mood of Melancholy that darkens even the atmosphere of Beowulf.

                                                   Old English Lyrical or Elegiac or Personal Poetry

                                    It seems likely that there existed quiet a large number of poems of this type. But only a few of them have survived, and the oldest among them, Widsith and the Deor's Lament  seem to be epic reminiscences with a strong personal infusion.They purport to be songs of two different scopes living on the continent in an age which had already become fabulous.

   

                            In Widsith, the ‘great traveler’ wondered from tribe to tribe and he gives a list of the princes who made him famous. As he produces names who sometimes stand at a distance of two and a half centuries from each other, it is natural to conclude that Widsith is no historical figure. He is a typical scope and bringing together names amusing history and legends.

                          The Deor’s Lament is a lyrical outburst of a poet in trouble. The poet here presents himself as a displaced minstrel who has been deprived of his rights and lands by a rival poet. But the scope finds consolation for his ill luck in the thought that search inconstancy is the normal course of fortune. He recalls heroes’ and gods who survived physical and mental sufferings. Each stanza ends with the consolatory refrain;

                                                     “That passed away; so can this”

                                    This is the earliest use of refrain in Germanic literature. 

                                                              The melancholy which weights heavily on Beowulf and the Deor's Lament can also be seen in the two poems which are justified famous for their lyrical quality ----The Wonderer tells us of a nameless and honor in the mead-hall of his patron. But now the darkness of death has covered his "gold-friend", and he has to wonder for from his noble kinsman , sade at heart , in search of the hall of a 'treasure -given'. All his joys have perished and he canonly seek comfort in fond recollections and dreams. 

                             The Seaferer is also an intensely personal poem. It is a very   complex poem too. From one point of view , it seems to be a monologue of an experienced sailor who has know the perils of sea-life but can not deny its fascination. But the scholars regard it as a dialogue between an old Sailor, who speaks of his sufferings, an a young navigator who argues that the hard life makes the attraction of the sea even more irresistible. As search, it is a dramatic lyric of a high quality.

                            Another Anglo-Saxon Elegiac poem  Wolf and Eadwacer deals with the eternal triangle of love a women is the speaker and the other men are maintained . Wolf appears to be her lover, while the other men, called Eadwacer ,is probably her jealous husband. The woman's suffering and longings is the eternal a longing of the feminine heart:

                                   

                                     "I waited for my Wolf with far wandering longings,

                                               When it was rainy weather, I set tearful".

                             The Wife's Lament is another passionate poem with the same artistic suggestion of conflicting emotions. We have the hearts cry of a women cutoff from her own people  and friends, whose husband by her lord's orders to a solitary place among caves  and ruins over grown with briars. But all along her grief is not only her her own sorrow but also for her husbands sufferings.

                               In the Husbands Message we find a happier note than any other poem so for considered. It is not an elegy; the earlier difficulties have been over come and the husband assures the wife that he will send a boat and a follower with a message graven on a piece of wood ; and then she must come  and join him.