Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/536

 504 ANGLO-SAXONS (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) tive Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon," and "In- troduction to the Study of Anglo-Saxon " (New York 1870) ; Corson, " Handbook of Anglo- Saxon and Early English " (New York, 1871) ; Grimm, Deutsche Grammatilc (Gottingen, 1840); Ettmuller, Lexicon cum Synopsi Qrammatica (Quedlinburg and Leipsic, 1851) ; Heyne, Kurtz Laut- und Flexionslehre (Paderborn, 1862) ; Koch, Hi*toriche Grammatik der englischen Sprache (Weimar, 1863); Grein, Sprachschate der Angelsdchsischen Dichter (Cassel and G6t- tingen, 1864) ; Maetzner, JEnglische Grammatik (Berlin, 1865). Anglo-Saxon Literature. It was a habit of the early Germans to give high honor to the scop or poet, and long before their con- quest of Britain there were current among them cycles of songs, of mythological and heroic ballads, such as furnish the material for epic poems. Their exploits in Britain doubtless added to the number of current ballads, and of skilful poets and singers. We learn from Beda that the harp passed from hand to hand at feasts, and that it was disgraceful for any man not to be able to sing in turn. Bishop Aldhelm used to stand in minstrel's garb on the bridge over which the people were to pass and collect a crowd by the beauty of his song, into which, when their attention was gained, he wove words of devotion. The verse common to the northern nations was brought to great perfection among the Anglo-Saxons. It is an accentual rhythm, marked off into verses by alliteration. The common narrative verse is constructed in sections separated by a metri- cal pause. Each section has regularly four accents. This accent or metrical stress falls on each syllable having a primary accent in prose, on many syllables having a secondary accent, and in certain metrical emergencies on other syllables, especially the last syllable in each section. Each metrical stress is followed by a remission of voice, which may be silent, or filled by an unaccented syllable or two. Each perfect line contains three alliterating words, two in the first section, and one in the first part of the second section. Caning *ftat mid ceA'pf ewW geblc'gan", hii'iniiii' and be&'gunf : bu' scto'lvn a'rettC geo'fum god' wet'an'., A king shall with cattel a queen bay, with beakers and bracelets : both should first in gifts good be. (Gnom. Exon., line 82 + .) Many lines have but one alliterating word in the first section, and irregular sections have three or sometimes only two feet. Rhyme is found occasionally in most poems. A few con- tain rhyming passages of some length. One is known as the rime song. It contains 87 verses in all sorts of rimes, and is plainly a task poem to show riming skill. fldh' m&h' fli'tetK oorg'-sorg' bt'tettf, Seyl'dum" Mace'rede" vsom'muiri biwt'redd Subtle fiend fighteth, borrow-sorrow biteth, From sins freed let from stains covered, fUiri mdn' hwl'teOf, bald' at(l' thwt'teth,^^. scyn'dan" gentr'edt* wufdrff geher'ede', Ac. darts sin whetteth, bold old severeth, &c. us escape saved gloriously honored, Ac. Almost all the Anglo-Saxon poetry we have is in this verse, varied occasionally by passages in longer verses of similar construction. It is the common verse in Old Saxon, and in Ice- landic has been cultivated into a surprising variety of artificial meters. The poems re- maining in Anglo-Saxon are few. The Chris- tians destroyed whatever was tainted with paganism, and the Normans neglected every- thing Anglo-Saxon. They have been divided into seven classes. 1. The ballad epic. Of this we have one poem and a few fragments. "Beowulf" is a poem of 3,183 lines, celebrat- ing the exploits of a Gothic prince Beowulf, for the most part in slaying monsters. The scene is laid in the island of Seeland and the opposite Gothland. It is evidently a pagan production, though rewritten by a Christian. Only one copy of it is known, and no mention of it has been found elsewhere. A few names and facts referred to in it have however been identified in old German history, and serve to show that it embodies historical matter of the end of the 5th century. The manuscript is thought to be of the 10th century. Its exist- ence is mentioned in Wanley's catalogue, 1705. In 1731 it was badly injured by fire. In 1786 the Dane Thorkelin had two copies of it made, and in 1815 published an edition. No particu- lar notice was taken of it till the late revival of Anglo-Saxon scholarship ; but the present generation of Anglo-Saxon scholars, especially in Germany, have studied it with great enthu- siasm, and find in it the Iliad and Odyssey of the north. Among many editions, translations, and essays of elucidation and criticism, we mention Kemble, edition (London, 1838) and translation and glossary (1837) ; Ettmuller, translation and valuable notes and introduction (Zurich, 1840); Thorpe, text, translation, and glossary (Oxford, 1855) ; Grein, two editions (Gottingen, 1867 and 1867), and translation (1857) ; Gruntvig, text and notes (Copenhagen, 1861) ; Heyne, two editions with notes and glossary (Paderborn, 1863, 1868), and transla- tion (1863); Wackerbarth, translation into rhymed English verses like Scott's "Marmion" (London, 1849); Haigh, "The Anglo-Saxon Sagas," containing a notable attempt to locate Beowulf on English ground (London, 1861); Morley, "English Writers," vol. i. (London, 1867). A few fragments may be classed with "Beowulf," as "The Traveller's Song," 148 lines; "The Fight at Finnsburg," 48 lines; "Bryhtnoth," 325 lines; the first two to be found in Thorpe and Kemble, and all in Grein (1857). 2. The Bible epic. This is a growth' of Christian England. We have the story of its originator, Caedmon, from Beda, who lived near him, and may have seen him. He was an unlearned man, so backward that he could not take his turn in singing to the harp at feasts, and so sensitive that he would leave the board in shame as the harp came round. Once when he had done this, and fallen asleep in a stall near by, a vision appeared to him, and bade