The Wanderer..
Apr. 28th, 2009 04:19 amAnother poem I love from the Anglo-Saxons: The Wanderer, lines 92 to 96.
I discovered this when I was about fifteen, when my fascination with Tolkien led me to a passion for the Anglo-Saxons. I found a recording of Anglo-Saxon poetry in the library, a Caedmon record in which a rich baritone read Old English poems, incuding this one, which I memorized in the original language, I loved it so much:
Without knowing anything about Anglo-Saxon grammar or syntax, I loved the sonorous vowels and the mental images. This poem always made me think of the Sutton Hoo treasure.
"Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago? Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa?
Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Hwær sindon seledreamas?
Eala beorht bune! Eala byrnwiga!
Eala þeodnes þrym! Hu seo þrag gewat,
genap under nihthelm, swa heo no wære.
I found a translation of this passage, though again I can't recall the translator, or find him cited online. The translation I loved was this:
Where is the horse? Where the hero?
Where the treasure-giving prince?
Where the seats at the feast, where the delights of the hall?
Alas, bright goblet! Alas, mailed fighter!
Alas, princely power.
How that time has passed away,
Grown dark beneath the night's helmet,
as though it had not been.
And then one day, the penny dropped. I'd read almost the same poem in The Lord of the Rings without recognizing it - Tolkien had his very own version of it in The Two Towers - you can hear it here as rendered so beautifully by Bernard Hill in the Peter Jackson movie. Everything came full circle: Tolkien led me to the poem, the poem led me back to Tolkien.
Here's another translation, this one by Benjamin Thorpe:
Where is horse, where is man? where is the treasure-giver ?
where are the festive sittings ? where are the joys of the hall?
Alas bright cup ! alas mail'd warrior !
alas chieftain's splendour ! how the time has pass'd,
has darken'd under veil of night, as if it had not been.