Guthlac B II posted

Now with the majority of my applications posted and a comfortable teaching routine established, I thought I'd take a moment to post some new translation on Guthlac B. The challenge of this section has been to figure out a lot of weird kennings (the notes, given below, outline what I've done with them). I am also experiencing the sense that Sievers was not looking at Guthlac when he developed his metrical types. The meter is anything but typical, which makes me wonder about other ways to scan and organize the lines.

Oh yes, and Juliana was the winner in the poll. The people have spoken. Thank you for your input!

Translation:

Often to that habitation came a death-powered* host of devils, in gangs shorn of glory,
bearing down on him where the sainted and resolute servant of valor defended
his dwelling. There they raised a resounding army-shout with many voices,
of diverse noise, in the waste, denied shape and deprived of their joys.
The champion of the Lord, the bold battle-leader, ably withstood the swarming
enemy. The hour of horrid ghasts was never delayed, nor was it long to await
the crime-wrights to heave up a war-cry, joylessly clamoring, audibly moving to and fro. (76-88)

Sometimes the furious ones would cry like wild animals in packs, sometimes again
the malicious man-harmers turned into human shape with the greatest noise,
and other times the accursed pledge-breakers drew themselves into the form
of dragons, pained and plague-clad,* spewing forth venom. Always they found
Guthlac prepared and prudent of thought. He awaited them patiently, though
the band of fiends should menace him with life-killing. (89-97)

Sometimes the kindred of birds flew to his hands, urged by hunger, where
they would assuredly find sustenance and worthied him with insistent chirping.*
Sometimes again human messengers humbly sought him and there, journey-bold
on the triumph-plain, they found help at the hand of the holy servant,
and solace of the soul. Indeed there were none that journeyed back again
ashamed, abased, without hope—
rather the holy man healed through virtuous power both body and soul
of every man that tormented sought him in need, heroes heart-sorrowed
as long as the Warden of Life, the Eternal Almighty, wished to grant
that Guthlac be allowed to enjoy the fruits of life here on Earth. (98-114a)

Then the ending-day of Guthlac’s earthly struggle and miseries pressed closely,
the enforced separation of life. Then, fifteen years after he had chosen
his dwelling-place in the desert, the Spirit of Succor blessedly was sent from above
to the Law’s proclaimer, holy from the heights. Guthlac burned with his breast,
goaded unto his going-forth. Suddenly disease shot through him. Yet in courage
undismayed, he awaited the bright promises, restful in his refuge.
His bone-close was oppressed closely during the night-gloom, his breast-hoard
enfeebled. His joyful spirit was eager for the forth-way. (114b-127a)

The Father of Angels did not wish to allow him to endure in this miserable
worldly life a long-space after that, that sinless man who pleased him in his deeds
here during his days’ time with acts of quick spirit. Then the Help-mighty*
let his hand come where his sainted servant waited, brave-minded and doom-blessed
in his secret cell, stern and strong-hearted. Guthlac’s joy was renewed,
the bliss in his breast. His bone-coffer was kindled in sickness, fixed with inward
bands; his body-hoard unclosed. His limbs heavied, persecuted by pains. (127b-39a)

Guthlac recognized the truth that the Almighty sought him from above, the Maker
for his mercies. He fortified his heart’s mind stoutly against the hedging-fear*
of the fiends’ struggles. Yet he was not afraid—neither taloned disease* nor
death-parting was terrifying in his mind. Instead the praise of the Lord burned
in his breast, his brand-hot love triumph-true in his spirit, which had always surpassed
his every pain. Nor was there pained anxiety in this loaned time, though his body
and soul, a conjugal pair, should soon separated their precious joined-meal.* (139b-52a)

The days bounced by, the night-helms’ darkness. The moment was near
when he must satisfy that former-deed through the arrival of death,
draw lots for glory, even that same death as our fallen parents assumed of old,
and as that first race of creatures did before them.* (152b-158)

Notes:

76) deofla deað-mægen duguþa: Literally, "death-strong," but I like the sound and sense of "death-powered," which is strikes me as acceptably defamiliarized.

94) earme adl-oman: A hapax legomenon of uncertain derivation. Most editors and translators take its parts as ad "fire" and loma "lame." There is no reason why it couldn't be from adl "disease, sickness" and some form of hama or homa "skin" or "home" (dropping the h), giving the kenning a meaning like "plague-clad." Like adl-þracu below, Guthlac B uses a great many compounds with adl- as its first element that are otherwise unattested.

98-9) Hwilum him to honda hungre geþreatad/ fleag fugla cyn: The sudden break in expected progression, set up by the anaphora on hwilum, is particularly satisfying, extended by using the menacing-ounding geþreatad "crowded, thronged" and changing the imitation wild beasts from line 89 into various kinds of birds. The parallel is continued through describing their insistent voices; their meaglum stefnum contrasting the cacophonous voices of the devils (mislice mongum reordum (80), breahtma mæste (92)). The anaphora will be continued in lines 101a-5a, with the arrival of human visitors to be healed and comforted. The effect of all three hwilum statements is to emphasize that all three types of visitors demonstrate Guthlac's sanctity. For "insistent chirping," see the note on A 734.

132b) se hæl-mihtiga: The only time this word appears in either Guthlac: it is usually taken for a error for Æl-mihtig "Almighty," and emended without comment. BT has no entry for the word, nor does it list it as a known variant of ælmihtig. The Dictionary of the Old English Corpus lists only one occurrence for the compound, in Ælfric's Letter to Wulfgeat, line 7: "Nu sæde ic þe ær on ðam ærrum gewritum, hu se hælmihtiga god, se ðe ne ongan næfre, se þe ana is soð god, gesceop ealle þing gesewenlice and ungesewenlice þurh his soðan wisdom" [Now I said to you before the first scripture, how the Almighty God, he that never began, he that alone is the true god, shaped al things visible and invisible through his true wisdom.] (in Angelsächsische Homilien und Heiligenleben, ed. Assmann (Kassel, 1889): 1-12. Repr. with intro. by P. Clemoes (Darmstadt, 1964).)

There may well be a relationship between the two passages, given the unusual spelling and nominative ending -a, clarified by the pronoun se. Beyond that the Ælfric does not help that much: the word in his passage seems almost certainly to be mean "Almighty," especially given the kenning's close proximity to two very standard epithets for God.

I have attempted to puzzle out a possible meaning for the kenning as it is spelled here; taking hæl- as deriving from the noun hælu "health, safety, salvation." That has been a common word throghout the poem, and seems to be particularly relevant in the account of Guthlac's final disease.

142) wið þam fær-hagan: Another hapax legomenon, this one has been interpreted variously as either "peril," "assault," or a "perilous enclosure." I like the idea of enclosure in haga ("home" or "hedge") alongside the poem's emphasis on the enclosing structures of the body.

144) seo adl-þracu: Yet another hapax legomenon, this one combines "disease" and "force, violence." The context seems to imply swiftness and seizure, which I feel "taloned" connotes effectively.

151) hyra som-wiste: BT defines sam-wist as "A living together, cohabitation, matrimony." Like æt-wist above, the word signifies human relationships founded by and maintained with shared food.

157-8) swa him biforan worhton /þa ærestan ælda cynnes: A problematic ending to the sentence. We have already regressed to the start of human history with Adam and Eve, returning to the meditation that started Guthlac B, and this final clause seems to suggest that there were a race of humans before even them. Bradley translates this passage just that way, but it seems more likely that ærestan ælda cynnes should be understood less literally, signifying the fallen angels. The line is metrically difficult too, like many in Guthlac B so far.

Guthlac B is started

The first section of Guthlac B is now complete and available for commentary on the Guthlac page. Line numbering, following the Muir edition of the Exeter Book, has started over at one, so if you're playing at home with your ASPR text, just add 818 to my line numbers to find the matching passage.

I am quite happy to be buried in the new poem: the texture and sound is so much more rich than A. Immediately I'm seeing many more kennings and a completely different vocabulary, and a different type of sound play. My favorite so far is the internal rhyme on "lyre" (loss) in lines 11-2 (see below for translation). Do you think fumbling/tumbling/crumbling is too jangly a translation for these lines? I do enjoy when sound effects can be preserved in translation, but the register might be wrong.

Also, I had the misfortune to read the Wikipedia article on Guthlac A & B. I was wondering about how others felt when they find something like this. How long does the urge to revise and improve the bad article last in you? It's so tempting, but Lord knows I have better things to do with my life. If I were too write anything about Guthlac, it would much more productive to work on the introduction to the poems on my own page.

Or maybe to just stop procrastinating and get those job applications worked out.

Anyways, onto the translation:

It is widely known among the generations of men, heard by the people, that the God
of Beginnings, the Almighty King, created the first man of the kindred of men
from the purest earth. Then was the novel origin of the race of men, a joyous composition,
fair and rejoicing. Adam the Father was first conceived by God’s favor in Paradise-plain,
where there was no want of delightful things nor decay of prosperity, the fumbling of life
nor tumbling of body, the crumbling of delight nor the arrival of death*—instead Adam
was allowed to live in that land free from all frailties, and enjoy these new pleasures at length. (1-15a)

There he had no need to await, through the passing season of men, the end of life
or delight in that radiant home, but after a time was allowed to return to the joys
of the most beautiful heaven-realm— limbs and body and the spirit of life as one,
and there afterwards always in ever-delights would be allowed to dwell for the expanse
of life in the sight of the Lord, without the journey of death, if they had desired to keep
the word of the Holy One bright in their breasts, and execute his decrees and labor in his homeland. (15b-25a)

It wearied them right at first that they should work at the Wielder’s pleasure, but his wife
Eve seized by the serpent’s lore the forbidden fruit and plucked from the tree a blossom
prohibited by the word of God the Glory-King. Then she by the Devil’s guile gave
the mortal-making morsel to her husband so that the couple was constrained to die. (25b-33)

Afterwards that land was estranged to Adam and Eve, the bright country of choice
was carried away, and so with their children and heirs following, they were shoved
into the struggling-world, shamefully shivering in a strange land. They paid the price
for this deed, these profound faults, through the killing blow of death, which
they had brought to pass through their folly. Since their sin-wrack women and men
must be punished for their great sin, a God-guilty grief through soul-parting,
for these profound faults. Death crowded in upon the kindred of men—
our enemy tyrannized us throughout our world. (34-46a)

There was never again any man from that triumphant stock so eager for God’s will
or so wise that he might be able to avoid that bitter drink which Eve gave Adam of old,
that his young bride poured out for him. It injured both of them in their beloved home.
Death reigned over earth-dwellers, although there were many that did God’s will,
spirit-holy in various human habitations, throughout the open fields. Some early,
some late, and some within our own times’ memory, by the date, sought the reward of victory. (46b-60a)

Books tell us how Guthlac became blessed in Anglia through the pleasure of God.
He elected eternal power and protection for himself. Renowned wide and broad
were his miraculous works, famous in the cities throughout the interior of Britain:
how, by the power of God, he often healed many that sought him from the travel-ways;
men of heavy torments, heart-sorrowed and tremble-minded, bound by disease,
discomforted and sorry. Always they found comfort ready there at the side
of that champion of God, help and healing. There is no man that can recount
or reckon the number of all of those miracles that Guthlac here in this world
here performed for the multitudes through the grace of the Lord. (60b-75)

11-2) ne lifes lyre ne lices hryre,/ ne dreames dryre ne deaðes cyme: The rhyming words in these two lines are derived from leosan (to lose), hreosan (to fall to the earth) and dreosan (to crumble or decay), respectively, class II strong verbs that dramatically change their stem in the second preterite and past participle, ending in -uron and -oren. The resulting chiming in sound is often exploited as internal rhyme in AS poetry, most notably in the Ruin lines 3, 5 & 7. It feels appropriate that these verbs of loss and change should involve a radical alteration of ther sound as the tense recedes into the past.

Guthlac A is done

OK, so Guthlac A is finally done, though I'm not so happy with the eighth section. I feel that it came out a bit too close to other translations I consulted (in this case, Bradley and Kennedy), and needs a bit of space to breathe, which will allow me to really get into what's going on there. The sudden movement in the final 20 lines or so that goes from a singular subject (Guthlac) to plural (everyone like him) feels strange. However, I do like the final seven lines that describe the New Jerusalem and return to the feminine subject "heo" that stands out in the opening lines.

On to Guthlac B, but it will be much slower since the job list came out.

Guthlac A nearly completed

Goodness gracious it feels good to get something finished! I have updated the Guthlac page so that all but the very last section of the first poem is complete. Notes on the new lines will be filled in sometime in the next few days.

Is it such a good thing to be utterly enthralled by the qualities of the poem you're translating? I feel like Guthlac A is the greatest poem ever, although I know realistically that this is far from so. At first, I felt a bit embarrassed by the poem's clunky relative clauses, its aggravating habit of modifying a singular noun in the dative by an adjective in plural (see the quote below), its limited and very repetitive vocabulary, and its cyclical structure based on a recurrence of a single scenario of demonic temptation. But as the lines turned into full sections, the sections built up momentum, and the voice became familiar I have a new respect for the poet's work.

Guthlac A is a haunting expression of the banality of evil, of temptations that do not blitzkreig so much as besiege endlessly. Guthlac requires patient endurance against the mind-numbing stagnancy of the demons' world-view. The demons emphasize the perils of conformity by repeating the same attack over and over again, demanding that Guthlac maintain their status quo. The emphasis consistently lies in the fact that because they have suffered for pride Guthlac must necessarily do so as well. Guthlac, on the other hand, embodies a possibility of change, of changing his way of life and demeanor, even as his name ("war-play") as the terms of that battle are transformed as he devotes himself to spiritual labor: "Ac ic minum Criste cweman þence/ leofran lace" [but I think to satisfy my lord Christ with a dearer sort of play] (306-7). By contrast the devils' focus on battle-play can never be materialized, they menace and grab, but cannot harm the saint. For all their intentions their belligerence is not more substantial than the air, and at one point, they are even described as "lyft-lacende" (bouncing like the air or upon the air) (146), a kenning whose assonance chimes with Guthlac's name, relating and dividing them at the same time.

(On second look at this post, I realize that my reading of Guthlac A must be influenced by my own personal tribulations in trying to get my Sir Gowther chapter done the way it should be, to advance the stakes and really get the argument to say something important.)

Guthlac A IV

The fifth installment of Guthlac A is now complete. I have been experimenting with ways to organize the vocabulary in a database, so that had slowed progress for a few days.

I know that there are a lot of computer people amongst you Anglo-Saxonists, so any suggestions of how to manipulate data in MS Excel would be greatly appreciated: I want to create a wordlist that preserves each form a word takes, but that swiftly eliminates duplicates and extremely common words, so I don't have to wade through them when I need to look for a word. For Guthlac, I can just use Roberts's glossary, but I'm looking ahead to a bigger poem like Genesis.

Update to Elene

I've added about thirty lines to the Elene translation that were lying about. I don't really mean to do two poems at the same time--and Lord knows I have enough to do without it--but I did want to get everything I have out on the table.

I have not been satisfied with the sound of Elene so far, and so I have pushed it aside until I can digest a few more translations. There is something very different about the voice of the poem--Andreas and Guthlac A just don't have it-- and I need to get my mind around expressing it that voice.

Updates to Guthlac

The first four sections of Guthlac A are now complete, so please come and visit to check things out. I recently stumbled across Jane Roberts's 1979 edition and remembered that Bernard Muir's edition of the Exeter Book existed, so I now have a much more up-to-date edition to use in the translation. A relief, but one that will necessitate some revisiting of the notes so far, I fear.

Consequently a bibliographic list of editions and translations has been added to the start of the Notes section, just to help you all play along at home.