Advent Lyric 2

Here is the second of the Advent Lyrics of Christ I. I leave for CO for two weeks in about two hours, so updates will be spotty for a while.

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2.

O, you are the Reckoner and the Rightful King,
who keeps the stronghold, revealing life
and the lofty ways to the blessed, withholding
the lovely lanes of desire to those others,
if their deeds are not sufficient.

Indeed we speak these words needfully
and praise the one who shaped mankind—
[damage to the manuscript obliterates most of a line]
the condition of the careful, we who sit
sorrowing in prison—

We expect the sun, the moment when
the Life-Lord reveals the light to us,
becoming protection for us in our minds,
and winding up our frail wits in glory.

Make us worthy—
who admits us into magnificence,
when we must depart miserably
into this narrow place,
beshorn of our homeland.

Therefore one can say,
who speaks truthfully to you,
that he delivered the tribe of men,
who were once perverted.

It was through a young woman,
a maiden without wickedness,
who he chose to be his mother.

That was done without the love of a man,
so that the lady became large
with the bearing of a child.

Nothing could compare to this,
before or since, arising in the world,
this woman’s yearning—
that was a secret, the Lord’s mystery.

All spiritual gifts will pervade
the regions of the earth—
where many wise men were enlightened,
their enduring teachings through the Origin of Life,
which before lay hidden beneath the grave,

and the wordy songs of the prophets,
when the Wielder came, he who amplifies
the mystery of every statement
of those who, through active state
eagerly wish to extol the Shaper’s name. (18-49)

First Advent Lyric (Christ I)

I know it's a little late for the season, but here is the first of the twelve Advent lyrics that make up the first section of Christ I, the first entry in the most famous collection of Anglo-Saxon verse, the Exeter Book.

The first poem is acephalous due to lost leaves. Some posit that one or more lyrics are missing, but there is something nice and round about the number twelve (The later Middle English poem Pearl, for instance, is obsessed with the religious significances of the number).

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1.

… to the king.
You are the wall-stone that the stonewrights
once rejected from their labors. It suits you
that you should be the capital of the glorious hall,
and you gather up the capacious walls,

with fixed joint and stone unbroken,
so that throughout all earthly cities,
by the sight of the eyes, all men
can marvel forever at the Lord of Glory.

Manifest now through your skillful craft
the work of your own, sooth-fast, victor-bright,
and allow wall to meet wall at once.

Now there is need for the building
for the Architect and the King himself to come
and make amends to that which is fallen
to disrepair, the house under its roof.

He shaped the body and its limbs of clay—
now shall the Lord of Life deliver the wearied heap
from his wrath, the wretched from their terrors,
just as he often has done. (1-17)

A status update

Just for fun, I thought I'd calculate just how far I've come in terms of sheer number of lines of Anglo-Saxon poetry translated. With the finish of Daniel, I have rendered 11,297 lines of poetry out of roughly 20,000 lines extant. That works out to 56% of all available Old English poetry! And with the inevitable completion of Judith and the three parts of Christ, which should follow later this spring, that number will leap up to 13,355 or 67% of the extant canon.

I'd say between the plethora of Beowulf translations available, the publication of Word Exchange in 2011, and the evolving resources of this website, it is a good time for studying Anglo-Saxon poetry for scholars and teachers.

I pitch it all the time (on the sidebar of this site), but I'll say it again. This site exists in order to be useful to teachers of Anglo-Saxon poetry, to expose today's students to broader range of Old English texts written in translations more open to contemporary ideas of the Middle Ages and free from unnecessary archaisms. I am interested in receiving any and all criticism and commentary directed at improving the approach and accuracy of the texts, and I will gladly accept suggestions about what sorts of materials could be added in order to better serve the target population (who are primarily seen as students and non-specialist scholars). The point of operating this site as a blog, and not on my university's web server, is to make interaction with you more streamlined.

Happy New Year II (Daniel LV)

Here is the conclusion to Daniel, featuring the feast of Belshazzar (Baldazar in the manuscript) and the writing on the wall. With this section, you can now find the complete Junius Manuscript here on this site. Which is terribly exciting to me, as that gives me two complete book-length manuscripts of translated poems.

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Then among that nation was born the third generation after him.
The prince of the fortresses was Balthazar,
wielding the realm of men, until his pride devastated him,
a hideous over-mind. Then was the ending of days
that the Chaldeans kept the kingdom,
when the Measurer granted sovereignty
to the Medes and the Persians in a short space,
allowing the prosperity of Babylon to wane,
which those heroes should have held onto. (675-83)

God knew that their elder-men lived in unrighteousness
who should have directed the realm.
So then the lord of the Medes, sitting at home,
conceived something no man had ever before:
that he would destroy Babylon,
the temple-grounds of nobles, where noblemen
under the shelter of their walls passed around their wealth. (684-90)

That was the most well-known fortress to the people,
the greatest and the most famous inhabited by men,
the city of Babylon, until Balthazar by his terrible boasting
was tested by God. They sat at wine, enclosed in their walls,
never fearing the malice of their enemies,
even though a nation of foes had come traveling
in warrior’s kit unto that high citadel
so that they could break down Babylon. (691-99)

Then the Chaldean king sat at the feast unto the final day,
amid the men of his generation, when the leader
of that power grew drunk with mead.
He ordered his nobles to bear forth the treasures
of Israel, the holy vessels of sacrament,
in the hands of his men, the clean objects
which the Chaldeans had earlier seized
in Jerusalem with their majestic might
and their champions in the city,
when they destroyed the prosperity
of the Jews with the edges of their swords,
and through their clamorous coming,
the armies seized the bright trappings.
Then they dispersed the temple,
the hall of Solomon, boasting mightily. (700-711)

Then the prince of cities became blithe-minded,
vaunting terribly to anger God, speaking
that his armies were the most powerful
and more efficacious to make peace with men
than the Eternal Lord of Israel.
A sign appeared to them where he was staring,
terrifying for the earls inside the hall,
that he had spoken lying words before his people,
when an angel of the lord there in fright
allowed his hand to enter into that lofty palace,
and wrote upon the wall in mysterious letters,
blazing red book-staves, before those sitting in the citadel.
Then the folk-leader became fearful in his mind,
dismayed by the terror. He saw the angel’s hand
in the hall inscribing the punishment of the Shinarites. (712-26)

The multitude of men, heroes in the hall,
orated upon what that hand had written
as a signal to the city-dwellers.
Many men came to look upon that miracle.
They earnestly sought within their hearts’ thought
what the hand of the holy spirit had written.
Nor could the men crafty in secrets read
the angel’s message, nor the kin of nobles,
until Daniel came, chosen by the Lord,
wise and sooth-fast, venturing into the palace.
God’s craft was great in his spirit,
to whom the guardians of the city, as I have heard,
eagerly tried to purchase him with gifts
so that he would read and relate those book-staves
for them, what mystery dwelt there. (727-40)

Skilled in the law, he answered them,
the messenger of God, wise in his thoughts: (741-42)

“I will not bear to the people the judgments of the Lord
for payments of coin, nor can I for riches,
but I shall speak of fate unremunerated,
the mysteries of the word, which you cannot change.
In your presumption you bear in your possession
vessels of the holy sacrament, in the hands of men.
You all have been drinking to devils in them,
which before were held in Israel within the law,
beside the Ark of God, until your boasting betrayed them,
your wits drunken with wine—so shall it be for you! (743-52)

“Your lord never would have borne in boast
the gold vessels of God, nor crow more swiftly,
even though his armies brought the treasures
of Israel into the control of his keeping,
yet more often the lord of nations spoke
in true words over his own forces,
after the miracle of the Warden of Glory was revealed to him,
that he was alone the Lord and Sovereign of all creation,
who gave him glory, the undimmed profit of earthly reign,
and now you deny that he is living
who rules over devils in his majesty.”

[Possibly incomplete, but the final invocation of devils blends well with the next poem, Christ and Satan]

Daniel LIV pt 2

Happy new year!

Here is the final bit of the second-to-last section of Daniel, comprising the punishment of Nebuchadnezzar. I am almost finished with the complete Junius Manuscript with this section, with just about a hundred lines to go after today. Hopefully, I can finish that off before my second holiday trip begins on Friday.

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Then, on account of this boasting, the lord of men
became seized and departed into flight,
alone in his over-pride above all men.
So he went forth as men do in days of struggle,
upon the most bitter path in God’s punishment,
who, living through, soon regain their homeland,
and so did Nebuchadnezzar, after the enmity of God,
swift from the heavens, had punished him terribly. (612-21)

Seven winters together he suffered this torment,
and the wilderness of wild beasts, the king of the wine-city.
When the wretched man looked up,
with the wits of beasts, through the goings of clouds—
he was mindful then in his heart that the Measurer,
the High-King of Heaven, was for the sons of man
the only Eternal spirit. Then he soon turned from
madness in his wits, where he had before borne
widely, oppressing the heart and mind of the warrior. (622-28)

Then his spirit turned again to the memory of God,
his mind to humanity, once he understood the Maker.
Then the miserable man departed soon upon a journey,
a naked and needy traveler, enduring scorn,
an exotic exile and without clothing as well,
more moderate in his mind-thoughts, to mankind,
than when the warden of men was in his vaunting.
Middle-earth stood before the lord of men,
ground and home before that nobleman,
seven winters together, and it had not diminished
his realm beneath the stars until its leader had returned. (629-39)

Then he was soon reestablished in his lordship,
the guardian of Babylon, having better ways,
a lighter belief in the Origin of Life,
that God gave prosperity and punishment
to every man, just as he wished to do. (640-44)

Then the prince of peoples did not linger at the words
of prophets, rather he proclaimed abroad
the might of the Measurer wherever he held power,
He spoke unto his people of his journey,
his wide wanderings where he roamed with the wild animals,
until the constant counsel of the Lord God came
into his soul, when he peered upon the heavens.
These events occurred, and a miracle revealed,
the dream confirmed, and the torment overcome,
and the judgment decreed, just as Daniel had said—
that the folk-leader was to discover a wretched journey
on account of his overweening.
And so Daniel eagerly preached the good news
of the might of the Measurer before mankind
afterwards for a long while among the city-dwellers
of Babylon, speaking precepts and true judgments. (645-661a)

After the companion of beasts, the exile of the wild,
had come from his wanderings, from the scornful vengeance,
Nebuchadnezzar, then he guarded a great realm,
holding the treasures of men and their high city,
wise now, a surpassingly mighty leader of his people,
the Chaldean king, until his killing knocked him down,
since there was no rival to him across the earth,
no man until God himself wished to divest him
of that lofty realm through the crumbling of his body.
Afterwards his heirs distributed the prosperity there,
the weal and the wound gold, in that wide citadel,
the temple grounds of noblemen, steadfast,
the lofty hoarded riches, when their lord fell dead. (661b-74)

Daniel LIV

Here is a holiday treat: another great dream, another powerful prophecy, and a little more than half of the next section of Daniel. This will be the last piece of translation until after the new year, as we will be on vacation in frigid Maine.

Happy holidays!

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Then in slumber a dream was made manifest to him,
Nebuchadnezzar—this dream was nigh to him.
It seemed to him that on the fair earth there stood
a lovely wood-tree, fixed in its roots
and bright of its fruits. Nor was it like other trees,
but it towered high unto the heaven-stars,
likewise it overshadowed the corners of the earth,
all of middle-earth, up to the ocean-currents,
twig and branch. There he looked upon it,
and it seemed to him that the wood-tree shielded
the wild beasts, and that it alone held food for them all,
likewise the birds also took their life-preserving
among the fruits upon those branches. (495-507)

And it seemed to him that an angel came descending
from above, out of the heavens and announced
his message in a bright voice. He ordered that tree
chopped down and the wild beasts to flee on their way,
likewise the birds, when the tree should fall.
He ordered that the fruits themselves be cut out
from the twigs and branches, and, so it should be a symbol,
the tree’s roots should remain, fixed to the earth
until green fruits should come again, when God granted them.
The angel ordered also the mighty tree to be bound
with brazen chains and iron, fettered in torment,
so that a mightier mind than his wielded his punishment
and against it he had no power. (508-22)

Then he awoke from his sleep—his dream was at an end—
this earthly noble. There was a terror upon him,
a fear from the soul that God had sent thither.
He ordered then that his people should gather,
and his chieftains too, asking over all of them,
the proud-minded king what his dream meant—
not at all believing they knew it, but he tried them
to see how they wished to answer.
Then was Daniel called to that assembly,
the messenger of God. In him was given a great spirit,
holy from the heavens, which strengthened his mind.
In him the lordly warden recognized deep intuition,
broad thinking, wise craft, and perceptive statements.
Many times he manifested a multitude of wonders,
of the might of the Maker, for the benefit of men. (523-37)

Then he began to speak of the dream’s clatter,
the high-hearted and heathen leader of the host,
and all the terror that was shown to him.
He ordered Daniel to relate what that secret thing meant,
heaving up a holy word discovered in his mind
in order to speak in truthful statements
what that tree implied which he had seen sparkling,
and prophesy the import of this happening. (538-45)

Then he fell silent, yet he perceived the truth,
Daniel before the council, that his lord was,
the prince of men, guilty against God.
The wise man hesitated, yet he still spoke a word,
a messenger crafty in law, unto that great noble: (546-50)

“It is, guardian of armies, no small miracle
that you have seen by the coming of a dream,
a heaven-lofty tree and the holy words,
wrathful and terrible, that the angel spoke,
that that tree should be stripped of its branches,
beaten down before you, where it stood fast,
and become joyless among the beasts,
to abide in the wilderness, its root-stock
befouling the earth and become for a time
still in the ground, as the voice declared,
about seven seasons, to take up its seed again. (551-61)

“So shall your fruits lie! Just as the tree grows
high to heaven, so shall you be warden and leader
alone of all earth-dwelling warriors.
There is no opponent for you, no man on this earth—
except the Measurer alone. He shall chop you down
from your kingship, and send you friendless into exile,
and then turn your heart so that you remember not
the joys of men, nor know any wit except the ways
of wild beasts, but will for a long while you shall abide,
living throughout the woods in the leaps of harts. (562-573)
“There will be no meals for you except roots and grass,
nor any rest appointed you, but the showers of rain
shall wash you and punish you just as the wild beasts,
until you believe the truth after seven winters,
that there is one Measurer for all mankind,
the ruler and the authority, who is in heaven. (574-79)

“However, it is pleasing to me that the root-stock
still remains in the ground, as the voice said,
and after seven seasons will again take up its seeds.
So your reign will be resting, unharmed
for the earls, until you come again. (580-84)

“Consider, my lord, this steadfast advice.
Give out alms, become a shelter to the wretched,
make entreaty before the Lord, before the time comes
that he should cast you down from worldly rule.
Often the Measurer pardons many peoples
that perform their cure, when they are willing themselves,
repenting their crimes before the onslaught of God
through his terrible fear, should scathe their lives.”(585-92)

Daniel could not speak so many truthful words
unto his master through the craft of his wisdom,
so that the ruler would heed them,
the lord of middle-earth, but he puffed up his mind,
high from his heart—hard would he be punished for this! (593-97)

Then the king of the Chaldeans chanted a great boast
when he looked upon the city-works, the fortress of Babylon
towering so tall in its riches, with the fields of Shinar
wound about it—that the chief of armies
had wrought it all through a great miracle.
Then he became obstinate over all men,
overly proud in his heart because of the special grace
that God had given him, a realm over men
and the world to wield in this human life: (598-607)

“O my city, you are mighty and wide-renowned,
which I have built to my own glory, a roomy realm.
I shall keep my rest in you, a seat and a home.” (608-11)

Daniel LIII

Got a lot done today! Here is the hymn of praise spoken by the Three Youths in the fiery furnace:

“May you be blessed, Merciful Lord by the beautiful
creation of the world and by all your works!
The heavens and the angels and the pure waters
which abide in glory across the skies
in righteous creation, may they honor you! (362-66)

“And may you, Almighty, be praised
by all created things, the sky-bright stars
which hold your course, the sun and the moon,
each one sundered alone, in their degree. (367-72)

“May the burning fire and the bright summer
celebrate the Savior! Night together with day,
and each and every land, light and shadow both,
heat along with the cold, may they praise you in their degree! (373-76)

“Mighty Lord, may you be loved in the winds,
by the frost and the snow, the winter-bitter weather
and the swirl of the clouds! And may the lightning,
shining, bright and blazing, bless you! (377-80)

“May all the earthly ground, Eternal Lord,
hills and fields and the high mountains,
the salty sea-waves, Soothfast Lord,
the waves of the water-stream and the welling
of the watery springs, may all these worthy you!” (381-85)

“May the great whales praise you, and the skyward birds,
bouncing on the breeze, which are stirred
by the sea-currents and the watery tides!
And may the wild beasts and all cattle bless your name! (386-89)

“And may the children of men love you in their hearts,
and all Israel, your servants, Shaper of All,
praise you according to their degree! (390-92)

“And may the hearts’ craft of the holy,
the souls and the spirits of every soothfast man,
love you, Author of Life, who gives recompense
to all the blessed-minded, O Eternal Lord! (393-96)

And may Annanias and Azarias and Misael
glorify the Measurer in the breast-thoughts!
We bless you, Lord of All Peoples, Father Almighty,
True Son of the Maker, the Preserver of Souls,
the Helper of Heroes, and may you, Holy Ghost,
be honored in glory, Wise Lord! (397-403)

“We praise you, Holy Lord and extol your commandments!
You are blessed, worthied always across the roof of the world,
High-King of Heaven, with your holy power,
Light-Start of Life across every land!” (404-8)

Then Nebuchadnezzar, prince of his people,
consulted his closest folk-chieftains:
“Many of you, my people, have witnessed
that we delivered three men, deliberated
to death in the burning of the fire’s light.
Now I see truly there are four men there,
unless my senses betray me.” (409-15)

Then replied the king’s counselors,
wise and handy with words: “That is some miracle
that we can look upon them with our eyes.
Consider, my prince, what is fitting!
Know eagerly who has imparted this grace
upon these young gadlings! They praise their god,
singular and eternal, and all of them
speak upon his every name in earnest zeal,
praising his majesty with bold words,
stating that he is alone the Almighty God,
the Wise Glory-King of heaven and earth.
Call forth these children, lord of Chaldea,
out of the oven. It is not in any way good
that they remain in the hateful longer than you need.” (416-29)

At that moment the king ordered those boys to come out.
The young men heard these instructions,
the nobles coming forth as they were bidden,
the youths turning towards that heathen king before them.
Their bands were burned away which once lay on their bones,
the hateful devices of the people’s king, and their lives were delivered.
Nor was their beauty blemished, nor any hurt upon their garb,
nor was their hair singed by the fire, but they in the peace of the Lord
had tread forth from that grim terror gladly,
the wise-minded men, in custody of their souls. (430-39)

Then the angel departed upwards, seeking eternal joys
in the highest roofs of heaven’s realm,
a lofty and loyal servant of the Holy Measurer.
By that miracle he had honored those who deserved it. (440-43)

The young men praised before that heathen folk,
teaching them true precepts and saying many true tokens,
until that one believed himself that he was the sovereign of might
who had delivered them from the darkness.
Then the brazen warden of Babylon, proud among his people
decreed that anyone would be guilty of his life
who argued the truth that it was the famous Ruler of Powers
who had set those young men free from their deaths. (444-51)

Then the king gave back to them the heirlooms of their people
which had been taken there into the keeping of the olden foe,
so that they had their honor again. Dignity was theirs again
in Babylon, since they had been tried in the fire,
their glory was revealed to that nation, after they had obeyed the Lord.
Their counsel was great, after the Sovereign of the Skies,
the Holy Warden of Heaven’s Realm, had shielded them from harm. (452-57)

Then, as I have heard in true words, the guardian of Babylon
sought, after perceiving that miracle through the burning of flames,
how those three youths had passed through the heated oven
and its fear-terrible fire. They waded through the welling,
as if the hate of the grim gledes, had hurt them not a bit,
the messengers of God in the wicked flames,
but the Lord’s peace had shielded them against gruesome terror.
Then the prince called a council, ordering together his people,
and proclaimed to that meeting the event that had happened
and the miracle of God that had been revealed in those youth: (458-71)

“Consider now the holy might and the wise wonder of God!
We have seen that he sheltered these young men
against the killing in the furnace, the flickering flame,
who have borne his praise. Therefore he is alone the Eternal Lord,
the Deemer Almighty, who granted them glory and a thriving triumph,
to those who carry his message. Therefore they have prophesied
through many miracles from their holy spirits that have chosen
his protection. It is known to me that Daniel spoke truly
of my secret dream, that had earlier greatly perplexed
many of my people in their minds, because the Almighty
had sent a soul ample in his senses, wise in his crafts.” (472-85)

So spoke the leader of armies wordfully, the warden of Babylon,
after he understood the signs, the patent token of God.
It made him no better, for over-pride harmed that noble yet,
it grew higher in his mind and in the thoughts of his heart,
greater in his mind-sense that should be appropriate,
until the Almighty Measurer thrust him down with compulsion,
just as he does to many who are mounted up by pride. (486-94)