HISTORY | LITERATURE
What Are The Anglo-Saxon Elegies?
And What Can They Tell Us About The Anglo-Saxons?
The Anglo-Saxon elegies are some of my all-time favorite poems. They are an extremely beautiful form of Old English poetic verse that is full of loss, longing, and lamentation. The poems often explore things like personal grief, the transience of life, and the inevitability of fate. Sounds cheery, right? Let’s get started!
First of all, who were the Anglo-Saxons?
The Anglo-Saxons were the dominant cultural force in England from the 5th to the 11th centuries. They lived in a landscape marked by the remnants of the once-mighty Roman empire. The Anglo-Saxons were made up of migrating Germanic tribes: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. Renowned for their warrior culture, intricate artistry, and rich oral traditions, the Anglo-Saxons shaped the early medieval landscape of England.
Now, Lets look at some of the poems…
First up is The Wanderer, a poem that reflects on themes of exile, loss, and the transient nature of human life.
Often the solitary one
Finds grace for himself
The mercy of the Lord,
Although he, sorry-hearted,
Must for a long time
Move by hand
Along the waterways,
Along the ice-cold sea,
Tread the paths of exile.
These are the opening lines of lines of the poem. They perfectly capture the sense of longing, melancholy, and introspection that permeates The Wanderer.
And so he knows it, he who must
Forgo for a long time
The counsels
Of his beloved lord:
Then sorrow and sleep
Both together
Often tie up
The wretched solitary one.
He thinks in his mind
That he embraces and kisses
His lord,
And on his knees lays
His hands and his head,
Just as, at times before,
In days gone by,
He enjoyed the throne.
Then the friendless man
Wakes up again,
The poet laments the life he has lost. He dreams of it. But it is gone. His lord is gone. His kin are gone. He pines for past joys and longs for the companionship he once knew but will never know again.
Where is the horse gone? Where is the rider?
Where the giver of treasure?
Where are the seats at the feast?
Where are the revels in the hall?
Alas for the bright cup!
Alas for the mailed warrior!
Alas for the splendor of the prince!
How that time has passed away,
Dark under the cover of night,
As if it had never been!
In this verse, the poet laments the fleeting nature of worldly pleasures and human connections. One of the final verses in the poem only emphasizes this:
All is troublesome
In this earthly kingdom,
The turn of events changes
The world under the heavens.
Here money is fleeting,
Here friend is fleeting,
Here man is fleeting,
Here kinsman is fleeting,
All the foundation of this world
Turns to waste!
Another of my favorite elegies is The Seafarer. The Seafarer reflects on themes of exile, the harshness of the sea, the fleeting nature of earthly life, and the quest for spiritual fulfilment.
The poem opens with the speaker describing the physical and emotional hardships of life at sea:
I can make a true song
About me myself,
Tell my travels,
How I often endured
Days of struggle,
Troublesome times,
Have suffered
Grim sorrow at heart,
Have known in the ship
Many worries,
The terrible tossing of the waves,
Where the anxious night watch
Often took me
In the poem, there is a stark contrast between the seafarer’s harsh existence on sea and the security of life on land.
The one who has the joys of life,
Dwells in the city,
Far from terrible journey,
Proud and wanton with wine,
How I, weary, often
Have had to endure
In the sea-paths.
Towards the end of the poem, the poet takes a more spiritual turn. It begins to contemplate the seafarer’s journey as more of a metaphor for the soul’s journey towards God:
Indeed hotter for me are
The joys of the Lord
Than this dead life
Fleeting on the land.
I do not believe
That the riches of the world
Will stand forever.
This shift from physicality to spirituality reflects the seafarer’s realization that true fulfilment lies not in earthly pleasures but in spiritual devotion.
Finally, the last elegy I will mention is The Ruin. This poem reflects on the decay of a once-great city.
The poem vividly describes the remnants of the city, revelling in its former glory but lamenting how it has decayed:
Wondrous is this wall-stead,
Wasted by fate.
Battlements broken,
Giant’s work shattered.
Roofs are in ruin,
Towers destroyed,
Broken the barred gate,
Rime on the plaster,
Walls gape, torn up, destroyed,
Consumed by age.
Earth-grip holds
The proud builders,
Departed, long lost,
And the hard grasp of the grave,
Until a hundred Generations
Of people have passed.
Often this wall outlasted,
Hoary with lichen,
Red-stained,
Withstanding the storm,
One reign after another;
The high arch has
Now fallen.
As the poem goes on, the poet shifts to a more reflective tone. It is as if they have come to accept the transience of human existence:
And so these halls are empty,
And the curved arch sheds its tiles,
Torn from the roof.
Decay has brought it down,
Broken it to rubble.
Where once many a warrior,
High of heart,
Gold-bright,
Gleaming in splendor,
Proud and wine-flushed,
Shone in armor,
Looked on a treasure of silver,
On precious gems,
On riches of pearl
In this article you have seen the core themes of Anglo-Saxon poetry: the ineffability of life, the inevitability of fate, and a profound sense of loss and longing. Each poem I’ve mentioned offers a unique perspective on the human condition. “The Wanderer” delves into the sorrow of exile, and the search for wisdom amidst life’s fleeting joys. “The Seafarer,” with its harsh depiction of life at sea, shows us the existential quest for meaning. “The Ruin” is a sombre testament to the ravages of time, mourning the decay of once-great achievements. These elegies not only reflect the harsh realities of the Anglo-Saxon world, but they explore what it is to be human. History tells us that the Anglo-Saxon’s were a warrior civilization, but from reading their poetry, we can see that they may also have been very reflective and introspective.
