Anglo-saxon poetry. Pagan poetry content Introduction 3

1.2 Artistic features of the poem

In the hands of a Christian scribe, the poem undoubtedly underwent very significant changes (the names of pagan gods and too obvious traces of Germanic mythology were thrown out, and elements of Christian ideas were introduced). For example, he (the "author") considers Grendel a descendant of Cain, calls sea monsters a fiend, etc. Most of the inserts are borrowed from the Old Testament (the names of Abel, Cain, Noah, references to the flood - all this directly goes back to the biblical book of Genesis, which attracted the attention of Anglo-Saxon Christian poets and transcribed by them into verses). As for Grendel , the poet recalls the giants, clearly mixing the Christian tradition about Satan with the ancient myths about the titans who rebelled against the Olympians. Christian influence is felt, however, not only in these interpolations, which clearly contradict the pre-Christian basis of the poem; it extends much further, affecting the development of the plot and even the characterization of the hero. Christian elements have penetrated deeper into the structure of the poem than it seems at first glance; Beowulf himself is turned into a kind of Christian ascetic. The last episode of the poem - a description of the hero's death - is distinguished by very characteristic contradictions - traces of a literary processing in the Christian spirit of a pre-existing tradition.

The fact that the edition of the poem about Beowulf that has come down to us belongs to the Anglo-Saxon scribe of the 8th - 9th centuries is finally clear from the poetic technique of the poem. All surviving works of Anglo-Saxon poetry are written in the so-called Old Germanic alliterative verse, which was used not only in Anglo-Saxon, but also in Old High German and Old Norse poetry between the 8th and 13th centuries. Alliterative verse was characteristic of both the oral ancient Germanic heroic epic and written monuments.⁴ This form was preserved for a particularly long time in Iceland, while among the continental Germanic peoples already in the early Middle Ages it was replaced by verse with a final rhyme. Old German versification was based on rhythm, determined by the number of stressed syllables in a line of poetry. Alliteration is the consonance of the initial sounds of words that were under semantic stress and repeated with a certain regularity in two adjacent lines of a verse, which, by virtue of this, turned out to be connected. Alliteration is audible and significant in Germanic verse, since the stress in Germanic languages predominantly falls on the first syllable of the word, which is also its root. It is clear, therefore, that the reproduction of this form of versification in Russian translation is almost impossible. The main organizing principle of this metrical system is the division of each poetic line into two half-lines, in which there are two main rhythmic stresses; at the same time, consonants that preceded one or both main stresses of the first half-line must be repeated (i.e. alliterate ) before the initial stress of the second half-line. Alliterative verse (pure-tonic verse of Anglo-Saxon, Old High German and Old Icelandic poetry (VIII - XIII centuries ): most often a verse of two half-lines, two stresses in each, both words of the first and one of the words of the second half-line are connected by alliteration of the initial sounds. A similar organization of alliterative verse is common in the Turkic languages.
The poetry of Beowulf is very skillful and distinguished by strict restraint; other characteristic features of the style of the poem are also associated with it: the stringing of synonyms and the frequent use of metaphors. The abundance of metaphors is, generally speaking, one of the features of Anglo-Saxon poetry and brings it closer to Scandinavian poetry. It is very difficult to convey this feature of Scandinavian and Old English verse, the so-called kenning (literally - "designation") - a poetic paraphrase that replaces one noun in ordinary speech with two or more words. Kennings were used to designate the most essential concepts for heroic poetry: "leader", "warrior", "sword", "shield", "battle", "ship", "gold", "woman", "raven", and for each of these concepts, there were several or even many kennings . Instead of saying "prince", the expression "giver of rings" was used in poetry, "battle ash" was a common warrior's kenning , the sword was called "battle stick", and so on. In " Beowulf " kennings are usually binomial, but in skaldic poetry there are also polynomial kennings . So, the poet prefers to say "tree of joy" instead of "harp", "son of a hammer" instead of "sword", "whale's road" or "swan path" instead of "sea", "fighting lindens" instead of "shields", "forgers of wars" instead of "warriors", etc. Some metaphors are distinguished by their particular sophistication and even a peculiar mannerism, which, however , was especially appreciated. In this sense, the stylistic technique of Beowulf is brilliantly developed. [thirteen]
" Beowulf " attracted wide attention not only of scientists, but also of poets. It has been translated into modern English verse many times: the most interesting experiments of this kind are the verse translations of William Morris (1895) and Archibald Strong (1925). It was also retold many times for children and youth (the prose retelling of the poem, made by a writer, Russian by origin, was especially widespread in England and America,
3. A. Ragozina in 1898 and withstood a number of editions ).L. Botkin first translated Beowulf into French (1877). Currently, there is a Russian translation of the poem made by V. Tikhomirov in the book: Beowulf . Elder Edda. The Song of the Nibelungs . M ., 1975. In this work, the first translation of " Beowulf " into Russian is used (Translation from Old English by V. Tikhomirov). So much has been written about " Beowulf " that every line in it can become an occasion for a versatile discussion.
The integrity of the life span corresponds to the integrity of the characters displayed in the epic. The heroes of the epic are carved from one piece, each personifies some quality that determines in his essence. Beowulf is the ideal of a courageous and determined warrior, unchanging in loyalty and friendship, a generous and merciful king. The epic hero is not tormented by doubts and hesitations, his character is revealed in actions; His words are as clear as his actions. This solidity of the hero of the epic is explained by the fact that he knows his fate, takes it for granted and inevitable, and boldly goes to meet it. The epic hero is not free in his decisions, in the choice of a line of behavior. Actually, his inner essence and the power that the heroic epic calls Fate coincide, are identical. Therefore, the only thing left for the hero is to fulfill his destiny in the best possible way. Hence - a peculiar, maybe a little primitive for a different taste, the greatness of epic heroes.⁵
With all the differences in content, tonality, as well as in the conditions and time of their occurrence, epic poems do not have an author. The point is not that the name of the author is unknown ( in science there have been more than once - invariably unconvincing - attempts to establish the authors of the Eddic songs or the Nibelungenlied ) , - the anonymity of the epic works is fundamental: the persons who combined, expanded and reworked what was at their disposal poetic material, did not recognize themselves as the authors of the works they wrote. This, of course, does not mean that in that era the concept of authorship did not exist at all. The names of many Icelandic skalds are known, who claimed their "copyright" to the songs they performed. And, nevertheless, poetic work on the traditional epic plot, on heroic songs and legends, which in an earlier form were familiar to everyone, in the Middle Ages was not evaluated as creativity either by society or by the poet himself, who created such works, but did not think about mentioning yours.
Drawing from the general poetic fund, the compiler of the epic poem focused on the heroes and plot chosen by him, pushing many other legends related to this plot to the periphery of the narrative. Just as a searchlight illuminates a separate piece of terrain, leaving most of it in darkness, so the author of an epic poem (the author in the sense now indicated, i.e., a poet deprived of authorial self-consciousness), developing his theme, limited himself to allusions to its offshoots. , being sure that his audience already knows all the events and characters, both sung by him, and those that he only mentioned in passing. The tales and myths of the Germanic peoples have found only a partial embodiment in their epic poems, preserved in writing - the rest has either disappeared or can only be restored indirectly. In Beowulf , cursory references to kings, their wars and strife, mythological characters and legends are scattered in abundance. Laconic allusions were quite enough for the corresponding associations to arise in the minds of listeners or readers of the heroic epic. The epic usually does not report anything completely new. The strength of its aesthetic and emotional impact does not diminish in the least - on the contrary, in archaic and medieval society, the greatest satisfaction, apparently, was the non-receipt of original information, or not only it, but also the recognition of previously known, new confirmation of old ones and therefore especially valuable truths. [3, p.38]
The epic poet, processing material that did not belong to him, a heroic song, myth, legend, legend, widely using traditional expressions, stable comparisons and formulas, figurative clichés borrowed from oral folk art, could not consider himself an independent creator, no matter how much he really was his contribution to the final creation of the heroic epic is great. This dialectical combination of the new and the perceived from the predecessors constantly gives rise to disputes in modern literary criticism: science tends either to emphasize the folk basis of the epic, or in favor of the individual creative principle in its creation. beowulf anglo -saxon good evil.

Chapter II Good and Evil in Beowulf