Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

“poorly counseled” or “maker of bad decisions.”
3. In the offer of the Viking messenger (
beagas wið gebeorge
, “rings in exchange for peace”) as in Byrhnoth’s response (
To heanlic me þinceð þæt ge mid urum sceattum to scype gangon unbefohtene
, “I think it would be shameful for us to let you go with our riches to your ships without confronting you”), the words
beagas
(bracelets, rings) and
sceattas
(the term for Anglo-Saxon silver coins, but probably at the time a weight measure) can also mean, in the poetic sense, “riches” generally. Money did circulate, but tributes to the Vikings were paid in a combination of gold, silver, jewels, rings, and coins, and anything else at hand.
4. There is no Godric in the Finnsburh Fragment. Perhaps Borges is confusing this name with Guthere, Garulf, or Guthlaf, all of whom appear in that poem.
5. The original title of this novel in Swedish is
Röde Orm
. It was originally published in two volumes in 1941 and 1945, and its author, Frans Gunnar Bengtsson (1894– 1954), was a poet, novelist, and essayist. The chapter Borges is referring to is the first of the second part and is called “Concerning the battle that was fought at Maldon, and what came after it.”
6.
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
, by R. K. Gordon, volume 794 of Everyman’s Library.
7. Borges is commenting on a passage from Book IV of
Historia Ecclesiastica
, which tells the story of Caedmon. It can be found in
Medieval Germanic Literature
, OCC, 881.
8. Caedmon’s “mediocre” verses are the following:

Nu sculon herigean
meotodes meahte
weorc wuldorfæder,
ece drihten,
He ærest sceop
heofon to hrofe,
þa middangeard
ece drihten,
firum foldan,
heofonrices weard,
and his modgeþanc,
swa he wundra gehwæs,
or onstealde.
eorðan bearnum
halig scyppend;
moncynnes weard,
æfter teode
frea ælmihtig.
9. “Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son, / Turbulent fleshy, sensual, eat- ing, drinking, and breeding.” Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” XXIV, from
Leaves of Grass.
10. The poem is titled “Salut au Monde!” and belongs to the section “Calamus” of
Leaves of Grass.
11. Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), French poet.
12. Leopoldo Lugones Argüello (1874–1938), Argentine writer and journalist.
13. In lines 797–807 of the poem titled “Christ,” the letters of the name of Cynewulf are woven into the story of the final judgment. Using a similar method, Cynewulf also “signed” the following poems: “Elena,” “Juliana,” and “The Fate of the Apostles.” Cynewulf’s identity remains cloaked in mystery. The author of these poems has been identified as: Cenwulf, abbot of Peterborough (d. 1006); Cynewulf, bishop of Lindisfarne (d. 782); and Cynwulf, a priest from Dunwich.
14. See the appendix for the Runic alphabet.
15. The British Cemetery, at 4568 El Cano Avenue, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
16. A section of this elegy has been translated by Borges and appears in his
Brief Anglo-Saxon Anthology
with the title
“El navegante.”
17. From “Sonatina,” by the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867–1916).
18. Following are the first lines of Pound’s translation with the Old English original:

Mæg ic be me sylfum
siþas secgan,
earfoðhwile
bitre breostceare
gecunnad in ceole
atol yþa gewealc,
nearo nihtwaco
þonne he be clifum cnossað.
wæron mine fet,
soðgied wrecan,
hu ic geswincdagum
oft þrowade,
gebiden hæbbe,
cearselda fela,
þær mec oft bigeat
æt nacan stefnan,
Calde geþrungen
forste gebunden
May I for my own self song’s truth reckon,
Journey’s jargon, how I in harsh days
Hardship endured oft.
Bitter breast-cares have I abided,
Known on my keel many a care’s hold,
And dire sea-surge, and there I oft spent
Narrow nightwatch nigh the ship’s head
While she tossed close to cliffs. Coldly afflicted,
My feet were by frost benumbed.
    CLASS 6

1. Borges refers to this spell on the page dedicated to the valkyries (OCC, 708) as well as the one dedicated to the elves (OCC, 624) in his
Book of Imaginary Beings.
2.
Ese
in Old English is
Æsir
in Old Norse.
3. The letter to Cangrande della Scala of Verona is the last of Dante’s surviving letters. It was written around the year 1303 and is important because it includes a commentary on
The Divine Comedy
by the author himself. Until 1920, the letter was considered apocryphal, until a group of Italian and international scholars and critics established its authenticity through exhaustive analysis.
4. William Langland (ca.