Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

another epic formula. It is written in the spirit of the ancient epic poems, and has, I think, one inestimable advantage over
Beowulf
, and that is, when we read
Beowulf
, we feel that we have in front of us the work of a learned man who set himself the task of writing a German
Aeneid
, who is describing legendary facts that he doesn’t even imagine very well. Here, however, we feel the truth.
    A novel was published in Sweden not long ago, I don’t remember the name of the author; it was published in English as
The Long Ships
. 5 It is about the adventures of a Viking, and in the first chapter it describes the Battle of Maldon. Now, there are some critics who say that the poem was left unfinished because word arrived that the sacrifice of these militiamen had been in vain, that the king of England had paid in gold what the earl wanted to pay with old spears and poisoned swords. But it is more likely that the rest of the poem has been lost. This poem has been translated by [R. K.]Gordon in that book I mentioned to you from Everyman’s Library,
Anglo-Saxon Poetry
, and it is the last Saxon epic poem. 6 Thereafter, the poem is lost and the epic tradition is lost as well. But like the poem we looked at before, the “Battle of Brunanburh,” this one no longer follows the tradition of the continent. The ancient lands of the English are no longer talked about, the Low Countries are no longer talked about, nor is the mouth of the Rhine, or Denmark—instead the characters are Saxons from England: Anglo-Saxons. Because this, it seems, is the true meaning of the word: not “Anglos and Saxons” but rather the “Saxons of England,” to differentiate them from whatBede, the historian, called
antiqui saxones
, that is, the Saxons who did not participate in the conquest of the British Isles.
    Until now we have been following epic poetry from the end of the seventh century to the end of the tenth century. But there are two currents that sometimes cross: epic poetry, which belongs to the pagan tradition, and Christian poetry, which is what we will now study. In other words, we will now begin the second unit.
    This Christian poetry did not start out completely Christian. At the beginning, the kings converted to the Christian faith, and they forced their vassals and subjects to do the same, but this did not mean there was a moral conversion. In other words, they remained faithful to the ancient Germanic ideals, such as courage and loyalty—definitely not humility and love of one’s enemy. That was inconceivable in that era. And it probably continued to be so for a long time.
    In
HistoriaEcclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
, [
Church History
]
of English People
, Bede talks about the first Christian poet of England, of whom only a few lines have been preserved. 7 His name wasCaedmon and his story is quite strange; we will return to it later when we talk about Coleridge and Stevenson. Here’s the story: Caedmon was well along in years, a shepherd in a monastery, and a shy old man. The custom then was for the harp to be passed around from hand to hand after meals and for each of the diners to play it and sing. Caedmon knew he was equally unskilled at music and lyrics. One night among many, Caedmon, who was dining with his companions in the hall of the monastery, watched the feared harp come toward him. And then, so as not to say what he had said so many times before, what everybody knew he would say, he rose without any pretext whatsoever and left. It must have been winter, because he went to the stable and lay down to sleep with the stable animals, who probably were few in number. It was the seventh century, and England was a poor country, marshy, with winters even harsher than they are now. Poor Caedmon fell asleep, and in his dreams he saw someone, probably an angel, and this someone—psychologists can easily explain this, and those of us who are not psychologists can as well—this someone gave him a harp and told him, “Sing.” In his dream, poor Caedmon spoke as he had so often with his fellows, saying “I don’t know how to sing.” And the other said, “Sing of the origin of creation.” So Caedmon, in wonderment, composed a poem. Then he awoke and remembered the poem he had composed. The poem has been preserved, and it is not very good. It is basically the first verses of Genesis, which he must have heard, more or less amplified and with some words changed. They were all so astonished by this that they had him go