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......... or a fellow of the king's,
whose head was a storehouse of the storied verse,
whose tongue gave gold to the language
of the treasured repertory, wrought a new lay
made in the measure. The man struck up,
found the phrase, framed rightly
the deed of Beowulf, drove the tale,
rang word-changes.
Beowulf, trans. by M. Alexander, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1973, p.78.
PLACE: Denmark.
TIME: 5th - 6th century.
CIRCUMSTANCE: A court poet composes verse to celebrate Beowulf's victory; the narrator describes this in a way, typically extended in the Anglo-Saxon manner, stressing perhaps its length or importance.
................. She sang the dirges,
bewailed her grief. The warrior went up;
the greatest of corpse-fires coiled to the sky,
roared before the mounds. There were melting heads
and bursting wounds, as the blood sprang out
from weapon-bitten bodies. Blazing fire,
most insatiable in spirits, swallowed the remains
of the victims of both nations. Their valour was no more.
Beowulf, trans. by M. Alexander, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1973, p.86.
PLACE: Denmark.
TIME: 5th - 6th century.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Cremation of warriors.
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