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............... They sleep now
Whose work was to burnish the battle-masks;
so with the cuirass that in the crash took
bite of iron among braking shields:
it moulders with the man. The mail-shirt travelled far,
hung from a shoulder that shouldered warriors:
it shall not jingle again.
There's no joy from harp-play,
glee-wood's gladness, no good hawk
swings through hall now, no swift horse
tramps at the threshold. Terrible slaughter
has carried into darkness many kindreds of mankind.'
Beowulf, trans. by M. Alexander, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1973, p. 122.
PLACE: Denmark.
TIME: 5th - 6th century.
CIRCUMSTANCE: The sounds of by-gone times have all disappeared.
Passion filled the prince of the Geats:
he allowed a cry to utter from his breast:
roared from his stout heart: as the horn clear in battle
his voice re-echoed through the vault of grey stone.
The hoard-guard recognized a human voice,
and there was no more time for talk of friendship:
hatred stirred. Straightaway
the breath of the dragon billowed from the rock
in a hissing gust; the ground boomed.
Beowulf, trans. by M. Alexander, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1973, p. 131-132.
PLACE: Denmark.
TIME: 5th - 6th century.
CIRCUMSTANCE: Beowulf's cry is like a horn in battle announcing the fight.
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