A Brief Essay On Old English Heroic Poetry

Heroic poetry means epic poetry, or poetry that attempts to emulate the epic by including a large scale warrior as hero, an
action involving the fate of an Empire and an elevated and elaborate style. In other words heroic poetry is that type of poetry -
which possesses the basic ingredients of an epic.
Heroic poetry constitutes the bulk of the Old English poetry. The Anglo-Saxon imagination had a peculiar fascination for this type
of poetry. Beowulf is the greatest example of this type; other poems belonging to this type are Waldare The Fight of Finnsburh, The
Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon.
Introduction: Finnsburh and Waldare :- Both Finnsburh and Waldare are mere fragments accidentally discovered, but they give
us an idea of what the whole poems were like and the stories can be pieced together from other sources.
The Fight at Finnsburh (Finns Borough according to A.C. Baugh) is a fragment of fifty one lines and is conjectured to have been
composed about 700 A.D. The manuscript was discovered by Dr. George Hicks on the cover of a manuscript of Homilies in the
library of Lambeth Palace. It was published by Dr. Hicks in 1705 A.D. The fragments open with the speech of Hnaef, a young king of
the Danes, rousing his sixty followers to defend the hall where they are sleeping. The followers take their appointed places in
anticipation of an attack by the Frisians. Then follows a short battle which goes on for five days, and many of the Frisians were
killed. The Danes hold the door of the hall for five days without any loss to themselves. Then a wounded warrior, who is not named,
brings news to his king, at which point the fragment breaks off.
[The story of Finnsburh is obscure in many respects. The story loses half its value because of a lack of adequate motivation
behind Finns attack on his wifes brother nevertheless, it is possible to recognize in this episode at least a greater regard for unity
and symmetry of narrative than is to be found in Beowulf taken as a whole.
The Lambeth poem of Finnsburh most probably confined itself to the battle in the hall. There is no conclusive proof of this, apart
from the intensity of its tone, in the extant fragment, which would agree best with a short story limited, like Hildebrand, to one
adventure.]
Waldare consists of two Waldare fragments (of 32 and 31 lines respectively). The manuscripts were discovered to Copenhagen in
1860 in the cover of a book sermons, and are still preserved in the loyal library. Though only two fragments survive, it was
apparently a poem of considerable length. The first manuscript presents a woman, Hildeguthe encouraging Waldare, after his first
fight with his pursuers. She tells him not to have any misgiving for his sword, as it is the work of Welant.
With it thou shalt break the boast of Guthere, since we first sought the battle wrongly ; he refused the sword and the treasures,
the many rings ; now must he needs depart from this battle bare of rings. (Translation - R. K. Gordon). In the second fragment a
mutual defiance is hurled by Gunther and Waldare at each other, each boasting of his own arms and powers.
The reflective leisurely movement Beowulf is absent in Finnsburh which has a swift, direct and dramatic manner. Waldare may
have been a full-fledged big epic like Beowulf such fragments prove the existence and wide appreciation of epic cycles. They show
how the epic heroes were at one time celebrated in the songs of the scops. They were so well that reference to the heroes of
different cycles are constantly found in different poems. We may conclude that epic poetry was gradually growing in power and
merit in poems like Finnsburh and Waldare and others which must have been lost.
The Battle of Brunanburh :- This poem appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (in 437 A.D.) were it was interested by some
monk. It celebrates the great victory which Athelstan, the King of Wessex and Mercia, and his brother Eadmund won at
Burunanburh in 937 A.D. over the combined forces of Olaf, the Norseman, and Constantine, the King of Scotts. There is nothing
here of Christian gentleness; the lines have the old heathen ring of exultation over a fallen foe. There is a beautiful picture of the
sun rising on the bloody field covered with the dead bodies of the broken Scottish soldiers, over which fought the Dark featured
foul, The black raven, The wolf of the wood commenting upon David Daiches comments on the poem: In the older heroic
poetry, emphasis was laid on the individual hero, and his national origins were of little importance ..... But the battle of Brunanburh
shows strong patriotic sentiment. [The victory is regarded as a victory of English forces against Norse, Scots and Welsh enemies.]
The Battle of Maldon :- The Battle of Maldon also appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (in 991 A.D.). It has come down to us in
complete without the beginning and the end. It deals in the older epic manner with one of the many clashes between the English
and the Danes that resulted from the latters attacks on England which culminated in the conquest of the country by Canute in
1012. The poem tells the story of the disastrous defeat of the English at the hands of the Danes in a battle fought in 991 in Essex
near Maldon. In this battle Byrthnoth, the chief of the East Saxons, died fightly to the las in an attempt to drive back the Danes
who were coming to attack England. After the death of Byrthnoth, the faithful warriors did not give up like the cowards led by the
traitor Godrich, but fought bravely, and took their death about the dead body of their leader.
In this poem the emphasis is led on the valour and heroism of the individual hero rather than on patriotic sentiments, and show
it is remarkably similar in spirit to the older heroic poetry. It extols the reckless valour of the hero, his sacrifice of himself for his
followers, and above all his love of battle. It also recalls the tradition of the older heroic poetry by its elegiac note. As Legouis says,
Inspite of the proud words of the dying cheif, the noble harangues of his friends, (the blows finally dealt and all the delirium of
danger and death), this poem is sad.
The Battle in Maldon recalls the battle in the Iliad. As in the Iliad, so in this poem the battle takes the form of single combats
between the leaders; in both the common soldiers are ignored. The poem also shows some resemblances with the French Chanson
de Ronald. Both heroes, out of chivalrous pride, prepared for disaster. And Byrthnoth, like Ronald, is a Christian slain by the
pagans.