Early English poems

Front matter

Class J__ _

Book

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Preface

This collection (as a glance at the contents will show) is intended to illustrate by representative selections the progress of English poetry from its remote beginnings to the latter part of the sixteenth century. In fact, although not in name, it forms an introductory volume to Mr. Pancoast's Standard English Poems. As the selections in the Standard English Poe?ns begin with Spenser, toward the close of the sixteenth century, and end with the Victorian poets, the two collections, taken together, are designed to illustrate the entire course of English poetry, so far as the limitations of space and the plan of the books will permit.

The present collection opens with some of the earliest surviving expressions of the English race in literature ; it follows the main stream of English poetry through Anglo-Saxon and through Norman England, — from the days of the gleeman to the days of the trouvere ; it moves on through medieval England to the complex and changing era of Chaucer and Langland ; it carries us on through the fifteenth century, when the nation was crossing the marches that lay between the old age and the new ; it shows the entrance into poetry of new forms and new ideals, and it ends just as the greatest period of Elizabethan literature — the age of Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare — is about to begin. It is a long journey from the days before England was, when Widsith the Gleeman unlocked his word-hoard, to that triumphant epoch when the Armada was shattered, and when Spenser wrote the Faerie Queene. In attempting to illustrate the history of English poetry through so great a stretch of time, the most that can be done in an anthology of this scope and character

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is to suggest by a few representative and significant examples the general course of poetry in its long progress.

It is hardly possible to follow this broadening stream of poetry without reflecting on the great change that has taken place in our attitude towards the beginnings of English history and literature. It is not so very long ago that the mass of readers knew and cared little about the life and literature of the earliest England. To Milton, as we all know, the petty wars between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms seemed of no more moment than "the battles of crows and kites, 1 ' while the youthful Addison pronounced the poetry of Chaucer too rude and barbarous to please the cultivated taste of his politer age — the age of the Mohawks and the Dunciad. Since Pope's time, and especially during the last hundred years, the labours of a host of writers, translators, and investigators have uncovered to the sun and air these dark and neglected places of England's past ; and not only the literature, but the early life, the religion, and the political institutions of early England have been made comparatively open and familiar. It is hardly too much to say that the scholars, especially those of Germany and England, have recovered for us a half forgotten and neglected world. Yet even now, while much has been accomplished, the earlier poetry of England is only beginning to come into its own. The scholars have prepared the way, but the poetry of early England does not belong to the scholar alone ; it has more than a philological or an antiquarian value ; it has — with all its shortcomings — a human interest and a poetic quality which entitle it to become the possession of all who love literature for its own sake. There are indications on every hand that this early literature is no longer the exclusive property of the specialist, but that it is being rapidly annexed to the vast domain which all lovers of English literature enjoy in common. In the latest edition of Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature the space given to the Anglo-Saxon period

PREFACE V

has been increased tenfold. The earliest selections in Palgrave's classic Golden Treasury (first published just fifty years ago) date from about the middle of the sixteenth century ; the earliest selections in the Oxford Book of Verse take us back to about 1250. It is this change of attitude towards our earlier poetry, rather than any personal difference of taste between the editors of these two admirable collections, that has won us these additional three hundred years.

This change of attitude, which might be illustrated by many similar examples, is assuredly a sign of progress. It is no depreciation of the labor of the scholar, but rather an evidence of its value. It is plain that the researches of the specialist in these fields, minute and contracted as they may have sometimes seemed, have had a wider influence, a more general significance, than might at first have been supposed. It is plain that these intensive students of the life, language, and literature of early England may be justly compared to those adventurers who press on in the van of immigration, and so open up to civilization regions hitherto inaccessible, or but sparsely settled.

In this work of reclamation the translator as well as the pioneer scholar has his place and office. It is better, of course, to read this early literature in the language in which it was written, than to read it in translation, but it is better to read it in a translation, or in a modernized form, than not to read it at all. We may regret that Keats could not read the Iliad in Greek, and we may be thankful at the same time that he did read it in English.

This collection is intended for the use and enjoyment of those students and lovers of poetry who are unacquainted with Old and Middle English. This purpose committed the editors to the task of translation and modernization. They felt that students of language were comparatively well provided for in books of another class, and that it was in any

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case impracticable to furnish adequate linguistic apparatus in a book of this scope. In approaching their task the editors were agreed that faithfulness to the spirit of a poem should take precedence of a literal exactness in the rendering. The translations are not intended to be used as an aid to reading the originals, but as reproductions that shall give the modern English reader an impression analogous to that made by the originals upon contemporaries. The principle which the editors have had before them is in fact identical with that recently advocated by Francis Storr in the Educational Review (November, 1909), and they heartily subscribe to Rossetti's canon of translation there quoted : " The life-blood of rhythmical translation is this commandment that a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one. The only true motive for putting poetry into fresh language must be to endow a fresh nation as far as possible with one more possession of beauty. Poetry not being an exact science, literality of rendering is altogether secondary to this chief law. I say literality, not fidelity, which is by no means the same thing." *

While the editors hold themselves responsible in common for the general plan and scope of the book, and for the general principles above mentioned, in their actual application to the material in hand there was a division of labor. Mr. Spaeth is responsible for the Old English section, selection, translation, and notes ; Mr. Pancoast is responsible for the rest of the book, selection, translation, modernization, and notes.

The editor of the Old English section has stated in a special note his views on the method of rendering Old English verse. He believes that the translator who renders Old into Modern English is under obligation of loyalty to the genius of Modern English, as well as that of Old English. "Conflict of loyalty" is a familiar tragic motive in Germanic Epic. A translation can hardly be called "faithful," if in its loyalty to a dead tongue it butchers a living one. These translations

PREFACE Vll

represent at least an- effort to make English poetry out of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Many of them were made years ago, and read to classes in the Boys 1 High School at Philadelphia. Like the poems they aim to reproduce, they led a mouth-toear existence long before they were elevated to the dignity of "letters. 1 ' Even now the translator would wish to have them judged chiefly by their effect when read aloud. The older the poetry, the more vocal it is. Versions of Old English poetry that fail to make their appeal through the living rhythms of the living voice fail not only in an essential of all poetry, but in a quintessential of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Before the final revision of the Widsith and Beowulf version was made, Professor Gummere's Oldest English Epic appeared. The translator is glad to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. Gummere, as what worker in this field must not, and to thank him for the interest with which he listened to some of these translations years ago. To his colleagues in the English Faculty at Princeton, and especially to his friend, Professor Axson, he wishes to express his thanks for helpful criticism when the book in a preliminary form was in use with the sophomore class at Princeton.

In a collection of this scope and character each period has its own peculiar problems and difficulties for the editor. The editor of the period from the Norman Conquest to Spenser was called upon to deal with poetry of widely different times, and in some cases, of different dialects. Some of this poetry, like Layamon's Brut, or the Pearl, is almost unintelligible to the modern reader in its original form ; some of it, on the other hand, belongs to the early Elizabethan period, and hence its language does not differ materially from that of our own day. To what extent should this poetry, which covers, roughly speaking, a period of some four hundred years, be given a modern form ? The purpose of the book made it imperative that this poetry should be made readily intelligible from first to last, and at

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the same time the editor was reluctant to discard any obsolete word which could be readily understood or explained, and was anxious to preserve as far as possible the flavor of the original. After some experimenting, the editor decided to be bound by no iron rule, but, at the risk of being thought inconsistent, to treat each poem as a separate problem, rendering each selection as best he could, changing as little or as much as seemed expedient, unconstrained by what he had done in other cases. For instance, it was felt that farther modernization would have been fatal to the melody of such a charming lyric as When the Nightingale Sings (p. 168), and so, at the sacrifice of consistency, fewer changes were made in it than in some of the other songs dating from about the same time. This method, of course, is open to one objection. In order to make all the poems intelligible, the editor was compelled practically to translate some of the earlier selections, while the later poems could safely be given almost without change. As a result of this, some of the later poems contain more unfamiliar words, and are apparently written in an older English than selections of an earlier date. While this is to be regretted, the editor, feeling himself confronted with a choice of evils, chose what seemed to be the least.

One departure has been made from the general plan of the book : the selections from Chaucer have been given unmodernized. The reasons for this inconsistency are so obvious that it does not seem to require any explanation. Except in a few cases, the editor has followed the text of Chaucer in the Globe edition.

Two poems in the Middle English period, Poema Morale (p. 122) and Alysoun (p. 164), are given as they appear in Horace M. Kennedy's translation of Ten Brink's Early English Literature, while the version of the passage from the Ormulum, on p. 122, is taken from Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature.

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The obligations of the editor of the later portion of the book are more than he can here specifically acknowledge. One of the pleasantest features of work of this character is the help that is so freely and kindly given on every hand. The editor cannot refrain, however, from expressing his appreciation of the kindness and courtesy shown him by those in charge of the Library Company of Philadelphia, of the Library of the University of Pennsylvania, and of the Free Library of Philadelphia. To this acknowledgment the editor must add a word of gratitude to his friends, Dr. Schelling, Dr. Child, and Mr. Shelly of the University of Pennsylvania.

H. S. P.

J. D. S.

JUNE I, I9I I.

Part First

FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST I. Charms

PAi

The Ploughman's Charm .

Charm for a Sudden Stitch . . . ...

II. Old English Epic

The Life of the Gleeman (from Widsith)

The Myth of the Sheaf-Child (from Beowulf)

The Sea Voyage (from Beowulf) .

The Fight with Grendel (from Beowulf)

The Fight with Grendel's Mother (from Beowulf)

Beowulf s Last Fight and Death (from Beowulf) .

III. Biblical Epic

The Fall of Man (from Younger Genesis) 30

The Drowning of the Egyptians (from Exodus) 43

IV. Christian Lyric

C/EDMON : Northumbrian Hymn 45

Cynewulf : Hymn of Praise (from The Crist) ... 46

The Voyage of Life (from The Crist) .... 47

Doomsday (from The Crist) ..... 47

The Vision of the Cross ...... 50

The Phoenix ........ 54

xi

Xll CONTENTS

V. Secular Lyric and Elegy

PAGE

/ The Wanderer 65

The Sea-Farer 68

The Husband's Message . . . . . . . 71

VI. Riddles and Gnomic Verse

The Book-Worm <■ 7 2

Gnats . 73

The Shield 73

Barnacle on the Hull of a Sailing- Vessel .... 73

Honey-Mead 74

The Anchor 74

The Plough . . 75

Gnomic Verses 75

The Fates of Men 79

VII. Historic War-Poems

The Battle of Brunnanburg (from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle') 81 The Battle of Maldon 84

Part Second

I. History and Romance

Layamon : How Layamon Wrote His Book (from the Brut) 95 Robert of Gloucester: In Praise of England (from Rim-

ing Chronicle) ........ 96

Norman and English (from Riming Chronicle) . . ,7

Lawrence Minot : The Battle of Halidon Hill 9S Prayer for King Edward (from How Edward the

King came to Brabant) . . . . . . 101

CONTENTS X1U

PAGE

Song of the Scottish Maidens after the Battle of Bannockburn IOI

John Barbour: Freedom (from The Bruce) . . . 102

Sir Orpheo 103

The Seasons (from Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight) . 117 Sir Gawayne's Journey (from Sir Gawayne and the Green

Knight) 119

II. Moral and Religious Verse

Poema Morale 121

Orm : Ormulum 122

Thomas of Hales: A Love Letter 123

The Debate of the Body and the Soul 127

The Owl and the Nightingale . . . . . ^ . 136 Robert Manning of Brunne : In Praise of Woman (from

Handlyng Synne) ....... 140

Cursor Mundi 140

Richard Rolle : Heaven (from The Prick of Conscience) . 144

The Pearl 145

William Langland : Piers the Ploughman (selections) . 155

The Vision (from Pass us /) . . . . . . . 159

III. Songs and Poems

Canute's Song . .161

Cuckoo Song . 161

Song 163

Song 163

Winter Song 164

i- Alysoun 164

When the Nightingale Sings 168

• Ubi Sunt qui Ante Nos Fuerunt? 169

Earth 170

XIV CONTENTS

PAGE

Life 172

Ave Maria 172

Part Third From Chaucer To Wyatt And Surrey

I. Chaucer and Gower

Geoffrey Chaucer : The Dethe of Blaunche the Duchesse

(selections) 177

The Parlement of Foules (selection) . . . .181 The Legend of Good Women (selections from the

Prologue) . . 182

The Canterbury Tales : The Prologue . . . 190

The Merry Words of the Host to Chaucer . . 214

The Pardoners Tale 215

The Compleynt of Chaucer to His Purse . . . 222

The Ballad of Good Counsel 223

John Gower : The Praise of Peace 224

II. English Followers of Chaucer

The Flower and the Leaf (selection) 228

A Praise of Women (selection) . . . . . 232

Merciles Beaute 234

Sir Thomas Clanvowe: The Cuckoo and the Nightingale . 234 John Lydgate : In Praise of Chaucer (from the Prologue to

The Story of Thebes) 236

The Daisy (from A Goodly Balade of Chaucer) . . 236

The Testament of John Lydgate (selection) . . 237

Thomas Hoccleve : Thomas Hoccleve's Complaint . . 238

A Lament for Chaucer (from The Regimen of Princes) 2^1

Rondel or Chanson to Somer . . . . . 244

CONTENTS XV

Stephen Hawes : The Epitaph of Graunde Amour (from

The Pastime of Pleasure) 244

III. Scottish Poets after Chaucer

King James the First : The King's Quair .... 246

A Ballad of Good Counsel 248

Robert Henryson : The Complaint of Cressid . . . 249

The Tale of the Paddock and the Mouse . . . 255 Content (from The Tale of the Upland Mouse and the

Burgess Mouse) 259

William Dunbar : No Treasure without Gladness . . 260

To a Lady 261

The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins .... 262

The Lament for the Makers . . . . 264

Of Life 268

GAWAIN Douglas : Welcome to the Summer Sun . . 268

Night (from the ALneid) 269

Sir David Lyndsay: The Prologue (from The Dream) . 270 An Apology for Writing in the Vulgar and Maternal

Language (from The Monarchy) . . . • 273

The Restoration of All Things (from The Monarchy) 275

The Desire for Rest (from The Monarchy) . . 277

James Wedderburn : Leave me Not 278

Alexander Scott : The Lament of the Master of Erskine . 280

Paraphrase of the Fiftieth Psalm 281

IV. Ballads of Uncertain Date

Thomas the Rhymer 282

The Twa Corbies ......... 285

The Green- Wood (from Robin Hood and the Monk) . . 285

XVI CONTENTS

V. Poems, Songs, and Carols of the Early Tudor Period

PAGE

The Nut-Brown Maid 286

A Lyke-Wake Dirge 297

The Uses of Adversity . 298

Quid est Homo 299

Make we Merry in Hall and Bour ...... 299

Make we Merry both More and Less 300

What Cheer, Good Cheer 3C0

The Jolly Shepherd 301

Fill the Cup, Philip . 302

Make Room, Sirs 303

The Hunt is Up . . . . . . . . 303

My Heart is High Above 304

Death 305

William Cornish : God's Care for Man .... 306

John Skelton : A Dirge for Philip Sparrow (selection) . 307

Colin Clout (selection) 309

To Mistress Margaret Hussey 310

PART FOURTH Sir Thomas Wyatt: The Lover's Life compared to the Alps 313

Forget not Yet 314

The Courtier's Life ........ 314

Of the Mean and Sure Estate 315

Of the Courtier's Life 316

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: Descripiion of Spring 318

The Frailty of Beauty 318

The Means to attain a Happy Life .... 320

How no Age is content with his own Estate . . 320

CONTENTS XV11

PAGE

Selections from Translations of the yEneid . . . 322

The Death of Laocoon 322

Night 323

Lord Thomas Vaux : Of a Contented Mind . . . 323

Death in Life 325

Thomas Tusser : Posies for thine own Bed Chamber . . 325

Two Sorts of Men 326

Richard Edwards: May 327

George Turberville : The Lover 328

George Gascoigne: The Lullaby of a Lover (from The

Posies) 329

De Profundis (from The Posies) . 330

The Steel Glass (selection) ..... 332

Thomas Sackville: Induction to a Mirrour for Magistrates 342

Sir Philip Sidney : Sonnets (from Astrophel and Stella) . 360

I. " Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to

show" 360

V. " It is most true, that eyes are form'd to serve" , 360

XXVI. " Though Dusty wits dare scorn Astrology " . 361 XLVIII. "Soul's joy, bend not those morning stars

from me " 361

LXXIV. " I never drank of Aganippe's well " . . 362

Song: "The nightingale, as soon as April biingeth " . 362 A Farewell : " Leave me, O Love ! which reachest but to

EARLY ENGLISH POEMS