Anglo-Saxon Heroic Poetry.

In the entire range English poetry is ruled by three distinct centiments ;

1) Heroic poetry, 2) Elegiac poetry, 3) Religious poetry.
All the notes however, often came to be mingled up in the same poem.So elegiac
elements are often found in a
heroic poem, while the heroic mood comes to lend vigour to a christian poem.

Of the three notes the heroic note is certainl

y the earliest and most importent.
It was in the war songs that the Anglo Saxons best retained the characteristic
of their wild primitive mood,

especially in those which celebrated in their own battles.

Neither the elegiac nor the christian sentiments ever acquired the intensity to
established what may be
called a tradition, which the Anglo Saxon brought with them from the continent.

The heroic history of origin of the heroic tra

dition among the German people is very
simple. war was their chief occupation. They were very fond of war-songs. The w
arriors went to fight chanting
war poems. These war songs not only celebrated the heroes but tried to give a v
ivid picture and dreadful music of the
battle field.

Many of the heroic poems have never been recovered. W

idsith, Beowulf, Waldere, The fight at
Finnsburg, The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, are surviving heroi
c poems of the old english period.
In which we find a direct picture of the pre christian time. These poems are va
luable index to heroes and their legends.

One of the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon Heroic poem

s, dating somewhere around the 8th Century,
is the Widsith, an autobiographical record of a scop.
 Widsith, the far wanderer narrates his travels through the Germanic world and men
tions all the rulers he visits.
Some of his characters figure in other poems, like Beowulf and Hrothgar. But it
can not be said to be a true autobiography
as the span of kings covered, converts his living period to over two hundred ye
ars.

Beowulf holds special position in Anglo-Saxon literatu

re as it is not only the single complete
epic found but also nowhere else is the traditional theme presented against a b
ackground revealing the culture and
society of the Germanic people. It falls into two main parts, the first dealing
with the visit of Beowulf to the court
of King Hrothgar of Denmark to slay the man-eating monster, Grendel and is succ
essful in his job. The second part
starts fifty years later, when Beowulf the king of the Geats fights the last ba
ttle of his life against a dragon.
It ends with description of Beowulf s funeral. On the surface, Beowulf is a heroi
c poem celebrating the exploits
of a great warrior, one who reflects the ideals of the Heroic age. But Beowulf
is also a record of marvels, with a
plenitude of historical elements in it.

Waldere consists of two fragments some sixty- three lines

in all telling on some of the exploits
of Walter of Aquitaine.

The fight at Finnsburg is a fragments of forty-eight lines

with a finely told description about the
fight at Finnsburg.

Towards the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, the old heroi

c note re-emerges in two poems dealing with
contemporary history. The Battle of Brunanburh which appears in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle dated 937 A.D.,
 celebrates the victory of Æthelstan of Wessex and Eadmund against the forces of O
laf and Constantine. The poem shows
strong patriotic sentiment, with the victory being regarded as one of the whole
nation, with the heroes appearing more
as champions of their nation.

The battle of Maldon appears in the Anglo Saxon Chron

icle under the date 991 A.D. it deals
in the older epic manner the battle between the English and the Danes, culminat
ing in conquest of the country by Cnut
in 1012. It is remarkable similer in spirit to the older heroic poetry and the
story of disastrous English defeat.

So , many of the finest passages in Old English poem are nothin

g but the description of battles.

THE END