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Author David Wiley

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Tag Archives: Medieval Poetry

Medieval Book Club Preview: Judith, Dream of the Rood, & Juliana

15 Monday May 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Medieval, Medieval Book Club, poetry

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Anglo-Saxon, Book Club, Caedmon, Cynewulf, Dream of the Rood, Judith, Juliana, Medieval Poetry

Welcome to the sixth preview for the 2017 Medieval Book Club. For June we’re going to read a trio of Medieval poems, but these ones do not stem from the Bible. Of course, like many Medieval works, there may be Biblical allusions. The Dream of the Rood, in particular, is an overly Christian poem. This will be our last poetry month until the fall, so I hope you’ll join me in June with reading these poems! Read on for a short preview of each poem:

Title: Judith

Author: Unknown, although many attribute the authorship to Cynewulf or Cademon

Date of Composition: Unknown

Link to read for FREE: (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/judith/

Length: 348 Lines

Summary: Judith conveys a moral tale of heroic triumph over monstrous beings. Both moral and political, the poem tells of a brave woman’s efforts to save and protect her people. Judith is depicted as an exemplar woman, grounded by ideal morale, probity, courage, and religious conviction. Judith’s character is rendered blameless and virtuous, and her beauty is praised persistently throughout the poem.

Title: Dream of the Rood

Author: Unknown, but speculation includes Cynewulf and Caedmon

Date of Composition: Around the 8th century, based on the dating of the Ruthwell Cross where the poem is found in rune form.

Links to read for FREE: https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/dream-of-the-rood/

Length: 156 Lines

Summary: The poem is set up with the narrator having a dream. In this dream or vision he is speaking to the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. The poem itself is divided up into three separate sections. In section one, the narrator has a vision of the Cross. Initially when the dreamer sees the Cross, he notes how it is covered with gems. He is aware of how wretched he is compared to how glorious the tree is. However, he comes to see that amidst the beautiful stones it is stained with blood. In section two, the Cross shares its account of Jesus’ death. The Crucifixion story is told from the perspective of the Cross. It begins with the enemy coming to cut the tree down and carrying it away. The tree learns that it is not to be the bearer of a criminal, but instead Christ crucified. The Lord and the Cross become one, and they stand together as victors, refusing to fall, taking on insurmountable pain for the sake of mankind. It is not just Christ, but the Cross as well that is pierced with nails. The Rood and Christ are one in the portrayal of the Passion—they are both pierced with nails, mocked and tortured. Then, just as with Christ, the Cross is resurrected, and adorned with gold and silver. It is honoured above all trees just as Jesus is honoured above all men. The Cross then charges the visionary to share all that he has seen with others. In section three, the author gives his reflections about this vision. The vision ends, and the man is left with his thoughts. He gives praise to God for what he has seen and is filled with hope for eternal life and his desire to once again be near the glorious Cross.

Title: Juliana

Author: Cynewulf, and the text is ascribed with his signature

Date of Composition: Likely sometime in the 9th century, although Cynewulf could have been around in the late 8th or early 10th century.

Links to read for FREE: https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/juliana/)

Length: 731 Lines

Summary: The story begins by illustrating the harsh life for Christians under the rule of Galerius Maximian, describing various acts of violence visited upon Christians. Juliana is introduced as the daughter of Africanus of Nicomedia, who has promised Juliana’s hand in marriage to Eleusias, a wealthy senator and friend of Maximian. Although Juliana was born a pagan, she has converted to Christianity, and so she vehemently resists being married to the pagan Eleusias, not wanting to violate the relationship she shares with God.

When she publicly voices her dissatisfaction, Eleusias becomes outraged and insists that he has been publicly insulted. Africanus, upon hearing of this, becomes similarly outraged, believing his daughter has embarrassed him by refusing the hand of a man of much higher status. As a result, Africanus declares that Eleusias is free to punish Juliana in whatever way he wishes.

Eleusias proceeds to have Juliana stripped naked, hung from a tree by her hair, whipped, and beaten with rods for over two hours. Then she is thrown into prison.

While in prison, Juliana is visited by a demon pretending to be an angel of God, who tries to trick her into blasphemy. Juliana, being the epitome of unwavering Christian faith, doesn’t fall for the charade and prays to God for guidance. A voice tells her to reach out and grab the demon, and Juliana obeys.

This point forward contains the bulk of the story, in which Juliana and the demon have a lengthy war of words, with Juliana clearly dominating. She holds the demon and forces it to confess all of its wicked deeds several times over, ostensibly humiliating him forever in the kingdom of Hell.

After her victory over the visiting demon, Eleusias comes back for Juliana and seems to offer her a chance to change her mind. Not surprisingly, Juliana refuses him once again, and just as scathingly as before.

Eleusias then attempts to have Juliana burned alive in hot lead. Yet, even though he has Juliana placed in the fire, not a spot on her body or clothes is touched by the flames. Angrier than ever, Eleusias finally resolves to have Juliana beheaded, for which she becomes a Christian martyr.

 

****

So there you have it. I’m excited to dive into some more Anglo-Saxon poetry. Come back on the 18th of this month for our discussion of Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, and then on June 16th for our discussion of these poems!

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Medieval Book Club: Exodus & Daniel

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Book Review, Books and Reading, Medieval, Medieval Book Club, poetry

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anglo-Saxon, Daniel, Exodus, Medieval Book Club, Medieval Poetry

Welcome to my fourth Medieval Book Club entry. For this month we read through some Anglo-Saxon poetry (in translation, of course), found free online here and here. If you haven’t had a chance to read them yet, follow this link and give them a read. Let me tell you, it was a blast reading through this poem and, if you are familiar with the stories in the Books of Exodus and Daniel, you’ll find yourself fascinated with this poetic retelling.

For May we will be reading Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. The preview post for this one can be found here, and I am looking forward to reading that book. If you are at all interested, I would love to have you read along and come back to discuss that book on May 18th!

My Thoughts on Exodus:

I really, really loved reading through this poetic retelling of part of the book of Exodus. This was the poetic retelling that I had heard about where so much is adapted to the warrior culture of the Anglo-Saxons. We know, from reading the Bible itself, that there isn’t nearly so much emphasis placed on combat, or on shields or swords, but it is all very fitting for this culture. Also, having read Lewis’ work last month gave a greater insight to this work and how it fit in with their culture.

One of my favorite descriptions came with the details of the pillars representing God’s presence:

Heaven’s beacon climbed every evening, a second miracle,
it held fast wondrous after the sun’s setting,
shining with flames across that nation,
a burning beam. Glittering it stood over the archers,
with blazing limbs. The shelter of their shields shone,
the shadows dissolving, the deepest night-shades nearby
could not conceal their hiding places. The heavenly candle burned. (107b-115)

This new night-warden must by necessity remain over the army,
lest the desert-horror, the hoar heath-terror should end
their lives with a fearful seizure of a sea’s storms.
This scout had fiery hair, blazing beams—it threatened
the terror of fire in that army-troop, a hot flame,
so that he would consume the army in the wilderness,
unless they heeded to brave-hearted Moses.
The shining army shimmered, the shields glittered,
the shield-warriors saw the righteous way, the sign
above the masses, until the sea-fortress at the end
of land stood against the people’s force, eager on the forth-way.
The battle-camp arose; the wearied revived themselves,
meat-thanes brought food to the proud ones, restoring
their power. The sailors spread out their tents across the hills
after the trumpets sang. That was the fourth camp,
the resting-place for the shield-warriors beside the Red Sea. (116-34)

Clearly this is expanded from a small source, but the writer in me absolutely applauds many of the additions that were made because they add some flavor and detail to the story. There were references back to Moses’ early days and the plagues that released them from Egypt (okay, really it only referred to the final plague: the death of the firstborns) and I really would have been interested to see how that was all handled by Anglo-Saxon poets. Or what happened during Moses’ trip up Mount Sinai to lead the men to cast a golden calf (I imagine that would be a glorious description of feasting and revelry, with generous gold-givers and many casks of mead being downed).

And with the details in here, I am really surprised that there isn’t an Anglo-Saxon poetic version of the book of Joshua. It seems that the first ten chapters, at least, would align really well with the culture because of the conquest into the Promised Land.

My Thoughts on Daniel:

This was perhaps the more interesting of the two poems this month. I was surprised that it was longer, and equally surprised that the main focus would be on the two dreams and their interpretations. This poem seemed to have two primary purposes: to demonstrate the power of God to those who depend on him (as shown with the furnace and the lengthy praise & exultation there), and to demonstrate the pitfalls of pride (as really seen with the second dream). In fact, it really hammers that point over the readers’ head:

Daniel could not speak so many truthful words
unto his master through the craft of his wisdom,
but that the ruler would heed them,
the lord of middle-earth, but he puffed up his mind,
high from his heart—hard would he be punished for this! (593-97)

Then the king of the Chaldeans chanted a great boast
when he looked upon the city-works, the fortress of Babylon
towering so tall in its riches, with the fields of Shinar
wound about it—that the chief of armies
had wrought it all through a great miracle.
Then he became obstinate over all men,
overly proud in his heart because of the special grace
that God had given him, a realm over men
and the world to wield in this human life: (598-607)

“O my city, you are mighty and wide-renowned,
which I have built to my own glory, a roomy realm.
I shall keep my rest in you, a seat and a home.” (608-11)

Then, on account of this boasting, the lord of men
became seized and departed into flight,
alone in his over-pride above all men.
So he went forth as men do in days of struggle,
upon the most bitter path in God’s punishment,
who, living through, soon regain their homeland,
and so did Nebuchadnezzar, after the enmity of God,
swift from the heavens, had punished him terribly. (612-21)

I really think they would have nailed the Lion’s den, but sadly it did not appear in this poem. Yet it is still a great read, if in a very different way from the Exodus poem. This has more of a moralistic feel to it than Exodus, or even Genesis, did.

Questions:

  1. What were your overall impressions from reading the poems? Were there parts of either poem that really stood out to you as being more enjoyable to read in this format?
  2. Which Biblical stories would you like to see done in Anglo-Saxon form? They did the Genesis stories, Exodus, and Daniel. Are there any other stories or books in the Bible that stand out as ideal for Anglo-Saxon poetry? My thoughts are that Samson and Joshua would be prime candidates.
  3. While this is certainly no replacement for Scripture, do you think an approach like this could make the Bible, or parts of the Bible, easier for today’s readers to read and enjoy while still taking away key principles from Scripture?

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Medieval Book Club Preview: Exodus & Daniel

15 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Christian, Medieval, Medieval Book Club

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Anglo-Saxon, Daniel, Exodus, Medieval Book Club, Medieval Poetry, Old English

Welcome to the fourth preview for the 2017 Medieval Book Club. For April we’re going to read a pair of Medieval poems which, as you might guess, are retelling the stories found in the Books of Exodus and Daniel from the Bible. I’m curious to see how true they stay to the source material, and to see where they allow their own culture to seep in and influence the poetic works. Back in February we read Genesis A&B which, while having some diversions from the source material, as a whole stayed pretty true to the content while adding some cultural flavor. You can check out my review on Genesis A&B here, and read on for a short preview of April’s selections:

Titles: Exodus & Daniel

Authors: Unknown, rumored to be Cædmon

Dates of Composition: Unknown, part of the Junius Manuscript which is typically dated around the 10th Century

Links to read for FREE: Exodus & Daniel (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/exodus/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/daniel/)

Length: Exodus: 590 lines; Daniel: 764 lines

Summary: Exodus:

Exodus is not a paraphrase of the biblical book, but rather a retelling of the story of the Israelites’ Flight from Egypt and the Crossing of the Red Sea in the manner of a “heroic epic”, much like Old English poems Andreas, Judith, or even the non-religious Beowulf. It is one of the densest, most allusive and complex poems in Old English.

Exodus brings a traditional “heroic style” to its biblical subject-matter. Moses is treated as a general, and military imagery pervades the battle scenes. The destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea is narrated in much the same way as a formulaic battle scene from other Old English poems, including a ‘Beast of Battle’ motif very common in the poetry.

The main story is suspended at one point to tell the stories of Noah and Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Some scholars consider this change of subject a feature of the “epic style” comparable with the similar digressions in Beowulf.

Daniel:

The Old English Daniel is based only loosely on the Biblical Book of Daniel from which it draws its inspiration. Daniel ignores the majority of the apocalyptic and prophetic writing found towards the end of the Biblical source, and focuses instead on the first five chapters of the narrative. The poem also leaves out Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den.

The primary focus of the Old English author was that of The Three Youths, Daniel and their encounters with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (OE Nabuchodnossor). The three men and Daniel were about 14 when they were taken away. The three youths are named Ananias, Misael, and Azarias. Daniel is called aethele cnithas, meaning that he was to be trained a servant for the king. Daniel was put into servitude and him and the youths were also probably made eunuchs, the speculation comes because the master of the eunuchs trained the youths in divination, magic, and astrology.

The poet even changed the meaning of the story from remaining faithful while you are being persecuted to a story dealing with pride, which is a very common theme in Old English Literature. The Old English, Daniel is a warning against pride and there are three warnings in the story. The Israelites were conquered because they lost faith in God, who delivered them from Egypt, and started worshiping idols and this is the first prideful act. The second and third warnings are about internal pride, shown to Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel’s dream interpretations.

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Coming in 2017: Medieval Book Club

27 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Medieval, Medieval Book Club

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Anglo-Saxon, C.S. Lewis, Icelandic Sagas, J.R.R. Tolkien, King Alfred, Medieval Book Club, Medieval Literature, Medieval Poetry, reading, Vikings

Today I thought I would make an announcement that I had been working toward for most of this month. As a reader who is interested in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic period, I wanted to make an effort to read more books about those time periods and work that was written during those time periods. So I have decided to schedule a monthly discussion throughout 2017, alternating between reading a book-length work and reading poetic works. I hope you will consider joining along with me, and I have provided links to the websites and/or Amazon page to where you can find the works that I am planning to read and discuss.

The goal will be to make a post on the 15th of the month previewing the work that we’ll be reading in the following month (so, for instance, on December 15th I will post a preview/reminder about the January book) and then I will be posting the discussion on the third Thursday of each month (so January 19th would be the first discussion post). Don’t sweat it if you didn’t finish the book by that mark, there will be an active homepage for the series so you can jump in at any time on the previous works and join in on the conversations.

So without any further delay, here are the works I plan to read and discuss in 2017 as a part of this series:

January – The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction by John Blair

February – Genesis A&B (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/genesis-ab/)

March – The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis

April – Exodus & Daniel (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/exodus/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/daniel/)

May – Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

June – Judith, Dream of the Rood & Juliana (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/judith/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/dream-of-the-rood/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/juliana/)

July – Viking Age Iceland by Jesse L. Byock

August – Njal’s Saga

September – Finn and Hengest by J.R.R. Tolkien

October – The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, The Battle of Maldon (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-wanderer/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-seafarer/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-wifes-lament/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/battle-of-maldon/)

November –  Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources by Simon Keynes

December – Christ I, Christ II, Christ III (https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-i/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-ii/ & https://anglosaxonpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/christ-iii/)

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