Sunday, April 3, 2011

Back to the beginning

Even if you don't speak OE, there's something really beautiful, and bodily, about the sounds here. Say them out loud!

Caedmon's Hymn

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,
meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,
weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,
ece drihten, or onstealde.
He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum
heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;
þa middangeard moncynnes weard,
ece drihten, æfter teode
firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.

4 comments:

ntbw said...

Yay--Old English for poetry month! I always read this aloud to my Brit Lit survey classes, and try to get some of them to memorize it (extra credit bribery!). But as I've already established here, I'm a real geek about memorizing poetry.

Dr. Koshary said...

What is it about English lit scholars' blogs that makes me feel like I don't really know English?

Renaissance Girl said...

Dr. K: I don't really know English, at least not of this vintage...

moria said...

Damn it. I wanted to comment with my favorite line from the OE Bede, but the computer I'm on won't let me type a thorn. Hélas.

Still: LOVE.