And was also reminded of this beautiful Seamus Heaney translation of the Old English poem Deor from the beautiful book The Word Exchange. I love its paradox of assuredness, resignation, incantation, and also a possible threat—a stoic admonishment, or a mantra to oneself? I read it differently each time I come across it.
Deor
Weland the blade-winder suffered woe.
That steadfast man knew misery.
Sorroy and longing walked beside him,
wintered in him, kept wearing him down
after Nithad hampered and restrained him,
lithe sinew-bonds on the better man.
That passed over, this can too.
For Beadohilde her brother's death
weighed less heavily than her own heartsoreness
once it was clearly understood
she was bearing a child. Her ability
to think and decide deserted her then.
That passed over, this can too.
We have heard tell of Mathilde's laments,
the grief that afflicted Geat's wife.
Her love was her bane, it banished sleep.
That passed over, this can too.
For thirty winters— it was common knowledge—
Theodric held the Maerings' fort.
That passed over, this can too.
Earmonric had the mind of a wolf,
by all accounts a cruel king,
lord of the far flung Gothic outlands.
Everywhere men sat shackled in sorrow,
expecting the worst, wishing often
he and his kingdom would be conquered.
That passed over, this can too.
A man sits mournful, his mind in darkness,
so daunted in spirit he deems himself
ever after fated to endure.
He may think then how throughout this world
the Lord in his wisdom often works change—
meting out honor, ongoing fame
to many, to others only their distress.
Of myself, this much I have to say:
for a time I was poet of the Heoden people,
dear to my lord. Deor was my name.
For years I enjoyed my duties as minstrel
and that lord's favor, but now the freehold
and land titles he bestowed upon me once
he has vested in Heorrenda, master of verse-craft.
That passed over, this can too.
I am always disturbed by Heaney’s poems and now I understand why. It’s his personal background, so unlike my own but perhaps now I can get beyond his political and from the “Personal to the Universal”
Anne of Green Gables is evidently huge in Japan and has been for decades, though I was told that it's because it's used to learn English. The reason for it being popular in Poland is much more interesting!
(The link to the specter is either broken, or I'm just having trouble viewing it.)
Commonplacing
Just arrived at your place.
Thanks for leaving the door open.
I am always disturbed by Heaney’s poems and now I understand why. It’s his personal background, so unlike my own but perhaps now I can get beyond his political and from the “Personal to the Universal”
Next time we have a thick fog surrounding the place, I'm going to try for my own Brocken Spectre.
I bet I can pull it off.
Is that poem based on Scandinavian or Germanic mythology? Wikipedia is no help.
Heaney's voice sure is evident in the translation.
Anne of Green Gables is evidently huge in Japan and has been for decades, though I was told that it's because it's used to learn English. The reason for it being popular in Poland is much more interesting!
(The link to the specter is either broken, or I'm just having trouble viewing it.)