ABSTRACT

Beowulph is another Anglo-Saxon Poem, whose age it is impossible to ascertain with accuracy; by its style it appears very like Alfred’s versification, as if it had been written for recital at his court. We know that Alfred and his mother took great delight in these relations, and were munificent patrons of poetry. But it is impossible to conjecture what alterations the Poem underwent, either in dialect or matter, when it was first committed to manuscript. The writer professes to have been an eye-witness of scenes which happened a few years previous to the arrival of the Saxons in this island, and mentions events in the history of Jutland, which occurred at the first part of the fourth century. It is, perhaps, the earliest and best picture of Gothic manners extant, and is particularly interesting to Englishmen, as the scene is laid in the immediate spot, from which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors issued. It may be considered as a species of Epic Poem; it is occasionally very obscure, and not remarkable for any great elevation of spirit. Its style is simple and abrupt, and has generally that kind of expression running through it which denotes great antiquity. The author speaks of having shared in some of the transactions of the Poem, but it is difficult to ascertain whether this might not be a mere fiction of the Poet. The mention of Cain and some events in the Bible, and also the description of armour, which is spoken of as rich and elaborate, seem to class the writer amongst those who must have conversed with Christians, and people acquainted with the arts. But the fourth century might have afforded such opportunities. The combat with an evil spirit, upon which the Poem turns, bears a strong resemblance to the style of Ossian’s Poems, which is of that age. If the work really was written in the

of manners, and furnish very good grounds for conjecture as to the early state of the language. On this Poem close attention and comparative criticism would be well bestowed, and these might lead to some more accurate mode of deciding on the age to which it belongs than we now possess.