index the eye cannot see itself hence the need for reflection Conclusions   "Elegy" is not the right term for The Seafarer. It is philosophical, admonitory, and stoic, not lachrymose. It is intended as an evangelical, oral address to an audience. It is a sermon. The text, as found, contains no "interpolations", unless it is contended that Shakespeare "interpolated" the substance of his play Hamlet into a ninth century poem by Snæbjörn, preserved in Snorre's Edda. On the other hand, it is possibly very slightly corrupted, in one instance: but who is to say whether, a thousand years hence, some future scholar of Old American will not decide that Pound's Seafarer must be badly corrupted. There is nothing heathen whatsoever in the Anglo-Saxon text; unless you were to contend that Milton's Paradise Lost, or Shakespeare's King Lear, or any other English author steeped in native literary tradition and classical literature, are more heathen than Christian. It seems incorrct to call it unequivocally Christian, since it contains nothing of what I conceive to be the defining messages of the Christian gospel: love thy neighbour, and turn the other cheek. It is, in fact, resentful, and resigned, though belligerent. On the other hand, it is also indubitably monotheistic. Almost everything anyone needs to read in order to understand The Seafarer is contained in essays written by two unusually perceptive scholars. G.V.Smithers wrote "The Meaning of The Seafarer and The Wanderer", published in Medium Ævum No.26 (1957) Pt.1, pp.137-153; and MÆ No.28 (1959) Pt.1, pp.1-22; with an Appendix in MÆ No.28 Pt.2, pp.99-104. O.S.Anderson, who later changed his name to Arngart, wrote "The Seafarer: An Interpretation", Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Lunds Årsberättelse 1, Gleerups Lund 1937; pp.1-49; and followed it with "The Seafarer: A Postcript", English Studies, No 60, Amsterdam: 1979; pp.249-253. Nearly all other studies are either half barmy, or highly misleading; and that goes for the most popular, especially in America. Anglo-Saxon studies, in the sense of getting closer to the truth of Anglo-Saxon life and thought, are extremely unlikely to advance so long as this academic discipline is dominated by Anglo-American academe, and so long as the deep-rooted Scandinavian and Friesian origins of Anglo-Saxon England continue to be side-lined. While the language continues to be called "Old English" there is no hope of any change for the better. In top-heavy bureaucracies it is immaterial what is said --- all that matters is who says it. Those with the sway to say what's what are not those whose prime concern is for truth, but those with the sharpest elbows, the biggest mouths, and the most ferocious dedication to self-promotion. No child acquires its speech by learning the grammar of the language of its peers and parents. Grammatical rules are the construct of post-literate pedantry. A child learns to speak by absorbing and imitating the oral usage of its environment. Its capacity for instinctive assimilation of a language lasts until it is well into its teens, and thereafter gradually fades.   Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat? Guildenstern: No, no, no... Death is not. Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat. Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats. Guildenstern: No, no... What you've been is not on boats. T.Stoppard bird ship sun sea previous page Alchemical Ark: from Marvell & Alchemy; L.Abraham other maritime excursions william blake flota famiheals fugle gelicost

Beowulf and his men set sail

……..             flota wæs on yðum bat under beorge       beornas gearwe on stefn stigon       streamas wundon sund wið sande       secgas bæron on bearm nacan       beorhte frætwe guðsearo geatolic       guman ut scufon weras on wilsið       wudu dundenne gewat þa ofer wægholm       winde gefysed flota famiheals       fugle gelicost oð þæt ymb antid       oþres dogores wundenstefna       gewaden hæfde þæt ða liðende       land gesawon brimclifu blican       beorgas steape side sænæssas       þa wæs sund liden eoletes æt ende Beowulf 750 ?		……..             the floater was on the waves the boat under the mountain;       the ready warriors on the prow stept;       the streams roll'd the sea against the sand;       the warriors bare, into the bark's bosom       bright arms a sumptuous war-equipment:       the men shov'd out the people, on the welcome voyage,       the bound wood. Departed then o'er the wavy sea,   by the wind impell'd the floater foamy-neck'd,       to a bird most like till that about an hour       of the second day the twisted prow       had sail'd, so that the voyagers       saw land the ocean-shores shine,       mountains steep spacious sea-nesses.       Then was the sea-sailer at the end of its watery way. B.Thorpe 1875		……..                         i öppen sjö låg båten vid klippbranten.            ----- Krigsmännen stego       ombord full rustade; bränningen slog       mot strandens sand Stridsmännen buro       ombord på båten de blanka vapen       sirade järnkläder --- hjältarna sköto       ut på önskefärd ädelformad båt.       Eggad av vinden ilar bland vågor       skumhalsad farkost Då allt intill ottan       det andra dygnet högstavad skuta       har skurit vattnet börja nu sjömannen       skönja en kust --- branta bergstup       blänkande klippor, mäktiga uddar:       målet är nått, resan tillryggalagd. B.Collinder 1954
……..             she rode the waves now hard in by headland. Harnessed warriors stepped on her stern; setting tide churned sea with sand, soldiers carried bright mail-coats to the mast's foot war-gear well-wrought;                             willingly they shoved her out, thorough-braced craft, on the craved voyage. Away she went over a wavy ocean boat like a bird, breaking seas, wind-whetted, white-throated, till the curved prow had ploughed so far - the sun standing right on the second day - that they might see land loom on the skyline, then the shimmer of cliffs, sheer fells behind, reaching capes. The crossing was at an end; M.Alexander 1973		……..           das Floss war auf der See Das Boot geborgen;     die Biedern eilten Den Steven zu besteigen:     die Strömung schwoll Ans Ufer zurück.     Die Edlinge trugen In der Barke Busen     die blinkenden Zierden, Die kostbare Kriegswehr.    Als die Kielmänner nun Zur Wunschfahrt trieben     das wohlgebundene Holz Da flog über Flut,     einem Vogel vergleichbar, Das schaumhalsge Schiff,     geschoben vom Winde, Bis dass zur Ebenzeit     des andern Tages So weit der gewundene     Steven gewatet war, Dass Land ersahen     die Seefahrenden. Die Brandungsklippen blinkten,     die Berge ragten Hinten langen Höhen.     Da war der Lauf vollbracht, Dass Meer durchmessen.   K.Simrock 1859		……..           Set on the surf, the sea-craft rode below the crag. The well-armed warriors embarked, and ripples swirled the sand about as they bore their gleaming war-gear and bright armour to the boat's bosom. They fended off her timbered frame, ardent for adventure; and the breeze blew her foam-throat bows through billows like a bird. By next break of day the curve-prowed craft had come so far the voyagers could view the shore; the shining cliffs and the sheer fells, the jutting spits. Their journey then across the sound was over.   CHW 1997

Didn't notice until setting these versions out in parallel how nearly and quite unconsciously I'd echoed Alexander's wording.
The best version is the German by Simrock: the transfer is most convincing.
Provocative that Simrock, in his first introductory sentence, 1859, claims Beowulf to be "doch seiner Grundlage nach ein deutsches Gedicht".
Hardly arguable. Must have really annoyed English Anglo-Saxonists.

the sea-meads gleam The prospect that beckoned Beowulf.    From Landscape of Desire, facing p 50. Photo by Randolph Swearer. How can holm possibly mean "sea" or "water" ? (Klaeber). In Landscape of Desire, 1994, a highly recommended account by Overing and Osborn, a virtually conclusive case is made out for the homeland of Beowulf, and the Weder-Geatas, close by what is now called Väderöararna (click), in what is today the top north-western corner of coastal Sweden --- Västra Götaland, or Wester Geatland. (Latitude: 58° 34' 0 N, Longitude: 11° 3' 0 E). "Väderöarna ligger där Sverige tar slut i väster. Som en sista utpost inför tusen mil av hav, nordsjö och atlant eller - om man inte kommer därifrån - som en inbjudande välkomstkommitté, finns här några hundra öar utspridda i havet. De flesta pyttesmå, men två så stora att de haft bofast befolkning och en egen kultur att berätta." One of Sweden's "warmest and windiest" places. "A few hundred, mostly tiny islands; but two big enough to have had settled populations, with their own cultures and tales to tell". See also right: map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age cultures associated with Proto-Germanic, c. 500-50 BC. Click on map for source, courtesy Wiglaf. And it's good to know he's alive and kicking and still with us.

bat under beorge: Fjällbacka, mainland adjacent to the Väder Islands, Bohuslän, Sweden
backdrop from svenska turistföreningens årsskrift: Bohuslän

oþre bat under beorge

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Death by Water: William Hogarth & Follower

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