Judith, an Old English Epic FragmentAlbert Stanburrough Cook D. C. Heath, 1888 - 77 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
3d plur 3d sing Ablaut ælmihtig alliteration anacrusis Assyrians Battle of Brunanburh beornas Beowulf brego Brun brytta byrig Cynewulf cyning đá dactylic dære dæt dissyllabic dryhten drym éac ealde ealdor ealle ellor éodon eorla eornoste éow feax folc Fréa fultum fyllo gæst geféoll geléafan georn gléaw gumena hám héafod héhsta hemistich héo hét hige Holofernes hyra hyre i-umlaut infl Judith lind long syllable mægð monosyllabic næs óð Old English poem prep pres pret primary stress proclitic rime rinca róf second hemistich séo síð sigor stópon stressed syllable swá swegles sweordum swylce swyrd symbel tó dám unnan vowels wæs waron warrior weard wiggend witan word wuldor wundenlocc þæt
Popular passages
Page xxvi - On a certain day, therefore, his mother was showing him and his brother a Saxon book of poetry, which she held in her hand, and said, 'Whichever of you shall the soonest learn this volume shall have it for his own.
Page xxvi - Stimulated by these words, or rather by the Divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, he spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age, were not so in grace, and answered, " Will you really give that book to one of us, that is to say, to him who can first understand and repeat it to you ? " At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had before said.
Page 11 - ... manage, The woful one wield. Then did the wavy-haired Smite the foeman with flashing sword, The hostile-minded, so that his head Was half-way sundered, and he lay swooning, Dire-wounded and drunken. Not yet was he dead, Bereft of his soul ; again she smote, The valiant virgin, with nerve and vigor, The heathen hound, so that his head rolled Forth on the floor...
Page xxviii - And make every nation and tribe to acknowledge that thou art the God of all power and might, and that there is none other that protecteth the people of Israel but thou.
Page xxiii - The poem of Judith was composed, in or about the year 856, in gratitude for the deliverance of "Wessex from the fury of the heathen Northmen...
Page xxiii - Rome, that nation, as was fitting, so delighted in the arrival of the old man, that, if he permitted them, they would have expelled his rebellious son /Ethelbald, with all his counsellors, out of the kingdom. But he, as we have said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel, so wished things to be done, that the kingdom might not come into danger ; and he placed Judith, daughter of king Charles, whom he had received from her father, by his own side on the regal throne, without any controversy...
Page xxix - And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him, and tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and anon after she went forth, and gave Holofernes...
Page xxx - And so soon as the morning shall appear and the sun shall come forth upon the earth, take ye every one his weapons, and go forth every valiant man...
Page lxx - S. 69 und 70, Ten Brink S. 59. Selbst Thorpe, der sonst so absprechend über die angelsächsischen Gedichte urteilt, sagt von Judith: This fragment leads us to form a very high idea of the poetic powers of our forefathers. The entire poem, of which it probably formed but an inconsiderable part, must have been a truly noble production (Anal.
Page xxix - Go now, and persuade this Hebrew woman which is with thee, that she come unto us, and eat and drink with us.