Widsith(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Widsith and the Anthropology of the Past.(Critical Essay)
Tale of Freawaru (2024b-69a); The Battle of Ravenswood & Death of Ongentheow (2922-98); The Finnsburh Fragment ; Waldere ; Widsith ; Deor ; and Wulf and Eadwacer.
Widsith is an alliterative poem of 142 lines (slightly abridged here) that provides a kind of inventory of the peoples and characters, both historical and fictitious, who comprise the world of early Germanic literature — most of which is lost to us.
Although the poem is primarily a catalog, Widsith opens a window — or rather a peephole — on the oral tradition of Germanic poetry.
Widsith spoke forth, and unlocked the treasury of his words, he who had traveled through most of the peoples, nation and tribes upon the earth; many a time on the floor of the hall he had received some commemorative treasure.
§7. "Deor". III. Early National Poetry. Vol. 1. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance. The Cambridge ...(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
The elegy of Deor is a much shorter poem than Widsith (42 lines in all) and in its general tone presents a striking contrast to it.
While Widsith tells of the glory of famous heroes and, incidentally, of the minstrel’s own success, Deor is taken up with stories of misfortune, which are brought forward in illustration of the poet’s troubles.
Here again, as in the case of Widsith, it is possible that a poem has been built round the memory of a famous minstrel, —one who met with misfortune in later life.
“Widsith” is an idealized self-portrait of a scop (minstrel) of the Germanic heroic age who wandered widely and was welcomed in many mead halls, where he entertained the great of many kingdoms.
Roman knowledge of this remote country was fragmentary and unreliable, and the traditional accounts in Widsith and Beowulf and by later Scandinavian writers, notably Saxo Grammaticus (c.
The Old English poem Widsith (Far Traveler) is an idealized self-portrait of a scop (minstrel) of the Germanic heroic age who wanders widely and is welcomed in many mead halls.
Indeed, so many princes and peoples are mentioned in the course of the poem that its importance for the history of the migration period can hardly be overestimated.
With greater probability one might suppose that traditions existed of a famous minstreal who lived at the court of a prince named Eadgils, and that on the basis of these traditions later minstrels built up lists of the chief national heroes known to them.
Against this suggestion, however, stands the fact that the minstrel’s name is really unknown, for Widsith is an obviously fictitious name (meaning “far-travelled”) and must be explained by the statement in 11.
He contended that the "thulas" suggest that Widsith is the personification of poetry, for only poetry has been known to all kings, has traveled throughout all mankind, and has met all those heroes.
Widsith was in no ways begging Eormanric for a job or payment; Widsith was using his position as a poet and Eormanric's typically Germanic love of honor to force Eormanric to be generous to him.
Widsith had sung to Eormanric of the generosity of his previous benefactors; the implicit threat is that should Eormanric not satisfy Widsith, Widsith will immortalize Eormanric in an unkind way, for "if he is not generous, he is not virtuous and is 'saene'" (Brown 290).
English Literature from Widsith to the Death of Chaucer.
Contains Beowulf, Finnsburg, Waldere, Deor, Widsith, and the German Hildebrand translated in the original metres with introductions and notes by the author.
Beowulf, together with Widsith and the Fight at Finnesburg in the Benjamin Thorpe Transcription and word-for-word translation.
Widsith -- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia - The online encyclopedia you can trust!
Because the heroic figures the minstrel claims to have visited range from the 4th to the 6th century, the poem is obviously a fictitious account; nevertheless, it is an ingenious compendium of the important figures in Germanic hero legend and a remarkable record of the scop's role in early Germanic society.
"Widsith." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
Widsith; the Wide-farer [Archive] - Stormfront White Nationalist Community
As a poem Widsith has little artistic value except as a rip-snorting, desk-banging oration that details one man's mercenary service across migration-age Europe and neatly emphasises the Germanic roots of Anglo-Saxon culture.
12-16-2003, 03:31 PM To put it in context, 'Widsith' was preserved as MS as part of the Exeter Book, so alongside the likes of such classics as The Ruin, The Seafarer, Wulf and Eadwacer.
For detailed discussion of the tribes and people mentioned (as far as they can be identified), see Widsith, ed.
For an image of the opening lines in the MS, click on Exeter Book.
For the original Old English version, click on OE Widsith.
www.soton.ac.uk /~enm/widsith.htm (929 words)
The Widsith Archers(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
These graduates of Archery Trails live all over the San Francisco Bay area - from Stockton to Lafayette to Redwood City - but began to meet together at any shoot that looked like it would be fun and challenging.
The proper name given to this group was The Widsith Archers, taken from the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith, about the wandering life of a Germanic minstrel and the legends he relates.
However, due to the zany nature of the group a more politically-incorrect name took hold: the one in the title above.
archeryweb.com /widsith (315 words)
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition: Widsith @ HighBeam Research(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition: Widsith @ HighBeam Research
WIDSITH[Widsith], 7th-century Anglo-Saxon poem found in the Exeter Book.
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Widsith, Beowulf, Finnsburgh, Waldere, Deor (in MARION)(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Widsith, Beowulf, Finnsburgh, Waldere, Deor, done into common English after the old manner, by Charles Scott Moncrieff; with an introduction by Viscount Northcliffe.
Widsith may serve as an introduction to the rest." cf.
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