Deor
Deor ( or The Lament of Deor ) is an old English poem of the 10th century, which is preserved in the Exeter Book. It consists of 42 alliterative lines.
Title and classification
The traditional text bears - like medieval seals in general - no title, but since the name Deor as the author's name occurs more than once in it, he is accepted as the name of the poem.
It is difficult to attribute the poem to a single genre. On the one hand it is because of its reflection on the transience ubi sunt a poem ("Where they are (at heart ) ?") To name a few. Due to the melancholy mood, it is also attributable to the Elegies, and comfort poems. In the tradition of Boethius ' Consolation of Philosophy poems provide solace to the personal grief in the context of mourning figures in world history.
Mostly Deor is seen in a series with other melancholy poems from the Exeter Book, like The Seafarer, The Wanderer and The Ruin.
Language and content
The poem offers verses of extraordinary beauty, which to transferred to the Modern-English translators is a major difficulty. It presents a number of mythological and historical figures, briefly told of their mishaps, and then returns again and again to the refrain " Thaes ofereode, þisses swa mæg " ( "of that ( calamity ) passed, this ( misfortune of the author ) may also pass. " ) back.
Among the unfortunate fate of a defeated people who are enumerated by Deor, are
- Theodoric the Great,
- The subjects of Ermanarich, King of Greutungen,
- Wieland, the blacksmith from the heroic saga, who was held captive by Nidung,
- Nidungs Badhilde daughter who is expecting a child after the fleeing Wieland raped her and killed two of her brothers.
At the end of the poem Deor betrays his own destiny: He was once a great poet at the court of Heodeninge (presumably a Germanic people ) until it was replaced by Heorrenda, a gifted poet. Heorrenda received Deors fief, which latter was compelled to wanderings and exile.