Abstract
It has been contended that the value system and terminology of Old English heroic poetry were not suitable vehicles for the later religious poetry, that their Germanic garb ill-fitted the Christian poems. This view, however, does not take cognisance of the the fact that there exists a Christian heroism in its own right. Only Christian scholarship can fully account for this phenomenon and show how the subject matter of this poetry is consonant with the heroic diction and formulae in which it is couched. Three Old English poems dealing with aspects of Christ’ saving ministry will be examined to show that Christ is depicted as a hero bringing victory through suffering in God’s plan of salvation, rather than as a heroic warrior as he is usually regarded, fighting in the armour of the Germanic hero. A close study of these poems shows that the authors understood Christian heroism to mean more than brave battling on the side of God; rather, it is complete submission to the will of God.
Highlights
What has Ingeld to do with Christ? It is the thought behind Alcuin’s famous remonstrance to the monks o f Lindisfame that has prompted this approach to the relation between Germanic and Christian heroism
Heroism in three Old English poems: A Christian approach these words the Abbot scolded his monks for their preference for listening to the old heroic lays rather than Biblical stories in the refectory
Problems which certain critics find with the marriage o f the two conventions generally arise because cognisance has not been taken o f the force o f Christian heroism
Summary
What has Ingeld to do with Christ? It is the thought behind Alcuin’s famous remonstrance to the monks o f Lindisfame that has prompted this approach to the relation between Germanic and Christian heroism. Heroism in three Old English poems: A Christian approach these words the Abbot scolded his monks for their preference for listening to the old heroic lays rather than Biblical stories in the refectory Was this because the epics were so much more exciting than the Scriptures? Shippey (1972:114) mentions an incongruity between the “highly developed military vocabulary and resolutely abrupt syntax” o f the heroic tradition, and the “alien subjects - notably the virtues o f humility and passivity [which] sought expression in a native style” This commonplace o f Old English criticism has been attributed by Hermann (1982:22-23) to the “literalminded readers o f the twentieth-century”, who are unable to conceptualise the figure o f the miles Christi, rooted as they are “in a rather virulent strain of twentieth-century historicism”. A Christian critical approach can fully account for this phenomenon, and show how the subject matter o f this poetry is consonant with the heroic diction in which it is couched
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