Theme as Ornament in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Abstract

It Seems now to be generally agreed that Anglo-Saxon poetry is different from modern poetry not only in verse form and subject matter but is an entirely different kind of poetry. The basic study in the re-evaluation of Old English poetic technique is Francis P. Magoun, Jr's “Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry,” which applies to Old English poetry the discoveries of Milman Parry and Albert Lord about formulaic diction in Homeric poetry and in the oral poetry of Jugoslavia. Subsequent studies which further explore formulaic diction in Anglo-Saxon poetry are Magoun's “Bede's Story of Caedman: The Case History of an Anglo-Saxon Oral Singer” and an earlier paper of my own, “The Diction of the Signed Poems of Cynewulf.” These articles focus attention chiefly on the formula, which usually occupies the space of one verse or one measure of a verse. Professor Magoun also opened up the problem of the theme as a larger formulaic unit in “The Theme of the Beasts of Battle in Anglo-Saxon Poetry,” suggesting that the theme is essentially a convention, which the poet might call upon when he had a battle to narrate. The wolf, eagle, and raven do not advance the action: they are essentially ornament. It seems likely that such poets depended less on what moderns usually think of as inspiration than on a large stock of formulaic diction and of set pieces or themes.