Tag: literature

I love old literature.

My favorite piece of old literature is an Old English poem famous for being ambiguous.

The poem is called “Wulf and Eadwacer.”

Get ready. This one’s fun.

This poem can be found in the Exeter Book, a collection of Anglo-Saxon works written in the tenth century. But it is said “Wulf and Eadwacer” was written long before the Exeter Book.

To this day, the meaning of this nineteen-line poem is still debated among scholars.

You probably won’t be able to read it, but here’s the original text of the poem written in Old English for reference:

Leodum is minum   swylce him mon lac gife;
willað hy hine aþecgan,   gif he on þreat cymeð.
Ungelic is us.
Wulf is on iege,   ic on oþerre.

Fæst is þæt eglond,   fenne biworpen.
Sindon wælreowe   weras þær on ige;
willað hy hine aþecgan,   gif he on þreat cymeð.
Ungelice is us.
Wulfes ic mines widlastum   wenum dogode;

þonne hit wæs renig weder   ond ic reotugu sæt,
þonne mec se beaducafa   bogum bilegde,
wæs me wyn to þon,   wæs me hwæþre eac lað.
Wulf, min Wulf,   wena me þine
seoce gedydon,   þine seldcymas,

murnende mod,   nales meteliste.
Gehyrest þu, Eadwacer?   Uncerne earne hwelp
bireð Wulf to wuda.
þæt mon eaþe tosliteð   þætte næfre gesomnad wæs,
uncer giedd geador.

wulf and eadwacer original text

The first thing you might notice is the title names in the poem: “Wulf” and “Eadwacer.” The name “Wulf” is mentioned in every stanza. The name “Eadwacer” is only mentioned in the last.

The second thing you might notice is the refrain:

willað hy hine aþecgan,   gif he on þreat cymeð.
Ungelic is us.

wulf and eadwacer original text

These two lines are repeated twice. Once in the first and second stanzas.

I can’t read this poem. I don’t speak Old English, but I find the attempt amusing. When sounding out the words, you can hear the cognates to modern English. It’s interesting.

Or maybe it’s because I know what the poem is about. I could Imagine the text above is confusing with no context.

If you attempted to read it, sounding it out loud, you had no idea the drama and heartbreak pouring from your lips. That’s pretty cool.

You brought new meaning to the phrase “fish out of water.” Yes, you were out of your comfort zone, but, also like a fish out of water, you should’ve gasped but couldn’t.

I’m feeling poetic today.

Ok, fine. I’ll give you the translation.

You don’t have to twist my arm about it.

This translation was taken from Wikipedia. Know that it isn’t accurate. Know that every translation of this poem isn’t technically accurate because the poem is ambiguous. Instead of calling it a translation, let’s call it an attempt to translate:

It is to my people as if someone gave them a gift.
They want to kill him, if he comes with a troop.
It is different for us.
Wulf is on one island I on another.

That island, surrounded by fens, is secure.
There on the island are bloodthirsty men.
They want to kill him, if he comes with a troop.
It is different for us.
I thought of my Wulf with far-wandering hopes,

Whenever it was rainy weather, and I sat tearfully,
Whenever the warrior bold in battle encompassed me with his arms.
To me it was pleasure in that, it was also painful.
Wulf, my Wulf, my hopes for you have caused
My sickness, your infrequent visits,

A mourning spirit, not at all a lack of food.
Do you hear, Eadwacer? A wolf is carrying
our wretched whelp to the forest,
that one easily sunders which was never united:
our song together.

wulf and eadwacer translation

Wild.

That’s all I can say.

Now.

What the hell is going on?

Star crossed lovers? A forbidden relationship? Romeo and Juliet?  

Or was she Kidnapped? Tortured? Raped?

Her lover is coming to save her? But maybe not? Another lover? A child caught in the mix?

Who is Wulf? Who is Eadwacer? Why is this child being taken into the forest?

The general consensus among scholars, and I use the word consensus loosely, is that “Wulf and Eadwacer” is a love triangle poem. The narrator is married to Eadwacer but is in love with Wulf. Pretty standard stuff. The word “whelp” in this poem is metaphorical language for the narrator’s child. The translation above reads as though the child is Eadwacer’s, but scholars say the line could also mean Wulf is escaping with the child. It is ambiguous whether the phrase “our whelp” is in reference to Wulf or Eadwacer.

So that’s a little confusing, but not too crazy.

Another interpretation is an angry father versus star crossed lovers, Eadwacer being the angry father and Wulf and the narrator being star crossed lovers.

Interesting. Still not spicy.

I’m looking for spicy.

Yet another interpretation suggests that Wulf is not the narrator’s lover, but her son. The “whelp” is Wulf and he’s trying to save his mother from his father, Eadwacer.

That’s a little spicier, but it’s not quite there yet.

John F. Adams, author of “Wulf and Eadwacer: An Interpretation,” suggests that the name “Eadwacer” is not a name at all. “Eadwacer” can be translated to “property watcher.” In this case, “Eadwacer” would be in lower case as in, “Do you hear, eadwacer?” It’s a common noun, not a proper noun.

In this interpretation, there are only two characters: the narrator and Wulf. Adams interprets the phrase “Do you hear, eadwacer?” as the narrator calling out Wulf’s manhood, sarcastically calling him a “property watcher.”

Adam’s interpretation of this poem has a different tone. Instead of a lament, a longing for a distant lover, the poem is more of a complaint and a rant. The narrator is calling out Wulf for not being a good husband or father. In Wulf’s absence, the narrator has found a new lover who is going hunting with their child.

This gives new meaning to the last two lines:

that one easily sunders which was never united:
our song together.

Wulf and eadwacer translation

Oh baby.

Now that’s spicy.