Deor: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 13:36, 16 July 2004

Deor (or The Lament of Deor) is an Old English poem from the 10th century, preserved in the Exeter Book. It consists of 42 alliterated lines.

The poem is untitled as written, but the name Deor is cited within the poem as its author, and so this has been commonly taken as the title.

Its prevailing theme is that fate is fickle and that all things, whether they be good or evil, do ultimately pass.

The poem mentions a number of Germanic tribes and persons and their fates, such as the Theodoric the Great, Ermanaric of the Goths, and the legendary blacksmith Weyland. Each stanza ends with the refrain "Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg!" ("That did pass, so can this").

At the poem's conclusion, Deor writes about himself, and claims he was once a great poet among the Heodenings (presumably a Germanic people), until he was displaced and sent wandering by Heorrenda, a more skillful poet.

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''Deor''' (or '''The Lament of Deor''') is an [[Old English]] [[poem]] from the [[10th century]], preserved in the [[Exeter Book]]. It consists of 42 [[alliteration|alliterated]] lines.
-The poem is untitled as written, but the name ''Deor'' is cited within the poem as its author, and so this has been commonly taken as the title.  Deor writes about himself in the latter part of the poem, and claims he was a big poet among the heden.
+The poem is untitled as written, but the name ''Deor'' is cited within the poem as its author, and so this has been commonly taken as the title.
+Its prevailing theme is that fate is fickle and that all things, whether they be good or evil, do ultimately pass.
-The poem mentions a number of Germanic tribes and their fates, such as the [[Theodoric the Great]], [[Ermanaric]] of the [[Goths]], and the legendary blacksmith [[Weyland]].  Each stanza ends with the refrain "Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg!" ("That did pass, so can this").
+The poem mentions a number of Germanic tribes and persons and their fates, such as the [[Theodoric the Great]], [[Ermanaric]] of the [[Goths]], and the legendary blacksmith [[Weyland]].  Each stanza ends with the refrain "Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg!" ("That did pass, so can this").
-The moral of the poem is that fate is fickle and that all things, whether they be good or evil, do ultimately pass.
+At the poem's conclusion, Deor writes about himself, and claims he was once a great poet among the Heodenings (presumably a Germanic people), until he was displaced and sent wandering by Heorrenda, a more skillful poet.
 [[Category:Medieval literature]]