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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / September 2004old english poem
can anyone tell me which old english poem has a line that goes something like: man's life is like a bird that flies in through one window and flies out of another? thanks. > can anyone tell me which old english poem has a line that goes > something like: man's life is like a bird that flies in through one > window and flies out of another? > thanks. It's been nearly 40 years since I took AngloSaxon but I believe the bird in the mead hall is a saying, not part of a poem. As I recall, it's something like: A bird flies into the mead hall, pauses briefly in the light and warmth, and then is gone into the darkness. Such is the life of man. My instructor quoted it verbally without attributing it to a poem. >> can anyone tell me which old english poem has a line that goes >> something like: man's life is like a bird that flies in through one [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >My instructor quoted it verbally without attributing >it to a poem. It's from Bede. In a famous passage, Bede expounds upon the life of man and relates an analogy given to the king: "You are sitting feasting with your ealdormen and thegns in winter time; the fire is burning on the hearth in the middle of the hall and all inside is warm, while outside the wintry storms of rain and snow are raging; and a sparrow flies swiftly through the hall. It enters in at one door and quickly flies out the other. For the few moments it is inside, the storm and wintry tempest cannot touch it, but after the briefest moment of calm, it flits from your sight, out of the wintry storm and into it again." John Ings wrote: > >> can anyone tell me which old english poem has a line that goes > >> something like: man's life is like a bird that flies in through one [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > briefest moment of calm, it flits from your sight, out of the wintry > storm and into it again." Bede's venerable writings were in Latin. So I guess the above does not qualify as OE/AngloSaxon -:) > John Ings wrote: > > [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > Bede's venerable writings were in Latin. So I guess > the above does not qualify as OE/AngloSaxon -:) Except that his works were translated into Old English. Barbara Need UChicago--Linguistics > > John Ings wrote: > > > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > Barbara Need > UChicago--Linguistics And Modern. Does that make Bede a Modern English writer? > > John Ings wrote: > > > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > Barbara Need > UChicago--Linguistics Ms. Need: Could you tell me who translated Bede? Did he write nothing in Old English? > > > John Ings wrote: > > > > [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > Ms. Need: Could you tell me who translated Bede? Did he write nothing > in Old English? Will Durant : "Age of Faith" pg 488 ... 'all in Latin.' Alfred the Great translated Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History' into Anglo-Saxon: "Age of Faith" pg 484. > >> can anyone tell me which old english poem has a line that goes > >> something like: man's life is like a bird that flies in through one [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > briefest moment of calm, it flits from your sight, out of the wintry > storm and into it again." Thank you so much. That is it exactly and it has been a pebble in my shoe for the past few decades ever since I read it in my Old English class and forgot its source. Was it really in Latin as the next message says? I thought Bede was in Old English. My mistake! >Thank you so much. That is it exactly and it has been a pebble in my >shoe for the past few decades ever since I read it in my Old English >class and forgot its source. >Was it really in Latin as the next message says? I thought Bede was in >Old English. My mistake! The passage is from Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum: (The History of the Primitive Church of England.) which was in Latin. http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/paulinus.html http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/bede.html |
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