Friday 5 October 2007

The North East Annual.

In writing this 'Timeline'. I never hoped to include every writer. I have attempted to mention as many as possible. View this as the start of an archive that can be added to and not as a complete and finished article. Let me know of any inaccuracies and anything you think you would like to add. My apologies if I have missed you out. Let us know. Thank you to all the people who have answered my never ending questions, especially Richard Caddell. I will leave you all alone now. Kevin Cadwallender 2003 February 28th.
Obviously many things have happened. I will add them asap. Send them in ready typed up for me why don't you.


JANUARY

‘In terms of North East poetry, the North East stands by default’ ‘I prefer to see North East Poetry beginning with a poem called ‘The Goddodin’ by Aneirin around the 7th Century.’ George Charlton

Y Goddodin (attributed to Aneirin)*
A poem written in a language known as ‘early welsh’ The Goddodin were a tribe that inhabited the North East of England and South East of Scotland. The poem is a series of elegies to the warriors of that tribe who were defeated by the Saxons at Catterick.
*The poem is also claimed for the Scottish and Welsh Poetry traditions.

Aneirin
A poet mentioned in the ‘Historia Brittonum’. An obscure Gododdin poet composing in the late 6th or 7th century.

The Gododdin Verse 23. Translated by Joseph Clancy

‘Weapons scattered, columns shattered, standing their ground.
Great the Havoc, the hero turned back the English,
He planted shafts, in the front ranks, in the spear clash.
He laid men low, made wives widows, before he died.
Hoywgi’s son flamed befre spears forming a rampart ‘

Websites of Interest for Y Gododdin
webmaster@missgien.net


Early Northumbrian Dialect Poems (1)

CAEDMON’S HYMN
(a liberal free verse translation by Kevin Cadwallender)
We must praise the keeper of the heavens,
His power and wisdom. With his own hands
The father of glory laid our foundations,
Shaped earth for our children with his wonders
Holy creator , protector of men.
First the heavens were made as a roof
To shelter the children of the Earth,
Then the world was created
And the dry land for all that lives.
Praise him, the lord everlasting
Almighty God.

CAEDMON (d680)
Known as the first English Poet. A Monk at Whitby Abbey who was originally a herdsman. His poetic abilities were first recognised by Abbess Hilda.
‘He had no gift beyond the performance of his duties of looking after the livestock of Whitby Abbey. He was quiet by nature so was not interested in the occasional social gathers where the ale flowed freely and the folk singing. He would quietly slip away.’
On one of these occasions it is said that Caedmon was visited by a ‘celestial visitor’
Who asked him to sing him a song. Caedmon replied but ‘I cannot sing and that is why I left the entertainment’ The visitor said , ‘You shall sing ‘ and when Caedmon asked ‘What Shall I sing?’ the visitor instructed him to
‘Sing of the beginning of created beings’. And so Caedmon sang his hymn in praise of God.


BEDE’S DEATH SONG
‘Epistola Cuthberti de Obitu Bedae’

Fore there neidfaerae naenig uuiurthit
Thoncsnotturra than him tharf sie
To ymbhycggannae aer his hiniongae
Huaet his gastae godaes aeththa yflaes
Aefter deothdaege doemid uueorthae.

Modern translation

‘Before the unavoidable journey, no one becomes
Wiser in thought than he who by need
Considers before his going ,
What good and evil in his soul
Will be judged after his death.’


The Venerable Bede
(673-735)
Best known as the author of the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’
A priest of the monastery of Saint Peter and Paul which is at Wearmouth and Jarrow.
His final resting place is in Durham Cathedral.

http://www.bedesworld.co.uk


CYNEWULF and BEOWULF

Cynewulf
Northumbrian Poet (Although this is disputed) whose works include Elene, Juliana, Ascension and The Fates of the Apostles. Some authorities identify him as the Bishop of Lindisfarne.

Beowulf
A poem completed in the eight century but set in the heroic societies of fifth century Scandinavia, The literary composition of Beowulf is traditionally placed in Northumbria in the age of Saint Bede.

‘What luck did you meet with, beloved Beowulf,
On your suddenly resolved seeking out
Of distant strife over salt water,
Battle at Heorot’......Translation by Michael Alexander from Penguin Classics Beowulf.



http://www.newadvent.org

Eric Bloodaxe Died in 954.
Bloodaxe was the last Viking King of Northumbria. He and Aneirin are mentioned in ‘Briggflatts’ by Basil Bunting. Neil Astley adopted the name for his highly successful publishing house which was started in the North East. For historical information go to the following website;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/bloodaxe_01.shtml


‘Chevy Chase’
An anonymous ballad (though some have claimed authorship) from the oral minstrel tradition describing the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. It is a variant on the older ballad ‘The Hunting of the Cheviot’ which was popular in the mid sixteenth century.
Ben Jonson said he would have rather have composed this poem than all of his works.

The stout Earl of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish Woods
Three summer’s days to take.

The chiefest hearts in Chevy Chase
To kill and bear away.
These tidings to Earl Douglas came,
In Scotland where he lay.

The battle that ensues leaves the English with a thousand dead and the victorious Scots with two hundred dead.

Of fifteen hundred Englishmen
Went home but fifty-three;
The rest were slain in Chevy Chase
Under the Greenwood tree.

Versions of the ballad were published repeatedly on broadsides throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was said to be the favourite ballad of the ‘common’ people.

http://www.contemplator.com/folk5/chevych.html

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