compares
with this canto Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and the
legendary burial-journey of St.
legendary burial-journey of St.
Beowulf
l. 51. (1) sele-rǣdende (K. , S. , C. ); (2) sēle-rǣdenne (H. ); (3)
sele-rǣdende (H. -So. ). Cf. l. 1347; and see Ha.
l. 51. E.
compares with this canto Tennyson's "Passing of Arthur" and the
legendary burial-journey of St. James of Campostella, an. 800.
l. 53. The poem proper begins with this, "There was once upon a time," the
first 52 lines being a prelude. Eleven of the "fitts," or cantos, begin
with the monosyllable þā, four with the verb gewītan, nine with the formula
Hrōðgār (Bēowulf, Unferð) maðelode, twenty-four with monosyllables in
general (him, swā, sē, hwæt, þā, heht, wæs, mæg, cwōm, strǣt).
l. 58. gamel. "The . . . characteristics of the poetry are the use of archaic
forms and words, such as mec for mé, the possessive sín, gamol, dógor, swát
for eald, dǣg, blód, etc. , after they had become obsolete in the prose
language, and the use of special compounds and phrases, such as hildenǣdre
(_war-adder_) for 'arrow,' gold-gifa (_gold-giver_) for 'king,' . .
