When reading today’s assignment I realized that I had no idea what the “Anglo Saxon Chronicle” was. So I looked it up and discovered that it was a collection of annals which chronicled the history of the Saxons and was updated by scribes in monasteries.
One of these chronicles was still being updated as late as the mid twelfth century. The first poem we read narrates the Saxon victory at Brunanburh which “was important in establishing national unity under West Saxon dominion” (51). I read more about this battle and learned that the unification may have been due to the fact that the English forces were so weakened they had to consolidate in order to prevail. I found that interesting as this alliance had a major effect on what England is today.
The Battle of Brunanburh was written as commemoration for specific leaders in the battle. I realized that throughout history poetry has been a major part of nationalism and we still incorporate this tradition today in the United States with the Poet Laureate, but poetry is definitely not as important to politics as it once was.
While reading the OE I spotted some of the tendencies which we have talked about in class. For instance, in the name Eadweard I noticed that the first ‘a’ has disappeared along with the second ‘e’ to create Edward. Also while reading the OE I really enjoyed the poetic kennings. I think that these words are wonderfully descriptive and really enrich the poem with imagery. Interested by the idea of compounding descriptive words I searched the internet to find modern poets who might use similar tactics and found an interesting article in the Huffington Post which described language as “a ravenous, all-encompassing beast…its unpredictable evolution swallows and mutates words from all sources.” I thought this was a great description for the development of language, and depicts its fluid evolution. It talks about famous authors’ intentional use of ‘made up’ words, which made me think about how botched words in the media have become a part of pop culture, such as the many ‘Bushisms’ from the last presidency. He talks about misuse of language for satirical reasons, such as Stephen Colbert’s use of “truthiness”. The writer discusses catch phrases created by great authors such as Joseph Heller’s phrase ‘Catch-22’. I just found it interesting that both unintentionally misusage in language and conscious creation of language have an effect on its development. I especially enjoy that poets and authors still have the ability to create legitimate words and phrases. As the writer contends the “indiscriminate gluttony may give pause to some who wish that language could be shined and preserved like a fine vase. Fortunately for literature lovers, some of the finest writers ever have given us some of the most successful words ever.”
In case you’re interested…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-peters/made-up-words-neologism_b_703977.html
Works Cited
Burnley, David. The History of the English Language: A Source Book. 2nd ed. Pearson/Longman Press, 200o.
ravenouslanguage 