{"id":1933,"date":"2015-06-24T17:54:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T21:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?page_id=1933"},"modified":"2022-02-06T11:46:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T16:46:42","slug":"the-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/translations\/the-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"The Phoenix (1-49)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2015\/06\/Fahey_Harley4751_f45r-1024x747.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"747\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phoenix, bestiary, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/catalogues\/illuminatedmanuscripts\/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&amp;IllID=47204\">London, British Library, MS Harley 4751, f. 45r<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As part of Notre Dame&#8217;s ongoing <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/north-seas\/translations\/\">Old English translation and recitation project<\/a>, I offer a creatively translated section from the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501) <em>Phoenix<\/em> (lines 1-49), which I have titled &#8220;\u00c6\u00feelast Lond&#8221; (&#8220;Homeland&#8221;) and which describes the heavenly home of the mythological phoenix. As a translation, &#8220;\u00c6\u00feelast Lond&#8221; is an adapted and interpretive rendition of the Exeter Book poem, and should not be taken as a literal translation of the Old English.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Old English <em>Phoenix<\/em> (1-49):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>H\u00e6bbe ic gefrugnen \u00fe\u00e6tte is feor heonan<br \/>\neastd\u00e6lum on \u00e6\u00feelast londa,<br \/>\nfirum gefr\u00e6ge. Nis se foldan sceat<br \/>\nofer middangeard mongum gefere<br \/>\nfolcagendra, ac he afyrred is<br \/>\n\u00feurh meotudes meaht manfremmendum.<br \/>\nWlitig is se wong eall, wynnum geblissad<br \/>\nmid \u00feam f\u00e6grestum foldan stencum.<br \/>\n\u00e6nlic is \u00fe\u00e6t iglond, \u00e6\u00feele se wyrhta,<br \/>\nmodig, meahtum spedig, se \u00fea moldan gesette.<br \/>\n\u00f0\u00e6r bi\u00f0 oft open eadgum togeanes<br \/>\nonhliden hleo\u00fera wyn, heofonrices duru.<br \/>\n\u00fe\u00e6t is wynsum wong, wealdas grene,<br \/>\nrume under roderum. Ne m\u00e6g \u00fe\u00e6r ren ne snaw,<br \/>\nne forstes fn\u00e6st<strong>,<\/strong> ne fyres bl\u00e6st,<br \/>\nne h\u00e6gles hryre, ne hrimes dryre,<br \/>\nne sunnan h\u00e6tu, ne sincaldu,<br \/>\nne wearm weder, ne winterscur<br \/>\nwihte gewyrdan, ac se wong seoma\u00f0<br \/>\neadig ond onsund. Is \u00fe\u00e6t \u00e6\u00feele lond<br \/>\nblostmum geblowen. Beorgas \u00fe\u00e6r ne muntas<br \/>\nsteape ne stonda\u00f0, ne stanclifu<br \/>\nheah hlifia\u00f0, swa her mid us,<br \/>\nne dene ne dalu ne dunscrafu,<br \/>\nhl\u00e6was ne hlincas, ne \u00fe\u00e6r hleona\u00f0 oo<br \/>\nunsme\u00fees wiht, ac se \u00e6\u00feela feld<br \/>\nwrida\u00f0 under wolcnum, wynnum geblowen.<br \/>\nIs \u00fe\u00e6t torhte lond twelfum herra,<br \/>\nfolde f\u00e6\u00f0mrimes, swa us gefreogum gleawe<br \/>\nwitgan \u00feurh wisdom on gewritum cy\u00fea\u00f0,<br \/>\n\u00feonne \u00e6nig \u00feara beorga \u00fee her beorhte mid us<br \/>\nhea hlifia\u00f0 under heofontunglum.<br \/>\nSmylte is se sigewong; sunbearo lixe\u00f0,<br \/>\nwuduholt wynlic. W\u00e6stmas ne dreosa\u00f0,<br \/>\nbeorhte blede, ac \u00fea beamas a<br \/>\ngrene stonda\u00f0, swa him god bibead.<br \/>\nWintres ond sumeres wudu bi\u00f0 gelice<br \/>\nbledum gehongen; n\u00e6fre brosnia\u00f0<br \/>\nleaf under lyfte, ne him lig sce\u00fee\u00f0<br \/>\n\u00e6fre to ealdre, \u00e6r\u00feon edwenden<br \/>\nworulde geweor\u00f0e. Swa iu w\u00e6tres \u00ferym<br \/>\nealne middangeard mereflod \u00feeahte,<br \/>\neor\u00fean ymbhwyrft, \u00fea se \u00e6\u00feela wong,<br \/>\n\u00e6ghw\u00e6s onsund, wi\u00f0 y\u00f0fare<br \/>\ngehealden stod hreora w\u00e6ga,<br \/>\neadig, unwemme, \u00feurh est godes;<br \/>\nbide\u00f0 swa geblowen o\u00f0 b\u00e6les cyme,<br \/>\ndryhtnes domes, \u00feonne dea\u00f0r\u00e6ced,<br \/>\nh\u00e6le\u00fea heolstorcofan, onhliden weor\u00fea\u00f0.<\/p>\n<p>Old English<em> Phoenix<\/em> from edition by Bernard Muir, <em>The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry<\/em>, Volume I, Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000: 164-187; a reproduced edition is also available <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oepoetry.ca\/\">online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Phoenix - Land - 2:6:22, 11.41 AM (ed.) by Medieval Studies Research Blog\" width=\"525\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F1210875973&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=788&#038;maxwidth=525\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;\u00c6\u00feelast Lond&#8221; (&#8220;Phoenix-Land&#8221;): A Modern English Translation by Richard Fahey<\/strong><br \/>\n<i><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2015\/07\/23\/phoenix-translators-preface\/\">Translator&#8217;s Preface<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have heard that hence in faroff dales<br \/>\nAre Eastern fabled fields,<br \/>\nA fay realm known yet impossible and impassible<br \/>\nTo human folk of earthen mold,<br \/>\nGuarded and disguised and determined,<br \/>\nPurged of evil and impurity.<br \/>\nA place of winsome wonder, blessed with edenic bliss<br \/>\nAnd the fairest fragrance of paradise.<\/p>\n<p>That island is enigma: the celestial\u2014terrestrial<br \/>\nHandiwork of a sublime and ancient architect,<br \/>\nLandscaped creation of the master craftsman and eternal gardener.<br \/>\nWhere often the divine doors of revelation lie open,<br \/>\nUnlocked and inviting those saintly paragons with angelic harmony.<br \/>\nThe spirit animates those green groves ruminating under starry canopy.<\/p>\n<p>There it never storms, neither rain nor snow<br \/>\nNor breath of frost, nor blast of fire,<br \/>\nNor fall of hail, nor drizzle of rime,<br \/>\nNor heat of the sun, nor constant cold,<br \/>\nNor warm weather, nor wintery squall,<br \/>\nHarms at all that paradise\u2014pleasant, peaceful, safe and sound.<\/p>\n<p>The land is home, blooming, blossoming, lush and alive.<br \/>\nThere stand no mountains, nor steep cascades,<br \/>\nNor do stone cliffs tower high, as here with us,<br \/>\nNor valley deep, nor dale, nor dune, nor hill<br \/>\nNor ravenous ravine\u2014not a scrap of fallow ground,<br \/>\nBut a fertile field wriggling in the mist,<br \/>\nThirsty, hungry and abloom.<\/p>\n<p>That living land is enlightened: a plane\u2014a plain<br \/>\nTwelve fathoms farther, higher than those proud,<br \/>\nConverging crests, peaking, glistening snowcaps,<br \/>\nScraping the sky, piercing the constellations,<br \/>\nBrighter, brilliant, a beaming place of epiphany and sagely wisdom.<br \/>\nThe runic riddles of writing often witnessed<br \/>\nBy arcane tomes and ancient inscription.<\/p>\n<p>Serenity and solar germination, sunshine begets<br \/>\nEvergreen wilderness and fathers those fruit-bearing trees,<br \/>\nForests and orchards forever dressed in foliage and harvest,<br \/>\nArboreal arms that refuse to shed their leafy fingers.<br \/>\nWinter or summer, the wood is the same, preserved unto the ages<br \/>\nNever the wind sheer its branches, nor flame lick its trunk<br \/>\nUntil transformation becomes the world.<\/p>\n<p>When the prehistoric waters surged in tidal fury<br \/>\nOf the universal flood which drowned all the earth,<br \/>\nOverwhelmed the world with waves, yet this sanctuary outlasted<br \/>\nStood protected and untouched, beyond the ocean\u2019s titanic maw.<br \/>\nWholesome and unmarred, through grace and faith<br \/>\nEndures, abides, fruits and flowers until the fiery advent and cataclysm,<br \/>\nThe doom predestined, when the hall of the dead,<br \/>\nCrypts and catacombs\u2014the tombs of heroes are unleashed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u00c6\u00feelast Lond by Richard Fahey by Medieval Studies Research Blog\" width=\"525\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F593002557&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=788&#038;maxwidth=525\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Richard Fahey<br \/>\nPhD Candidate<br \/>\nUniversity of Notre Dame<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of Notre Dame&#8217;s ongoing Old English translation and recitation project, I offer a creatively translated section from the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501) Phoenix (lines 1-49), which I have titled &#8220;\u00c6\u00feelast Lond&#8221; (&#8220;Homeland&#8221;) and which describes the heavenly home of the mythological phoenix. As a translation, &#8220;\u00c6\u00feelast Lond&#8221; is an adapted &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/translations\/the-phoenix\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Phoenix (1-49)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1846,"featured_media":0,"parent":1058,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1933","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8350,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1933\/revisions\/8350"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}