{"id":2053,"date":"2015-07-23T16:32:39","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T20:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=2053"},"modified":"2021-01-21T14:38:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T19:38:55","slug":"phoenix-translators-preface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2015\/07\/23\/phoenix-translators-preface\/","title":{"rendered":"Resurrecting the Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fahey_Harley4751_f45r\"<\/a>
Phoenix; bestiary, England, 2nd quarter of the 13th century; BL Harley MS 4751, f. 45r<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Few mythological creatures have remained as present in Western cultural imagination as the fabulous and fiery phoenix. Phoenix mythology quickly became a poetic muse for classical authors from Ovid (Metamorphoses<\/em> 15<\/a>) to Lactantius (De ave phoenice<\/a><\/em>). This mythographic and poetic tradition is later adapted in the Old English Phoenix<\/em>, a poem found in the Exeter Book (Exeter Cathedral Library<\/a> MS 3501). For my contribution to The Chequered Board<\/em>\u2019s ongoing series<\/a> on Anglo-Saxon poetry in translation, I selected to translate a section from the Exeter Book\u00a0Phoenix<\/a> <\/em>poem (lines 1-49), which I have titled \u201c\u00c6\u00feelast Lond,\u201d and which describes the heavenly home of the mythological phoenix.<\/p>\n

My translation of the Exeter Book Phoenix<\/em><\/a> is\u2014first and foremost\u2014a \u201ccreative\u201d adaption of the Old English original. As a translation, \u201c\u00c6\u00feelast Lond\u201d is an interpretive rendition of the Exeter Book poem and should not be taken as a literal translation of the Old English, but rather as an experiment with artistic translation as a means of interpreting Anglo-Saxon verse. Throughout the piece I try to remember the certain poetics specific to the Exeter Phoenix<\/em>, in addition to the literary traditions of phoenix mythology and the mysterious paradise in which the phoenix bird lives.<\/p>\n

H\u00e6bbe ic gefrugnen\u00a0\u00a0\u00fe\u00e6tte is feor heonan
\n<\/span>eastd\u00e6lum on\u00a0\u00a0\u00e6\u00feelast londa,
\nfirum gefr\u00e6ge.\u00a0\u00a0Nis se foldan sceat
\nofer middangeard\u00a0\u00a0mongum gefere
\nfolcagendra,\u00a0\u00a0ac he afyrred is
\n\u00feurh meotudes meaht\u00a0\u00a0manfremmendum.
\nWlitig is se wong eall,\u00a0\u00a0wynnum geblissad
\nmid \u00feam f\u00e6grestum\u00a0\u00a0foldan stencum.<\/p>\n

I have heard that hence in faroff dales
\nAre Eastern fabled fields,
\nA fay realm known yet impossible and impassible
\nTo human folk of earthen mold,
\nGuarded and disguised and determined,
\nPurged of evil and impurity.
\nA place of winsome wonder, blessed with edenic bliss
\nAnd the fairest fragrance of paradise.
\n(“\u00c6\u00feelast Lond,” ll. 1-8)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Exeter Book Phoenix<\/em> is itself a translation of Lactantius\u2019 De ave phoenice<\/em>\u2014from Latin hexameter into Old English alliterative verse\u2014which I have here translated into modern English free verse. Anglo-Saxon poetic and homiletic styles work in tandem throughout the Exeter Book poem, as\u00a0Janie Steen and others have long noticed. It can be noted that the first line of my translation \u201cI have heard that hence in faroff dales\u201d<\/em> (1), metrically echoes, even mimics, the Old English alliterative verse structure. While there is a somewhat contrived, mechanical quality to this line, I wanted to begin by paying metrical homage to the original poetics, before swiftly departing from any strict metrical parameters. However, despite that only this line attempts to slavishly resurrect Old English metrics, alliterative adornment remains a consistent stylistic feature throughout \u201c\u00c6\u00feelast Lond\u201d.<\/p>\n

I attempt to resurrect\u00a0the homiletic style of the Exeter Book Phoenix<\/em> in my rather literal rendition\u00a0of the ne\u2026ne <\/em>formulaic sections of\u00a0this Old English “translation” (such as lines 15-19 and 22-25), which is in part an expansion on the nec\u2026nec<\/em> formula from Lactantius\u2019 De ave phoenice<\/em>. These formulae, Latin and Old English, are also popular in contemporaneous Old English and Anglo-Latin homilies. The cadence of this section in the original produces a masterful blend of Old English homiletic style and alliterative verse. For this reason, I felt this section deserved a more literal translation, with as much attention and adherence to metrics, style and diction as possible, in order to reproduce the rhythm and rhetorical effect produced by this simple, formulaic repetition.<\/p>\n

Moreover, diction\u2014for any poet or translator\u2014is a point that merits some brief discussion. Again, I begin with a higher frequency of words etymologically derived from Old English, such as \u201chence\u201d<\/em> (1), \u201cfolk\u201d<\/em> (4), \u201cmold<\/em>\u201d (4), \u201cwinsome<\/em>\u201d (7), etc. However, by the ninth line of the poem, my diction shifts toward the Latinate and ecclesiastical, and terms such as \u201ccelestial<\/em>\u201d (9), \u201ccreation<\/em>\u201d (11), revelation<\/em>\u201d 12), \u201cangelic<\/em>\u201d (13), etc., in order to reflect the spiritual concerns and homiletic tone of the Exeter Book original poem.<\/p>\n

The eastern wong<\/em> or \u201cplain\u201d where the phoenix lives is heofon<\/em> \u201cheaven\u201d in the Old English original, and thus in my translation, I focus my attention on the mystical space and mysterious home of the phoenix, central to this section of the poem. In the Exeter poem, two traditions of phoenix lore come together regarding where this mythical bird originates. The classical description of the phoenix as coming from the East (usually Egypt\u2014at times India or Arabia) derives from Herodotus\u2019 famous Greek account in his Histories<\/a><\/em>, which lays the foundation for much of classical phoenix mythography. The Old English echoes this origin for the bird\u2019s home: H\u00e6bbe ic gefrugnen <\/em>\u00fe\u00e6tte is feor heonan\/\u00a0eastd\u00e6lum on\u00a0\u00a0\u00e6\u00feelast londa<\/em> (1-2) \u201cI have heard that there is the best of lands far hence in the eastern parts.\u201d The other tradition, which becomes syncretized with the classical accounts, comes from the Abrahamic tradition, and describes the phoenix as a bird of paradise.<\/p>\n

M. R. Niehoff has noted commentaries on the Midrash and Talmud, which describe the phoenix (chol<\/em>) as refusing to eat the forbidden fruit and thereafter gaining everlasting life along with the chance to remain in paradise. The paradisal quality is present also in the Old English, as the phoenix\u2019s home is a place not of this world: wlitig is se wong eall,\u00a0\u00a0wynnum geblissad\/ mid \u00feam f\u00e6grestum\u00a0\u00a0foldan stencum<\/em>. \u201cThe plain is all shimmering, blessed with joys and with the fairest smells of the earth\u201d (7-8). As Christianity developed during the late classical and early medieval periods, phoenix mythology became assimilated into Christianity, often recast in allegorical association with Christ and his resurrection. These allegories are often coupled with the Abrahamic interpretation of the phoenix as a bird of paradise, featured prominently in the Old English Phoenix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u00c6\u00feelast Lond\u201d highlights Old English homiletic and poetic styles, combines Abrahamic and classical traditions of phoenix mythography, and raises questions about semantical versus literal translation. It is my hope that, rather than simply offering another slavish translation of the Old English, \u201c\u00c6\u00feelast Lond\u201d encourages others to engage their creativity when reading and translating Anglo-Saxon poetry.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for additional forthcoming translations from the Exeter Book Phoenix<\/em>, reborn as modern English poems!<\/p>\n

Richard Fahey
\nPhD Candidate
\nDepartment of English
\nUniversity of Notre Dame<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/em><\/p>\n

Hill, John Spencer. \u201cThe Phoenix.\u201d Religion and Literature<\/em> 16.2 (1994): 61-66.<\/p>\n

Niehoff, M. R. \u201cThe Phoenix in Rabbinic Literature\u201d The Harvard Theological <\/em>\u00a0Review\u00a0<\/em>89.3 (1996).]: 245-265.<\/p>\n

Petersen, Helle Falcher. \u201cThe Phoenix: The Art of Literary Recycling\u201d NM<\/em> 101 (2000): 375\u2013386.<\/p>\n

Steen, Janie. Verse<\/em> and Virtuosity: the adaptation of Latin rhetoric in Old English \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 poetry<\/em>. University of Toronto Press Inc.: Toronto, ON, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few mythological creatures have remained as present in Western cultural imagination as the fabulous and fiery phoenix. Phoenix mythology quickly became a poetic muse for classical authors from Ovid (Metamorphoses 15) to Lactantius (De ave phoenice). This mythographic and poetic tradition is later adapted in the Old English Phoenix, a poem found in the Exeter … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Resurrecting the Phoenix”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1886,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264204,56012,483881,73957,264203],"tags":[73961,73931,76029,76025,75920,73900,41728,17907,75929],"class_list":["post-2053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disciplines","category-english","category-monsters-wonders","category-north-seas","category-special-series","tag-anglo-saxon","tag-bestiary","tag-exeter-book","tag-medieval-literature","tag-old-english-poetry","tag-phoenix","tag-poetics","tag-translation","tag-wonders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2053"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7220,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions\/7220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}