Use it wisely
May those who have life-marking power use it wisely. It struck me as a curious phrase.
Source: Beowulf, Seamus Heaney...
Reptile-haunted rocks
This reminds me of the French word for basking in the sun, based on the word for a lizard: se...
How to write a paper
Heaney’s introduction to his translation of Beowulf praises Tolkien’s ‘epoch-making paper’, a lecture delivered in 1936 entitled ‘Beowulf: The Monsters...
May you never be reft
'To reave' is an archaic verb meaning to carry out raids for plunder, or to rob somebody by force, with the past...
Thrice condemned monster
Heaney's tripling summary of Grendel, the world's fear and monster: a guilt-fouled fiend and a God-cursed brute with a hall-watcher's hate. Thankfully,...
Hate-honed swords and other battle gear
Everything a battle-scarred Swede could need: fine-forged mesh to protect him from other people's hate-honed swords, and a great-shafted spear...
Swingeing cuts
'Swingeing cuts' usually refer to sharp budget cuts - note the 'e' making it a soft 'g' (like a 'j'),...
The poetry of endurance
Endurance is intrinsic to the poem of Beowulf, and is vividly and touchingly depicted here as a bedrock of humanity....
A voice to clear the head
Trying to imagine a 'head-clearing voice' - is it a singing, shouting or speaking voice? Or is it just...
Iron-braced door
A door to keep enemies at bay? Except perhaps Grendel who would have torn it off by the hinges.
Source: Seamus...
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