https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/04/forgotten-poem-by-c-s-lewis-published-for-the-first-time/
Renowned British author C.S. Lewis is best known for his Chronicles of Narnia, but Lewis's prolific oeuvre also included a science-fiction trilogy , an allegorical novel, a marvelous retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, various nonfiction works of Christian apologetics, and literary criticism. Now, a literary scholar has discovered a previously unknown short poem by Lewis among a cache of documents acquired by the University of Leeds 10 years ago. Written in 1935, the poem has been published for the first time, with an accompanying analysis in the Journal of Inkling Studies.
[...] the Inklings "arguably the literary mythmakers" of their generation.
Lewis and Tolkien shared a love of Norse mythology, and Lewis read the first early drafts of what would become Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien later said he owed his friend "an unpayable debt" for convincing him the "stuff" could be more than merely a "private hobby." Tolkien, in turn, was the one who convinced Lewis—an atheist in his youth—to convert to Christianity.
[...] "Since Þrýþ was wicked and her mood was fierce, according to Tolkien's interpretation and translation that Lewis seems to agree with, the negative phrase in the title of the poem can only be read as a compliment to Ida Gordon," Cossio wrote. Taken together with Lewis's adherence to the alliterative meter of Beowulf, Cossio concludes that the newly discovered poem was clearly written "from one medievalist to another."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 04, @07:14AM (4 children)
Neat. One of the more difficult college courses which I took as an undergrad, aside from organic chemistry, covered Beowulf. (Unfortunately my heavily annotated textbook from that course got stolen some years later as I turned my back for a moment while less than two meters from the damn table where my stuff was. A sore loss.) There is a lot in that poem, not just the story but especially the way it is written.
Beowulf is often misdescribed as an Old English poem. It is not. It is a poem in Old English, yes, but older than that and originally from an older time and another language. The University of Kentucky used to have an online edition of the manuscript [uky.edu]. Their link still works, but seems to go to a badly broken page these days.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Saturday May 04, @10:00AM
In that case, Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott is not a Victorian poem. Yeah, right. Anyway, Lewis's poem does not appeal to me, I see it as prose with line breaks. I write poetry myself, and full rhyming and scanning, as in Tennyson's poem, are for me part of the challenge and the resulting effect. I liked Lewis's novels though.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday May 05, @02:46AM (2 children)
Wait, the Beowulf we have was translated =into= Old English??
From what?
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 07, @02:27PM (1 child)
Apparently it's been long thought that it may have originated from a Scandinavian source. It's never been proven and pretty much all anyone has to go on is "it's kinda like x thing". Until actual proof comes out, I'd say it's probably best to assume it originated in Old English. Especially considering the Christian tie-ins, which were unlikely to have originated from a Norse tale. That said, there are entire University classes that do nothing, but study Beowulf. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=beowulf+course+in+university [duckduckgo.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf [wikipedia.org]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 07, @02:30PM
Considering all the of the crazyness that goes on in Beowulf, I never thought of it as "fundamentally Christian". Then again, I'm not sure I ever read the whole thing and certainly not in Old English.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"