After three years of Old English at King's College, London, I had taken a course on "The
Heroic Poetry of the Germanic Peoples" as part of my MA in Toronto.
Her choices are mostly from a number of Old Norse Skaldic and Eddic verses, from Old English charms and
heroic poetry such as Deor, Beowulf, Maldon, and Brunanburh, and select pieces of Early Irish heroic and historiographic poetry, including Lebor Gabala Erenn, Cath Maige Tuired, and the Ulster Cycle.
I envy the flute-player raised on
heroic poetry. I recline on the old raft I cry, bound to the pine swans.
The Welsh Language: A History Janet Davies (University of Wales Press, PS9.99) This book offers a broad historical survey of Welshlanguage culture from 6thcentury
heroic poetry to television and pop culture in the early 21st century.
Treasure and material values are themes recurrent in Old English
heroic poetry and are often depicted as being at the centre of communal values.
Soviet
heroic poetry in context; folklore or fakelore.
The second essay by Haferland, "The Hatred of Enemies: Germanic
Heroic Poetry and the Narrative Design of the Heliand," again perhaps passe, uses "acculturation" theory to argue how the Heliand poet, an oral singer motivated by the terms of
heroic poetry, employs "narrative features" (212) from Germanic
heroic poetry and places the Jesus story in the combative "narrative world" (215) of that genre to depict Jesus and his followers as heroically resisting their hateful Jewish enemies.
Bowra (1952: 4) argues that "heroes are honoured because they have made a final effort in courage and endurance, and no more can be asked of them." The
heroic poetry is essentially a historical narrative and has always been remarkable for its national character.
Dryden was the first to attribute Milton's sublime style to a rhetorical technique (Jensen 111) and, in "The Author's apology For
Heroic Poetry and Poetic License" which prefaced "The State of Innocence," his own operatic vision of Paradise Lost, Dryden took on the role of critic when he judged Milton's heroic verse.
If you live in this weak, friendly nation, as I do, you're especially susceptible to artists like Syberberg--artists who open the door to a world we thought no longer existed, a world of myths and
heroic poetry. Syberberg's art has always tapped into these archaic energies, although on the surface it critiques the irrationalism such energies produce when unleashed.