Wulf and Eadwacer is a
poem, written in
Old English, which was preserved in the
Exeter Book, dating it to sometime before the second half of the tenth century, and that's about all that's known about it for sure.
The poem is written in a variation on standard Anglo-Saxon verse. It is one of only two such poems known to have a refrain, and it also contains some unique variations in meter. Wulf and Eadwacer is also one of only two Anglo-Saxon poems where the speaker is identified by the grammar as a woman. (The other one is The Wife's Lament.)
Here is the original Old English:
Leodum is minum swylce him mon lác gife
willað hy hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð
Ungelic is ús.
Wulf is on iege ic on oþerre
fæst is þæt eglond fenne biworpen
sindon wælreowe weras þær on ige
willað hy hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð
Ungelice is us
Wulfes ic mines wid-lastum wenum dogode
þonne hit wæs renig weder ond ic reotugu sæt.
þonne mec se beaducafa bogum bilegde
wæs me wyn to þon wæs me hwæþre eac lað.
Wulf min Wulf wena me þine.
seoce gedydon þine seldcymas
murnende mód nales meteliste
Gehyrest þu Eadwacer Uncerne earne hwelp
bireð Wulf to wuda
þæt mon eaþe tosliteð þætte næfre gesomnad wæs
uncer giedd geador
(pronunciation tips:
þ is
thorn, pronounced like the th in thorn.
ð is
eth, pronounced like the th in death. C is always k. You can get away with pronouncing
æ like the e in bed)
For those who aren't fluent in Old English, here's my poor attempt at a vaguely poetic translation:
My people, as if the man were a sacrifice
Wish to kill him, as if he came with threats.
Apart we are:
Wolf on an island, I on another
A fastness is that island, fen-wrapped.
Bloody-minded men on the island there
Wish to kill him, as if he came with threats.
Apart we are:
Wolf wide-wandering, I waited doglike
Then it was rainy weather, and I wailing sat.
Then the war-bold arms enwrapped me.
That was happiness; however that was also hateful.
Wolf my Wolf, my wanting thee
Made me sick, thy seldom coming
My mourning spirit, never starvation.
Hear Wealth-watcher! Our lively whelp
Wolf bears to the woods.
That man easily breaks what was never bound:
Our tale together.
There is no real consensus as to what this poem is about. Ideas include a
charm to cure
warts, a
riddle, an elaborate
pun on the name of the poet Cynewulf, a purposely indecipherable poet's
joke, and a humourous verse about a
bitch who wants her wolf mate. Most commentators, however, interpret it as a
dramatic monologue by a woman who misses her lover, or maybe her son.
A conservative explication would go something like this: The woman who is speaking was the lover of a man named Wulf, who is outlawed. Despite still loving him, she somehow involved herself with a man named Eadwacer (Wealth-watcher or Bliss-watcher), and somewhere in there she bore a child to one or the other of them. Torn between them, loving and hating them both, she laments her predicament, and declares that the child also will end up in the wilderness.
Part of what makes this among my favorite poems is that it is obscure enough to allow many interpretations, yet so suggestive. Everyone who reads it reads a different story into it.
Below is my attempt at a gloss of the original poem. Old English is close enough to Modern English that anyone with a good vocabulary who is able to interpret my cryptic grammar markings ought to be able to get a good idea of what reading the original poem would be like.
Abbreviations:
nom
nominative, dat
dative, gen
genitive, acc
accusative, ind
indicative
pres
present, pret
preterite, pct
participle, ins
instrumental
pl
plural sg
singular
Leodum is minum swylce him mon lác gife
people.dat.pl be.pres.ind.sg my.dat.sg as-if he.dat.pl man.nom.sg offering.acc.sg if
willað hy hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð.
wish.pres.ind.pl he.nom.pl he.acc.sg consume.ins1 if he.nom.sg on threat.acc.sg come.pres.ind.sg
Ungelic is ús.
different.nom.sg be.pres.ind.sg I.dat.pl
Wulf is on iege ic on oþerre
wolf.nom.sg be.pres.ind.sg on isle.da.sg I.nom.sg on another.dat.sg
fæst is þæt eglond fenne biworpen
firm.nom.sg be.pres.ind.sg so-that island.nom.sg fen.dat.sg surround.pret.ptc.nom.sg
sindon wælreowe weras þær on ige
be.pres.ind.pl carnage-covering.nom.pl man.nom.pl there on isle.dat.sg
willað hy hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð.
wish.pres.ind.pl he.nom.pl he.acc.sg consume.ins1 if he.nom.sg on threat.acc.sg come.pres.ind.sg
Ungelice is us.
differently be.pres.ind.sg I.dat.pl
Wulfes ic mines wid-lastum wenum dogode.
wolf.gen.sg I.nom.sg my.gen.sg wide-wandering.dat.pl longing.ins.pl dog.pret.ind.sg2
þonne hit wæs renig weder ond ic reotugu sæt.
then it.nom.sg be.pret.sg rainy.nom weather.nom.sg and I.nom.sg greiving.nom.sg sit.pret.ind.sg
þonne mec se beaducafa bogum bilegde
then i.acc.sg the.nom.sg battle-bold.nom.sg forequarter.dat.sg envelop.pret.ind.sg
wæs me wyn to þon wæs me hwæþre eac lað
be.pret.ind.sg I.dat.sg joy.nom.sg to the.ins.sg be.pret.ind.sg I.dat.sg however also hateful.nom.sg
Wulf min Wulf wena me þine.
wolf.nom.sg my.nom.sg wolf.nom.sg longing.nom.pl I.dat.sg thy.nom.pl
seoce gedydon þine seldcymas
sick.acc.sg make.pret.ind.pl thy.nom.pl seldom-coming.nom.pl
murnende mód nales meteliste
mourn.pres.ptc soul.nom.sg not-at-all starvation.ins.ng
Gehyrest þu Eadwacer Uncerne earne hwelp
hear.pres.ind.sg thou.nom.sg wealth-watcher.nom.ng us-two.acc.sg ready.acc.sg whelp.acc.sg
bireð Wulf to wuda
bear.pres.ind.sg wolf.gen.sg to wood.dat.sg
þæt mon eaþe tosliteð þætte næfre gesomnad wæs
that man.nom.sg easily sever.pres.ind.sg which never join.pret.ptc
uncer giedd geador
us-two.acc.sg speech,riddle,poem.acc.sg together
1 aþecgan is very rare, but is assumed to be related to þicgan, meaning "to consume, to eat, to recieve". Many commentators argue that aþecgan meant something along the lines of "serve as food", metaphorically extended to mean "kill, destroy".
2 This is the only occurance of dogode anywhere. It is occasionally emended to hogode, "hope", but I use here the hypothesized verb deriving from a word for dog, and parelleling the modern verb "to dog".
I am especially indebted to the edition and notes by Michael Donald Livingston currently at http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/rawl/wulf/ for this write-up, although I consulted many other translations and analyses.