Megalithic Poems

close
more_vert

I have a Faber edition, I think. I know that poem is in it though and I'll have to have a look at it this evening.
The Michael Alexander rendering of the poem into modern English is well worth reading g.

A few more indications that the poet is describing Bath and not Stonehenge is the reference to 'red stone'. The way the minerals in the hot spring have coloured the conduits red is quite startling when you first see it. Also, the reference to mortar as in, ...rime on mortar. and, ...bound bravely the wallbase with iron, a wonder. Iron at Stonehenge? But iron at Bath certainly. What perhaps clinches it is the line, ...red arch twisteth tiles... I'm sure the Anglo-Saxons knew the difference between arches and lintels (their powers of description, for example, in the Battle of Maldon poem would put a modern war correspondent to shame) and this ...red arch twisteth tiles... is exactly what you an see at Bath today.

I had a read of that at home last night - it turned out to be someone called Richard Hamer as translator. It was strange experience, perhaps like looking at your reflection in a mirror with an unusual frame; the picture is there but you are also aware of what surrounds it. I know that its almost a cliché to say that every age will see the past through their own filter but this was certainly one of those examples - heroes and mead-halls and such - and fascinating; looking at a relic that's looking at a relic.

Thanks LS. I'll have to re-tackle some of the rest of them now ;)