Old English Poem

friþgifu rutland

on þa worulde wrangr and yfel menn seon god
in the world wrong and evil men saw god

wyrc þu an ærc friþgifu rutland god cwæþ hine
make thou an ark Noah god said to him

to seofonum and mid his samodgesum habb þu æfre deora clæne and æfre deora unclæne
by sevens and with his companion have thou every beast clean and every beast unclean

þin sunu and eower wifmenn and þu sceall ingangan þa ærc
thy sons and their wives and thee shalt go into the ark

forþæm an flod-wæter ælc flæsc clæsian ic bringe geond eorþe
because a flood each flesh to destroy I bring throughout earth

ge fugelas ge deoras findas friþgifu and he gadriþ plantas
both fowls and beasts find Noah and he gathers plants

and hydende ælc hea hyll and ælc hea dune
and is hidden each high hill and each high dune

and ne on þa hærnflota and ge deoras ge menn sweltaþ
and not in the vessel both creatures and men die

þa fantas deop and firmamentum vindaugas god astynt
and the fountains deep and heaven’s windows god stopped

þa flod-wæter scranc and of þa ærc friþgifu ferde
the floodwater decreased and from the ark Noah went

and ingemynde wæs ge ierfes ge menn mid friþgifu
and remembered was both property and men with Noah

inlæd and geber friþgifu god cwaiþ hine
bring forth and multiply Noah God said to him

Old English Poem Modern Translation

God saw wrong and evil men in the world.
God told Noah: make an ark.
Have seven of every clean animal and two of every unclean animal.
Go into the arc with your sons and with their wives,
because I am going to flood the earth to destroy the wicked.
All kinds of animals came to Noah, and he also gathered plants.
Every hill was covered,
and the animals and men that were not in the ark died.
God closed the deep fountains and the windows of heaven.
The waters receded and Noah left the ark.
Everything on the ark was preserved.
God told Noah to multiply and replenish the earth.

Old English Poem Features

Thematic Features:
My OE poem is a religious text about my distant relative Noah, and the flood.

Onomastic Features:
Noah’s OE name is Friþgifu Rutland. [line 2]
Friþgifu means ‘peace-gift’. It is said that Noah was given his Hebrew name “rest or peace,” because he created farming tools that controlled the thorns of the earth. This act brought rest to men. The ‘Rut’ in the English county Rutland may refer to Ruth or cattle. Ruth is Hebrew which ties to Noah. God commanded Noah to replenish and multiply the earth. This instruction is like a request for farming.

Lexical Features:
Latin loans
plantas – (Classical Latin) plants [line 6]
fantas – (Ecclesiastical Latin) baptismal founts [line 10]
firmamentum – (Classical Latin) heaven [line 10]
Norse loans
wrangr – awry, wayward [line 1]
vindaugas – windows (literally, wind-eyes) [line 10]
Old English
yfel (evil), menn (men), worulde (world), wyrc (make, construct), deor (beast), seofon (seven), claene (clean), sunus (sons), wifmen (wives), aerc (arc), flod (flood), flaesc (flesh), dun (hill, dune), hyll (hill), haernflota (vessel), waeter (water), deop (deep), etc.[through-out text]

Grammatical Features:

Inflectional affixes on nouns/adjectives
4 cases
Nominative: wrangr, yfel [line 1]
Accusative: hine [line 2]
Genetive: his [line 3]
Dative: sefonum, samodgesum [line 3]
3 grammatical genders
Masculine: fugelas, deoras (pl.) [line 6]
Feminine: worulde [line 1]
Neuter: flod [line 6]
2 numbers
Singular: ærc [line 2]
Plural: deoras [line 8]

Inflectional affixes on verbs
2 tenses
Present: habb [line 3]
Preterite: ferde [line 10]
3 persons
1: seon [line 1]
2: wyrc [line 2]
3: sweltaþ [line 8]
3 moods
Indicative: bringe [line 5]
Imperative: geber [line 12]
Subjunctive: sceall ingangan [line 4]

Syntactic Features:
My sentence orders: 1.) OVS, 2.) VSO, 3.) VSO, 4.) SVO, 5.) OSV,
6.) SVO, 7.) VS, 8.) SV, 9.) OSV, 10.) SV, 11.) VS, 12.) VS
I have 12 half-lines for a total of 6 lines.

Prosodic Features:
There is primary stress on at least four content words in every line.

Phonological Features:
Alliterations: w, s, f, h, f, i