The HyperTexts

Modern English Translation of Wulf and Eadwacer
(an anonymous Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem noted for its ambiguity, circa 960-990 AD)

loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The outlanders pursue him like crippled game.
They will kill him if he returns in force.
It is otherwise with us.

Wulf is on one island; I, on another.
That island is fast, surrounded by fens.
There are fierce men on this island.
They will kill him if he returns in force.
It is otherwise with us.

My thoughts pursued Wulf like a panting hound.
Whenever it rained and I woke, disconsolate,
the bold warrior came: he took me in his arms.
For me there was pleasure but its end was loathsome.
Wulf, O, my Wulf, my ache for you
has made me sick; your infrequent visits
have left me famished, but why should I eat?
Do you hear, Eadwacer? A wolf has borne
our wretched whelp to the woods.
One can easily sunder what never was one:
our song together.

Translator's Notes: "Wulf and Eadwacer" is one of the truly great poems in the English language. The poem been characterized as an elegy, a wild lament, a lover's lament, a passion play, a riddle, and as a song or early ballad with a refrain. However, most modern scholars choose to place it, along with The Wife's Lament, within the genre of the frauenlied, or woman's song. This may be the first extant poem written by a woman in the then-fledgling English language, although the author and his/her sex remain unknown. But it seems likely that the original poet was a woman because we don't usually think of ancient warriors and scops pretending to be women. "Wulf and Eadwacer" is perhaps the first Old English poem to contain sexual intrigue not adulterated later by Christian monks. And the poem's closing metaphor of a loveless relationship being like a song in which two voices never harmonized remains one of the strongest in the English language, or any language. The poem is also notable for its rich, even lush, ambiguity, which leaves much open to reader interpretation. For instance, the "wolf" that has borne the whelp (presumably the speaker's baby) to the woods might be Wulf, the female speaker, Eadwacer, or Eadwacer's jealous wife. We have no idea what happened to the child in the woods, only the impression of a dark catastrophe. "Wulf and Eadwacer" is also one of the first English poems to employ a refrain, a hallmark of the great ballads to come. The poem appeared in the Exeter Book, meaning that it was probably written no later that 990 AD. But the poem itself is probably older ... perhaps much older. I hope readers enjoy this powerful, haunting poem that speaks to us from the dawn of English poetry.—Michael R. Burch, editor, The HyperTexts

The Original: 

Lēodum is mīnum swylce him mon lāc gife;
willað hý hine āþecgan gif hē on þrēat cymeð.
Ungelīc is ūs.
Wulf is on īege, ic on ōþerre.
Fæst is þæt ēglond, fenne biworpen.
Sindon wælrēowe weras þaer on īge;
willað hý hine āþecgan gif hē on þrēat cymeð.
Ungelīce is ūs.
Wulfes ic mīnes wīdlāstum wēnum dogode,
þonne hit wæs rēnig weder ond ic rēotugu sæt,
þonne mec se beaducāfa bōgum bilegde,
wæs mē wyn tō þon, wæs mē hwæþre ēac lāð.
Wulf, mīn Wulf! wēna mē þīne
sēoce gedydon, þīne seldcymas,
murnende mōd, nales metelīste.
Gehýrest þū, Ēadwacer? Uncerne earme hwelp
bireð wulf tō wuda.
Þæt mon ēaþe tōslīteð þætte naefre gesomnad wæs, 
uncer giedd geador.

The poem is deliciously ambiguous; for instance:

lāc means not only "wild game" but "gift" and thus might suggest a sacrifice or offering
ungelic means "otherwise" or "different" or "unalike"
āþecgan means not only "to kill" but "to feed" or "devour," and "to accept (a guest)" and perhaps "to mate" or "copulate"
þrēat could mean "troop," "force," "threat," "crowd," "clan," "horde" or "hostile army"
dogode is a verb whose meaning is uncertain because it occurs nowhere else in the surviving OE corpus; it may be related to "dog" or "hound"
uncer giedd geador or "our giedd together" may invoke Matthew 19:6 (“What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”)
If the poet punned on giedd (song, story, tale) and the sound-alike word "god," suggesting that what God did not join together was doomed to remain separated, that would be truly remarkable.

Please click here to see a Timeline of English Poetry with links to major poems and events.

The following are links to other translations by Michael R. Burch:

Sweet Rose of Virtue
How Long the Night
Caedmon's Hymn
Whoso List to Hunt
Bede's Death Song
The Wife's Lament
Deor's Lament
Lament for the Makaris
Ancient Greek Epigrams and Epitaphs
Basho
Oriental Masters/Haiku
Sappho
Miklós Radnóti
Rainer Maria Rilke
Allama Iqbal
Bertolt Brecht
Ber Horvitz
Paul Celan
Primo Levi
Tegner's Drapa

The HyperTexts