Sunday, May 29, 2011

The Ring Verse in Old English

I recently came across this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4058Zk2Uv4

An excellent "translation" of the the Ring Verse into a poem in the Mercian dialect of Old English, which Tolkien used as the language of the Rohirrim.  The Anglo-Saxon is in the video's description, as is a link to the Modern English translation.  A nice bonus is that one can get the alliterative force of the kind of poetry Tolkien loved.

Best to watch this one at night in a dark room to get the full, spooky effect.

-G. Lederer

1 comment:

"Tolkien: Medieval and Modern" said...

Wow! I love it! This makes me even more eager to take a course in Old English...

--Luke