Fire and Ice, from The Old English Genesis

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MAY we not then plan vengeance, pay Him back
With any hurt, since shorn by Him of light?
Now He hath set the bounds of a middle-earth*
Where after His own image He hath wrought
Man, by whom He will people once again
Heaven’s kingdom with pure souls. Therefore intent
Must be our thought that, if we ever may,
On Adam and his offspring we may wreak
Revenge, and, if we can devise a way,
Pervert His will. I trust no more the light
Which he thinks long to enjoy with angel-power.

Bliss we obtain no more, nor can attain
To weaken God’s strong will; but let us now
Turn from the race of man that heavenly realm
Which may no more be ours, contrive that they
Forfeit His favour, undo what His word
Ordained; then wroth of mind He from His grace
Will cast them, then shall they too seek this hell
And these grim depths. Then may we for ourselves
Have them in this strong durance, sons of men
For servants. Of the warfare let us now
Begin to take thought.

from The Old English Genesis 9th century

Translated by Albert S. Cook (1853-1927), abridged and slightly altered

From Genesis B, part of the Junius Manuscript and dating back to the first half of the 9th century. The passage is given as translated by Albert S. Cook in ‘Select Translations from Old English Prose’ (1902), but abridged, and with some minor emendations to improve readability. For the full text in prose, see ‘The Caedmon Poems: Translated into English Prose’ (1916) by Charles W. Kennedy.

* Translator Albert Cook used the phrase ‘mid-earth’ but most people today (thanks chiefly to Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien) will more readily respond to ‘middle-earth’. The term Midgard, in various forms, was used in the cosmology of the Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons to refer to that part of the universe set aside for the abode of Man; the Gothic translation of Luke 2:1 used midyungard to translate the Greek word οἰκουμένη (ikooméni), the inhabited world.

Précis

Though force be unavailing, there must (says Lucifer) be some way to rob God of his hopes for Man: the best he can think of is to induce Man into a rebellion of his own, so that God will in bitter wrath banish his creature to hell, and the fallen angels will have lordship and servants to command after all.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

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