The Exeter Book is one of the oldest compilations of literature, being compiled sometime in the late 900’s. It is invaluable, in that it is one of the only pieces of medieval poetry and literature that we have, as well as the biggest collection of Old English literature, giving us valuable insight into the history and culture of the time.
The poem “The Ruin” is a beautiful and oddly specific piece of poetry, which also happens to be incomplete in its translation. It speaks of the ruins of what seems to be very beautiful architecture, the result of war, which was an unavoidable part of Anglo-Saxon history. War could ravage entire communities, leaving in its wake, the ruins of homes and castles that carried the memories of families, friends, and also literature. The poem clearly shows the destruction war left in its wake, detailing, “on all sides men fell dead,/ death fetched off the flower of the people;/ where they stood to fight” (lines 28-30). Lives were left to ruin, not just the buildings.
Whoever wrote this particular piece, had truly seen the ins-and-outs of the destruction of battle. It is written not as a generalization, but as if they are speaking of a specific instance that they witnessed. A specific castle that they once knew, the loss of people they once knew, and even the loss of a king. Small details hint at this specificity such as, “Therefore are these courts dreary/ and that red arch twisteth tiles” (lines 33-34) and, “Bright were the buildings, halls where springs ran” (line 24). The author speaks of this “ruin” as though he was genuinely afflicted by it. By the sight of all of the loss, and possibly the ache of losing people and places he was familiar with.
The reason I feel drawn to this poem is mostly because of how vivid and specific the imagery is throughout it. It’s really quite sad, but then again, loss is a very relatable human experience. Everyone experiences the loss of something or someone throughout their lives, and in a way it connects us on a deep level. The author does a wonderful job of portraying the beauty and the sorrow of this experience, painting a picture in the reader’s mind.
One passage that shows this loss, and beautiful imagery well is as follows,
“Wall stood,
grey lichen, red stone, kings fell often,
stood under storms, high arch crashed --
stands yet the wallstone, hacked by weapons
by files grim-ground” (14-18).
In this, we can imagine how the castle looked, stones covered in the red of blood, that were once only adorned with lichen. The dents and scratches of where swords and axe met stones. It’s beautiful, but inherently sad as well, and he goes on to continue describing this destruction and loss. It’s beautiful, because even though we live so much differently now and war does not happen this way, it is still the same emotion and human experience.
We read about castles and knights, and the ruin from that is depicted well. But in our minds, we also see the destruction of guns and bombs and crumbled skyscrapers, and in that way, we are connected. I think this poem is an important one to look at right now with what is happening in Aleppo. Here, we have a modern day tragedy like what is represented by this poem. It’s important to talk about it, it’s important to give it coverage, because as much as we won’t admit to it, we give countries like France and the U.S more face time for tragedy. And because of that, situations like that of Aleppo get ignored too long and become far worse than they ever should have been. Media is powerful, words are powerful, like those of this poem. However, action is more powerful. So if you see a video about it, showing how dire this is, or read a moving or sad article, you should share it. Plaster it everywhere you can, so that we can no longer turn the blind eye. While this poem is written beautifully, the actual tragedy is not.
