hen and the enemies of God,
as shown by the following selection from one of the poems of the
Caedmonian cycle:--

"Helmeted men went from the holy burgh,
At the first reddening of dawn, to fight:
Loud stormed the din of shields.
For that rejoiced the lank wolf in the wood,
And the black raven, slaughter-greedy bird."[23]

_Judith_, a fragment of a religious poem, is aflame with the spirit of
war. One of its lines tells how a bird of prey--

"Sang with its horny beak the song of war."

This very line aptly characterizes one of the emphatic qualities of
Anglo-Saxon poetry.

The poems often describe battle as if it were an enjoyable game. They
mention the "Play of the spear" and speak of "putting to sleep with
the sword," as if the din of war were in their ears a slumber melody.

One of the latest of Anglo-Saxon poems, _The Battle of Brunanburh_,
937, is a famous example of war poetry. We quote a few lines from
Tennyson's excellent translation:--

"Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone,
Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us.
* * * * *
Five young kings put asleep by the sword-stroke
Seven strong earls of the army of Anlaf
Fell on the war-field, numberless numbers."

Love of the Sea.--The Anglo-Saxon fondness for the sea has been
noted, together with the fact that this characteristic has been
transmitted to the more recent English poetry. Our forefathers rank
among the best seamen that the world has ever known. Had they not
loved to dare an unknown sea, English literature might not have
existed, and the sun might never have risen on any English flag.

The _scop_ sings thus of Beowulf's adventure on the North Sea:--

"Swoln were the surges, of storms 'twas the coldest,
Dark grew the night, and northern the wind,
Rattling and roaring, rough were the billows."[24]

In the _Seafarer_, the _scop_ also sings:--

"My mind now is set,
My heart's thought, on wide waters,
The home of the whale;
It wanders away
Beyond limits of land.
* * * * *
And stirs the mind's longing
To travel the way that is trackless."[25]

In the _Andreas_, the poet speaks of the ship in one of the most
charming of Saxon similes:--

"Foaming Ocean beats our steed: full of speed this boat is;
Fares along foam-throated, flieth on the wave,
Likest to a bird."[26]

Some of the most striking Saxon epithets are