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Rediscovering the classics: The Battle of Maldon
Jane Taylor takes another look at an acknowledged classic
Posted 4th June 2009 | Author: Jane Taylor
From Issue TT09 of Etcetera (Views: 214)
"Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred"
These lines from Tennyson’s poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ memorialises the British soldiers who fought during the Crimean War. This poem is celebrated as a classic representation of patriotism, heroism and war. Tennyson’s creation has often been compared to another poem which depicts bravery in battle, the Old English poem ‘The Battle of Maldon’. However, this contribution to the Old English corpus remains a neglected classic in comparison to its Victorian counterpart.
Perhaps inaccessible to most in its original Old English format, ‘The Battle of Maldon’ remains the most detailed account we possess of the historical battle which took place in Essex. In this sense it is a historical artefact, yet unlike the semi-mythical, quasi-historical Beowulf, it lingers in the background of the literary consciousness, untouched by popular readership. Perhaps an Anglo-Saxon classic requires a super-human hero to reach a literary audience, or possibly we need monsters and action to fulfil our preconceived notions. However, the most recent adaptation of Beowulf to emerge on the big screen has undergone a revolution, plot, characterization and narrative changing beyond recognition into a sexed-up blockbuster. Is ‘The Battle of Maldon’, a poem of less than 400 lines and only a fragment of the original poem, unappealing to the modern mind when compared to the epic Beowulf?
At a closer glance, ‘The Battle of Maldon’ fulfils both the demands of a classic and of a modern audience. The poem memorialises the second wave of Viking invasions. Yet it also marks the development and spread of the English language through the character and hero, Byrhtnoth, a historically validated figure. The poem is not concerned with super-human fighting, but with the psychological and moral implications of battle and comradeship. Like Tennyson’s poem, it does not accept heroism as a simple matter, but complicates it.
The aspects of suicidal loyalty in the poem not only reveal a nostalgia for ancient heroic ethics, but appeal to a modern audience’s view of bravery. Various vignettes of soldiers expose their psychological struggle to remain loyal. A modern audience is able to question whether this is real heroism or indoctrination to make men react to foreign invaders in a way which is “no more authentically heroic than bees that instinctively give up their lives to protect the hive” (Diary of a Bad Year, J M Coetzee). These issues of heroism, empire and patriotism are still important in modern literature, from the post-colonial to any literature concerned with identity and psychology. This is a poem in which warriors ask that their lord not be forgotten, and that that the poem itself not be forgotten by those who read it. ‘The Battle of Maldon’ forces us to question what makes a poem a ‘classic’ in the eyes of the reader.
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