Medieval English poetry always comes with this dualistic pagan suggestion though. The mindset of the time is torn between a return to nature and a doubling down on Christian faith. Just look at Sir Gawain!
its interesting how languages differ. Some modern words in german, or english today are similar to some old fashioned danish words. The opposite is also true, wherean expression in Danish maybe be very similar to a german or english one that hasn't been in use for a very long time. Then when we talk about this middle english, we see other similarities. "flood" is almost the same as "flod", the modern danish word for river. This is all very interesting
Poetry is often written to have multiple meanings kind of like how One Word can mean multiple things such as two roads diverged in a yellow wood too many people it means making choices but it can also mean going down a fork in the road and having to pick which way you want to go it also means doing the thing that most people don't do and finding your own way if you read the entire poem he talks about how he picked the One Less Traveled by on purpose and that maybe someday he would come back and try the other path but he doubts it as way leads onto way it is doubtful that I will ever come back this way
Not too long ago, one still heard the perhaps somewhat folksy expression "in the olden days" in American English; in it the word "old" has held on to its Germanic inflection "en" through the centuries - quite a feat. Do others ever still hear this expression in common parlance ?
Don't you think that "wood" being "the woods" also works here? I see this poem as a guy saying "this human conscience thing, god fucking damn - I'm just a beast of bone and blood, this is too much" and going to the woods being a return to simpler state of being, like them fowls in the frith.
omg lol. But when a real englishman from the middle speaks it's like they sing at the end of a word! sounds too funny! by the way i am Dutch! Speak well but writing is a problem sometimes. And i understand American English where you come from the best. ( My dad is an Italian man) The southern states sounds funny too i can understand but better with headphones lol. Thnanks for sharing!
Can do sonnet 18 in middle English? We have the op and the modern version. It will be nice to hear it in language of the period immediately preceding its creation.
There are some places where I think there's a bit of great vowel shift leaking through. The first time you say "flood" it sounds a lot like how we pronounce it today, rather than the original pronunciation which would be a *little* like you might pronounce "flode" today (if that were a word).
Could "beste" could have a double meaning here, in the sense of both "beast" (mortal shell) and "best" in the sense of "besting one's opponent"? Making this both a personal and universal lament of the "curse of awareness"/struggle to rise above the flesh, as it were...
perhaps he is saying humans are the "best of bone and blood" and it seems the fish and birds just go about their business, while it is WE who have the dubious honor of mental suffering (either because of our intelligence, or because of original sin) another one is he is lamenting the massacre of fish and fowl for human's consumption. somehow i think that's not it hahaha
You have to search a Middle English word and it'll give you a modern definition. The MED can be touchy; the three things that get me most of the time are either A: misspelling the word, B: using a plural form of a word when they only have the singular form archived, and C: messing up the formatting on the special characters. If all those things are ok and you're still not finding it, maybe post what you're looking for here and I can help?
Middle english still had the rolled R of norse and low German. The current bland pronounciation shift of the R and other sounds came with normans (french) but didn't factually affect the english linguage until much later
Vagabund92 I assume by 'he' you meant me, aka the maker of this video? And Wodan/Odin is the god of both madness and wisdom- the Norse had this way of looking at him as though he were two sides of the same coin- on the one side was wisdom (and with it creativity, thus he's also the God of poetry). On the other side of the coin, or perhaps when you take the 'wisdom' aspect and turn it up to 11, he's the god of madness- of thought taken too far, of the tipping point between a good idea and a crazy one.
Funny how the meaning of the whole thing can change with just one word.. shows you how wacky art critics are when they try to interpret pieces.. they have no idea what the artist meant
I know /NOTHING/ and just started looking at middle english tonight, but I feel like he's writing this as a first person perspective on himself, in contrast to the rest of the world. And that kind of comes together if you don't translate as heavily, and let some of it just be ... middle english. In a nutshell: the first 2 lines are observing the world in it's natural state, as it should be. And, also a natural state, a man goes mad, but this is normal (not literally insane, but the 'wow look at the state of this world' kind of thing), a satirical observation. Yet, saddening. But it's simply what it must be, a man must be a man. For that is who he is, and what he is. My insane thinking here: Fowles in the forest, The fisshes in the flood (water, river, something, basically where fish are /meant to be/. Much the same about birds.) And I must go crazy. (perhaps this isn't saying like we'd think it, perhaps more saying 'I must go crazy', in the sense of that this is the natural state of where I must head. Into mild madness. This is who I am. A lightly insane man, such things come of age. Or, it's quite normal and a satire observation on man in general with age) Much sorrow I walk it. (that says it, about the last line. It's simply the reality of whats happening. 'One must go a bit mad in this life' kind of mentality) For best of bone and blood. (Like writing additional supplementary information after the fact in modern English with " - ", this line may be extending onto the last, suggesting, "this is as good as it gets to be a man of my mental mindset" or, "this is what I must be, [crazy] then it'll be the best a man can hope for)
+Jackie S. Sorry for the late response- I do like the idea that it's just about a guy accepting his fate, whatever that means to him. It's a cool interpretation- thanks for sharing!
@@ryushogun9890 Alright here are more words. Middle English words: Ich = I Ne = Is Not Noon = No Nat = Not Nas = Was not Cas = Happening Now. Anon = Now! Gederes = To Gather Gadrede = To Gather together. Curteise - Kind or Noble person. Soothe - Truth (words ending with E make a "uh" sound) Degree = Social status (words ending in double E make a "AY" sound) Ynoth - Enough Littel - little He - he (sounds like Hay) Child = Child To - to (sounds like toe) Whan = When Thanne = Then Eek - Also (double E makes a "Air" sound) Shoures = Sweet Smelling. Soote = Shower Knyght = Night My = Me (Y in Middle English is a long E sound or a short I) Hym = Him Doun = down (words with OU in sounds like Boot) Biforn = Before Er = Before Draughte - Draught (I think GH makes a Scottish "loch" sound) Perced = peirced Roote = root (sounds like Boat) Bathed = pouring with rain Vein = Vine Swich = Such Liquor = Liquid Hem = Them Ech = Each Everychon/Everich = Everyone or Everybody. Cours Y Ronne - Run it's course Holt = Wood Heeth = Field Nyce = Foolish Sonne - sun Sonn - son Ruce = Russia Pruce = Germany Wend - went Pilgrimage = Pilgrimage Can/Kan = I can Melody - Singing Song = Sung Syngyng - singing Merry - To be happy. Gay = happy Ful = very Engendered = created Virtue = power Devyse = device Flour - Flowers Sholde - should Wolde - would Seke - seek Seeke - sick Wenden - travel Smale - small Yonge - Young Longe - long Compaignye = accompany. Shondry - Various Londes - lands Shires = Shire Ende = End Morrowe = morning Bar = To carry Array = Clothing Togidre = Together Shal = Shall Al = All or It can mean to or the. Alle = All Wys - wise Pryesse - priestess Nyghtingale = nightingale Coy = quiet Graithely = Eagerly Fold = Floor Tranquil = calm Croun = crown Lovely = Lovely Therto = there to Lair = skin Hath - have Fader = father Mader = mother Art = are Oure = our Hede = head Instedde = Instead Lokkes = Dreadlocks Resoun = Reason Discoveregh = To discover or uncover something. Tendre = tender Croppes = crops (Words ending in ES are Plural) Conditioun = Circumstance Wight - person Goost - Spirit Accord = agreement Hooly - holy Yow = you Thinkyth - to think Maken - making (Middle English has alot of French, Latin, Spanish and Italian influences, the rest are germanic) Early modern English words: Yond = that Albeit = however Whosoever = whoever Whatsoever = whatever Shalt - shall Shouldst (words ending in ST are past tense) Thinketh = To think Maketh = To make Sayest = I say Saith = said Hast = have Thou = you (informal) You = You (Formal) Ye = you Art = are Wither = where Hither = here Thither = there
it would sound way better if it was, birds in the sky fish in the river and i must go in the woods much sorrow i walk with for im a beast of bone and blood probably a dude from the woods stuck in a city and hates it.
Many words in Middle English were heavily influenced by the German of the time (not to mention quite a few that were simply taken directly from the language), so it's not surprising that it sounds a bit like German.
@@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess "English are Germans" No, they are not. Only 25 -40% of English ancestry is Anglo-Saxon, even then some of that percentage is Danish Viking.
Oh snap listen to this about poetry and insanity.... In spanish there is a "childish sorta rhyme" that read De poeta y locos Todos tenemos Un poco.... Ill let you translate. Why did i even stumble apon this video IDK
Man, you are one of the coolest guys I have ever encountered ... it was a pleasure watching the middle English series.
I think that you would pronounce "fowles" as "fooules" because of it being before the Great Vowel Shift. Anyway, that's just me.
Fowls in the wood
The fish in the water
And I must increase in wisdom
Much sorrow I walk with
For best of bone and blood
This is clearly a poem for Good Friday. It’s springtime. The birds and fish are thriving, but this Christian is grieving the sacrifice of his savior.
Medieval English poetry always comes with this dualistic pagan suggestion though. The mindset of the time is torn between a return to nature and a doubling down on Christian faith. Just look at Sir Gawain!
Yeah, it's definitely true that it criticism often tells more about the critic's priorities than the author's.
Any chance you will make any more videos on this? I'd love one on the proper way to stress syllables.
Fantastic video! Wish you'd done a vocab part 2.
its interesting how languages differ. Some modern words in german, or english today are similar to some old fashioned danish words. The opposite is also true, wherean expression in Danish maybe be very similar to a german or english one that hasn't been in use for a very long time. Then when we talk about this middle english, we see other similarities. "flood" is almost the same as "flod", the modern danish word for river. This is all very interesting
Bruker dere ikke ordet "elv" for den altsaa?
Poetry is often written to have multiple meanings kind of like how One Word can mean multiple things such as two roads diverged in a yellow wood too many people it means making choices but it can also mean going down a fork in the road and having to pick which way you want to go it also means doing the thing that most people don't do and finding your own way if you read the entire poem he talks about how he picked the One Less Traveled by on purpose and that maybe someday he would come back and try the other path but he doubts it as way leads onto way it is doubtful that I will ever come back this way
Fowls in the forest
The fishes in the flood
And I must work wood
Much sorrow I walk with
For beast of bone and blood
This makes so much sense,Thanks
Interesting content explain majestically, great video my friend 💖
Not too long ago, one still heard the perhaps somewhat folksy expression "in the olden days" in American English; in it the word "old" has held on to its Germanic inflection "en" through the centuries - quite a feat. Do others ever still hear this expression in common parlance ?
Don't you think that "wood" being "the woods" also works here?
I see this poem as a guy saying "this human conscience thing, god fucking damn - I'm just a beast of bone and blood, this is too much" and going to the woods being a return to simpler state of being, like them fowls in the frith.
Sounds to me, like someone would rather catch birds and fish, than go into the woods to hunt. :D
hiii Grant Wilson i see Ghost Hunters! i'm a your italian fan!:)
omg lol. But when a real englishman from the middle speaks it's like they sing at the end of a word! sounds too funny! by the way i am Dutch! Speak well but writing is a problem sometimes. And i understand American English where you come from the best. ( My dad is an Italian man) The southern states sounds funny too i can understand but better with headphones lol. Thnanks for sharing!
Hey sas jansen
my life is music its my saviour Hi, How are you doing
Well that makes one of us, I think it's freaking weird.
But still, thanks for the compliment!
Imo I think it is probably the third meaning you mentioned. It makes more sense to me after reading.
Excellent. Do slow your delivery down.
Seems that this video is broken---I cannot play this video, and it instead cuts to the end immediately when played.
thank goodness it seems that the video fixed itself? I don't have that issue anymore huh
Can do sonnet 18 in middle English? We have the op and the modern version. It will be nice to hear it in language of the period immediately preceding its creation.
SUBBED!!! Hope you are okay and safe
Hey Thatoneguyinlitclass, maybe a little off topic, but I love your voice.
Oh just take the compliment. -Michael
There are some places where I think there's a bit of great vowel shift leaking through. The first time you say "flood" it sounds a lot like how we pronounce it today, rather than the original pronunciation which would be a *little* like you might pronounce "flode" today (if that were a word).
What about a double entendre? Where it means both beast and best.
Could "beste" could have a double meaning here, in the sense of both "beast" (mortal shell) and "best" in the sense of "besting one's opponent"? Making this both a personal and universal lament of the "curse of awareness"/struggle to rise above the flesh, as it were...
There is no ME follow up video?
+MultiSciGeek Yeah, I still would like to return to this subject, but I just haven't had the time/energy to do the research necessary to make it good.
Thatoneguyinlitclass Oh I see. No problem, I agree with you Quality > Quantity.
please do more!!
Good job! I hope you make more vids.
perhaps he is saying humans are the "best of bone and blood" and it seems the fish and birds just go about their business, while it is WE who have the dubious honor of mental suffering (either because of our intelligence, or because of original sin)
another one is he is lamenting the massacre of fish and fowl for human's consumption. somehow i think that's not it hahaha
About the Middle English Dictionary is it Middle to Modern or Vice Versa? Either was it says i'm wrong and i don't use caps. SOMEONE HELP! (lol)
You have to search a Middle English word and it'll give you a modern definition. The MED can be touchy; the three things that get me most of the time are either A: misspelling the word, B: using a plural form of a word when they only have the singular form archived, and C: messing up the formatting on the special characters. If all those things are ok and you're still not finding it, maybe post what you're looking for here and I can help?
Middle english still had the rolled R of norse and low German. The current bland pronounciation shift of the R and other sounds came with normans (french) but didn't factually affect the english linguage until much later
What is the name of this poem again?
You also can download Old and Middle English Grammars and Dictionaries at www.archive.org .
I'm guessing he's talking bout beauwolf
Fartell Cluggins Beowulf is Old English, not Middle English.
except that Beowulf moved through history and would have been translated into middle english.
art thee haveth the diamonth?
Thanks for the awesome guide.
You sound like someone I know in real life; is your name Simon?
isn't Wodan the god of wisdom?!?
Typically, yes, the story goes that Wodan/Odin gave one of his eyes to receive the gift of wisdom.
yeah.. he said wodan is the god of insanity :D
Vagabund92 I assume by 'he' you meant me, aka the maker of this video? And Wodan/Odin is the god of both madness and wisdom- the Norse had this way of looking at him as though he were two sides of the same coin- on the one side was wisdom (and with it creativity, thus he's also the God of poetry). On the other side of the coin, or perhaps when you take the 'wisdom' aspect and turn it up to 11, he's the god of madness- of thought taken too far, of the tipping point between a good idea and a crazy one.
oh yeah I meant you ^^
Funny how the meaning of the whole thing can change with just one word.. shows you how wacky art critics are when they try to interpret pieces.. they have no idea what the artist meant
I know /NOTHING/ and just started looking at middle english tonight, but I feel like he's writing this as a first person perspective on himself, in contrast to the rest of the world. And that kind of comes together if you don't translate as heavily, and let some of it just be ... middle english.
In a nutshell: the first 2 lines are observing the world in it's natural state, as it should be. And, also a natural state, a man goes mad, but this is normal (not literally insane, but the 'wow look at the state of this world' kind of thing), a satirical observation. Yet, saddening. But it's simply what it must be, a man must be a man. For that is who he is, and what he is.
My insane thinking here:
Fowles in the forest,
The fisshes in the flood (water, river, something, basically where fish are /meant to be/. Much the same about birds.)
And I must go crazy. (perhaps this isn't saying like we'd think it, perhaps more saying 'I must go crazy', in the sense of that this is the natural state of where I must head. Into mild madness. This is who I am. A lightly insane man, such things come of age. Or, it's quite normal and a satire observation on man in general with age)
Much sorrow I walk it. (that says it, about the last line. It's simply the reality of whats happening. 'One must go a bit mad in this life' kind of mentality)
For best of bone and blood. (Like writing additional supplementary information after the fact in modern English with " - ", this line may be extending onto the last, suggesting, "this is as good as it gets to be a man of my mental mindset" or, "this is what I must be, [crazy] then it'll be the best a man can hope for)
+Jackie S. Sorry for the late response- I do like the idea that it's just about a guy accepting his fate, whatever that means to him. It's a cool interpretation- thanks for sharing!
English learner here, I wanted t o know more words like "thy"
Thy means your. Thine means yours.
@@Dawn_Of_Justice I wanted to know a bigger quantity but, thanks.
@@ryushogun9890 Alright here are more words.
Middle English words:
Ich = I
Ne = Is Not
Noon = No
Nat = Not
Nas = Was not
Cas = Happening Now.
Anon = Now!
Gederes = To Gather
Gadrede = To Gather together.
Curteise - Kind or Noble person.
Soothe - Truth (words ending with E make a "uh" sound)
Degree = Social status (words ending in double E make a "AY" sound)
Ynoth - Enough
Littel - little
He - he (sounds like Hay)
Child = Child
To - to (sounds like toe)
Whan = When
Thanne = Then
Eek - Also (double E makes a "Air" sound)
Shoures = Sweet Smelling.
Soote = Shower
Knyght = Night
My = Me (Y in Middle English is a long E sound or a short I)
Hym = Him
Doun = down (words with OU in sounds like Boot)
Biforn = Before
Er = Before
Draughte - Draught (I think GH makes a Scottish "loch" sound)
Perced = peirced
Roote = root (sounds like Boat)
Bathed = pouring with rain
Vein = Vine
Swich = Such
Liquor = Liquid
Hem = Them
Ech = Each
Everychon/Everich = Everyone or Everybody.
Cours Y Ronne - Run it's course
Holt = Wood
Heeth = Field
Nyce = Foolish
Sonne - sun
Sonn - son
Ruce = Russia
Pruce = Germany
Wend - went
Pilgrimage = Pilgrimage
Can/Kan = I can
Melody - Singing
Song = Sung
Syngyng - singing
Merry - To be happy.
Gay = happy
Ful = very
Engendered = created
Virtue = power
Devyse = device
Flour - Flowers
Sholde - should
Wolde - would
Seke - seek
Seeke - sick
Wenden - travel
Smale - small
Yonge - Young
Longe - long
Compaignye = accompany.
Shondry - Various
Londes - lands
Shires = Shire
Ende = End
Morrowe = morning
Bar = To carry
Array = Clothing
Togidre = Together
Shal = Shall
Al = All or It can mean to or the.
Alle = All
Wys - wise
Pryesse - priestess
Nyghtingale = nightingale
Coy = quiet
Graithely = Eagerly
Fold = Floor
Tranquil = calm
Croun = crown
Lovely = Lovely
Therto = there to
Lair = skin
Hath - have
Fader = father
Mader = mother
Art = are
Oure = our
Hede = head
Instedde = Instead
Lokkes = Dreadlocks
Resoun = Reason
Discoveregh = To discover or uncover something.
Tendre = tender
Croppes = crops (Words ending in ES are Plural)
Conditioun = Circumstance
Wight - person
Goost - Spirit
Accord = agreement
Hooly - holy
Yow = you
Thinkyth - to think
Maken - making
(Middle English has alot of French, Latin, Spanish and Italian influences, the rest are germanic)
Early modern English words:
Yond = that
Albeit = however
Whosoever = whoever
Whatsoever = whatever
Shalt - shall
Shouldst (words ending in ST are past tense)
Thinketh = To think
Maketh = To make
Sayest = I say
Saith = said
Hast = have
Thou = you (informal)
You = You (Formal)
Ye = you
Art = are
Wither = where
Hither = here
Thither = there
is your name tyler?
Very Nice!
I found an American accent funny talking about Middle English
it would sound way better if it was,
birds in the sky
fish in the river
and i must go in the woods
much sorrow i walk with
for im a beast of bone and blood
probably a dude from the woods stuck in a city and hates it.
Probably is a weasel word....
Subbing in 2021 😎
Middel English is beste >D
Google can translate Middle English
>D
Waxe wood (whack axe?!)
it sounds like german
Many words in Middle English were heavily influenced by the German of the time (not to mention quite a few that were simply taken directly from the language), so it's not surprising that it sounds a bit like German.
English is a dialect of German, of low German more precisely. English are Germans
@@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess "English are Germans" No, they are not. Only 25 -40% of English ancestry is Anglo-Saxon, even then some of that percentage is Danish Viking.
@aattitude fun fact, did you know that icelandic is the same language that the vikings had spoken, almost unchanged by time?
art be gratuh!?
Oh snap listen to this about poetry and insanity.... In spanish there is a "childish sorta rhyme" that read
De poeta y locos
Todos tenemos
Un poco....
Ill let you translate. Why did i even stumble apon this video IDK
potato = u-bi ken-tang
Eald Englisc sy betst.
Nope!
I am a woody guy😗
Nae, ealde anglic sy baeste