Drincath, Drincath [Old English Drinking Song]
Tacitus mentioned there were four kinds of Saxon singing. War-chants, bardic dirges, feasting/drinking songs and finally rap battles. A lot of it was improv', and I view this one as a somewhat flexible one they might have sung, changing the lyrics as they saw fit, and as they got drunker. The main singer would be dancing on a table, completely sloshed, spilling beer everywhere while miming the people he's talking about.
“The maids from home they drink, they drink
The lads from home they drink, they drink
The cobbler’s cat
The old farmer
And the farmer’s wife
The elves in the forest they drink, they drink
The gods above, they drink they drink
Even Hel
That pretty lass
Can’t forgo a glass
The Popes in Rome they drink, they drink
The Kings in Greece they drink, they drink
The Dragons drink
Their fiery brew
While they eat some manfolk stew!
The fish in the sea, they drink they drink
The oldfolk drink, but through a straw
Even babies in the womb
Drink all the ale in the room
And their pregnant mothers drink it too!”
“Sé fæmnan fram cýþþ drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé genlada fram cýþþ drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé díceres catt
Sé eald búr
And sé búres wíf
Sé ælf in sé weald drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé godan ufenan drincaþ, drincaþ
Furðum Hel
Þæt fæger ides
Canne forgaþ a glæs
Sé pápan in Rome drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé cyningas in Grécland drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé dracan drincaþ
Hieran fýren breo
Amang ye áiteaþ mannfolce estue!
Sé fiscas in sé brimstréam drincaþ, drincaþ
Sé ealdfolce drincaþ, ac þurh a streáw
Furðum bearn in sé bréost
Drincaþ á sé ealu in sé rúme
And hieran bearncennicgan drincaþ hit tó"
Links:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/4z81u4/two_line_poems_pound_studies/d6ttyva
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/4z5xjy/whiskey_2350/d6tup49
Posted Aug 23, 2016, 9:57 PM UTC
Is this a translation? or is it just a piece you wrote in both? I'll treat it as a latter for the sake of critique (and will only approach the modern version) The most important thing in the piece is the rhythm and some bits falter in the "sing it aloud like a drunken tavern dweller" test Paticular bits:
this line comes of as knowing what it wants to do, but the natural stresses mess up the rhythm attempted (1st and 2nd lines have the same number of syllables, but the meter is off for them).
the rhythm in this line could be salvaged with a front-loaded two syllable word (like Golden) coming before the word 'glass'.
These lines work out much better if you'd like a template in your own piece.
This is an interesting, because frankly I don't read much like it. Thanks for posting and I hope I was helpful in some way.
I wrote it in English and Old English, yes. The meter is less off in OE owing to the extra syllables.