‘Widsith’ is an Old English poem with great historical value compared to literary value. It is one of the major Old English poems. Without it, any discussion on the history of English literature will remain incomplete. In this poem, the poet mainly talked about his experience, some of which were real while the others were imaginary. He also mentioned some historical events, but it cannot be said with certainty that he was present at the time of those events for they happened through several centuries. Moreover, it is not possible for a man to travel all the places in a lifetime mentioned in the poem. Yet, this poem has great historical value. For this reason, it is very important to discuss this poem.
Here it needs to be mentioned that the entire manuscript of the poem could not be found. Only some parts had been recovered. Still, it is a very important poem. In this poem, the poet portrayed himself as a traveler who is traveling all the time. He traveled many places. Throughout the poem, he, directly and indirectly, said that due to his extensive traveling, he learned many things and gained a lot of knowledge. He also learned many new poems in the course of his travel. Traveling was a part of the poet’s life and he loved to travel.
The poem talks about several important historical events. For instance, the Hans defeated the Ermenrichs in battle in the 50th century. In this manner, the poet described various events one after another. In fact, these events are part of history. Hence, this poem has great historical value.
Along with historical events, the poet also talked about people of different countries and in some cases, described their society. At present, we talk about “Social History” that focuses on the description of the lives of ordinary people aside from those of the kings and queens. ‘Widsith’ serves as one of the oldest examples of such social history. It is true that in ancient history, kings and queens had great significance, and ‘Widsith’ also talks about Kings and their battles- which king defeated who? Which king was murdered? However, the poet did not ignore ordinary people. Descriptions of the people of different nations came up in the poem.
Most probably, the poet who composed this poem created it while traveling on the road and entertained people by reciting it. Such instances were not rare in ancient times. Many people begged on the streets and recited poems or sang songs to entertain the passersby. Reading the poem, it would become evident to the reader that it was a well-composed poem and the sole purpose of the poet was to provide entertainment through this poem to the people. All of us love to hear stories. The historical events mentioned in the poem had been presented in the manner of telling a story to the people. The poet presented many serious historical events in a pleasant manner. Hence, the poet of ‘Widsith’ is not just a poet but also a historian and an entertainer as well.
The
historical significance of ‘Widsith’ would never decrease. In this poem, the
poet presented himself as a far traveler, Victorian, entertainer and most
importantly a poet with great talent. It is unfortunate that only parts of the
poem had been recovered. I think that if the entire poem could have been
recovered it would help us to gain further insight into ancient history.
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