The Ruin

thumb|Wondrous is this masonry, shattered by the Fates. The fortifications have given way, the buildings raised by giants are crumbling. "The Ruin of the Empire", or simply "The Ruin", is an elegy in Old English, written by an unknown author probably in the 8th or 9th century, and published in the 10th century in the Exeter Book, a large collection of poems and riddles. The poem evokes the former glory of an unnamed ruined ancient city that some scholars have identified with modern Bath, juxtaposing the grand, lively past with the decaying present. Quotes Wrætlic is þæs wealstan.    Wyrde gebræcon;burgstede burston,    brosnað enta geweorc.Hrofas sind gehrorene,    hreorge torras,hrim geat torras berofen,    hrim on lime,scearde scurbeorge,    scorene gedrorene,ældo undereotone.    Eorðgrap hafaðwaldend wyrhtan    forweorone, geleorone,heardgripe hrusan,    oþ hund cneawerþeoda gewitan.    Oft þæs wag gebadræghar and readfah    rice æfter oþrum,ofstonden under stormum;    steap geap gedreas. Wondrous is this masonry, shattered by the Fates. The fortifications have given way, the buildings raised by giants are crumbling. The roofs have collapsed; the towers are in ruins There is rime on the mortar. The walls are rent and broken away, and have fallen, undermined by age. The owners and builders are perished and gone, and have been held fast in the earth's embrace, the ruthless clutch of the grave, while a hundred generations of mankind have passed away. Ked of hue and hoary with lichen this wall has outlasted kingdom after kingdom, standing unmoved by storms. The lofty arch has fallen. Lines 1–11, as translated by N. Kershaw, Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems (Cambridge University Press, 1922) pp. 54–5 Compare: Maxims II, 1–3 External links Category:Old English literature Category:Anonymous works