The Grave

Translated from the untitled Middle English poem, found in only one manuscript: Oxford Bodleian MS 343.




Đe wes bold gebyld
Er þu iboren were;
ðe wes mold imynt
er ðu of moder come.
ðe hit nes no idiht,
ne þeo deopnes imeten;
nes gyt iloced,
hu Iong hit þe were.
Nu me þe bringæð
þer ðu beon scealt;
nu me sceal þe meten
and ða mold seoðða :
ne biþ no þin hus
healice itimbred;
hit bið unheh and lah,
þonne þu list þerinne;
ðe helewages beoð lage,
sidwages unhege,
þe rof bið ybild
þire broste ful neh;
swa ðu scealt on mold
wunien ful cald,
dimme and deorcæ :
þet den fulæt on hond.
Durelaes is þet hus.
and deorc hit is wiðinnen,
ðær þu bin feste bidytt,
And Dæð hefð þa cæge :
ladlic is þæt eorð hus,
and grim inne to wunien.
Đer þu scealt wunien.
and wurmes þe todeleð.
 For you a dwelling was planned
before you were born;
for you earth was appointed
before you came from your mother.
For you it is not prepared,
nor the deepness measured;
nor is it yet ordained
how long it will be for you.
Now men bring you
to where you shall be;
Now men must measure you
and the earth afterwards :
nor is your house
highly constructed;
It is unhigh and low,
where you lie therein;
the endwalls are low,
sidewalls unhigh,
the roof is built
quite close to your breast;
so you must in the earth
dwell full cold,
dim and dark :
that den soon becomes foul.
Doorless is that house.
and dark it is within,
where you are tightly enclosed,
And Death has the key :
loathsome is that earth house,
and grim to dwell within.
There you must dwell
and the worms destroy you.




Edwin Duncan is a professor and chair of the English Department at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, where he teaches courses in linguistics and medieval literature.  His Ph.D. is from the University of Texas, and he is past president of the Texas Medieval Association.  In 2002 he received the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents’ Award for Teaching Excellence.


Issue 1, Spring 2010  |  →  |  p. 1