Essay -- "Deor" Re-Examined: A Lament of Common Woe
"Deor", an Old English poem found in the tenth-century poetry collection The Book of Exeter, is generally considered to be a song of lament for the poet's own misfortune. The poem consists of a series of seven stanzas that describe the travails of well-known historical individuals and groups. As the final stanza contains an account of the ostensible poet's own misfortune – being removed from his position as court poet – scholars have conjectured that the poet's aim in depicting these historical travails is to compare these with his own fate. However, the final stanza does not constitute the poem's final words. The poem ends with the refrain that recurs after every stanzaic description of misfortune in the work – "Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg!" – "that passed over, this can too". The placement of the refrain after the final stanza indicates that, just like the other historical hardships, the poet's grief over his demotion, too, has passe