One of the latest of Anglo-Saxon poems, _The Battle of Brunanburh_, 937, is a famous example of war poetry. We quote a few lines from Tennyson's excellent translation:-- "Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone, Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us. * * * * * Five young kings put asleep by the sword-stroke Seven strong earls of the army of Anlaf Fell on the war-field, numberless numbers." Love of the Sea.--The Anglo-Saxon fondness for the sea has been noted, together with the fact that this characteristic has been transmitted to the more recent English poetry. Our forefathers rank among the best seamen that the world has ever known. Had they not loved to dare an unknown sea, English literature might not have existed, and the sun might never have risen on any English flag. The _scop_ sings thus of Beowulf's adventure on the North Sea:-- "Swoln were the surges, of storms 'twas the coldest, Dark grew the night, and northern the wind, Rattling and roaring, rough were the billows."[24] In the _Seafarer_, the _scop_ also sings:-- "My mind now is set, My heart's thought, on wide waters, The home of the whale; It wanders away Beyond limits of land. * * * * * And stirs the mind's longing To travel the way that is trackless."[25] In the _Andreas_, the poet speaks of the ship in one of the most charming of Saxon similes:-- "Foaming Ocean beats our steed: full of speed this boat is; Fares along foam-throated, flieth on the wave, Likest to a bird."[26] Some of the most striking Saxon epithets are applied to the sea. We may instance such a compound as _=ar-ge-bland_ (_=ar_, "oar"; _blendan_, "to blend"), which conveys the idea of the companionship of the oar with the sea. From this compound, modern poets have borrowed their "oar-disturbéd sea," "oaréd sea," "oar-blending sea," and "oar-wedded sea." The Anglo-Saxon poets call the sun rising or setting in the sea the _mere-candel_. In Beowulf, _mere-str=aeta_, "sea-streets," are spoken of as if they were the easily traversed avenues of a town. Figures of Rhetoric.--A special characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry is the rarity of similes. In Homer they are frequent, but Anglo-Saxon verse is too abrupt and rapid in the succession of images to employ the expanded simile. The long poem of _Beowulf_ contains only five similes, and these are of the shorter kind. Two of them, the comparison of the light in Grendel's dwelling to the beams of the sun, and of a vessel to a flying bird, have been given in the original Anglo-Saxon on pages 16, 17. Other similes compare the light from Grendel's eyes to a flame, and the nails on his fingers to steel: while the most complete simile says that the sword, when bathed in the monster's poisonous blood, melted like ice.