The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.

Bible. Exodus -- History of Biblical events -- Poetry; Bible. Genesis -- History of Biblical events -- Poetry; Christian poetry, English (Middle)

Class III.      Beden (offer),          { bed,  }        boden.
                                          { bead, }
                  Crepen (creep),           crep,          cropen.
                  Chesen (choose),          ches,          chosen.
                  Dregen (suffer),          dreg,          drogen.
                  Flegen (fly),           { fleg, }        flogen.
                                          { flew, }
                  Fleten (float),           flet,          floten.
                  Forlese (lose),         { forles,  }     forloren.
                                          { forleas, }
                  Scheten (shoot),          schet.         ——
                  Segen (see),            { seg,           sogen.
                                          { sag,           sowen.
                  Seðen (boil),             seð,           soden.
                  Stigen (ascend),          steg,          stigen.
                  Ten (go),                 teg,           togen.
                  Ðen (thrive),             ðeg,           ðogen.


ANOMALOUS VERBS.

Cunen (can), 3 _pers. sing._ can, _pl._ cunen, _pret._ cuðe, _p.p._ cuð.

Daren (dare), _pres. pl._ duren, _pret._ durste.

Mogen (may), 3 _pers. sing._ mai, _pl._ mogen, mowen, _pret._ migte (2
_pers. pret._ migt).

Mot (may), _pret._ muste.

Ogen (owe, ought), 3 _pers. sing._ og, _pl._ ogen, _pret._ ogte.

Sal (shall), 2 _pers. sing._ salt, _pl._ sulen, _pret._ sulde, _pret. pl._
sulden.

Witen (know), 3 _pers. sing._ wot, _pret._ wiste.

Wilen (will), _pret._ wulde; nile = will not; nolde = would not.

The verb _ben_, 'to be,' is conjugated after the following manner:—

INDICATIVE MOOD.

                   PRESENT.
      Singular.               Plural.
  1. am,              }
  2. art, beas, best, }    ben, arn[70] (aren).
  3. is, beð,         }

                    PAST.
      Singular.               Plural.
  1. was,             }
  2. wore,            }    weren, worn (woren, wore).
  3. was,             }


V. ADVERBS.

The adverbs _hence_, _thence_, _whence_, do not occur, being superseded by
the Norse forms _heðen_, _ðeðen_, _queðen_.

_Adverbial Terminations._—Adverbs are formed from adjectives by the
addition of _e_; as _long_ (adj.), _longe_ (adv.).

_-um_ (dative) occurs in _whilum_ and _seldum_.

_-es_ (gen.) in _lives_, alive, _newes_, anew.

_-en_ in _abouten_, _aboven_, _binnen_, _biforen_ (_foren_), _bisiden_,
_uten_, _wiðouten_.


VI. PREPOSITIONS.

_Fro_ (Northumbrian _fra_) takes the place of the Southern _fram_ (from),
and _til_ (unknown to Southern writers) occurs frequently for _to_.




THE METRE OF THE POEM.


The essence of the system of versification which the poet has adopted is,
briefly, that every line shall have _four accented_ syllables in it; the
_unaccented_ syllables being left in some measure, as it were, to take care
of themselves.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.

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