Deor" (or "The Lament of Deor") is an Old English poem found on folio 100r–100v of the late-10th-century collection [1] the Exeter Book. The poem consists of a reflection on misfortune by a poet whom the poem is usually thought to name Deor.

What would I say about myself? for the Heodenings, loved by my lord. I used to be deor myself, now a beast. for many winters, welded to the bread-giver. all that my sheltering lord granted me before. They all got through much of that, maybe I will too.

An Old Norse poem from the Edda, Völundarkviða, gives us a fuller account of his life. He and his two brothers came upon three swan-maidens on a lake's shore, and loved them, and lived with them happily for seven years, but then the swan-maidens flew away again.

2024年9月4日 · Deor is an Old English elegy and one of the shorter poems found in the Exeter Book, a late 10th-century manuscript that contains a collection of Old English poetry. The poem is notable for its unique form, its exploration of personal and communal suffering, and its refrain, which serves as both a structural and thematic element.

Deor, Old English heroic poem of 42 lines, one of the two surviving Old English poems to have a refrain. (The other is the fragmentary “Wulf and Eadwacer.”) It is the complaint of a scop (minstrel), Deor, who was replaced at his court by another minstrel and deprived of his lands and his lord’s favour.

"Deor" is a heroic Anglo-Saxon poem consisting of 42 lines. It is the only poem from the Anglo-Saxon era in which stanzas are used for artistic effect, and only one of two poems (the other being "Wulf and Eadwacer") that has a refrain.

The Old English poem “Deor” is unique in that it has a repeating refrain “þæs oferēode, þisses swā mæg” (That passed away, and so may this). It also describes five disastrous events in history or mythology, which would have been familiar to the audience, and which are used to demonstrate that terrible situations can be overcome.

"Deor's Lament" is one of the truly great poems of English antiquity. This modern English translation of one of the very best Old English/Anglo-Saxon poems is followed by footnotes and the translator's comments. Included in the notes are a summary and a detailed analysis of the poem's plot, theme, genre, purpose, context, references and techniques.

The Deor is a poem found in the Exeter Book and included in the Old English elegies. The main purpose of this contribution is to highlight the possible intertextual links of the poem. After an outline of the old English elegies and a brief review of the most significant passages from the elegies, this short poem will be analyzed stanza by stanza.

click here on the lyre: to listen to Prof. Robert Fulk read Deor in Old English (from the Norton Online Archive)