Softly lap the land with their lovely floods."[22]

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGLO-SAXON POETRY

Martial Spirit.--The love of war is very marked in Anglo-Saxon
poetry. This characteristic might have been expected in the songs of a
race that had withstood the well-nigh all-conquering arm of the vast
Roman Empire.

Our study of _Beowulf_ has already shown the intensity of the martial
spirit in heathen times. These lines from the _Fight at Finnsburg_,
dating from about the same time as _Beowulf_, have only the flash of
the sword to lighten their gloom. They introduce the raven, for whom
the Saxon felt it his duty to provide food on the battlefield:--

"...hraefen wandrode
sweart and sealo-br=un; swurd-l=eoma st=od
swylce eal Finns-buruh f=yrenu w=aere."

...the raven wandered
Swart and sallow-brown; the sword-flash stood
As if all Finnsburg were afire.

The love of war is almost as marked in the Christian poetry. There are
vivid pictures of battle against the heathen and the enemies of God,
as shown by the following selection from one of the poems of the
Caedmonian cycle:--

"Helmeted men went from the holy burgh,
At the first reddening of dawn, to fight: