Literary notes about wyrd (AI summary)
Literature frequently employs "wyrd" to evoke the inexorable force of fate and destiny that governs human lives. In early Anglo-Saxon texts like Beowulf, it is portrayed as an inevitable power—one that both condemns and occasionally spares heroes depending on their valor, as when fate itself determines the survival or downfall of mighty warriors ([1], [2], [3]). Over time, wyrd has come to be seen as a complex, dualistic presence: at once a dark, uncontrollable force and a guiding principle that blends pagan and Christian understandings of destiny ([4], [5], [6]). This multifaceted representation underscores a broader literary preoccupation with the tension between human agency and the cosmic, often inscrutable, order of things ([7], [8], [9]).
- Ne wäs þät wyrd þâ gen, þät he mâ môste manna cynnes þicgean ofer þâ niht.
— from I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment. - In the “Beowulf” it is said:—“Wyrd often keeps alive the man who is not destined to die, if his courage is equal to the occasion.”
— from Anglo-Saxon Literature by John Earle - For Wyrd oft saveth earl undoomed if he doughty be!
— from Beowulf - In line 1056 we find a curious blending of pagan and Christian belief, where Wyrd is withstood by the "wise God."
— from English Literature by William J. Long - This name “Weird” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Norn Wyrd (Sax.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - The Anglo-Saxon’s life was overshadowed by the power of Wyrd, though Beowulf says that “a man may escape his Wyrd—if he be good enough.”
— from Old English PoemsTranslated into the Original Meter Together with Short Selections from Old English Prose - The dragon is slain, but the fire has entered Beowulf's lungs and he knows that Wyrd is at hand.
— from English Literature by William J. Long - A belief in Wyrd, the mighty power controlling the destinies of men, is the chief religious motive of the epic.
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Nor did men cease to believe in the Wyrd, that dark, ultimate fate goddess who, though obscure, lies at the back of all Saxon belief.
— from The Old English Herbals by Eleanour Sinclair Rohde
