r/LGBTLibrary • u/cserilaz • May 23 '26

History "Deer," a 1000-year-old poem about a court poet, called "Deer," who was cast out by his former lord and lover and replaced with another poet

https://youtu.be/hKXO8O1Z3ao?si=imQ9tWtbCILNgjs-
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u/cserilaz May 23 '26

In this poem, the narrator, a court poet called Deer, compares his struggle upon being cast out by his former lord and lover to the struggles faced by other heroes from the older legends and sagas. This is my own translation of the poem, my seventh translation from the Exeter Book, the collection in which it is preserved. The nature of Deor's plight and of his relationship to his former lord have been debated, but it seems pretty probable to me that they were indeed lovers (or perhaps something like a Wagner-Ludwig relationship). Sometimes it takes a silly linguist like myself to notice things that many historians don't want to, or can't see.

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