Pandemic Elegies
Old English elegies, such as those found in the Exeter Manuscript, meditate on difficult circumstances. Speakers’ expressions of grief connect with audiences through a shared sense of loss. Tragedy is located within natural cycles of ebb and flow, and Fortune’s turning wheel, suggesting stability is rooted in inner peace.
In 2020, we share the difficult circumstances of a global pandemic due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Wabash Medievalists used this shared experience to reflect on some of these difficulties, to identify sources of hope, to find humor in the frustration, and to participate in Old English elegiac conventions.
Using Deor as a model, each Wabash Medievalist constructed their own verse employing either the Old English refrain, “Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg,” or a Modern English translation, “that passed away; so shall this.”
Pandemic Elegies
It's early August and I am off to college,
meeting up with my friends, everything is bliss,
but there is a pandemic going and I lacked knowledge.
That passed away; so shall this.
Matthew Troy
COVID made 2020 summer sad.
Thought it would blow over by May.
Missing friends, quarantine go away.
Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Malik Hoover
My love is who I long for.
Her heart is dearly missed.
That damn virus closed the door.
That passed away, so shall this.
Gordon Harman-Sayre
My friend, away a mile
Even in the month of May,
Stays away awhile.
Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Michael Lesch
All the activities we can't do.
All the conversations that I miss.
I have a hard time staying far from friends.
That passed away; so shall this.
Samuel Proctor
I wear a mask everyday
especially when it is brisk
I miss the old breaths, but
that passed away; so shall this.
Dane Smith
I wear it around my ears
to cover my face and lips.
Plague like it struck fear.
That passed away; so shall this.
Brailen Harrington
Six feet of distance with my friends.
The weekend parties I will miss
Lord knows when this will end.
That passed away; so shall this.
Andrew Williamson
So I'm building this mask collection
to coordinate outfits everyday
but they smear my Chapstick up my nose;
Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
E.J. Pavlinich
Listening to words from behind a mask,
plundering the thoughts of those who throw fits.
An era of political correctness, an era of living in the past,
That passed away; so shall this.
A.D. Worley
I feel under the weather, into exile I must go
In quarantine I do my best to make it through the day
Although I feel myself going stir-crazy—must not let it show;
þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Hayden Kammer
Locked alone like an animal
looking around the abyss
longing for the door to open
that passed away; so shall this.
Andrew Gawrisch
I lay and rot in Quarantine,
Nothing but time in the day.
All I have left is to dream.
Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Willie Kadel
No one is ok, Everyday repeats
the same, like Groundhog Day,
except I’m living with my parents,
Þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Henry Egan
The world was sent into a daze
That once had an extreme bliss.
It clearly was just a phase.
That passed away; so shall this .
Jackson Garrett
Surrounded by pain in my heart,
sorrows drowning this away,
I can feel the happiness depart,
þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Andrew Washlock
That COVID was really a drag.
2020 was rotten fish.
We had few tools left in the bag.
That passed away; so shall this.
Alexander Goodnight
I do not go out much
and all I can do is pray
that one day I can do such
þæs ofereode; þisses swa mæg.
Derek Miller
Day's flows together like water,
COVID brought and end to normal life.
Stuck inside focusing on problems,
What can we do to meet social needs?
Dylan Torbush