Note 310 — Chapter IV · THE DIFFERENCING ELEMENTS OF THE POETRY OF ART

Déor’s song, first in point of time of English lyrics, is a vox clamantis in deserto. The breezy personality of it, the individual confidence, the appeal to great names and great things to prop Master Déor’s own hope that something good will turn up,—all this is discouragement to the critic who likes to go about pasting labels on various epochs of literature. But there is Déor’s rival, Wîdsîð, the typical singer lost in the guild, or rather a dozen singers rolled into one,—communal triumph.