Destruction and Preservation
Damage to the manuscript was caused by the Cotton fire of 1731 and readings have been lost. In order to account for these lost words, modern editions of the poem are supplemented by references to Edward Thwaites' 1698 edition. The only existing copy of the poem follows the Beowulf manuscript.
Read more about this topic: Judith (poem)
Famous quotes containing the words destruction and/or preservation:
“Fear not, we are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)