Treasure

Beowulf

Lines 830-835

“Unremitting humiliations,

The hard fate they’d been faced to undergo,

No small affliction. Clear proof of this

Could be seen in the hand the hero displayed

High up near the roof: the whole of Grendels

Shoulder and arm, his awesome grasp”

Lines 1191-1196

“The cup was carried to him, kind words

Spoken in welcome and a wealth of wrought gold

Graciously bestowed: two arm bangles,

A mail-shirt and rings, and the most resplendent

Torque of gold I ever heard tell of

Anywhere on earth or under heaven.”

Lines 2755-2761

“Under the rock-piled roof of the barrows,

Exultin in his trumph, and saw beyond the seat

A treasure-trove of astonishing richness,

Wall-hangings that were a wonder to behold,

Glittering gold spread across the ground,

The old dawn-scroching serpent’s den

Packed with goblets and vessels from the past,

Tarnished and corroding.”

Lines 3163-3168

“And they buried torques in the barrow, and jewels

And a trove of such things as trespassing men

Had once dared to drag from the hoard.

They let the ground keep that ancestral treasure,

Gold under gravel, gone to earth,

As useless to men now as it ever was.”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Lines 619-622

“Then they showed him the shining scarlet shield

With its pentangle painted in pure gold.

He seized it by its strap and slung it round his neck;

He looked well in what he wore, and was worthy of it.”

Lines 1830 – 1835

“From around her body she unbuckled the belt

Which fastened the frock beneath her fair mantle,

A green silk girdle trimmed with gold,

Exquisitely edged and hemmed by hand.

And she sweetly beseeched Sir Gawain to receive it,

In spire of its slightness, and hoped he would accept.”

Lines 2393-2399

"I declare you purged, as polished and as pure

as the day you were born, without blemish or blame.

And this gold-hemmed girdle I present as a gift,

which is green like my gown. It's yours, Sir Gawain,

a reminder of our meeting when you mix and mingle

with princes and king. And this keepsake will be proof

to all chivalrous knights of your challenge in this chapel."

Canterbury Tales

Lines 792-803

"This is the point, to speken short and plain,

That eech of you, to shorte with oure waye

In this viage, shall tellen tales twaye-

To canterburyward, I mene it so,

And hoomward he shall tellen othere two,

Of adventures that whilom have bifalle;

And which of you that bereth him base of alle-

That is to sayn, that telleth in this cas

Tales of best sentence and most solas-

Shal have a soper at our aller cost,

Here in this place, sitting by this post,

Whan that we come again fro Canterbury."

The Fairie Queene, Book 2, Section 60-62

"And in the midst of all, a fountaine stood,

Of richest substaunce, that on earth might bee,

So pure and shiny, that the silver flood

Through every channell running one might see;

Most goodly it with curious imageree

Was over-wrought and shapes of naked boyes,

Of some which some seemd with lively jollitee,

To fly about, playing their wanton toyes,

Whilst others did themselves embay in liquid joys.

John Donne’s The Bait

Lines 1-12

"Come live with me and be my love,

And we will some new pleasures prove,

Of golden sands and crystal brooks,

With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run,

Warmed by thine eyes more than the sun.

And there the enamored fish will stay,

Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,

Each fish, which every channel hat,

Will amorously to thee swim,

Gladder to catch thee, than thou him."