Associate Professor Britton Elliott Brooks Fukuoka, Japan\u2014What did the historical world sound like, and how did humans interact with nature? Associate Professor Britton Elliott Brooks from Kyushu University’s Faculty of Languages and Cultures has explored these questions in a unique arena: the open sea in early medieval English literature. This conceptually vast body of water, isolated from land, appears in medieval authors\u2019 works not only through visual imagery, but often through sound.<\/p>\n In the early Middle Ages, while coastal journeys were common, crossing the North Sea or the English Channel was more limited and dangerous. The open sea, its storms and depths, was primarily imagined from land. The most tangible experience of the watery expanse came during storms, with their crashing and clapping waves. When depicting the open sea, early medieval English literature employed these sonic elements.<\/p>\n In Brooks\u2019 article published in The Review of English Studies in March, he highlights the relatively rare Latin word \u201cundisonus.\u201d The adjective combines the words unda (waves) and sonus (sound), and is used very precisely in early medieval English descriptions of the sea during storms. Through roaring and pounding waves, these texts painted a picture of the powerful open sea.<\/p>\n Through an extensive analysis of Old English and Anglo-Latin texts, Brooks finds that the sea’s sounds serve a deeper purpose. In poems like Bede\u2019s Latin metrical Life of Saint Cuthbert and the anonymous Old English Andreas, wave sounds were used to create a literary place isolated from everyday life\u2014a place where saints could seek God. \u201cThe open sea stands unique in its use of sound as the source of its impeding power,\u201d Brooks explains. \u201cIt is far beyond human control, structured and ordered by God alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Many who sailed far offshore were pilgrims, making the open sea a deeply spiritual place. The sea’s endless roar evoked both fear and awe. What tested their faith came not only through the physical danger of high waves or bitter cold, but also the constant, soul-shaking sound of the open sea itself. \u201cFor medieval people, sound opened a direct path to the soul,\u201d Brooks observes.<\/p>\n This portrayal of the sea as a spiritual testing ground reflects a distinct cultural adaptation. While early Christian narratives from places like Egypt often feature saints wandering deserts in search of God, the British and Irish islands offer no such arid landscapes. Instead, the boundless, mysterious sea became the site to confront the unknown and seek divine connection. The endless roar of waves, rather than burning desert sands, became the saints\u2019 path to God.<\/p>\n Beyond depicting challenges, the sounds in these poems show how humans and nature come together in worship. In Andreas, for instance, God calms the seas in response to a pilgrim’s faithful prayers during a violent storm. Through poetic variations and onomatopoeic combinations, the transition from stormy seas to calm waters is vividly portrayed, suggesting that strong faith can tame even the ocean’s wild roar. When the sea falls silent, it marks the pilgrim’s spiritual triumph on the journey.<\/p>\n The role of soundscapes and sonic features in literature is a growing field of research. Continuing to explore the soundscapes of English literature, particularly those rooted in nature, Brooks aims to reveal how people engaged with their world and how they positioned themselves in it.<\/p>\n While we can never hear sounds from the past, we can explore how particular sonic environments were engaged with and then used in the creation of literary soundscapes. \u201cMore attention could be paid to the sounds made by nonhuman things, both animate and inanimate, because so much of the sound in our world originates from them,\u201d Brooks notes. \u201cStudying these texts encourages us to think about what sound is, what it does, and how it can affect and transform us, even today.\u201d<\/p>\n Britton Elliott Brooks, Associate Professor<\/a>
\nFaculty of Languages and Cultures<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nResearch-related inquiries<\/h4>\n
\nFaculty of Languages and Cultures<\/a>
\nContact information can also be found in the full release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study of medieval texts shows how the open sea\u2019s soundscapes served as trials of faith and windows into human interaction with nature. Associate Professor Britton Elliott Brooks Faculty of Languages and Cultures Fukuoka, Japan\u2014What did the historical world sound like, and how did humans interact with nature? Associate Professor Britton Elliott Brooks from […]","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[80],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22662,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22661\/revisions\/22662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}