lit ang lecture riddles

OE riddles

about 95 very short poems in the Exeter book. Describe various things in the forms of a deliberetly ingenious puzzle

riddles in latin

aenigmata

features of riddles

make use of words, wordplays, onomatopeia, antropomorphism

prosopopeia in the riddles

often in the form of the 1st person speech uttered by the object of the puzzle. At the end asks the question who am i

subjects of riddles

natural phenomena, armour and weapons, objects from life in the hall, marvels of creation, birds and other creatures, figures from everyday life, the most poetical are riddles about sea storms

gnomic verse

a type of english riddle concerned with teaching wisdom

examples of gnomic verse

the fortunes of men, beowulf, the wanderer

bestiary

collection of animal portraits in tradition of viewing beasts as signifying something diffeent than their nature

book of nature

christan allegory of nature

bestiary examples

the panther, the whale, the partridge

the phoenix

the first part desscribes the earthly paradise and the mythical bird Phoenix, its flight to Syria and its death and rebirth.

the second part unfoldsthe bird’s christian significance: the phoenix as a symbol of christ in his crucifixion and resurrection and of the christian life

lindisfarne gospels

a spectacular, lavishly illuminated manuscript of 4 gospels. The manuscript was created by a single unusally gifted scribe

what is on lindisfarne gospels

the 5 carpet pages and the full pages images of the 4 evangelists, reflect an assimilated multicultural society

bishop aldhelm of sherbone

the first known anglo-saxon to write in latin verse. Translated from Latin the earliest surviving OE riddle (about a coat of mail)

bede’s death song

written by venerable bede

caedmon style

paraphrases of old testament stories in the northern heroic style and alliterate verse

genesis

retells the creation of the world and the origin and the history of the human race as told in the biblical book of genesis

exodus

a fine poem that describes in heroic epic terms the flight of the people of israel ot of egypt, their crossing of the red sea, and the destruction of the Egyptians, presents Moses as a warlike leader of sea-rovers, opens with the formula hwaet

judith

a vigorous work basen on the book of judith, in which judith saves her native town of Bethulia from Assyrian invasion by cutting off the head of the assyrian general holofernes; judith is portrayed as a valiant woman-varrior, in accordance with heroic ethos

poems by cynewulf

christ II

the fates of the apostles

elene

juliana

christ II

about Jesus’ life, his ascention into heaven

the fates of the apostles

basen on the New Testament Book of Acts; presents brief biographies of the apostles, treaating them as germanic heroes and using the traditional epic diction

elene

about the discovery of the true cross of Christ in the Jerusalem by the Roman empress Helena, mother of emperor Constantine

juliana

on the life and death of a Roman virgin martyr who was executed in an anti-christian purge in Rome; based on the legend of st.juliana; her conflict with the devil is presented and she has the features of germanic hero

poems in the style of cynewulf

the dream of the rood

andreas

guthlac

christ I

christ III

the descent into hell

christ and satan

features of the cynewulfian style

wriiten by religious authors associated with monasteries

employ northern heroic style and alliterate verse to celebrate christian heroes

draws upon New Testament

talks about the life of Christ and his apostles

life of christian saints and martyrs (hagiography)

didatic and homiletic: teaching a lesson from the gospel story

some of them make use of allegory

christ and satan

the last poem in the junius manuscript, features flyting between them

metrical charms

versified magical incantations against natural disasters, diseases, hostile witchcraft. Reflects germanic medical practices and rural folklore

metrical charms examples

Lancnunga, Bald’s Leechbook

durham

adapts the ancient classical genre of the encomium urbis to praise a Christian city

durham’s plot

the relics of saints, bishops, kings and especially Cuthbert are presented as the city’s most valuable objects

the 4 manuscripts containing most of extants old english poetry

junius manuscript

nowell codex

vercelli book

exeter book

junius manuscript

daniel, genesis, exodus, christ and satan

nowell codex

judith, beowulf

vercelli book

dream of the rood, the fates of the apostles, soul and body

exeter book

the advent lyrics, gnomic verse, the elegies, riddles, bestiary, widsith, the phoenix, juliana