Old English Riddles From the Exeter Book

Michael Alexander

ISBN 10: 0856463787 / ISBN 13: 9780856463785

Published by Anvil Press Poetry, London, 2007

About this Item

Includes suggested solutions. In modern English translation; the originals are not included, although there is a facsimile reproduction of one page of the original manuscript. A nice copy with tight binding and square, uncreased spine. No marks. Minor spotting rear flyleaf and inside cover. Very little cover wear. Second (revised) edition (first published 1980).

Seller Inventory # 1060

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Old English Riddles From the Exeter Book
• Publisher: Anvil Press Poetry, London
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0856463787
• ISBN 13: 9780856463785
• Binding: Softcover
• Condition: Very Good+

About this title

Synopsis

In this new and revised edition of a popular Anvil Press classic, Michael Alexander presents a selection of these ingenious and enigmatic poems—with possible “solutions” given in an appendix—in versions that capture their peculiar, often ribald, suggestiveness and vigor.

 

The riddles survive through the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating back to the year 1000, left to Exeter Cathedral by its first bishop, Leofric. Yet the poems, drawn as they were from an earlier tradition, predate the Exeter Book perhaps by centuries. Although scholars once believed them to be the work of one eighth-century poet, Cynewulf, the variety of styles, subject matter, and levels of literary sophistication make it likely that they were the work of many authors over many years. They provide invaluable insight into life in Anglo-Saxon England, reflecting the everyday concerns and attitudes of an essentially agricultural and pious society. Some refer to the natural environment, animals, and the climate; others describe household objects or farming implements, even weaponry. In their expressive concision, the riddles are striking poems.

 

Michael Alexander was, until his recent retirement, honorary professor of English at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Educated at Oxford, Perugia, and Princeton universities, he is the author of three Penguin Classic titles, The Earliest English Poets, Beowulf, and The Canterbury Tales: The First Fragment. His other works include The Poetic Achievement of Ezra Pound (1981) and A History of English Literature (2000). His latest work, Medievalism: The Middle Ages in Modern England, was published by Yale University Press in 2006.

About the Author

Michael Alexander was Honorary Professor of English Literature at St Andrew's University, Scotland. He translated The Earliest English Poems and Beowulf (both Penguin Classics). His critical study The Poetic Achievement of Ezra Pound (1979) won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award. He published A History of Old English Literature. He is currently working on a monogram [Medievalism] for Yale University Press.