Definition
of Exeter Book From Britannica.com the largest extant collection of Old English poetry. Copied c. 975,
the manuscript was given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (died
1072). It begins with some long religious poems: the Christ, in three
parts; two poems on St. Guthlac; the fragmentary "Azarius";
and the allegorical Phoenix. Following these are a number of shorter
religious verses intermingled with poems of types that have survived
only in this codex. All the extant Anglo-Saxon lyrics, or elegies, as
they are usually called--"The Wanderer," "The
Seafarer," "The Wife's Lament," "The Husband's
Message," and "The Ruin"--are found here. These are
secular poems evoking a poignant sense of desolation and loneliness in
their descriptions of the separation of lovers, the sorrows of exile, or
the terrors and attractions of the sea, although some of them--e.g.,
"The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer"--also carry the
weight of religious allegory. In addition, the Exeter Book preserves 95
riddles, a genre that would otherwise have been represented by a
solitary example.
The remaining part of the
Exeter Book includes "The Rhyming Poem," which is the only
example of its kind; the gnomic verses; "Widsith," the heroic
narrative of a fictitious bard; and the two refrain poems, "Deor"
and "Wulf and Eadwacer." The arrangement of the poems appears
to be haphazard, and the book is believed to be copied from an earlier
collection.
Copied upon the following
web pages are those riddles translated from the Anglo Saxon language to
modern day English. After a thousand years of wear and tear (at one
point the books front cover was used as a cutting board and coaster for
beer) some of the pages have been damaged. Some to the point of not
being able to be translated.
The original Exeter Book resides
in (you guessed it) Exeter Castle in the United Kingdom. Shielded behind
glass it will be a little hard to place one's Pint of Guinness on its
covers once more.
Use the buttons on the
right to navigate to each set of riddles.
Happy reading.
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