Riddle Thou This: The Exeter Collection

Old English may seem incredibly foreign and very seriously written, but underneath this intellectual exterior there lies a soft underbelly of humor and witty writing. This is perhaps most demonstrated in the Exeter Book, which is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices (which also include Beowulf) gathered starting with the 600's and ending with the Norman invasion of 1066, which is when the book was put together and donated to a local church called the Exeter Cathedral, where it was kept. The Exeter book itself is a collection of Old English poems and riddles, of which I have chosen one for you to read to as an example, but remember since this was a collection of various artists and poets, the poems and stories all differ in a lot of thematic and stylistic parts. Many of these poems hold a lot of evidence for life during this time, as well as reflect many of the ideals and themes we saw in Beowulf.

From Maxims 1:
"In the man, martial warlike arts must burgeon; and the woman must excel as one cherished among her people, and be buoyant of mood, keep confidences, be open-heartedly generous with horses and with treasures."


"The Whale":
This time I will with poetic art rehearse, by means of words and wit, a poem about a kind of fish, the great sea-monster which is often unwillingly met, terrible and cruel-hearted to seafarers, yea, to every man; this swimmer of the ocean-streams is known as the asp-turtle.
His appearance is like that of a rough boulder, as if there were tossing by the shore a great ocean-reedbank begirt with sand-dunes, so that seamen imagine they are gazing upon an island, and moor their high-prowed ships with cables to that false land, make fast the ocean-coursers at the sea's end, and, bold of heart, climb up.
Such is the way of demons, the wont of devils: they spend their lives in outwitting men by their secret power, inciting them to the corruption of good deeds.