Spirits and Skins: The Sceapheord of Exeter Book Riddle 13 and Holy Labour

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F22%3A3BUHK8TZ" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/22:3BUHK8TZ - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab086" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab086</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/res/hgab086" target="_blank" >10.1093/res/hgab086</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Spirits and Skins: The Sceapheord of Exeter Book Riddle 13 and Holy Labour

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

While the unnamed creatures of Exeter Book Riddle 13 have been read as ‘chickens’ since the early twentieth century, this solution has never fully satisfied either the narrative description or the cryptic puzzles of this short verse text. In this article, I propose a new solution, the Old English word SCEAPHEORD (‘flock of sheep’), which fulfils the various clues of the riddle and fits more satisfactorily among the quadruped cluster of neighbouring Riddles 12, 14 and 15. Far from settling the meaning of the text, this new solution opens the riddle to a range of interpretative possibilities. Following previous critical work on the role of medieval riddles in teaching interpretative practice, I will demonstrate that the riddle invites readings of the wandering sceapheord on several discrete levels, in a process analogous to fourfold biblical exegesis: the literal (a flock of sheep), the historical (allusions to biblical Eden, following Patrick Murphy) and the anagogical (images of renewal and salvation). A fourth, moral level of interpretation is revealed through attention to the riddle’s letter-games and etymological puns, which, in the Isidorean tradition, portray human language as reflective of material reality. By emphasizing this relationship between the textual and the real, the poem encourages monks to apply their skills of exegetical analysis to their daily labour (represented by the ubiquity of sheep-rearing in the early medieval English economy). While celebrating the spiritual meaning of individual acts of manual labour, Riddle 13 also reinforces the moral and theological importance of collective monastic work.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Spirits and Skins: The Sceapheord of Exeter Book Riddle 13 and Holy Labour

Popis výsledku anglicky

While the unnamed creatures of Exeter Book Riddle 13 have been read as ‘chickens’ since the early twentieth century, this solution has never fully satisfied either the narrative description or the cryptic puzzles of this short verse text. In this article, I propose a new solution, the Old English word SCEAPHEORD (‘flock of sheep’), which fulfils the various clues of the riddle and fits more satisfactorily among the quadruped cluster of neighbouring Riddles 12, 14 and 15. Far from settling the meaning of the text, this new solution opens the riddle to a range of interpretative possibilities. Following previous critical work on the role of medieval riddles in teaching interpretative practice, I will demonstrate that the riddle invites readings of the wandering sceapheord on several discrete levels, in a process analogous to fourfold biblical exegesis: the literal (a flock of sheep), the historical (allusions to biblical Eden, following Patrick Murphy) and the anagogical (images of renewal and salvation). A fourth, moral level of interpretation is revealed through attention to the riddle’s letter-games and etymological puns, which, in the Isidorean tradition, portray human language as reflective of material reality. By emphasizing this relationship between the textual and the real, the poem encourages monks to apply their skills of exegetical analysis to their daily labour (represented by the ubiquity of sheep-rearing in the early medieval English economy). While celebrating the spiritual meaning of individual acts of manual labour, Riddle 13 also reinforces the moral and theological importance of collective monastic work.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

—

Rok uplatnění

2022

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

The Review of English Studies

ISSN

0034-6551

e-ISSN

1471-6968

Svazek periodika

73

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

310

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

13

Strana od-do

429-441

Kód UT WoS článku

000785564800001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85133780540