See also the complementary companion volume: A commentary on The Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition (Washington, DC : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2021), issued as Dumbarton Oaks medieval library, 69 supplement. Includes bibliographical references (pages 871- 875) and indexes.
Contents:
The Anglo-Latin tradition: Aldhelm -- Bede -- Tatwine -- Hwætberht, the Riddles of Eusebius -- Boniface -- Alcuin -- The Lorsch riddles -- The Abingdon riddle -- The high-minded library -- The Old English tradition: The Franks Casket riddle -- The Leiden riddle -- The Exeter Book riddles -- The Old English rune poem -- The Riddles of Solomon and Saturn II -- The Old English prose riddle -- Sources and analogues of the tradition: Symphosius -- The Bern riddles -- The Verses of a certain Irishman on the alphabet -- The Old Icelandic rune poem -- The Riddles of Gestumblindi -- Various riddles.
Summary:
"Riddles, wordplay, and enigmatic utterance have been at the heart of English literature for many centuries: if the crossword as a form is only a hundred years old, the principles that underlie its successful solution go back more than a millennium, when anagrams, acrostics, and a variety of word and sound games both within and beyond Old English and Latin, the two literary languages of Anglo-Saxon England, are attested both widely and well. The Anglo-Saxon riddle tradition is rich and reaches back: the demonstrable connection between the Old English material and a literate and learned Latinate tradition only emphasizes the importance of investigating such a link in closer focus. But it also reaches across, connecting what might otherwise seem somewhat trivial texts to a broader tradition that transcends national, temporal, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. Anglo-Saxons evidently wanted to understand the world, to explain it, and perhaps above all, to marvel at its myriad ways. The Anglo-Saxon riddle tradition poses many questions, and seems to be comfortable with the fact that for each and all of those questions there is not necessarily a single or simple and unanswerable solution. Sometimes just asking is apparently enough, and in picking a path through the question at hand the respondent seems encouraged to wander. In the spirit of the multilingual Anglo-Saxon riddle tradition, this book aims not only to ask more questions than it can possibly answer, but also to keep an eye on the benefits of wandering in wonder, as well as the grave dangers of error"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.