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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