Old English Riddles: From the Exeter Book

by Anonymous, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Michael Alexander

Book Overview

The ninety-six Anglo-Saxon riddles in the eleventh-century Exeter Book are poems of great charm, zest, and subtlety. Ranging from natural phenomena (such as icebergs and storms at sea) to animal and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0856460702
• ISBN13: 9780856460708
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Learning Links
• Length: 72 Pages

Customer Reviews

The Exeter Book

Great book, but I just wanted to clear up a few things that most people do not know. The Exeter Books riddles were never published with the answers. Thus, the answers in this book are not necessarily what the Anglo-Saxons intended, but just accepted answers. And depending on who in the scholarly world you talk to, the numbers of riddles, and the translation of those riddles is quite different.

Fascinating

I was enthralled with this book. I had never encountered Anglo-Saxon riddles before, and they're a delight - not your stupid Elephant riddles, but elegant poems, each one describing something in a teasing way.The book has the riddle on one page and the explanation on the next, so when I was reading them I used to make sure I didn't look ahead until I'd solved it. Sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't. But it's more fun than a crossword puzzle. (And sometimes those ol'Anglo Saxons surprise you - wait till you get to the one about "I grow upright in a bed... hairs underneath..." I won't spoil it by telling you the answer!