Synopsis
In A Feast of Creatures, Craig Williamson recasts nearly one hundred Old English riddles of the Exeter Book into a modern verse mode that yokes the cadences of Aelfric with the sprung rhythm of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Like the early English riddlers before him, Williamson gives voice to the nightingale, plow, ox, phallic onion, and storm-wind. In lean and taut language he offers us mead disguised as a mighty wrestler, the sword as a celibate thane, the silver wine-cup as a seductress, the horn transformed from head-warrior to ink-belly or battle-singer. In his notes and commentary he gives us possible and probable solutions, sources, and analogues, a shrewd sense of literary play, and traces the literary and cultural contexts in which each riddle may be viewed. In his introduction, Williamson traces for us the history of riddles and riddle scholarship.
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Review
"A veritable feast."--"Verbatim"
"Captivating."--"Choice"
"A veritable feast." "Verbatim""
"Captivating." "Choice""
"A veritable feast."--Verbatim
"Captivating."--Choice
About the Author
Craig Williamson is the Alfred H. and Peggi Bloom Professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College. He is editor and translator of "Beowulf" and Other Old English Poems, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
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Search results for Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle Songs
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Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle Songs
Seller: G.J. Askins Bookseller, New Lebanon, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. 232 page paperback - riddle songs translated and with introduction and notes and commentary by Williamson. Light wear to exterior, otherwise unmarked, tight and clean. Seller Inventory # 535387
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A Feast of Creatures : Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs
Seller: Bowman Books, Wooster, OH, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good+. Scholarly trade paperback binding is clean, tight, and square. The interior is clean except for previous owner's name on the front endpaper. The text is clean and unmarked. NOT ex-lib. A generally clean, tight copy. xii, 230pp. Seller Inventory # 000703
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Feast of Creatures: Anglo-Saxon Riddle Songs
Seller: THOMAS RARE BOOKS, Yaxley, SUFFOLK, United Kingdom
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. x,230pp.Gold toned card covers.No marks or under-lining. A nice copy. Seller Inventory # CC229