The Facsimile Edition
Read the Exeter Book
Nine poems from MS 3501, set in the facsimile font. Show a gloss under every word, or click a word for its definition, its source, and how often it appears in the surviving corpus.
An exiled warrior meditates on loss, memory, and the transience of earthly life. One of the great elegies of Old English literature.
A meditation on the hardship and spiritual longing of a life at sea, counterpoised against the comfort and corruption of life on land.
A scop names legendary figures who endured suffering and overcame it, repeating the refrain: þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg — "that passed, so may this".
A woman speaks from exile in an earth-cave, lamenting separation from her lord. One of the few Old English poems with an unambiguously female speaker.
A carved staff delivers a message across the sea from an exiled lord to his lady, urging her to sail south and reunite. The closing runes encode his vow.
A speaker recalls being killed, skinned, scraped, folded, and dressed in gold. The riddles were written without their answers; guess before you look.
A noble guest lodges in a hall, immune to hunger, thirst, and age — but suffers if the servant treats him badly.
Something stiff hangs by a man's thigh, under his cloak. The double meaning is the point — the Exeter Book enjoys making you blush for guessing wrong.
Something boneless grows and swells in a corner, and a woman grips it. Same trick as Riddle 44.