"The Rhyming Poem", also written as "The Riming Poem", is a poem of 87 lines found in the

Exeter Book The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis or Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, is a large codex of Old English poetry, believed to have been produced in the late tenth century AD. It is one of the four major manuscripts of Old Englis ...

, a tenth-century collection of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

poetry. It is remarkable for being no later than the 10th century, in

, and written in rhyming couplets. Rhyme is otherwise virtually unknown among Anglo-Saxon literature, which used

alliterative verse In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of ...

instead. The poem is found on folios 94r-95v, in the third booklet of the Exeter Book, which may, or may not, be an indication of composition. Many scholarly attempts have been made to decipher the collation of the Exeter Book and to determine if works were placed in the manuscript by date or theme. Unlike the ''Monstrarum Librum'' of the '' Beowulf'' manuscript, the Exeter Book appears to be a self-consciously archival collection. The poem concerns the troubles and transience of life. It contrasts the life of a ruler, from the time of his birth to his prosperous rule and life at court (lines 1-42), with his life after his fall, the subsequent rise of hostilities (lines 43-69) and his death (lines 70-79), ending with a reflection on the eternal glories of Heaven and the necessity of penance (lines 80-87). The poet may have taken the Book of Job, chapters 29 and 30, as its inspiration.

Bibliography

*''The Rhyming Poem'' **Macrae-Gibson, O.D. (ed. and tr.). ''The Old English Riming Poem''. Cambridge, 1983. With introduction. **Lehmann, Ruth P.M. (ed. and tr.). "The Old English Riming Poem: Interpretation, Text and Translation." ''

Journal of English and Germanic Philology The ''Journal of English and Germanic Philology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of medieval studies that was established in 1897 and is now published by University of Illinois Press. Its focus is on the cultures of English, Germani ...

'' 69 (1970): 437-49. **Krapp, G. and E.V.K. Dobbie (eds.). ''The Exeter Book''. Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records vol 3. New York, 1936. 166-9. ** Foys, Martin and Kyle Smith (eds. with digital facsimile
''Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project''
Madison, 2019. *Abram, Christopher. "The Errors in ''The Rhyming Poem''." ''

The Review of English Studies ''The Review of English Studies'' is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press covering English literature and the English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earli ...

'' 58 (2007). 1-9. * Klinck, Anne. "The Riming Poem: Design and Interpretation." '' Neuphilologische Mitteilungen'' 89 (1988): 266-79. *Olsen, Alexandra H. "Subtractive Rectification in the Old English ''Riming Poem''." ''In Geardagum'' 24 (2003): 57-66. *Olsen, Alexandra H. "The Heroic World: Icelandic Sagas and the Old English ''Riming Poem''." ''Pacific Coast Philology'' 14 (1979): 51-8. *Wentersdorf, Karl. "The Old English ''Ryming Poem'': A Ruler’s Lament." '' Studies in Philology'' 82 (1985): 265-94.

External links

* "The Riming Poem" is edited, annotated and linked to digital images of its manuscript pages in the ''Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project'': https://oepoetryfacsimile.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhyming Poem Old English