Yes, I knew it was probably a plough because I studied quite a bit of Anglo Saxon poetry when doing my MA. I love the Exeter Book riddles particularly.
We know that riddling was a common pastime of the Vikings who would compete in a battle of words when in company.
I think these riddles (in spoken form) have been passed down to us from well before the Anglo Saxon period.
Colin, you are an excellent writer and story teller. William Zinsser would be so proud! (I could see this story fitting right into his book, Writing to Learn). I’m going to share some of the riddles with the boys. Also, I was particularly struck by what you said about objects speaking. Not just nature or admiral qualitative attributes, but the plow and other everyday objects. I wonder if we might possibly swing so far away from the machine, that we miss their voices. You inspire me!
I wonder if the answer to 18 might be some kind of barrel. I'm not sure if the riddle is too old for that to be the answer, though, and certainly don't know much about barrel-making among early Germanic peoples. The Romans were handy with them (huge surprise), but I'm not sure what was going on farther north. Keeping water or mead in a barrel rather than earthenware does sound like a good idea if the sea gets rough and things start rolling around.
Or maybe your post just has me thinking about barrel riders. I enjoyed it.
Also, I felt like I was in the scriptorium with those monks and their candlelight.
And I want to say that I actually let the AI voice read this aloud to me and I was so impressed with your writing. Do you read your articles aloud to yourself and to Angie as you write and edit them?
It reminds me so much of what Lewis says about creating a landscape for your audience to breathe your ideas.
Yes, I knew it was probably a plough because I studied quite a bit of Anglo Saxon poetry when doing my MA. I love the Exeter Book riddles particularly.
We know that riddling was a common pastime of the Vikings who would compete in a battle of words when in company.
I think these riddles (in spoken form) have been passed down to us from well before the Anglo Saxon period.
I think you're right! I imagine there was some older Germanic tradition that these grew out of.
I so enjoyed this article...looking forward to more.
Thank you
Thank you, Angela!
I am dropping everything and rushing a buy a copy of this swan painting
Puts me in the mood to write a verse:
The ugly duckling grows to be a swan
But swans, though fair without, are foul within
Riddle 18. A sail?
Could be! We'd just have to figure out what the mouth would correspond to
Colin, you are an excellent writer and story teller. William Zinsser would be so proud! (I could see this story fitting right into his book, Writing to Learn). I’m going to share some of the riddles with the boys. Also, I was particularly struck by what you said about objects speaking. Not just nature or admiral qualitative attributes, but the plow and other everyday objects. I wonder if we might possibly swing so far away from the machine, that we miss their voices. You inspire me!
AI!
/s
I wonder if the answer to 18 might be some kind of barrel. I'm not sure if the riddle is too old for that to be the answer, though, and certainly don't know much about barrel-making among early Germanic peoples. The Romans were handy with them (huge surprise), but I'm not sure what was going on farther north. Keeping water or mead in a barrel rather than earthenware does sound like a good idea if the sea gets rough and things start rolling around.
Or maybe your post just has me thinking about barrel riders. I enjoyed it.
Also, I felt like I was in the scriptorium with those monks and their candlelight.
And I want to say that I actually let the AI voice read this aloud to me and I was so impressed with your writing. Do you read your articles aloud to yourself and to Angie as you write and edit them?
It reminds me so much of what Lewis says about creating a landscape for your audience to breathe your ideas.
Very sweet article.