The Husband's Message - Connection To Riddle 60 or The Wife's Lament?

Connection To Riddle 60 or The Wife's Lament?

Another mystery behind The Husband’s Message is the connection it may or may not have to The Wife’s Lament and Riddle 60. The Wife’s Lament and The Husband’s Message are similar in style and mood, and are considered to be the missing part in each poem. Some Anglo-Saxon scholars link the two poems on grounds that both treat a separation of lovers, but there is no real evidence to link them together, only by their modern titles and their similar styles. The connection to Riddle 60 could be more convincing only because Riddle 60 is directly before The Husband’s Message. Lines 49-50 of The Husband’s Message speak of a rune-stave, which is used as a sense of personification. This idea of personification is used in Riddle 60, and the object which is being personified is a tree or plant. Due to the connection of personification of a tree or plant, historians would argue Riddle 60 is the beginning of The Husband’s Message, and others will argue it is just a coincidence. The 17 lines of Riddle 60 do not contain the contradictions that are found in the other riddles of the Exeter Book which are seemingly meant to confound the reader. This fact certainly lends prudence to the argument that Riddle 60 is an introduction to The Husband's Message.

The poem may well be riddlic in nature, as is indicated by the runic clues at the end of the piece. The solution has been proposed variously as either 'Christ' or 'The Gospel'.