Wulf and Eadwacer

Wulf and Eadwacer is an Old English poem of famously difficult interpretation. It has been variously characterised, (modernly) as an elegy, (historically) as a riddle, and (in speculation on the poem's pre-history) as a song or ballad with refrain. The poem's complexities are, however, often asserted simply to defy genre classification, especially with regard to its narrative content. The poem's only extant text is found within the 10th century Exeter Book, along with certain other texts to which it possesses qualitative similarities.

Read more about Wulf And Eadwacer:  Genre, Manuscript Evidence, Differing Arguments, Wulf and Eadwacer Translated

Famous quotes containing the word eadwacer:

    Wulf, my Wulf! Waiting for you
    has made me ill, your seldom coming,
    this sorrowing mood—not lack of meat.
    Do you hear, Eadwacer? Our poor whelp
    a wolf bears off to the wood.
    —Unknown. Eadwacer (l. 13–17)