EAP - Trames Publications

PUBLISHED
SINCE 1997

TRAMES. A Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences

ISSN 1736-7514 (Electronic)
ISSN 1406-0922 (Print)

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A CHRISTOLOGICAL READING OF THE RUIN; pp. 180–202

PDF | DOI: 10.3176/tr.2010.2.04

Author

Raimondo Murgia

Abstract

The foremost goal of this work is to put forward a Christological interpretation of The Ruin, an old English poem found in the Exeter Book that has been catalogued by critics among the Old English Elegies. Comparisons with the Bible will uphold my design, which pivots on the image of Christ as a cornerstone. I shall undertake an allegorical reading, thus I recall that ambiguity and mystery are present in the etymology of the term allegory, which is roughly glossed from the Greek αλλος ‘other’ and γορeία ‘speaking’. More specifically, the term occurs in the Oxford English Dictionary(Simpson & Weiner 1989) as extended metaphor. The author might wish to disguise the meaning of his text thus challenging the reader to disclose it. I hereby accept this challenge.

References

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Editions of The Exeter Book:

Krapp George Philip and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, eds (1931-1942) The Anglo-Saxon poetic records: a collective edition. New York: Columbia University Press and Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Muir, Bernard J. (2000 ed.) The Exeter anthology of Old English poetry. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

Internet sources

www.dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/World_Literature/British/Anglo-Saxon/ (18/09/2009)

www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/readings/brun_me.html (18/09/2009)

www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX_HTM (18/09/2009)

www.cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/ (18/09/2009)

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