The Natural World in the Exeter Book Riddles by Corinne Dale (review)

This is the first in a new series established to deal with questions of nature, the environment, and sustainability in relation to the medieval period. Dale draws on principles of eco-criticism and eco-theology to consider cultural and biblical influences on depictions of nature in the vernacular Exeter Book riddles.

Over seven thematically focused chapters, Dale examines how certain riddles in the Exeter collection contribute to a programme of resistance to anthropomorphism. Chapter 1 considers the importance of place. While 'human notions of place may seem to dominate the collection' (p. 32), certain riddles resist the human-centred point of view, where often the hall or dwelling acts as a point of reference for location. Riddles 60 and 93, for example, describe the antler, which rejoices in its ranging about the forests, fields and streams carried by the deer, before being driven into exile in the scriptorium, transformed into an inkwell. As to Riddle 60, which provides the chapter title ('Be sonde, sæwealle neah'), it describes the 'watery embrace' of its home.

In Chapter 2, the travail of the ox is examined in Riddle 72, with exploration of this idea also in Riddles 4 and 52. Here, one of Dale's central theses begins to be developed in detail, as she argues for the influence of Scripture in order to explain the idea of nature's subjugation to fallen humanity. The distinctive treatment of the ox as a humble and wounded beast, and a marginalized sentient being, stands in contrast with the typically powerful and dominant animal depicted in ox-riddles such as Aldhelm's.

Chapter 3 considers Riddle 26 'Bible' as a kind of anti-colophon, shifting focus from the human makers of a book to its animal and material components. Chapter 4 explores another transformation process where trees become objects for human use in warfare or aggression. The subjects 'are depicted in a postlapsarian dystopia of suffering and corruption in which the relationship between humanity and nature is damaged' (p. 27). Chapter 5 examines exploitation of the environment in Riddle 83 'ore'. Chapter 6 considers riddles where nature fights back. Riddles 11 and 27 show how the transformation of natural resources into wine or mead will humiliate and damage humans. Biblical sources are at the centre of the argument that in such riddles we find new and distinctive forms of riddling and reflection on an environment with its own integrity. Chapter 7 considers the limits of wisdom explored in the book of Job, and the development of such ideas in Riddles 1, 2, 3, and 84, depicting natural forces like wind, storm, and water.

In these analyses combining eco-criticism and eco-theology, Dale makes an original and exciting new contribution to the field. The Introduction provides an excellent, concise overview of the literature, and wisely includes a section on 'navigating the dangers' of theory-driven textual analysis. Dale concludes that 'most dangers and pitfalls can be overcome by paying close attention to the text under discussion' (p. 19). Unfortunately, there is a degree of inattentiveness in the translation and analysis of several riddles. To give a few examples: in Riddle 27, some past verbs are rendered as present (e.g. 'mec wægun feþre' becomes 'feathers carry me'), and a plural as singular ('Hæleð mec […] baþedan' 'A man […] bathed me'). In Riddle 26 the 'brunne brerd' is translated as 'brown surface [of the vellum page]', which seems unlikely in view of the next half-line 'beamtelge swealg' ('swallowed tree-dye'). The image, most agree, is of the pen, 'fugles wyn', dipping its after-life beak over the rim of the metallic-brown inkwell. In Riddle 11 'Ic dysge dwelle' is translated 'I harm the foolish', where the usual and more cognitive-specific rendering 'I mislead', or 'I trick', actually supports Dale's reading of the text.