Arts & Sciences
Riddle 28: Beer
Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Everyman’s Library, 1926) · From Exeter Book Riddles (selection)
A part of the earth is fairly adorned with the hardest and with the keenest and with the bitterest treasures of men, cut, polished, turned, dried, bound, twisted, bleached, softened, decked, made ready, led from afar to the doors of men; joy of living creatures is in it, and remains and endures, of those who with long life behind them enjoy their desires and do not speak against it; and then after death fall to declaiming and many-fashioned mouthing. Wise men should ponder much what that creature is.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
Gordon's riddle headed 'Beer' (his selection gives headings, not numbers); ASPR Riddle 28.
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle 28: Beer.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/243/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle 28: Beer.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/243/.
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