Arts & Sciences

Riddle 61

by Anonymous (Old English) c. 7th–11th century

Translated by Benjamin Thorpe (1842) · From Exeter Book Riddles (selection)

Arts & Sciences

Me oft fast lock'd
a goodly damsel,
a woman, in her chest,
sometimes drew me up
with her hands,
and to her master gave me,
her kind lord,
as she was commanded ;
then in her bosom
stuck my head,
the lower part upward,
in durance fix'd me.
If the receiver's
power sufficed,
who me adorn'd,
he should fill me
with I know not what of rough.
Guess what I mean.

✦ ✦ ✦

Thorpe's Riddle I (third series, pp. 479–500, in his Codex Exoniensis, 1842); ASPR Riddle 61.

MLA

Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle 61.” Translated by Benjamin Thorpe. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/279/.

Chicago

Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle 61.” Translated by Benjamin Thorpe. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/279/.

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