Arts & Sciences
Riddle LIII. A Battering Ram
Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Everyman’s Library, 1926) · From Exeter Book Riddles (selection)
I saw the tree tower up in the wood glorious with branches; that tree was in joy, a growing timber. Water and earth fed it well, until, grown old in other days, it was sorely stricken in its downfall, silent in bonds, its wounds fettered over, adorned in front with dark trappings. Now by the might of its head it clears the way for another malicious foe. Often together, mid storm, they have plundered the hoard. The second was swift and restive if the former fell into danger. No one could venture to grapple with it.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
One of roughly ninety riddles preserved in the Exeter Book; this is one of a further selection translated by R. K. Gordon. The manuscript gives no solutions — the title here follows the translator's own guess (numbering follows Tupper's edition, converted to this archive's Wyatt-based numbering).
Cite this poem
MLA
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle LIII. A Battering Ram.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/46/.
Chicago
Anonymous (Old English). “Riddle LIII. A Battering Ram.” Translated by R. K. Gordon, Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/anonymous-old-english/46/.
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