Maxims (Old English poems)
Encyclopedia
The titles Maxims I and Maxims II refer to pieces of Old English gnomic poetry
. The poem Maxims I can be found in the Exeter Book
and Maxims II is located in a lesser known manuscript, London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B i. Maxims I and Maxims II are classified as wisdom poetry, being both influenced by wisdom literature
, such as the Psalms
and Proverbs
of the Old Testament scriptures. Although they are separate poems of diverse contents, they have been given a shared name because the themes throughout each poem are similar.
. The author(s) of this poem is unknown. Although dating can be tricky, scholars generally think that this poem was copied down in the latter half of the tenth century. The maxims in Maxims I discuss topics ranging from the afterlife, nature, and the social standing of women. "In the man, martial warlike arts must burgeon; and the woman must excel as one cherished among her people, and be buoyant of mood, keep confidences, be open-heartedly generous with horses and with treasures..."
These maxims are also called gnome
s. The idea of gnomic literature dates back to Aristotle
, who defined a gnome as "A statement not relating to particulars, as e.g. the character of Iphicrates, but to universals; yet not to all universals indiscriminately, as e.g. that straight is the opposite of crooked, but to all such as are the objects of (human) action and are to be chosen or avoided in our doings". Since the material in Maxims I is sententious in its character, it is regarded as gnomic poetry as opposed to a collection of proverbs or merely wise sayings.
Maxims I is divided into three sections. The opening section begins with a dialogue in which the writer espouses a wisdom contest found in other Old English texts. The middle section discusses natural phenomena such as frost and the seasons, as well as containing a passage about a man's wife welcoming him home from a long journey. The final section contains a comparison of Woden
, the creator of idols, to the God of Christianity, who formed the earth and everything in it. "Woden fashioned idols, the Ruler of all fashioned heaven and the spacious skies". This section also consists of reflections of those who have been exiled, the comfort of song, and the need for courage in daily life.
It is widely believed that Maxims II was copied by monks since they contain gnomes of a religious nature. Maxims II states, "The shape of the future is obscure and unknowable; the Lord alone knows it, the Redeeming Father". Compared with the Old Testament proverb
, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1, Old Testament, NIV), one can readily see the influence of Christianity on the scop
(s) as he was writing. When reading Maxims II, the organisation and themes of the poem are not readily visible. For example, Paul Cavill writes that the argument of the apparent disjointedness of the poem is important because the poet pits Christ and Fate against each other, thus illustrating pagan leanings in the poetry. Cavill cites the gnomes in Maxims II, "... the powers of Christ are great, fate is strongest". This thought is in direct contrast to the majority of experts who believe that the scop(s) who copied the manuscript were monks.
In addition to providing moral guidance and precepts for everyday life, both Maxims poems "organize things and people into categories, catalogue trade rules, and list things as diverse as skills, fates, and rune names". As mentioned previously, the references to common occurrences in nature and society made the poems so that the average citizen would understand them. Both poems also contain language that was meant for the aristocracy of the day as well. The reference in Maxims I of "A king has to procure a queen with payment, with goblets and with rings". and in Maxims II the gnome "The king belongs in his hall, sharing out rings". are evidence of this.
In addition, both poems contain themes that coincide with the most famous Old English poem Beowulf
. Maxims I refers to Cain just as Beowulf does and contains maxims for the wife of a hero returning home from his exploits which is similar to Beowulf returning home from his adventures. Like Beowulf, Maxims II refers to a dragon. "The dragon belongs in its barrow, canny and jealous of its jewels". It is hard to determine why a fictional animal would be mentioned in wisdom poetry but one possibility is that people in that era could easily conjure up an image of a dragon in their minds and so the scop uses this concept to make a point.
Gnomic poetry
Gnomic poetry consists of sententious maxims put into verse to aid the memory. They were known by the Greeks as gnomes, from the Greek word for "an opinion".A gnome was defined by the Elizabethan critic Henry Peacham as...
. The poem Maxims I can be found in the Exeter Book
Exeter Book
The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the...
and Maxims II is located in a lesser known manuscript, London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B i. Maxims I and Maxims II are classified as wisdom poetry, being both influenced by wisdom literature
Wisdom literature
Wisdom literature is the genre of literature common in the Ancient Near East. This genre is characterized by sayings of wisdom intended to teach about divinity and about virtue...
, such as the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
and Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
of the Old Testament scriptures. Although they are separate poems of diverse contents, they have been given a shared name because the themes throughout each poem are similar.
Maxims I
Maxims I can be found in the second section of the Exeter BookExeter Book
The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the...
. The author(s) of this poem is unknown. Although dating can be tricky, scholars generally think that this poem was copied down in the latter half of the tenth century. The maxims in Maxims I discuss topics ranging from the afterlife, nature, and the social standing of women. "In the man, martial warlike arts must burgeon; and the woman must excel as one cherished among her people, and be buoyant of mood, keep confidences, be open-heartedly generous with horses and with treasures..."
These maxims are also called gnome
Gnome
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
s. The idea of gnomic literature dates back to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, who defined a gnome as "A statement not relating to particulars, as e.g. the character of Iphicrates, but to universals; yet not to all universals indiscriminately, as e.g. that straight is the opposite of crooked, but to all such as are the objects of (human) action and are to be chosen or avoided in our doings". Since the material in Maxims I is sententious in its character, it is regarded as gnomic poetry as opposed to a collection of proverbs or merely wise sayings.
Maxims I is divided into three sections. The opening section begins with a dialogue in which the writer espouses a wisdom contest found in other Old English texts. The middle section discusses natural phenomena such as frost and the seasons, as well as containing a passage about a man's wife welcoming him home from a long journey. The final section contains a comparison of Woden
Woden
Woden or Wodan is a major deity of Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic polytheism. Together with his Norse counterpart Odin, Woden represents a development of the Proto-Germanic god *Wōdanaz....
, the creator of idols, to the God of Christianity, who formed the earth and everything in it. "Woden fashioned idols, the Ruler of all fashioned heaven and the spacious skies". This section also consists of reflections of those who have been exiled, the comfort of song, and the need for courage in daily life.
Maxims II
Stanley Greenfield and Richard Evert, in their article "Maxims II: Gnome and Poem" characterize the poem Maxims II as possessing “a rambling style which covers a great deal of ground, yet never reaches any particular goal”. Some view Maxims II as being similar to how a compilation of poetry is written and edited. For example, Henk Aertsen and Rolf Bremmer Jr. in their Companion to Old English Poetry state, "lack of unity characterizes these lines". Still other critics disagree. A.P.M. Orchard in Medieval England: an Encyclopedia comments, "It can be argued that each maxim is implicitly linked to its neighbor and that, far from being a haphazard list of commonplaces, Maxims II (like Maxims I) has a coherent organic structure”.It is widely believed that Maxims II was copied by monks since they contain gnomes of a religious nature. Maxims II states, "The shape of the future is obscure and unknowable; the Lord alone knows it, the Redeeming Father". Compared with the Old Testament proverb
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1, Old Testament, NIV), one can readily see the influence of Christianity on the scop
Scop
A ' was an Old English poet, the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of the Old Norse .As far as we can tell from what has been preserved, the art of the scop was directed mostly towards epic poetry; the surviving verse in Old English consists of the epic Beowulf, religious verse in epic formats such as the...
(s) as he was writing. When reading Maxims II, the organisation and themes of the poem are not readily visible. For example, Paul Cavill writes that the argument of the apparent disjointedness of the poem is important because the poet pits Christ and Fate against each other, thus illustrating pagan leanings in the poetry. Cavill cites the gnomes in Maxims II, "... the powers of Christ are great, fate is strongest". This thought is in direct contrast to the majority of experts who believe that the scop(s) who copied the manuscript were monks.
Similarities between Maxims I and Maxims II
In Maxims I, the Old English verbs biþ (implying a factual statement) and sceal (stating what the author thinks should be) are used repeatedly throughout the first and second sections. Byþ and sceal are two words that are an important aspect of the Maxims II. Many people who study these poems and the themes that exist between both the Maxims I and the Maxims II poems discuss this topic. These words are translated for byþ as “be” and for sceal as “shall”. This, however, causes an issue because the translations do not always work well in the context. Marie Nelson suggests that the verb sceal can also be translated to “shall be”, which then raises the “question of whether futurity or necessity is implied.” Nelson sees that the problem may cause an issue in the meaning of the translation and may confuse the reader. As it remains, the two words are most clearly understood as “what is” and “what should be.” (M. Nelson, ' "Is" and "Ought" in the Exeter Book Maxims', Southern Folklore Quarterly 45 (1981), 109-21) In this way the author combines observations about the world with small stories and moral statements. Maxims II is similar in this way as well. The scop(s) who copied these poems hoped to reach a large audience by using common occurrences and social settings that most people in their day would understand. These poems fall into the rich heritage of wisdom literature, and also contain the method used by Christ by using everyday situations to explain deeper truths. This is one of the reasons why most experts (with the exception of a few such as those noted above) believe the writers to be monks who had a rich Christian heritage.In addition to providing moral guidance and precepts for everyday life, both Maxims poems "organize things and people into categories, catalogue trade rules, and list things as diverse as skills, fates, and rune names". As mentioned previously, the references to common occurrences in nature and society made the poems so that the average citizen would understand them. Both poems also contain language that was meant for the aristocracy of the day as well. The reference in Maxims I of "A king has to procure a queen with payment, with goblets and with rings". and in Maxims II the gnome "The king belongs in his hall, sharing out rings". are evidence of this.
In addition, both poems contain themes that coincide with the most famous Old English poem Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
. Maxims I refers to Cain just as Beowulf does and contains maxims for the wife of a hero returning home from his exploits which is similar to Beowulf returning home from his adventures. Like Beowulf, Maxims II refers to a dragon. "The dragon belongs in its barrow, canny and jealous of its jewels". It is hard to determine why a fictional animal would be mentioned in wisdom poetry but one possibility is that people in that era could easily conjure up an image of a dragon in their minds and so the scop uses this concept to make a point.
Editions and translations
- Krapp, G., Dobbie, E. (eds.) (1936). The Exeter Book. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Aertsen, H., & Bremmer, R. Jr. (Eds.) (1994). Companion to Old English poetry. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: VU University Press.
- Bradley, S.A.J. (tr.). 1982. Anglo-Saxon poetry. University of York: Everyman’s Library.
Secondary literature
- Cavill, Paul. (1999). Maxims in old English poetry. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer.
- Cherniss, Michael. (1972). Ingeld and Christ heroic concepts and values in Old English Christian poetry. University of Kansas: Mouton and Company N.V.
- Clemoes, Peter. (1995). Interactions of thought and language in Old English poetry. University of Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Dinapoli, Robert. (1999). Gnomic Poetry. Lapidge, Michael (Ed.). Blackwell encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. 210-211. Blackwell Publishing: Edinburgh.
- Greenfield, S. B., & Evert R. (1975). "Maxims II: Gnome and Poem." In Nicholson, L. & Frese, D. (Eds.). (1975). Anglo-Saxon poetry: essays in appreciation. (p. 337-354). Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press.
- Henry, P.L. (1966). The early English and Celtic lyric. New York: George Allen and Unwin Inc.
- Lee, Alvin A. (1972). The guest-hall of eden four essays on the design of Old English poetry. London: Yale University Press.
- Magennis, Hugh. (1996). Images of community in Old English poetry. University of Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- No author Listed. (1989). Poetry. In Strayer, Joseph R. (Editor in Chief). (1989). Dictionary of the Middle Ages. (p. 276-281). New York: Scribner.
- Orchard, A.P.M. (1998). "Maxims I and II." In Szarmach, P., Tavormina T., & Rosenthal, J. (Eds.). (1998). Medieval England: an encyclopedia. (p. 503-504). New York: Garland Pub.
- Pearsall, Derek. (1977). Old English and Middle English poetry. University of New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul unlimited.
External links
- Cavill, Paul. "Maxims (Old English) (1000(?))." Literary Encyclopedia. 2002.
- Maxims I, Labyrinth Library.
- Maxims II, Labyrinth Library.
- Maxims I, Anglo-Saxon Aloud. Read by Prof. Michael D.C. Drout.
- Maxims II, Anglo-Saxon Aloud. Read by Prof. Michael D.C. Drout.