Symphosius The Aenigmata

Symphosius The Aenigmata
Author: Caelius Firmianus Symphosius
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2014-05-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472511026

A critical edition of the only extant collection of Latin riddles containing the primary texts and in-depth analysis.

Symphosius The Aenigmata

Symphosius The Aenigmata
Author: T. J. Leary
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2014-03-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472511654

The post-classical compilation known to modern scholarship as the Latin Anthology contains a collection of a hundred riddles, each consisting of three hexameters and preceded by a lemma. It would seem from the preface to this collection that they were composed extempore at a dinner to celebrate the Roman Saturnalia. The work was to have a defining influence on later collections of riddles; yet its title (probably the Aenigmata) has been debated, and almost nothing is known about its author: questions have even been asked about his name (Symphosius?) and date (4th-5th centuruy AD?). In this edition of the riddles, the Introducion discusses the work's title and its author's identity: as well as his name and date, it considers his national origin (North African?) and intellectual background (a professional grammarian?), and argues that he was not Christian, as has been suggested. It examines the Saturnalian background to the work, setting it in its sociological context, and discusses the author's literary debts – especially to Martial. The Introduction also explores the author's ordering and arrangement of the riddles, discusses his literary style, Latinity and metre, and comments briefly on his Nachleben. It concludes with a survey of the textual tradition. The commentary on each riddle includes a translation, general notes on the object it describes (with reference, as necessary, to museums and artefacts), and discussion of how it fits into the ordering of the collection, of variant readings and, with suitable illustration, of literary, stylistic and metrical considerations. Other areas, such as history and mythology, are also covered where relevant.

Saint Aldhelm's 'Riddles'

Saint Aldhelm's 'Riddles'
Author: Saint Aldhelm
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1442628928

The first and one of the finest Latin poets of Anglo-Saxon England, the seventh-century bishop Saint Aldhelm can justly be called “Britain's first man of letters.” Among his many influential poetic texts were the hundred riddles that made up hisAenigmata. In Saint Aldhelm's Riddles, A.M. Juster offers the first verse translation of this text in almost a century, capturing the wit, warmth, and wonder of the first English riddle collection. One of today's finest formalist poets, A.M. Juster brings the same exquisite care to this volume as to his translations of Horace (“The best edition available of theSatires in English” –Choice), Tibullus (“An excellent new translation” –The Guardian), and Petrarch. Juster's translation is complemented by a newly edited version of the Latin text and by the first scholarly commentary on theAenigmata, the result of exhaustive interdisciplinary research into the text's historical, literary, and philological context.Saint Aldhelm's Riddles will be essential for scholars and a treasure for lovers of Tolkien,Beowulf, and Harry Potter.

The Riddle in the Poem

The Riddle in the Poem
Author: Živilė Gimbutas
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2004
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780761828457

The Riddle in the Poem is a study of the ramifications of riddles and riddle elements in the context of selected twentieth-century poetry. It includes works by Francis Ponge, Wallace Stevens, Richard Wilbur, Rainer M. Rilke, and Henrikas Radauskas. This book enlarges the scope of riddles as a "root of lyric" by connecting it with the folkloristic concept of "riddling," essentially a question and answer series, and by tracing the influence of the root in poetic methodology. The Riddle in the Poem may be defined as an attempt to advance the notion, which has been discussed in previous folkloristic and literary studies, which riddle as the root of lyric manifests itself in various ways.

The Old English Riddles of the 'Exeter Book'

The Old English Riddles of the 'Exeter Book'
Author: Craig Williamson
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2017-12-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1469610299

The Exeter Book, a late tenth-century manuscript of early Old English poetry, is an anthology of religious homiletic verse, elegiac poetry, and ninety-one lyric riddles. The riddles are of particular interest to students of Old English poetry and Anglo-Saxon culture, to archeologists, anthropologists, and folklorists. This volume will supersede all earlier editions of the riddles as the text contains many new manuscript readings, and a summary is given of the scholarship on each riddle. Originally published in 1977. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.