The Canterbury Fails Old English Boethius Meter 30
Apr 1, 2022
The hosts delve into Meter 30 of the Old English Boethius, highlighting its overlooked significance. They explore the fascinating blend of philosophy and poetry, touching on Boethius’ prison context and its medieval influence. A quirky cocktail inspired by Homer and Virgil adds a fun twist. The sun simile and its theological implications spark intriguing discussions about God as true light. Lastly, they connect the dots of literary lineage from Homer to Virgil to Old English, celebrating the richness of cultural transmission.
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Boethius’ Prosimetric Masterpiece
- Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy as a prosimetric dialogue while imprisoned around 523.
- The work blends prose and verse to debate fate, free will, and eternity through Lady Philosophy and a sad narrator.
Two manuscript traditions
- The Old English translation survives in two manuscript traditions: a full prose version and a prosometric one with Old English verse.
- Scholars think the verse version likely reworked an earlier Old English prose translation into poetic form.
Meters Reintegrated Into The Whole
- Early editors (Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records) separated the meters and treated them as independent poems.
- Godden and Irvine reintegrated the Old English Boethius meters into the full prosimetric context in 2009.