The Husband's Message

"The Husband's Message" is an Old English poem, the author of which is unknown. It is found only in the Exeter Book, one of the few surviving poetic compilations from the Anglo-Saxon period. "The Husband's Message" is short by comparison to other Old English poems at 54 total lines. The overall theme of love and lamentation also sets the poem apart from most other known Anglo-Saxon works.

Plot

"The Husband's Message" tells the story of a man who was forced to leave his homeland and his wife due to a "feud." The poem takes place after the feud has ended. The now wealthy and established husband carves a message onto a plank of wood and sends it to his wife, recounting the past years without her, reflecting on his past misfortunes, professing his love for her and imploring her to reunite with him in his new home. Thus, the "message" becomes the physical plank of wood itself, as well as the poem's written lyrics.

Issues of interpretation

While the overall text of the poem is fairly straightforward, there is some scholarly debate concerning several matters of interpretation. For example, many Anglo-Saxonists contend that the poem is a "love lyric" to be celebrated for "its ingenious form and its emotive power." Conversely, other scholars contest that the sense of "loss," especially that of time due to unfortunate circumstances and "happiness," make "The Husband's Message" seem more like an "elegy".

Another prominent issue with this work is the speaker question: who is, in fact, the speaker of the poem? While some argue that the speaker is of a human nature, meaning that the speaker is the husband himself, using personification of the wood's voice as a literary device, others hold that the wood itself is the husband's messenger. Those who adhere to the wood-messenger theory are supported by the evidence provided by the riddles in the Exeter Book, which use similar personifications. Also, the poem opens with the lines, roughly translated from a damaged manuscript, "Now I will tell you especially / what kind of tree I, as offspring, grew from," which, if taken literally, may indicate that the wood is the messenger. However, it is equally likely that this is a mere literary device. Another group of scholars contends that the speaker switches throughout the poem, meaning that at times the husband is recounting a story while at other times the wood itself speaks.

One last puzzling feature of "The Husband's Message" is that of the runes. There are runes located towards the end of the poem. Anglo-Saxonists are unsure as to what role these runes are supposed to play in the storyline of the poem. It has been theorized that they should be "deciphered...as an oath that the man swears to the woman and are his secret instructions concerning the journey she must make to find him." This makes sense in light of the fact that the husband had been exiled in the past, and it would be to his and his wife's advantage to refrain from disclosing his new location.

Despite these possible ambiguities with the poem's intended interpretation, "The Husband's Message" should be noted for its ability to convey powerful emotion and meaning in a short amount of space.

The Husband's Message

The poem may well be riddlic in nature, as is indicated by the runic clues at the end of the piece. The solution has been proposed variously as either 'Christ' or 'The Gospel'.

   Nu ic onsundran þe         secgan wille

   ...... treocyn         ic tudre aweox;

   in mec æld... sceal         ellor londes

   settan ......         sealte streamas

5

   ...sse.         Ful oft ic on bates

           gesohte

   þær mec mondryhten         min ......

   ofer heah hofu;         eom nu her cumen

   on ceolþele,         ond nu cunnan scealt

10

   hu þu ymb modlufan         mines frean

   on hyge hycge.         Ic gehatan dear

   þæt þu þær tirfæste         treowe findest.

   Hwæt, þec þonne biddan het         se þisne beam agrof

   þæt þu sinchroden         sylf gemunde

15

   on gewitlocan         wordbeotunga,

   þe git on ærdagum         oft gespræcon,

   þenden git moston         on meoduburgum

   eard weardigan,         an lond bugan,

   freondscype fremman.         Hine fæhþo adraf

20

   of sigeþeode;         heht nu sylfa þe

   lustum læran,         þæt þu lagu drefde,

   siþþan þu gehyrde         on hliþes oran

   galan geomorne         geac on bearwe.

   Ne læt þu þec siþþan         siþes getwæfan,

25

   lade gelettan         lifgendne monn.

   Ongin mere secan,         mæwes eþel,

   onsite sænacan,         þæt þu suð heonan

   ofer merelade         monnan findest,

   þær se þeoden is         þin on wenum.

30

   Ne mæg him worulde         willa gelimpan

   mara on gemyndum,         þæs þe he me sægde,

   þonne inc geunne         alwaldend god

   ...... ætsomne         siþþan motan

   secgum ond gesiþum         s...

35

   næglede beagas;         he genoh hafað

   fædan goldes

   ...d elþeode         eþel healde,

   fægre foldan

   ...ra hæleþa,         þeah þe her min wine...

40

   nyde gebæded,         nacan ut aþrong,

   ond on yþa geong         ...... sceolde

   faran on flotweg,         forðsiþes georn,

   mengan merestreamas.         Nu se mon hafað

   wean oferwunnen;         nis him wilna gad,

45

   ne meara ne maðma         ne meododreama,

   ænges ofer eorþan         eorlgestreona,

   þeodnes dohtor,         gif he þin beneah

   ofer eald gebeot         incer twega.

   Gecyre ic ætsomne         sigel rad geador

50

   ear wen ond dæg         aþe benemnan,

   þæt he þa wære         ond þa winetreowe

   be him lifgendum         læstan wolde,

   þe git on ærdagum         oft gespræconn.

References

Anderson, Earl. "The Husband's Message: Persuasion and Problem of 'Genyre'". Cleveland State University, 2002. (4)

"Husband's Message, The." Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature; Letter H. Encyclopedia Britannica. (1, 2)

Magennis, Hugh. "Husband's Message, The." Medieval England: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Paul Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel Rosenthal. New York: Garland Pub., 1998. (3, 5, 6)

Notes