Editing Exeter Book (section)

==Contents==
Aside from eight leaves added to the codex after it was written, the Exeter Book consists entirely of poetry. However, unlike the Junius manuscript, which is dedicated to biblically inspired works, the Exeter Book is noted for the unmatched diversity of genres among its contents, as well as their generally high level of poetic quality.<ref name="Conner2019">{{cite web |last1=Conner |first1=Patrick W. |title=The Exeter Book |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0094.xml |website=Oxford Bibliographies Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780195396584-0094 |date=2019}}
</ref>

The poems give a sense of the intellectual sophistication of Anglo-Saxon literary culture. They include numerous [[Hagiography|saints’ lives]], [[Gnomic poetry|gnomic verses]], and [[Wisdom poetry|wisdom poems]], in addition to almost a hundred [[Anglo-Saxon riddles|riddles]], numerous smaller [[Epic poetry|heroic poems]], and a quantity of [[Elegy|elegiac]] verse. The moving elegies and enigmatic riddles are the most famous of the Exeter Book texts.<ref name="BL"/> The elegies primarily explore the themes of alienation, loss, the passage of time, desolation, and death, and deal with subjects including the sorrows of exile, the ruination of the past, and the long separation of lovers. Through them we encounter lonely seafarers, banished wanderers, and mournful lovers.<ref name="EB" /><ref name="BL"/> The riddles, by contrast, explore the fabric of the world through the prism of the everyday. (See the sections on 'Riddles' and 'Elegies' below.) The Exeter manuscript is also important because it contains two poems signed by the poet [[Cynewulf]], who is one of only twelve Old English poets known to us by name.<ref name="BL"/>

According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', "the arrangement of the poems appears to be haphazard, and the book is believed to be copied from an earlier collection".<ref name="EB">{{Britannica|198020}}</ref> However, whether (or the extent to which) the Exeter Book is a deliberately crafted anthology of related poems or a miscellany of unrelated poems is a matter of debate, as some degree of order has been found in the organisation of its contents.<ref name="UoPP2017"/>

None of the poems is given a title in the manuscript, and there is often no obvious indicator of where one text ends and the next begins, other than a plain initial. Consequently, the titles given to the poems in the Exeter Book are those that editors have established over the years, and very often a given poem will be known by several titles.<ref name="Conner2019"/> The following is one listing of poems found in the book (titles may vary depending on source):<ref name="UoPP2017">
{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |translator-last=Williamson |translator-first=Craig |title=The Complete Old English Poems |date=2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-9321-0 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yZkFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PR10 x]-xi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yZkFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 299-302]}}
</ref><ref name="Treharne2017">
{{cite book |last1=Treharne |first1=Elaine |last2=Pulsiano |first2=Phillip |title=A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature |date=2017 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |isbn=9781405165303 |pages=1–10 |url=http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_Chapter/0631209042/pulsiano.pdf |chapter=An Introduction to the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Vernacular Literature |doi=10.1002/9781405165303.ch1}}
</ref><ref name="Muir1994">
Based on Muir’s (1994) counting:
* {{cite web |title=The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/ |website=Sacred-texts.com}}
* {{cite web |title=The Exeter Book |url=http://people.ucalgary.ca/~mmcgilli/OEPoetry/exeter.html |website=people.ucalgary.ca |publisher=University of Calgary}}
</ref>

{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
*''Christ [[Christ I|I]], [[Christ II|II]], [[Christ III|III]]''
*[[Guthlac poems A and B|''Guthlac A'' and ''B'']]
*''Azarias''
*''[[Phoenix (Old English poem)|The Phoenix]]''
*''[[Juliana (poem)|Juliana]]''
*''[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]''
*''The Gifts of Men''
*''Precepts''
*''[[The Seafarer (poem)|The Seafarer]]''
*''[[Vainglory (Old English poem)|Vainglory]]''
*''[[Widsith]]''
*''[[The Fortunes of Men]]''
*''[[Maxims I]]''
*''The Order of the World''
*''[[The Rhyming Poem]]''
*''[[The Panther (Old English poem)| The Panther]]''
*''[[Aspidochelone#Fastitocalon|The Whale]]''
*''The Partridge''
*''[[Soul and Body]] II''
*''[[Deor]]''
*''[[Wulf and Eadwacer]]''
*Riddles 1-57<ref name="UoPP2017"/>/59<ref name="Muir1994"/>
*''[[The Wife's Lament]]''
*''The Judgment Day I''
*''Resignation''
*''The Descent into Hell''
*''Alms-Giving''
*''[[Pharaoh (Old English poem)|Pharaoh]]''
*''The Lord’s Prayer I''
*''Homiletic Fragment II''
*Riddle 28b<ref name="UoPP2017"/> / 30b<ref name="Muir1994"/>
*Riddle 58<ref name="UoPP2017"/> / 60<ref name="Muir1994"/>
*''[[The Husband's Message]]''
*''[[The Ruin]]''
*Riddles 59-91<ref name="UoPP2017"/> / 61-95<ref name="Muir1994"/>
{{div col end}}