While I've been making strides in my conception of the riddle and what I want to do with it, I've realized that I sort of forgot to blog about it. And now it is mid-August and I am heading on a computerless camping trip in a week or so. Oh well. Here's some thoughts:
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I think it's funny that starting a blog has made me think about audience, readership, and in the process pushed me to return to a paper journal. I found a nice, heavy notebook at Chapters for ten bucks (it saddens me that they increasingly specialize in stationary and candy rather than actual books but I'm as much a part of the problem as anyone), and started writing my thoughts on paper rather than online. One reason I prefer a paper version is that it's more personal (obviously) and I can write things I wouldn't feel comfortable putting online. At the same time, that's the same reason I dislike paper journals and shredded the journals I kept from age 12-18 a few years back... I think my favourite blogs are the REALLY personal ones, so it's a bit of a contradiction that I don't want to open up in that way myself. It's similar in poetry: I like reading confessional poetry but not writing it myself.
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My understanding of the riddle has undergone a huge shift. This came from reading Patrick J. Murphy's new book (just came out!) called Unriddling the Exeter Book Riddles. It's the most important book on the riddles since Williamson's 1977 Feast of Creatures and influenced me in such a powerful, immediate manner that I didn't feel comfortable even discussing it in my thesis proposal (though I discussed aspects verbally). It needed time to brew. Or sit. Or whatever ideas do when I'm not writing them.
Anyway, Murphy's main idea is that riddles aren't composed of just a question and an answer. Rather, they include a question, solution, and a metaphorical focus that may be related to the solution, but not necessarily. To give an example, Riddle 26, which describes a creature being made into a bible is guided by the metaphorical focus of Christ's crucifixion. I say "guided" because I think the focus helps provide a framework for the clues, though I'm not exactly sure in what way yet. In Riddle 26, the relation between metaphorical focus and solution is evident, but in other riddles it's not so clear. Murphy, for instance, talks about the Ten Chickens riddle, which has a metaphorical focus on Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden. No obvious connection there, but he convincingly argues the focus allows the speaker to highlight certain clues that lead to the solution.
This is a really confusing way of saying that the riddles are more complicated than just question and answer (I hate this defensive tone I'm taking but it's sort of how I've been operating lately). They contain detailed and complicated metaphors that often allude to scripture, mythology, and many varied themes. In my own riddles, I've been exploring themes of the bodily vs immaterial, desire vs spiritual ruling for some time. I now wish to experiment with creating allusive metaphorical frameworks in my riddles. Not just from scripture, or mythology, but also allusions to other writers and works. We'll see!
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Yesterday was my final class of my directed reading in Old English. We discussed a few of the riddles and then my professor asked some questions about the progression of my thesis. He really pushed me to make the riddles my own and not simply replicate the exeter book. He suggested that since the exeter book forwards a sort of Christian view of the world, that my own poetry should offer my own view of the world. I think this ties in to my desire to want to "write a good poem." I don't want to rely on just form. I want to say something about the world, experience, my experiences in the world, language, art. Maybe this doesn't even need saying. I guess I'm just afraid when this is all done, that my poems won't actually be any good. (wow that was personal...)
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In other news, I'm thinking of buying a beginner's dslr camera. Something entry level, not too fancy, just better than my four-year-old point and shoot. Just as a hobby! So maybe I'll start posting more photos on this blog! Talk to you guys soon! (why has this suddenly become a letter?)
Cassidy
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