Soul and Body refers to two anonymous Old English poems: Soul and Body I, which is found in the Vercelli Book, and Soul and Body II, found in the Exeter Book. It is one of the oldest poems to have survived in two manuscripts of Old English, each poem slightly different than the other. Despite the poems' differences (in structure and length, for example), the Soul and Body poems address similar themes, themes about the duality of human nature.
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The two versions of Soul and Body are found in two separate poetry collections. The first is found in the Vercelli manuscript, and is entitled, by modern scholars, as Soul and Body I. The other account is found in the Exeter manuscript, and is entitled, also by modern scholars as Soul and Body II. Both poems serve the same purpose, asking the committed and penitent Christian reader to call to mind his bodily actions on earth in relation to his soul’s afterlife. A sense of exigency is found in both poems, imploring the body to live according to the soul’s fate and not the desires of the flesh. S.A.J. Bradley argues that, "[Soul and Body II’s] position in the Exeter Book is in a group of poems of wisdom, lore and intelligent conceits” (358). Moreover, Soul and Body II is comparable with other like-poems found in the Exeter manuscript such as Deor, and Wulf and Eadwacer. The following summary of the text and analysis of the poem pertains exclusively to Soul and Body II.
The author or poet of Soul and Body II is unknown; however as Michael Lapidge points out "several aspects of the poems’ eschatology show signs of Irish influence," most significantly the overtly Christian reference to the soul’s disproval of its body’s actions, as well as the ultimate destiny for mankind and his soul. Furthermore, the language of the poem is West Saxon in nature, and lends itself to an “Irish-influenced Mercian literary school” of thought, or the common thought found in the kingdom of Mercia, one of the ancient, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms found in what is now Great Britain (425). Based on language patterns and thematic elements, Soul and Body II was most likely copied in the late 9th or early 10th century. Soul and Body II was active "plausibly during the reign of Æthelstan".[1]
Soul and Body II is the soul’s damning address to its body. It is clear, as Douglas Moffat notes, that there is an identifiable first-person speaker throughout the entire poem; the speaker is the damned soul who is addressing his earthly body. The soul has a strong “contempt for the rotting corpse” from which it came (Frantzen 77). The purpose of the poem is to remind the reader of the sinner’s fate. The soul demands an answer from its body, because as the soul believes, the body is largely, if not completely, responsible for their shared, horrific fate (Ferguson 74). Despite the body being “dumb ond deaf” (line 60), the soul reminds its body to plead its case before God at the Last Judgment.[2]
Ironically, the body’s silence only emphasizes its harsh reality; the body will not be able to speak with God in the final days because of its sinful behaviors while alive on earth. Not once, but twice does the soul chastise its body for its “firenlustas” (lines 31 and 41) or literally its “appetite for sin,” specifically material wealth and earthly possessions (175). Furthermore, the efforts of the soul—and ultimately the reality of Christ’s death and resurrection—have been in vain, since the body has perverted any chance of both the soul and the body enjoying eternal life in heaven. As one can see at the end of the poem, the Christian message of unity and judgment comes full circle, with the modern English translation stating “to every man among the wise this may serve as a reminder".[3] Thus, Soul and Body II is the self-judgment of the soul and its condemnation of its body.
Critical assessors of Soul and Body II agree that the religious theme of the poem is quite obvious; the soul addresses its body in relation to the Final Judgment of both the soul and its body on the last day.
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