And lastly an adaptation by a poet, Lascelles Abercrombie (Poems, London, 1930):
The Nightingale
(From the Old English Riddle)
I through my throat the thronging melodies
Delicately devising in divers moods,
Let my little breath lavishly chime,
Still the bestower of unstinted song.
Of old to all men my evening enchantment
Brings blissful ease; they, when I bind them
With my thrilling sweet troubles enthralled in their houses
Lean forward, listening. Learn now my name
Who cry so keenly, such quivering glee
Pealing merrily, and pour such musical
Ringing welcome to returning warriors.
It is unnecessary to comment in detail on these renderings. Some of them strain to imitate the original meter, others are frankly rather free and avoid the textual difficulties. Professor Kennedy’s is a careful compromise with the strict alliterative formulas, but ends by being almost too smooth, with concession to modern iambicism; and the choice of “carol” seems unfortunate because of the word’s other associations. At least they point up the hazards and invite forbearance for the attempts which follow.
THE ARRANGEMENT
Orderly arrangement is not to be expected in a collection of riddles. Quite the contrary, insofar as they are meant to tease or test the reader, to group them according to the answers would offer too much help. Even the Latin Ænigmata, where the answers are provided as titles, are not placed in any definite order. In the first fifty-nine of the Exeter Book a few signs may be recognized. The Storm riddles have pride of place due to their merit; they are easily the showpiece of the collection. Then 7, 8, 9, 10 are about birds; 27 and 28, mead and malt
