The Guthlac poems and The Phoenix: Explaining Spirituality through Oppositions

Job 29:18. Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

We see this image treated differently in the Guthlac poems and in the Phoenix, the former emphasizing on a journey from time to eternity, the latter showing a cyclical movement that is contained within itself, and does not belong to any time.

Guthlac A and B and the Phoenix, all Exeter Book poems, were assumed to have common authorship in traditional scholarship, and were considered part of the ‘Cynewulf school’. Modern studies reject common authorship (Norman Blake) and consider the possibility of imitation and comment on the formulaic character of OE poetry. Guthlac A and b are slightly different in their treatments of the saint’s life, Guthlac A emphasizes on its historicity, saying that men have seen this in their lifetime, so it is true, while Guthlac B, which is a close rendering of the Latin version by Felix, mentions “books” as its source (us secgað bec). There are features in the poems which make them worth comparing, especially in their depiction of spirituality. My argument is that the theme of Christian salvation and the ascension of the soul to heaven after it departs from the body is expressed through a series of oppositions, without which it cannot be explained.

Good and evil: In both poems the pure heavenly realm is set up as an ‘other’ which cannot be explained nor understood in the post-lapsarian world. The perfect good is meant to be admired at a distance and is described in terms of what it is not: þær næfre hreow cymeð/ edergong fore yrmþum (there never comes sorrow, or beggary due to affliction). In the Phoenix, the bird’s song is described in terms of negatives (it is not like the horn or harp or man’s voice). Heaven is described as a place of rejoicing and eternal reward but it is not described in the specific terms in which the earth and the devils are described. The devils are like wild beasts, but God vaguely works through images of radiant light. Man must be good in earthly terms in order to reach the unexplained heavenly good. When Guthlac talks to the devils in Guthlac A, he says ‘ne eam ic swa fealog swa ic eow fore stonde’ (I am not as destitute as I seem before you), which suggests that the connotation of destitute as the devils will understand it is also that which will be understood by man- the opposition therefore is between heaven and non-heaven (clubbing together devils and men). This shows the danger that man is in, presumably.

Use of Germanic imagery in the poems: We see this particularly in Guthlac B with emphasis on the relationship between the attendant and Guthlac, and in the use of ‘warrior’ images, and depiction of both Guthlac and the Phoenix as the ‘soldier of Christ’ (miles Christi). Interestingly, this warrior imagery has a negative connotation in Guthlac A, where he refuses to use a sword because it is ‘worulde wæpen’- this opposes him to secular military heroism that we see in the Battle poems, and also aligns the devils with it. In Phoenix, death is seen as a warrior approaching with weapons, again negative use of the heroic military code. The saint in Guthlac A is more distanced from earthly things, but in Guthlac B, earthly kinship is seen as important, and Guthlac in his old age maintains ties with his attendant (a retainer like figure, reminds me of the Wanderer) and his sister. At the same time the warrior imagery is stronger in Guthlac B, with more references to Guthlac as a warrior. Courage is emphasized for both Guthlac and the phoenix, and is important in their movement from one form of being to another.

Guthlac presents a movement from one realm to the other, the person moves from body to soul, and physically from earth to heaven, whereas the phoenix is cyclical and contained within itself. But the oppositions are set up within the same realm in both poems. In Guthlac it is explained in terms of earthly good and evil, and Phoenix is in terms of oriental=pure and postlapsarian earth. Similar imagery used in both poems of the hilly mound/ phoenix’s tree which represent places situated on earth but higher than the normal earthly ground. Ironically in Guthlac this is where the devils used to rest before he takes it away from them. Guthlac represents a postlapsarian world where temptation exists while the Phoenix belongs to a paradisal world which is evergreen and timeless, but it is still described in terms of earthly images (manmade: the jewel descriptions, and oriental: perfumes, spices, &c). Though the garden and the bird are creations of god (God’s artistry) they are described in terms of manmade artistry, because the poet does not have any other way in which to express them. This ties up with the use of earthly images of evil and vague images of spirituality. Note the medieval belief in the existence of antipodes as the other side of the world which may be prelapsarian- the “east” is paradise (Genesis 2:8), the known east is exotic and oriental, thus the descriptions of nature in terms of qualities which were absent from the somber European climate ( like the descriptions of nature in Wanderer and Seafarer).

So, we certainly have a depiction of spirituality in terms of oppositions, and this style is what ties the poems together, rather than the common subject matter. But, thinking about it, is there any other way of expressing spirituality except by opposing it to that which is already known?

[Sorry if this is incoherent in parts, I’m a bit too sleepy for spirituality atm. ]