Abstract
Decades of analysis of The Wife’s Lament based on a presumed, underlying narrative have produced interpretations that are contradictory and competing. As a lyric poem, The Wife’s Lament is more profitably approached through its non-narrative elements, especially metaphor and intertextuality. Two major metaphors control The Wife’s Lament: “Wife as exiled retainer”—currently uncontroversial—and “Wife as seer from beyond the grave.” The latter metaphor is supported by a verbal parallel from Old Frisian and by character analogues from the Poetic Edda.
Keywords
lyric, metaphor, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Norse
Recommended Citation
Deskis, Susan E., "Lyric Modes and Metaphor in The Wife’s Lament" (2020). NIU Bibliography. 122.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/niubib/122
