IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 225: Material, Metaphor, and Morality in the Genesis Poems of Bodleian Library, Junius 11

Organiser:	Hannah McKendrick Bailey, Balliol College, University of Oxford
Moderator/Chair:	Matthew Gillis, Faculty of English Language & Literature, University of Oxford
Paper 225-a	The Poetic Word in Genesis A (Language: English) Matthew Coker, St Hilda's College, University of Oxford Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Theology
Paper 225-b	Materiality of Sin and Temptation in Genesis B (Language: English) Joseph St John, Department of English, University of Malta Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities, Theology
Paper 225-c	Light and Liturgy in Genesis A (Language: English) Hannah McKendrick Bailey, Balliol College, University of Oxford Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Liturgy
Abstract	These papers examine the methods and materials through which the Old English Genesis poems address ethical and Christological questions relating to divine kingship and patronage. The presence of Christ the Word is subtly embedded in Genesis A through the poetic ornaments of word-play and hypermetric lines; the tropological message of Genesis B is articulated through lord-retainer relationships and material embodiments of abstract concepts of temptation and sin; light imagery regularly signals exceptionally positive relationships to God in Genesis A, but a point of ethical ambiguity causes the poet to turn to a liturgical metaphor that contradicts this schema.