Aldhelm's rejection of the Muses and the mechanics of poetic inspiration in early Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

In the metrical preface to his Enigmata, Aldhelm of Malmesbury denies that he has had anything to do with the Muses. While this gesture connects him to his Christian Latin predecessors (and, less directly, to the pagan poets as well), the unique elements of Aldhelm's poem suggest that he is also drawing upon a native tradition of poetry that valued technical skill above lofty subject-matter. By portraying the Muses within this Germanic framework as useless, rather than dangerous, Aldhelm's rejection enabled his successors to employ the Muses, and other Classical allusions, as harmless decorative elements in their verse.