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Discretio spirituum and The Whale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2013

Jeremy DeAngelo
Jeremy DeAngelo*
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Abstract

This piece identifies an extension to the lesson of the Exeter Book poem The Whale. The work not only admonishes its audience to guard against temptation masquerading as virtue, but also indicates how one may go about doing so. The selection of the whale as a subject places the poem within an extensive biblical and patristic tradition concerning sea creatures that was well represented in Anglo-Saxon England. Specifically, the allusions present in The Whale identify discretio spirituum as the essential skill needed to avoid disguised temptation, and point to Pride as the weakness most capable of leading Christians astray.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 42 , December 2013 , pp. 271 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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