“Gehyre se ðe Wille”: The Old English Exodus and the Reader as Exegete

Abstract

This article examines two important but understudied passages in the Old English Exodus, the poem's concluding scene and its opening verse paragraph, in order to show that the text holds its reader partially responsible for producing the poem's allegorical meaning. The opening and closing lines place the reader in the position of interpreter, requiring him or her to read for the manifold senses of the text rather than relying passively on the poem to supply the allegorical meaning of the narrative. In doing so, these lines foreground the importance and value of allegoria as a practice of reading, one that relies upon the fourfold sense, rather than of “allegory” as a method of composition. By concluding with an exultant portrayal of “gold out of Egypt”, the poem invokes Augustine's teaching on the propriety of putting secular learning to Christian uses; in this way, the conclusion broadens the domain of allegoria to encompass the reading of a range of genres and languages. The introduction anticipates this move by framing Moyses domas, “Moses' decrees” (l. 2), in terms of the fourfold sense, inviting its audience to read each moment in the poem with an eye to fourfold meaning.