The Proverbs of Solomon and the Wisdom of Women in the Old English Exeter Maxims

Abstract

The Old English verse catalogue of proverbial statements and gnomic reflections known as Exeter Maxims (or Maxims I) is written out as three scribal sections in the Exeter Book of Old English poetry. Often remarking on general resemblances between Exeter Maxims and the Old Testament book of Proverbs, critics have not fully accounted for the importance of Proverbs’ overall structure as a poetic source for the vernacular poem. Authorized by King Solomon, the tripartite Proverbs is framed by a thematic antithesis of wandering and wise women that informs the lexical and thematic content of Exeter Maxims 62–65a and 93–106. These Old English passages paraphrase Proverbs and other Solomonic texts that share an interest in divine Wisdom. By identifying the influence of these Solomonic sources on Exeter Maxims, the present essay offers new interpretations of two difficult passages about women and wisdom in this sapiential poem. It also offers a new intellectual context for Exeter Maxims by connecting it to a rich tradition of Biblical poetry in praise of Wisdom, and thus contributes to a better understanding of the ‘Solomon complex’ in Old English poetry. This essay also sheds light on some of the ideological interests of an Anglo-Saxon readership contemporary with the poem’s inscribed form as well as its integrity as a tripartite poem.