More Homiletic Fragmentation

Though of course really quite unrelated, "Homiletic Fragment I" from the Vercelli Book and "Homiletic Fragment II" from the Exeter Book make natural companions nevertheless. Bradley resists the title of the Exeter Book poem by observing that it is a "complex, compact, and surely complete little poem" (397). So is it really a fragment? I think I agree with Bradley that it isn't. He's also right about the unusual compactness of the poetic language. What I find most surprising is the  image, startlingly concrete, of trees covering the earth in darkness (l. 14). The compounds are also very lively and suggestive: compare for example "hoard-chest" (l. 3) for "heart" and "hoard-vat" (l. 18) for "womb." The poem ends by celebrating the Incarnation through the lens of Marian devotion.

Homiletic Fragment II 

            Take now into your soul and accept as consoler

            your Lord,  and lift up your judgment/glory,

            guard (your) hoard-chest, bind tightly (your) thoughts

            along with your heart-mind. Many a true companion

5          is untried (lit., unknown), will sometimes grow tired,

            waver in (his) word-vow; so goes this world,

            stirs up in storms and finds its fate.

            One faith there is, one Living,

            one baptism there is and one eternal Father,

10        one Prince of people there is, who shaped this earth,

            (its) prosperity and joys. Glory grew then,

            even though this loaned/temporary creation stood for a long time

            hidden in the dark, obscured under cover,

            topped well by trees, wrapped over with twilight.

15        Afterwards a young girl grew up,

            mind-bold among mankind;

            there it pleased Him to create life

            in that hoard-vat, through (the) Holy Spirit.

            The beautiful boy shone, bright in (her) breast,

20        He was the starting point of all light.