Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 10509
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Albrecht , Efrossini P.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Anglo- Saxon Judith: A Master of "Eloquentia" [Second International Medieval Conference, University of Leeds, July 10-13, 1995. Session 106].
  • Source: Old English Newsletter 28, 3 (Spring 1995):
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Conference Paper Abstract
  • Subject (See Also): Judith, Old English Poem Literature- Verse Rhetoric
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 10
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  • Abstract: Many modem scholars, influenced by patristic exegesis of Anglo-Saxon works, have interpreted the protagonist of "Judith" as a saint. My study of the poem has shown that the Jewish widow is an autonomous, dynamic, and knowledgeable woman. The epithets describing Judith emphasize wisdom and bravery while her grammatical position as subject in a great number of clauses underlines her active role in the plot. Finally, the speech she delivers to her people shows Judith to be a master of deliberative hortatory rhetoric. After she has slain Holofemes, she uses her "eloquentia" to give her people military instructions and to incite battle~~enthusiasm [Reproduced by permission of Robert Schicler, the “Abstracts of Papers in Anglo-Saxon Studies” editor, and the editors of the “Old English Newsletter.”].
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  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1995.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00301973