Soul and Body

Soul and Body refers to two anonymous Old English poems: Soul and Body I, which is found in the Vercelli Book, and Soul and Body II, found in the Exeter Book. It is one of the oldest poems to have survived in two manuscripts of Old English, each version slightly different from the other. Despite their differences (in structure and length, for example), the Soul and Body poems address similar themes. Both versions ask the committed and penitent Christian reader to call to mind his bodily actions on earth in relation to his soul’s afterlife. A sense of exigency is found in the poems, imploring the body to live according to the soul's fate and not the desires of the flesh.

The two versions of Soul and Body are found in two separate poetry collections. The first is found in the Vercelli manuscript, and is entitled, by modern scholars, Soul and Body I. The other is found in the Exeter manuscript, and is entitled, also by modern scholars, Soul and Body II. Soul and Body I differs from the Exeter version, in that, following the damned soul's address is a parallel address from a blessed soul to its body. Soul and Body II ends after The Damned Soul's address, which consists of 126 lines of verse. Soul and Body I, however, continues with what remains of The Blessed Soul's address, another 40 lines of verse. The Vercelli manuscript seems to be missing several pages and, as a result, The Blessed Soul's address breaks off at line 166 with the word 'þisses'.

While the Vercelli version is incomplete, it has been suggested that not much of the poem has been lost (Smetana 195). In Soul and Body I, The Damned Soul's address takes up 85 lines, while The Blessed Soul's address is a mere 31 lines. However, this is not unusual: other works comprising the body-and-soul theme tend to focus more on the damned soul than the blessed soul, with some homilies devoting more than twice the space to the damned soul (Frantzen 84). As is typical, the details of the body's decay are deemphasized in The Blessed Soul’s address, which is what makes up the bulk of The Damned Soul's address. Based on these facts, scholars can reasonably assume that the poem is nearly complete.

However, it is worth noting that several scholars argue that The Blessed Soul's address is an inferior, later addition by another poet. Peter R. Orton points to lapses in metrical structure and inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation to support this argument. In addition, Douglas Moffat notes that it seems strange that the poet brought the first half of a two-part poem to a fitting conclusion before moving on to the next part, instead of "saving summary comments for the conclusion of the whole" (44). Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence to prove whether The Blessed Soul is a later addition.

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