Wulf, min wulf:: An eclectic analysis of the wolf-man

Among others, Bouman pointed out that the obscurity of the Old English poem Wulf and Eadwacer has continued to challenge as well as confuse the critics for a long time (1949: 104): As early as 1842 Thorpe wrote: "Or this I can make no sense, nor am I able to arrange the verses" (Codex Exoniensis: 527). In 1916 G. Budjuhn declared: "until today this piece of Old English literature has been the subject of almost desperate efforts by English philologists" (Anglia 40: 256). W.W. Lawrence was of the same opinion: "There are few questions concerning Anglo-Saxon literature which have been more widely discussed than the interpretation of the so-called First Riddle of Cynewulf" "Both language and grammatical construction are unusually obscure" (PMLA 17: 247). Again in 1920 Imelman repeated: "The whole history of the research about this poem, by more than two generations of investigators, shows that this short lament has proved to be almost impenetrable to the pious efforts of numerous philologists" (Forschungen zur altenglischen Poesie: 73). By going back in time and trying to understand the literature of long ago I hope to have added some light in the darkness, which surrounds this mysterious and hauntingly beautiful elegy.