Gender and Religious Identity in the Old English Judith
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Melissa Mayus
Organizer Affiliation
Trine Univ.
Presider Name
Melissa Mayus
Paper Title 1
The Lily and the Sword: Virginity, Holiness, and Heroism in the Old English Judith
Presenter 1 Name
Laurence Erussard
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Paper Title 2
Nearly-Headless Holofernes: Battle Rhetoric in the Old English Judith
Presenter 2 Name
Andrew Thomas
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Western Michigan Univ.
Paper Title 3
Like a Virgin Martyr: Redefining the Role of the Old English Judith
Presenter 3 Name
Mallory Heslinger
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Western Michigan Univ.
Paper Title 4
The Judith Problem in the Old English Judith: Reconciling Religious and Heroic Identity
Presenter 4 Name
Anne Spear
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Univ. of Mississippi
Start Date
11-5-2018 3:30 PM
Session Location
Valley 3 Stinson 306
Description
As one of a handful of Old English poems featuring a female protagonist, the Old English Judith has elicited a fruitful body of scholarship examining how gender operates in the poem. The character of Judith has been compared to martial heroes of other poems, to saints found in Anglo-Saxon hagiographies, and to her own biblical counterpart. The purpose of this proposed session is to open this discussion of gender in the poem to include ways that Judith’s femininity affects the religious didacticism of the poem. Papers that examine the way that Judith’s widowhood is glossed over in the poem, or the way that she is only half portrayed as a warrior, or the way that she admonishes her troops after effectively winning the battle for them will all provide an opening for discussion about how the poet uses Judith’s gender to teach religious or moral lessons.
Melissa Mayus
Gender and Religious Identity in the Old English Judith
Valley 3 Stinson 306
As one of a handful of Old English poems featuring a female protagonist, the Old English Judith has elicited a fruitful body of scholarship examining how gender operates in the poem. The character of Judith has been compared to martial heroes of other poems, to saints found in Anglo-Saxon hagiographies, and to her own biblical counterpart. The purpose of this proposed session is to open this discussion of gender in the poem to include ways that Judith’s femininity affects the religious didacticism of the poem. Papers that examine the way that Judith’s widowhood is glossed over in the poem, or the way that she is only half portrayed as a warrior, or the way that she admonishes her troops after effectively winning the battle for them will all provide an opening for discussion about how the poet uses Judith’s gender to teach religious or moral lessons.
Melissa Mayus