Situation of Wisdom in Solomon and Saturn II

“the diction of this poem appears emphatically to locate wisdom within the mind of the human subject, and figuratively to situate an active engagement with wisdom in the course of a successful life” (97).

“the individual mind is responsible for despondency or delight” (97).

“Solomon and Saturn are first and foremost powerful of mind, and by using this term, the poet signals that the ensuing debate or contest will be in the mental arena and at an elevated level” (98).

“senior and very deliberative roles” (98).

“what the mind does with wisdom is more important than the wisdom itself” (98).

“the wise mind (mo ̄des gle ̄aw) can moderate fate only if it is wise (w-ıssefa)” (98).

“wisdom can act in concert with other mighty powers to confer on the individual a high degree of control over circumstances” (98).

“Because we have no record of either of the compounds w-ıssefa or mo ̄dgle ̄aw, which both couple wisdom with the mind, being used elsewhere in Old English literature, it appears that the poet has created these terms” (98).

“These terms succinctly encapsulate the thematic orientation of the poem on the benefits of free choice made available by the active acquisition and use of knowledge within the mind” (98).

“‘Glorious’ books are said to strengthen and reinforce resolution and provide solace for the mo ̄dsefa from mental anxieties” (99).

“books strengthen thought and resolution and cheer the mind from the ‘mental oppressions’ of this life (ll. 240–42); and that fated events and foreknowledge contest each other with their ‘mental oppressions’” (99).

“the mind is the place of conscious choice” (99).

“the individual possesses responsibility for his or her fate in the thinking faculty” (99-100).

“the role of debate and written texts in creating a context for wisdom and galvanising it is juxtaposed with the need to control a potentially wayward mind and train it to be sage” (100).

“a double-edged quality to individual thought” (100).

“Shippey makes the distinction between the definition of wisdom as merely intelligence coupled with knowledge and the poem’s construction of wisdom as ‘a condition of mind inseparable from such concepts as resolution, power, and foresight” (100).

“The poem explicitly constructs wisdom as something to be pursued, struggled for” (100).

“The mind is the place where books are interpreted (ll. 238–38), the lord is chosen (l. 392), and where the devil’s subversive suggestions are deposited (he can ‘mod hweteð’, l. 495, ‘turn the mind’)” (100).

“Solomon and Saturn II puts the onus of personal happiness, and indeed control and direction, on a fine and active mind, though these innate and conscious qualities also require the external stimulus of books, intelligent debate, and energetic application” (101).

“Wisdom is all in the mind in this poem, as one would expect, but its position there is contingent upon a range of internal and external factors, including fortune, choice, reinforcement by books, knowledge, restraint, and a duty of cheerfulness” (101).

“The fact that wisdom is not self-sustaining is one of the puzzling ideas of the poem” (101).

“wisdom is both innate and also organic and transmissible” (101).

“wisdom is generated through probing exchange with other wise people” (101).

“Wisdom, then, according to this poet, is both innate and requires application and development, is able to be shared and thereby increased” (101).

“Saturn’s developing appreciation of Solomon’s Christian wisdom, suggest that meaning is not stable, but rather is an indefinable phenomenon, open to individual interpretation and change, and capable of development through demonstration” (101).