"ANDREAS" AND "THE LIFES WEG": Convention and Innovation in Old English Metaphor

The Andreas-poet, in attempting to express metaphorical Christian concepts in the inherently "literal" form of heroic verse, has successfully managed to juxtapose the Christian and the heroic worlds by means of strategically chosen image patterns — notably the image of the "Way," which appears in all of Andreas' major episodes. Though the Christian concept of the "Way" is usually viewed as an abstraction drawn from Christ's identification of himself as the via in the Gospel, the Andreas-poet has exploited the potential of this metaphor as a literal narrative device, showing us ways, paths, streets, and roads both in the plot and in the narrative commentary surrounding the poem's important episodes. The result of this innovative process of literalization is a clear but constantly shifting relationship between the poem's literal level and its spiritual message, pointing to unexpected complexity and sophistication in Old English poetic practice.