Alfred's epistemological metaphors: eagan modes and scip modes

Abstract

Alfred's epistemological metaphors: eagan modes and scip modes    King Alfred's translations successively develop the metaphors of eagan modes and scip modes to render the implicit and explicit psychological contexts of nautical and ocular images in their Latin source-texts. The increasing complexity and independence of the metaphorical modification evident in the Old English translations suggest the order in which Alfred translated and reveal his maturing conception of epistemology, particularly the theory of illumination. In Pastoral Care, Consolations of Philosophy, Metres of Boethius, and, especially, Soliloquies, the interplay of these psychosomatic metaphors functions not as rhetorical flourish or stylistic ornamentation but as a means for Alfred to model his inferences about epistemological phenomena.

The Mind in the Old English Prose Psalms

“…67 Wilcox goes as far as to use the occurrence of this metaphor as evidence for a single, guiding will behind the Pastoral Care, Consolation and Soliloquies: while common authorship of the four translations, let alone Alfred's authorship, remains in doubt, the evidence of eagan modes certainly suggests that the creators of all four translations were working in the same environment. 68 While Wilcox's study does not treat the Prose Psalms in great detail, the use of eagan modes in this translation strongly suggests that it should be read in the same light as the others. 69 Elsewhere in the Prose Psalms the imagery of sight occurs in a psychological context which recalls the mind's struggles for true perception in the Old English Consolation and Soliloquies.…”

“…60 Wilcox notes the many occurrences of the phrase eagan modes in the Soliloquies, none of which correspond to the phrase oculi mentis in the source, though Augustine does use the image of sight to represent mental activity. 61 The phrase eagan modes appears on three occasions in the Prose Psalms, as in Ps(P)…”

The lady and the letter: Two ecclesiastical analogies in the Old English Soliloquies

“…Critical opinions tend either to emphasise the epistemology of Alfred's analogies in the Soliloquies, reducing them to nebulous abstractions which advocate an ascetic rejection of worldliness in order to pursue the divine (Wilcox 2006, Heuchan 2007, or conversely, they interpret Alfred's analogies as his means to replace Augustine's spiritual preoccupations with a king's more earthly, socio-political concerns (Ganze 2011). The imagery of the preface to the Soliloquies has been extensively studied (Sayers 2008, Irvine 2014: 164-166, Treschow 2017) but less studied are the analogies within the text itself.…”

“…The imagery of the preface to the Soliloquies has been extensively studied (Sayers 2008, Irvine 2014: 164-166, Treschow 2017) but less studied are the analogies within the text itself. Exceptions to this are Ruth Waterhouse's (1986) study of the ship, the lover, and the king, Miranda Wilcox's (2006) analysis of the "eyes of the mind" metaphor, and Paul Szarmach's (2014) survey of wisdom, health, and friendship as analogies. This article refines these previous studies by focusing on two specific analogies -the lady and the letter-and relating them to broader Alfredian concerns.…”