31 pages • 1 hour read
AnonymousJudith
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 975A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
Beowulf by Author Unknown (sometime in the 9th or 10th century)
Inevitably, Judith is read in conjunction with Beowulf, the much-anthologized Medieval Old English battle epic. Because Judith was bound in the same codex and bears some thematic and stylistic similarities to Beowulf, scholars have conjectured that they may have been written by the same poet. In both epics, a central hero, driven by Christian faith, stands up against and ultimately defeats a monstrous pagan foe.
“Judith” by Vicki Feaver (1994)
A contemporary psychological take on the story of Judith and Holofernes, this poem assumes the biblical characterization of Judith as a grieving widow. The poem, which inhabits Judith’s mind at the moment of the killing, squares how Judith can be both pious widow and bloodthirsty murderer who, helpless and driven by grief over the death of her husband, slays the general at the moment he himself is helpless.
“Judith and Holofernes” A. H. Jerriod Avant (2023)
Inspired by one of the numerous Renaissance paintings that depict Judith’s execution of Holofernes, the poem investigates how the poet studies the painting itself. The author ponders the terrible beauty of insurrection and the bloody cost of resisting unreasonable and immoral authority. The poem focuses on the story of Judith as a death-to-tyrants parable.
Further Literary Resources
“Representing the Biblical Judith in Literature and Art: An Intertextual Cultural Critique” by Peggy L. Curry (1994)
The biblical story of Judith, given its nearly unique position in the Old Testament as a story of a powerful female warrior, has occasioned a surprising number of paintings and treatment in other works of literature from the Renaissance to the postmodern era. This far-ranging article explores a number of these examples and suggests the reason for Judith’s appeal: “She had vision. She discovered right action and followed it at great personal risk. Though undoubtedly given the opportunity to ‘capitalize’ on her heroic status after the victory was won, she did not” (p. 1).
“Judith: The Homily and the Poem” by Ian Pringle (1975)
The article, now considered seminal, suggests that Judith should be read as a sermon, a moral parable, rather than as history. The article reconstructs both Judith and Holofernes not as three-dimensional, complex historical figures but as two-dimensional characters designed to teach a clear lesson about God’s power and the integrity of the Christian vision.
“The Old English Judith: Can a Woman Be a Hero?” by Kelly Guenther (2011)
The article confronts the most salient critical question about the poem by investigating how rarely the figure of a powerful woman appears in the literature of Old English. The article provides a helpful look at the patriarchal culture of the Anglo-Saxon missionary communities in Britain and how Judith could easily be perceived as a threat rather than as an inspiration. The article ultimately draws comparisons between Judith and the Virgin Mary to suggest how the early Christian Church negotiated the idea of a powerful but pure woman.
Listen to the Poem
The dramatic beheading section of Judith (Parts 2, 3) was recorded in 2018 as part of the Medieval Tales in Performance series, presented on YouTube by stage and screen performer Nora Garrett. The presentation is stark and minimalist, with Garrett reciting the passage in black and white. The performance captures the complex mix of strength and vulnerability as Judith goes about the bloody business of beheading the general.
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