A Close Reading of the Feast of Holofernes: Inversions of Anglo-Saxon Feasting Culture Moira Anne Bender College

In the Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition, the feast is the epitome of order in society. Feast scenes such as those scene in heroic poems like Beowulf give leaders the opportunity to solidify their retainers’ bonds through generosity and gift-giving, while heroes inspired themselves for battle and proved their bravery through boasting and speeches of fealty. Overall, “to provide a feast was...about sustaining the social order of the world” (Arthur 3). The poet of Judith, aware of this tradition, purposefully chooses the feast to create a negative exemplum of heroism and leadership. Through wrongful use of heroic diction with the Assyrian army and the modus of drink as a channel for unheroic behaviour, the poet inverts a healthy comitatus at the fault of Holofernes.

Within Anglo-Saxon literary tradition, not all of the Assyrian army’s behaviour would be considered abnormal or subversive. In this early passage, their prowess in battle and the threat they posed as warriors were features of utmost importance and reverence in Anglo-Saxon society. Both the Biblical story and the more contemporary sermon from Aelfric detail Holofernes’ army’s terrible destruction leading up to their war on Judith’s people. Although the poetic version is...