a curse. The Anglo-Saxon culture that took all acts of ƿearg-cƿedol (evil speaking) very seriously and even warily watched for potential witches, Niles argues, would have little trouble accepting the poem as a curse. Whether intended as a formal malediction or an emotional vituperation is less important. Influence Various efforts have been made to link this poem to later works featuring innocent, persecuted heroines, but its lyrical nature and brevity of information make establishing such links difficult. For instance, the Crescentia cycle, a series of chivalric romances such as Le Bone Florence of Rome featuring a woman persecuted by her brother-in-law and would-be seducer, has been said to traced to it; however, the woman herself complains only of malevolent relatives, not the specific brother-in-law that is the distinctive trait of the Crescentia cycle. Similarly, attempts have been made to link it to the Constance cycle, where the heroine is persecuted by her wicked mother-in-law, which has English instances of Vitae duorum Offarum, Emaré, and The Man of Law's Tale, but no definitive conclusion can be made. Editions, translations, and recordings These include: The Exeter Book, ed. by George Philip Krapp and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition, 3 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), pp. 210–11. (Edition.) Three Old English Elegies, ed. by R. F. Leslie (Aberdeen: Manchester University Press, 1961). (Edition.) ‘The Wife’s Lament’, trans. by R. M. Liuzza, in The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 1: The Medieval Period, ed. by Joseph Black and others (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2006), p. 21. (Translation.) . (Student edition.) (Student edition.) (Student edition.) (Student edition and translation.) Michael D. C. Drout, 'The Wife’s Lament', Anglo-Saxon Aloud (2 November 2007). (Reading.) See also Exeter Book Wulf and Eadwacer The Wanderer Old English literature The Husband's Message Freyja References Footnotes External links The Wife's Lament (Old English) The Wife's Lament Modern English Translation with Translator's Comments Wife's Lament