Trebuchet Speech
Whereas the proud speech of Melissa Range’s Trebuchet stands as a warning about the ways in which admirable and useful human ingenuity can be perverted to serve ugly and destructive purposes, the Bible in the Anglo-Saxon riddle “Some Enemy Took my Life” offers a Christ-like counter-example of the way that the violence of human craftsmanship can produce art that encourages a community of peace and love. The trebuchet brags of its ingenious creation by intelligent humans, but it speaks of the destruction that comes with such a basic and creative invention. Humans make trebuchets from combining other “harmless machines”(1) so that the machines will be “in harmony”(2). The result is an efficient machine, the trebuchet. Its harmony
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Like the small machines put together to create the trebuchet, pieces of paper create the Bible. The creators violently “[strip]”(2) the paper from its strength, just like Jesus being put under arrest for his teaching. After its painful stripping, the paper then “[drowns]”(3) in water and is then “set…in the sun”(4) like Jesus being set in the sun, hanging from the cross. “A knife-edge cut…”(6) the paper and it also cut Jesus when the spear jab cut him while he was hanging on the cross. The paper suffers through “scrap[ing]”(7) to get the best result that the creators want. However, the paper resurrects into a new and beautiful beginning. The paper is met by a “hero”(14) who “[covers the paper] with guardian boards of oak wood”(15), creating the collection of paper into the Bible. Unlike the result of the machines, the result of the paper is “adorned with gold”(17) and “rich threads”(19) and “filigreed wire”(19) decorate the book, enhancing the beauty of the Bible. The book displays its “bright trappings”(20) and its “red dye, and gleaming jewels”(20-21) and shows that it has become a magnificent work of art. The Word of God creates a comforting community of people because it makes men and children “safer”(24) and “[assures them] of more victories”(24), just like how people pray to Jesus
Like the small machines put together to create the trebuchet, pieces of paper create the Bible. The creators violently “[strip]”(2) the paper from its strength, just like Jesus being put under arrest for his teaching. After its painful stripping, the paper then “[drowns]”(3) in water and is then “set…in the sun”(4) like Jesus being set in the sun, hanging from the cross. “A knife-edge cut…”(6) the paper and it also cut Jesus when the spear jab cut him while he was hanging on the cross. The paper suffers through “scrap[ing]”(7) to get the best result that the creators want. However, the paper resurrects into a new and beautiful beginning. The paper is met by a “hero”(14) who “[covers the paper] with guardian boards of oak wood”(15), creating the collection of paper into the Bible. Unlike the result of the machines, the result of the paper is “adorned with gold”(17) and “rich threads”(19) and “filigreed wire”(19) decorate the book, enhancing the beauty of the Bible. The book displays its “bright trappings”(20) and its “red dye, and gleaming jewels”(20-21) and shows that it has become a magnificent work of art. The Word of God creates a comforting community of people because it makes men and children “safer”(24) and “[assures them] of more victories”(24), just like how people pray to Jesus