From my point of view the work on the theme in Anglo-Saxon poetics got off on what I always thought was the wrong foot. What Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr., called a theme was not what either I or Parry meant by the term. His meaning, nevertheless, was to prevail and is found in Riedinger's Speculum article—not under that name, however, but as a "cluster" of motifs. [1] Yet could it be that that is as close to my theme as can be expected in Anglo-Saxon poetry? Let us examine the proposition, because those who have sought "theme" there seem to have been frustrated, as was, for example, Francelia Clark, who has investigated this subject thoroughly. [2]
