The structure of the book is skillfully organized. The whole book contains prose homilies and prescribes the rules which every anchoress is to follow in her private life as well as the public.
It is also held that the book was written particularly for the nuns who dwelt in a religious house in Terrent in Dorsetshire. It consists of the rules for an ascetic life, given by a prelate to three anchorites, who have decided to dwell in a solitary place, near a church.Ībout the authorship of this work, there is controversy, but it is now generally accepted that Bishop Poware wrote it. The work is a non-popular, devotional treatise, containing instructions and guidelines to a woman, intended for embracing the secluded and sacred life of an anchoress. Produced in the earlier part of the thirteenth century, it remains the best specimen of the English prose of the time.
Ancrene Riwle ( also known as Ancrene Wisse or Guide for Anchoresses) is perhaps, the most notable work in English prose, after the great days of Alfred and Aelfric.
