История литературы / 5. The beginning of Eng relogious poetry. Caedmon and Cynewulf

Caedmon was one of the greatest poets of the OE period. He was Bede`s contemporary. He also lived in a monastery but had never learnt how to make verses. Usually he sang in vernacular and all of a sudden he began to compose poems. That`s why Bede accounted of Caedmon as of a certain brother gifted by God. He registered Caedmon`s verses but in Latin. Some other scops (переписчики) wrote Caedmon`s poems in the original Northumbrian dialect and one of the poems was found on the last manuscript of Bede`s work (737 year). Caedmon`s poems may serve as a bridge from oral poetry to written one. This poem is called The Hymn. It has all the characteristic features of medieval English verse: alliteration, abrupt lines more like interjections, the absence of connecting particles, periphrasis (repetition of the same idea in various phrases). 8 lines here are about God & God’s might, 3 lines about God’s making the earth, 3 lines about the earth itself. The structure is very much symmetrical & the refrains give it a jazzy quality. This verse is more like a prayer. It praises everything God did for people. Caedmon resorted to pauses very often and made this pauses inside every line. Each line consists of 4 stresses and after every 2 there is a pause. A pause inside the line is called caesura. It broke the verse into 2 parts. It was primarily used by gleemen. If they needed to speed up they pronounced only the left part of the poem. If they needed to slow down they pronounced both parts. It means that both parts were grammatically correct. Caedmon adopted this oral tradition and caesura became one more characteristic feature of Anglo-Saxon poetry. The nest feature typical of this Hymn is the usage of a refrain – the repetition of one and the same idea, but paraphrased. (Holly shaper, eternal Lord, Lord all-mighty, etc). As in all samples of early Anglo-Saxon poetry the subject matter is again religious. Caedmon in his hymn shows himself to be a true scholar. His verse combines the features of a prayer and a praise. The Hymn may be called a psalm because this verse belongs to a person who is overwhelmed with emotions and is eager to share his sincere feelings. There is one more feature that is very much typical of OE poetry. Everything the poet describes he saw in a dream or vision. At those time people who saw visions were considered to be inspired by God, because it meant that they prayed a lot during daytime. The next Anglo-Saxon poet is Cynewulf. He was already a Mercian poet of the later part of the 8^th century. He was one of the rare poets who signed his verses. Nearly all OE poetry was anonymous. Cynewulf signed his poetry not because of the idea of fame. He supposed that people who liked his poetry would mention him in his prayers. The subject matter of his verses was again purely religious. The richness of his poetry and its high technical excellency mark his poetry as classical. The Dream of the Rood (распятие) is one of the most beautiful samples of all English religious poems. As it is the dream of the Rood, the chief strategy here is personification. It is the monologue of the Rood on which Jesus Christ was crucified. In choosing this point of view Cynewulf shows greatest originality. He doesn`t speak himself, the speaker if the piece of wood. The author animates the rood and makes it express pity for Christ and self-reproach for the Rood itself, because the Peed had to take the part in the greatest crime. Cynewulf explores the paradox. Christ`s death is equal to Christ`s trial/ There on the Rood Christ experiences rebirth and his death is the victory in the long run. Both Caedmon and Cynewulf were really great in giving us imagery that we need in order to understand quite clearly the devotion of medieval people to Christian ideas.