Cynewulf (/ˈkɪnɪˌwʊlf/)[1] is one of twelve[2] Old
English poets known
by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today. He presumably
flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th
and early 10th centuries.
Known for his religious
compositions, Cynewulf is regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of Anglo-Saxon Christian
poetry. Posterity knows of his name by means of runic signatures that are interwoven into the four
poems which comprise his scholastically recognized corpus. These poems are: The Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, Elene, and Christ
II (also
referred to as The Ascension).
The four signed poems of Cynewulf
are vast in that they collectively comprise several thousand lines of verse. In
comparison, the one work attributed to Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, is quite succinct at
nine lines.
Life
·
Dialect
Some basic statements can be made by
examining such aspects as the spellings of his name and his verse.[3] Although the Vercelli and Exeter manuscripts were primarily late West Saxon
in their scribal translations, it is most probable that Cynewulf wrote in the Anglian dialect and it follows that he resided
either in the province of Northumbria or Mercia.
This is shown through linguistic and
metrical analysis of his poems, e.g., Elene, where in the poem’s
epilogue (beginning l.1236) the “imperfect rhymes” become corrected when
Anglian forms of the words are substituted for the West Saxon forms. For
instance, the manuscript presents the miht:peaht false rhyme which can be
corrected when the middle vowel sounds of both words are replaced with an æ
sound.[4] The new maeht:paeht rhyme shows a
typical Anglian
smoothing of the ea.
Numerous other “Anglianisms” in Elene and Juliana have been taken
to be indicative of an original Anglian dialect underlying the West Saxon
translation of the texts.[5] Any definite conclusion to Cynewulf
being either Northumbrian or Mercian has been hard to come by, but linguistic
evidence suggests that the medial e in the signed Cynewulf would have, during
the broad window period of Cynewulf’s existence, been characteristic of a
Mercian dialect.[6]
·
Date
All the evidence considered, no
exact deduction of Cynewulf’s date is accepted, but it is likely he flourished
in the ninth
century.
A firm terminus ante quem
that can be put on the date of Cynewulf are the dates of the
A tentative terminus post quem
is based on the two textual variations of Cynewulf’s name, Cynewulf and
Cynwulf. The older spelling of the name was Cyniwulf, and Sisam points
out that the "i" tends to change to an "e" about the middle
of the eighth century, and the general use of the "i" phases itself
out by the end of the century, suggesting Cynewulf cannot be dated much before
the year 800.[7] Moreover, it has been argued that
the “cult of the cross,” which can find ground in Cynewulf’s Elene,
achieved its cultural apex in the eighth century.[8] Also deserving consideration is the
argument that the acrostic was most fashionable in ninth
century poetry and Cynewulf’s own acrostic signature would have followed the
trend during this time.[8]
·
Identity
Cynewulf was without question a
literate and educated man, since there is no other way we can "account for
the ripeness which he displays in his poetry."[9] Given the subject matter of his
poetry he was likely a "man in holy orders," and the deep Christian
knowledge conveyed through his verse implies that he was well learned in
ecclesiastical and hagiographical literature, as well as the dogma and doctrine
of the Catholic Church.[10] His apparent reliance on Latin sources
for inspiration also means he knew the Latin language, and this of course would
correlate with him being a man of the Church.
Cynewulf as an Anglo-Saxon
given name
(literally meaning "kin-wulf") is well attested. Cynewulf
of Lindisfarne (d.
c. 780) is a plausible candidate for Cynewulf the poet, based on the argument
that the poet's elaborate religious pieces must lend themselves to "the
scholarship and faith of the professional ecclesiastic speaking with
authority",[11] but this conclusion is not
universally accepted.[12] Alternative suggestions for the
poet's identity include Cynwulf, a Dunwich priest (fl. 803), and Cenwulf, Abbot of Peterborough (d. 1006).[13]
Works
Following the studies of S.K. Das
(1942) and Claes Schaar (1949),[14] mainstream scholarship tends to
limit Cynewulf’s canon to the four poems which bear his acrostic mark:[15] the Exeter Book holds Cynewulf’s Juliana and Christ II (The Ascension) and the Vercelli Book his Elene and Fates of the Apostles.
Early scholars for a long while
assigned a plethora of Old English pieces to Cynewulf on the basis that these
pieces somewhat resembled the style of his signed poems.[16] It was at one time plausible to
believe that Cynewulf was author of the Riddles of the Exeter Book, the Phoenix, the Andreas, and the Guthlac; even famous unassigned poems such as the Dream of the Rood, the Harrowing of Hell, and the Physiologus have at one time been ascribed to
him.
The four poems, like a substantial
portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry, are sculpted in alliterative
verse. All four
poems draw upon Latin sources such as homilies and hagiographies (the lives of saints) for
their content, and this is to be particularly contrasted to other Old English
poems, e.g. Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel, which are drawn directly from
the Bible as opposed to secondary accounts.
In terms of length, Elene is
by far the longest poem of Cynewulf’s corpus at 1,321 lines. It is followed by Juliana,
at 731 lines, Christ II, at 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostles,
at a brisk 122 lines. Three of the poems are “martyrolical,” in that the
central character(s) in each die/suffer for their religious values. In Elene,
Saint Helena endures her quest to find the Holy Cross and spread Christianity; in Juliana,
the title character dies after she refuses to marry a pagan man, thus retaining
her Christian integrity; in Fates of the Apostles, the speaker creates a
song that meditates on the deaths of the apostles which they “joyously faced.”[17]
Elene and Juliana fit in the category of
poems that depict the lives of saints. These two poems along with Andreas
and Guthlac (parts A and B) constitute the only versified saints'
legends in the Old English vernacular. The Ascension (Christ II)
is outside the umbrella of the other three works, and is a vehement description
of a devotional subject.
The exact chronology of the poems is
not known. One argument asserts that Elene is likely the last of the
poems because the "autobiographical" epilogue implies that Cynewulf
is old at the time of composition,[18] but this view has been doubted.
Nevertheless, it seems that Christ II and Elene represent the
cusp of Cynewulf’s career, while Juliana and Fates of the Apostles
seem to be created by a less inspired, and perhaps less mature, poet.[19]
Runic signature
All four of Cynewulf's poems contain
passages where the letters of the poet’s name are woven into the text using
runic symbols that also double as meaningful ideas pertinent to the text. In Juliana
and Elene, the interwoven name is spelled in the more recognizable form
as Cynewulf, while in Fates and Christ II it is observed without
the medial e so the runic acrostic says Cynwulf.
The practice of claiming authorship
over one’s poems was a break from the tradition of the anonymous poet, where no
composition was viewed as being owned by its creator. Cynewulf devised a
tradition where authorship would connote ownership of the piece and an
originality that would be respected by future generations. Furthermore, by
integrating his name, Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure and form
of his poetry that would “undergo mutations” otherwise.[20] From a different perspective,
Cynewulf’s intent may not have been to claim authorship, but to "seek the
prayers of others for the safety of his soul." It is contended that
Cynewulf wished to be remembered in the prayers of his audience in return for
the pleasure they would derive from his poems. In a sense his expectation of a
spiritual reward can be contrasted with the material reward that other poets of
his time would have expected for their craft.[21]
Justification as a poet
Cynewulf’s justification as a poet
stems from the idea that "poetry" was "associated with
wisdom."[22] In his Christ II, Cynewulf
writes the following:
“Then he who created this world…honoured us and gave us gifts…and also
sowed and set in the mind of men many kinds of wisdom of heart. One he allows
to remember wise poems, sends him a noble understanding, through the spirit of
his mouth. The man whose mind has been given the art of wisdom can say and sing
all kinds of things.”
By looking at Cynewulf’s
autobiographical reflection in the epilogue of Elene, it is evident that
he believes his own skill in poetry comes directly from God, who "unlocked the art of poesy"
within him.[23]
Cynewulf and Tolkien
Further information: Earendel
Cynewulf's poem Christ
II, and also Elene,
use the Old English word for the known world, middangeard (translated as "Middle-earth") and was a source used by J.R.R. Tolkien for his legendarium, specifically the Eärendil legend.
Eala Earendel engla beorhtast
Ofer middangeard monnum sended
Hail Earendel brightest of angels
Above Middle-earth sent unto men
Tolkien wrote "There was
something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could
grasp it, far beyond ancient English."[24]
Notes
1.
"Cynewulf". Collins English
Dictionary.
2. O'Donnell, Daniel Paul (2005). Cædmon's Hymn : a multimedia study, archive and edition.
3.
See Stokes 2006
4.
See Gradon 1958, pp. 13-14
5.
Gradon 1958, pp. 9-14 and Woolf
1955, pp. 2-4
6.
See Woolf 1955, p. 6
7.
See Gradon 1958, p. 14
8.
Gradon 1958, p. 23
9.
See Cook 1900, lxxxii
10.
Bradley 1982, p. 217
11.
See Kennedy, p. 20
12.
See Gradon 1958
13. Anderson, George K. (2015) [1949]. The Literature of the Anglo-Saxons. Princeton:
14.
A New Critical History of Old
English Literature, P.164 and p.180
15.
16.
See Cook 1900
17.
18.
See Kennedy 1963, p. 20
19.
See Woolf 1955, p. 7
20.
See Wolf 1955, p. 8; Bradley
1982, p. 218
21.
See Raw 1978, p. 7
22.
See Raw 1978, pp. 24-25
23.
See Bradley 1982, p. 195,
ll.1248-49
24.
See Day 2003, p. 8.
References
·
Bradley, S.A.J,
ed. and tr. 1982. Anglo-Saxon Poetry,
·
Cook, Albert S.,
ed. 1900. The Christ of
·
Day, David. 2003 The
World of Tolkien. London:
Octopus Publishing Group
·
Fulk, R.D. and
Christopher M. Cain
·
Gradon, P.O.E.,
ed. 1958. Cynewulf's Elene,
·
·
Kennedy, Charles
W. 1963. Early English Christian Poetry,
·
Raw, Barabara C.
1978. The Art and Background of Old English Poetry,
·
Stokes, Peter A.
2006. "Cynewulf". The Literary Encyclopedia, The Literary
Dictionary Company. 30 October 2006. <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1102>
·
Woolf, Rosemary, ed.
1955. Juliana,
·
Zupitza, Julius.
1899. Cynewulfs Elene.
External
links
·
Works by Cynewulf at Project Gutenberg
·
Works by or about Cynewulf at Internet Archive
·
Morrison, Holmes Sterling. 1986. Historiographical perspectives in the signed poems of
Cynewulf,
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