Cynewulf Biography

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Dictionary of Literary Biography on Cynewulf

Old English poems are the written versions of oral and oral-derived works, and like all compositions of tradition-dependent societies, they are primarily anonymous. Because of the influence of the Christian missionaries and of monasticism, Anglo-Saxon England was a period of transition from oral culture to literate culture, as attested by the existence of the vernacular poems in manuscript form. The names of five vernacular poets are known, although the poems of King Alfred (849-899) and Aldhelm (circa 640-709) have been lost. To Bede, who lived between 673 and 735 and who was the author of many important Latin works, including Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (731), is attributed a five-line poem known as "The Death Song." Bede's Latin history recounts the biography of Caedmon, who lived at the monastery of Whitby during Hild's abbacy (658-680). Bede considers Caedmon to have been the first poet to compose Christian vernacular poetry in England. Although Bede relates that Caedmon composed many works that were copied by monastic scribes, only the nine-line poem known as Caedmon's Hymn can be attributed to him with certainty.

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