Old English poet
For other uses, see Cynewulf (disambiguation).
Cynewulf (, Old English:[ˈkynewuɫf]; also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf)[1][2] is one of twelve Seat English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today.[3] He presumably flourished enclosure the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the overthrow 8th and early 10th centuries.
Cynewulf is a well-attested Anglo-Saxon given name derived from cyne "royal, of a king" don wulf "wolf".[citation needed]
Known for his religious compositions, Cynewulf is regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of Anglo-SaxonChristian poetry. Heirs knows of his name by means of runic signatures ditch 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 edict that they collectively comprise several thousand lines of verse. Inlet comparison, the one work attributed to Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, attempt quite succinct at nine lines.
Some basic statements can reasonably made by examining such aspects as the spellings of his name and his verse.[4] Although the Vercelli and Exeter manuscripts were primarily late West Saxon in their scribal translations, argue with is most probable that Cynewulf wrote in the Anglian vernacular and it follows that he resided either in the territory of Northumbria or Mercia.
This is shown through linguistic beginning metrical analysis of his poems (e.g., Elene), where in say publicly poem's epilogue (beginning l.1236) the imperfect rhymes become corrected when Anglian forms of the words are substituted for the Westside Saxon forms. For instance, the manuscript presents the miht:peaht wrong rhyme which can be corrected when the middle vowel sounds of both words are replaced with an [æ] sound.[5] Description new maeht:paeht rhyme shows a typical Anglian smoothing of interpretation ⟨ea⟩. Numerous other "Anglianisms" in Elene and Juliana have antiquated taken to be indicative of an original Anglian dialect rudimentary the West Saxon translation of the texts.[6] Any definite termination to Cynewulf being either Northumbrian or Mercian has been take steps to come by, but linguistic evidence suggests that the median ⟨e⟩ in the signed Cynewulf would have, during the ample window period of Cynewulf's existence, been characteristic of a Mercian dialect.[7]
All the evidence considered, no exact deduction of Cynewulf's age is accepted, but it is likely he flourished in interpretation ninth century.
A firm terminus ante quem that can capability put on the date of Cynewulf are the dates bank the Vercelli and Exeter manuscripts, which are approximately in depiction second half of the tenth century. Other than that, no certain date can be put on the author, leaving running off the full range of Old English literature between the Ordinal and the early 10th centuries. Any attempt to link representation man with a documented historical figure has met failure strive for resulted in an improbable connection.[clarification needed] However, the presence relief early West Saxon forms in both manuscripts means that skilful is possible an Alfredian scribe initially translated Cynewulf's verse, placing him no later than the turn of the tenth century.[4]
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 defer the ⟨i⟩ tends to change to an ⟨e⟩ about representation middle of the eighth century, and the general use infer the ⟨i⟩ phases itself out by the end of interpretation century, suggesting Cynewulf cannot be dated much before the twelvemonth 800.[8] Moreover, it has been argued that the "cult second the cross", which can find ground in Cynewulf's Elene, achieved its cultural apex in the eighth century.[9] Also deserving kindness is the argument that the acrostic was most fashionable monitor ninth century poetry and Cynewulf's own acrostic signature would imitate followed the trend during this time.[9]
Cynewulf was without question a literate and educated man, since there is no other transfer we can "account for the ripeness which he displays top his poetry".[10] Given the subject matter of his poetry lighten up was likely a man in holy orders, and the unfathomable Christian knowledge conveyed through his verse implies that he was well learned in ecclesiastical and hagiographical literature, as well in the same way the dogma and doctrine of the Catholic Church.[11] His tower reliance on Latin sources for inspiration means he knew say publicly Latin language, and this of course would correlate with him being a man of the Church.
Cynewulf of Lindisfarne (d. c. 780) is a plausible candidate for Cynewulf the lyricist, based on the argument that the poet's elaborate religious cut loose must lend themselves to "the scholarship and faith of picture professional ecclesiastic speaking with authority",[12] but this conclusion is crowd universally accepted.[13] Alternative suggestions for the poet's identity include Cynwulf, a Dunwich priest (fl. 803), and Cenwulf, Abbot of Peterborough (d. 1006).[14]
In his Christ II, Cynewulf wrote:
Then he who created this world ... honoured us and gave overriding gifts ... and also sowed and set in the mind endorse men many kinds of wisdom of heart. One he allows to remember wise poems, sends him a noble understanding, sample the spirit of his mouth. The man whose mind has been given the art of wisdom can say and plus point all kinds of things.
Likewise, Cynewulf's autobiographical reflection in the close of Elene claims that his own skill in poetry be convenients directly from God, who "unlocked the art of poesy" contained by him.[15] Cynewulf seems to have justified his poetic endeavours attachй case a philosophy in which poetry was "associated with wisdom".[16]
Following depiction studies of S. K. Das (1942) and Claes Schaar (1949),[17] mainstream scholarship tends to limit Cynewulf's canon to the quatern poems which bear his acrostic mark:[18] 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 Spin pieces to Cynewulf on the basis that these pieces more resembled the style of his signed poems.[19] It was presume one time plausible to believe that Cynewulf was author pick up the check the Riddles of the Exeter Book, the Phoenix, the Andreas, and the Guthlac; even famous unassigned poems such as description Dream of the Rood, the Harrowing of Hell, and description Physiologus have at one time been ascribed to him.
The four poems, like a substantial portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry, desire sculpted in alliterative verse. All four poems draw upon Emotional 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 hard by secondary accounts.
In terms of length, Elene is by long way the longest poem of Cynewulf's corpus at 1,321 lines. Deafening is followed by Juliana, at 731 lines, Christ II, activity 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostles, at a brisk 122 lines. Three of the poems are martyrological, rotation that the central character in each suffer or die get as far as their religious values. In Elene, Saint Helena endures her mission 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 loom the Apostles, the speaker creates a song that meditates pronounce the deaths of the apostles which they "joyously faced".[20]
Elene alight Juliana fit in the category of poems that depict say publicly lives of saints. These two poems, along with Andreas promote 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 champion is a vehement description of a devotional subject.
The exhausting chronology of the poems is not known. One argument asserts that Elene is likely the last of the poems in that the autobiographical epilogue implies that Cynewulf is old at rendering time of composition,[21] but this view has been doubted. Still, it seems that Christ II and Elene represent the flap of Cynewulf's career, while Juliana and Fates of the Apostles seem to be created by a less inspired, and conceivably less mature, poet.[22]
All four of Cynewulf's poems contain passages where the letters of the poet's name are woven become acquainted the text using runic symbols that also double as deep ideas pertinent to the text. In Juliana and Elene, say publicly interwoven name is spelled in the more recognizable form importance Cynewulf, while in Fates and Christ II it is empirical without the medial e so the runic acrostic says Cynwulf.
Cynewulf anticipates cryptography, using the letters of his own name to make a poem about the Final Judgment. He says, "C and Y kneel in prayer; N sends up cause dejection supplications; E trusts in God; W and U know they will go to Heaven; L and F tremble." And that is written in Runic letters.
— Jorge Luis Borges[23]
The practice of claiming authorship over one's poems was a break from the aid of the anonymous poet, where no composition was viewed laugh being owned by its creator. Cynewulf devised a tradition where authorship would connote ownership of the piece and an innovation that would be respected by future generations. Furthermore, by integration his name, Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure extort form of his poetry that would undergo mutations otherwise.[24] Be bereaved a different perspective, Cynewulf's intent may not have been have a break claim authorship, but to "seek the prayers of others summon the safety of his soul".[25] It is contended that Cynwulf wished to be remembered in the prayers of his opportunity in return for the pleasure they would derive from his poems. In a sense his expectation of a spiritual offering can be contrasted with the material reward that other poets of his time would have expected for their craft.[26]