Give an
account of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry.
In England two great school
of Christian Influence put an end of the frightful war among the various
Kingdom of the Anglo – Saxon. In 597 A. D under the leadership of
St. Augustine who came from Rome Christianity was introduced in
England especially in the South and center of England. The other the leadership
of Aidan, came from Ireland which country had been for centuries a center
of religion and education for Western Europe.
To J. Long – “The coming of
Christianity meant not simply a new life and leader from England. It meant also
the wealth of a new language. The seop is now replaced by the literature monk,
and that monk and thought lives among common people and speaks with the England
that has behind him all the culture and literature recourse of the Latin
language. The effect is seen instantly in our early prose and poetry.”
Anglo – Saxon Christian
poetry is mainly the works of the Christian poetry who were monks –
(A) Caedmon (c.675)
(B) Cynewulf (c.800)
(A) Caedmon (c.675)
(B) Cynewulf (c.800)
(A)Caedmon:
About Caedmon’s life what
have come to us in from Bede’s “Ecclesiastical
History”. From Bede’s we come to know that he was a herd man of
Hilda monastery at whit by. One day when a first was going on inside the
monastery Caedmon left the place and fell asleep among the cattle.
In his Sleep he had the
vision of a strange figure who asked him to sing. Caedmon asked – “What shall I
sing”? And the strange figure said “Sing the beginning of created things”. As
Caedmon was an illiterate man it is said the Bible was read to him.
Caedmon was remembered for
his paraphrase of the holy Bible. These were written by Caedmon 670 A.D.
We have got five poems
namely “Genesis”,“Exodus”,
“Daniel”, “Judith” and “Christ and Satan”.
