What is cynewulf?

Cynewulf (/ˈkɪniwʊlf/, Old English: ; also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf) is one of twelve 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.

One of the pre-eminent figures of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry is Cynewulf, known for his religious compositions. Posterity knows of his name by means of runic signatures that are interwoven into the four poems which comprise his scholarlyally recognized corpus de él.

The Fates of the Apostles, Elene, and Christ II are poems.

The four signed poems of Cynewulf comprise thousands of lines of verse. The work attributed to Cdmon, Cdmon's Hymn, is nine lines long.

Some basic statements can be made by examining such aspects as the spellings of his name and his verse. 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.

In the poem's epilogue, the imperfect rhymes become corrected when the West Saxon forms are used.

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 sound. 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. 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.

There are 7

The date of Cynewulf's birth is likely to have flourished in the ninth century.

The Vercelli and Exeter manuscripts are dated in the second half of the tenth century and can be dated on the date of Cynewulf. The full range of Old English literature can be found between the 7th and the early 10th century. Any attempt to link the man with a documented historical figure has met failure or resulted in an improbable connection. However, the presence of early West Saxon forms in both manuscripts means that it is possible an Alfredian scribe initially translated Cynewulf's verse, placing him no later than the turn of the tenth century.

The two variations of Cynewulf's name are used to create a tentative post. 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. 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. The argument that the acrostic was most fashionable in ninth century poetry and that Cynewulf's own acrostic signature would have followed the trend during this time is deserving consideration.

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". 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. 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 is an Anglo-Saxon given name. Lindisfarne has a Cynewulf.

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", but this conclusion is not universally accepted. Alternative suggestions for the poet's identity include Cynwulf, a Dunwich priest (fl. The Abbot of Peterborough was named Cenwulf, Abbot. 1006).

In Christ II, Cynewulf wrote.

Similarly, Cynewulf's autobiographical reflection in the epilogue of Elene claims that his own skill in poetry comes directly from God, who "unlocked the art of poetry" within him. Cynewulf seems to have justified his poetic endeavors of him through a philosophy in which poetry was "associated with wisdom".

Mainstream scholarship tends to limit the canon to the four poems which bear his acrostic mark.

The Vercelli Book his Elene and Fates of the Apostles is in the Exeter Book.

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. 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 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.

Elene is the longest poem in Cynewulf's work at 1,321 lines. The Fates of the Apostles is followed by Christ II, at 431 lines, and 731 lines. Three of the poems have a central character who dies 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".

The lives of saints are depicted in poems by Elene and Juliana. The only saints' legends in the Old English language are the two poems. The Ascension is a description of a devotional subject that is outside the umbrella of the other three works.

The exact time of the poems is not known. The autobiographical epilogue implies that Cynewulf is old at the time of composition, but this view has been doubted.

It seems that Christ II and Elene are the closest to Cynewulf's career as a poet.

The letters of the poet's name are woven into the text using runic symbols that double as meaningful ideas.

The interwoven name is spelled in the more recognizable form of Cynewulf, but it is not seen in Fates and Christ II.

The tradition of the anonymous poet was broken by the practice of claiming authority over one's poetry. Cynewulf created a tradition where authorship would mean ownership of the piece and it would be respected by future generations.

Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure and form of his poetry that would be lost if he did not integrate his name from him. From a different perspective, Cynewulf's intent may not have been to claim authority, but to "seek the prayers of others for the safety of his soul from him". 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 by him. His expectation of a spiritual reward can be compared with the material reward other poets of his time would have expected from him.