1. CÆDMONIAN SCHOOL
[Concerning the man Cædmon, we have nothing but Bede’s account in his Ecclesiastical History (see [p. 179 below]) and Cædmon’s Hymn.
Genesis was first published in Amsterdam 1655, next in 1752. The first editions brought Genesis under Cædmon’s name, because of Bede’s account. There is, however, no such clue in the manuscript. The assignment of Genesis to Cædmon was questioned by Hicks as early as 1689. The Cædmonian authorship was defended in the early part of the nineteenth century by Conybeare and Thorpe. It is now agreed that all the Cædmonian Paraphrases are probably by different authors.
Cf. A. S. Cook, “The Name Cædmon,” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vi, 9, and “Cædmon and the Ruthwell Cross,” Modern Language Notes, v, 153.]
CÆDMON’S HYMN
[Text used: Kluge, Angelsächsisches Lesebuch.
Prose translation: Kennedy, The Cædmon Poems, p. xvii.
The poem is interesting in that it is found in two texts, the Northumbrian and the West Saxon. It is the only thing we have that was undoubtedly written by Cædmon.]
Now shall we praise the Prince of heaven,
The might of the Maker and his manifold thought,
The work of the Father: of what wonders he wrought
The Lord everlasting, when he laid out the worlds.
5 He first raised up for the race of men
[The] heaven as a roof, the holy Ruler.
Then the world below, the Ward of mankind,
The Lord everlasting, at last established
As a home for man, the Almighty Lord.
Primo cantavit Cædmon istud carmen.
[6.] The many synonyms (known as “kennings”) make this passage impossible to translate into smooth English. This fact is true in a measure of all old English poetry, but it is especially the case with this hymn.
BEDE’S DEATH SONG
[Text used: Kluge, Angelsächsisches Lesebuch.
This poem was attributed to Bede, who died in 735, by his pupil, Cuthbert, who translated it into Latin. The Northumbrian version is in a manuscript at St. Gall.
These verses are examples of gnomic poetry, which was very popular in Old English literature. Miss Williams, in her Gnomic Poetry in Anglo-Saxon (Columbia University Press, 1914), p. 67, says that this is the earliest gnomic expression in Old English for which a definite date may be set.
Text criticism: Charlotte D’Evelyn, “Bede’s Death Song,” Modern Language Notes, xxx, 31.]
[Before] leaving this life there lives no one
Of men of wisdom who will not need
To consider and judge, ere he sets on his journey,
What his soul shall be granted of good or evil—
5 After his day of death what doom he shall meet.
[1.] Bede, the author of the Ecclesiastical History of England, was the greatest figure in the English church of the seventh and eighth centuries.
SELECTIONS FROM GENESIS
[The poem readily divides itself into two parts: Genesis A, the bulk of the poem, and Genesis B, lines 235-853. The latter is a translation from the Old Saxon. The passage here translated is from Genesis A.
GENESIS A
Critical edition of Genesis A: F. Holthausen, Die ältere Genesis, Heidelberg, 1914.
Translation: C. W. Kennedy, The Cædmon Poems, New York, 1916, p. 7.
Partial translation: W. F. H. Bosanquet, The Fall of Man or Paradise Lost of Cædmon, London, 1869.
Date and place: Early eighth century; Northern England. The author was obviously acquainted with Beowulf.
Source: Vulgate Bible; first twenty-two chapters.]
The Offering of Isaac
2845 [Then] the powerful King put to the test
His trusted servant; tried him sorely
To learn if his love was lasting and certain.
With strongest words he sternly said to him:
“Hear me and hasten hence, O Abraham.
2850 As thou leavest, lead along with thee
Thy own child Isaac! As an offering to me
Thyself shalt sacrifice thy son with thy hands.
When thy steps have struggled up the steep hill-side,
To the height of the land which from here I shall show you—
2855 When thine own feet have climbed, there an altar erect me,
Build a fire for thy son; and thyself shalt kill him
With the edge of the sword as a sacrifice to me;
Let the black flame burn the body of that dear one.”
He delayed not his going, but began at once
2860 To prepare for departure: he was compelled to obey
The angel of the Lord, and he loved his God.
And then the faultless father Abraham
Gave up his night’s rest; he by no means failed
To obey the Lord’s bidding, but the blessed man
2865 Girded his gray sword, God’s spirit he showed
That he bore in his breast. His beasts then he fed,
This aged giver of gold. To go on the journey
Two young men he summoned: his son made the third;
He himself was the fourth. He set forward eagerly
2870 From his own home and Isaac with him,
The child ungrown, as charged by his God.
Then he hurried ahead and hastened forth
Along the paths that the Lord had pointed,
The way through the waste; till the wondrous bright
2875 Dawn of the third day over the deep water
Arose in radiance. Then the righteous man
Saw the hill-tops rise high around him,
As the holy Ruler of heaven had shown him.
Then Abraham said to his serving-men:
2880 “O men of mine, remain here now
Quietly in this place! We shall quickly return
When we two have performed the task before us
Which the Sovereign of souls has assigned us to do.”
The old man ascended with his own son
2885 To the place which the Lord had appointed for them,
Went through the wealds; the wood Isaac carried—
His father the fire and the sword. Then first inquired
The boy young in winters, in these words of Abraham:
“Fire and sword, my father, we find here ready:
2890 Where is the glorious offering which to God on the altar
Thou thinkest to bring and burn as a sacrifice?”
Abraham answered (he had only one thing
That he wished to perform, the will of the Father):
“The Sovereign of all himself shall find it,
2895 As the Lord of men shall believe to be meet.”
Up the steep hill struggled the stout-hearted man,
Leading the child as the Lord had charged,
Till climbing he came to the crest of the height,
To the place appointed by the powerful Lord,
2900 Following the commands of his faithful Master.
He loaded the altar and lighted the fire,
And fettered fast the feet and hands
Of his beloved son and lifted upon it
The youthful Isaac, and instantly grasped
2905 The sword by the hilt; his son he would kill
With his hands as he promised and pour on the fire
The gore of his kinsman. —Then God’s servant,
An angel of the Lord, to Abraham loudly
Spoke with words. He awaited in quiet
2910 The behests from on high and he hailed the angel.
Then forthwith spoke from the spacious heavens
The messenger of God, with gracious words:
“Burn not thy boy, O blessed Abraham,
Lift up the lad alive from the altar;
2915 The God of Glory grants him his life!
O man of the Hebrews, as meed for thy obedience,
Through the holy hand of heaven’s King,
Thyself shall receive a sacred reward,
A liberal gift: the Lord of Glory
2920 Shall favor thee with fortune; his friendship shall be
More sacred than thy son himself to thee.”
The altar still burned. Abraham was blessed
By the King of mankind, the kinsman of Lot,
With the grace of God, since he gave his son,
2925 Isaac, alive. Then the aged man looked
Around over his shoulder, and a ram he saw
Not far away fastened alone
In a bramble bush— [Haran’s brother] saw it.
Then Abraham seized it and set it on the altar
2930 In eager haste for his own son.
With his sword he smote it; as a sacrifice he adorned
The reeking altar with the ram’s hot blood,
Gave to his God this gift and thanked him
For all of the favors that before and after
2935 The Lord had allowed him in his loving grace.
[1.] This selection is based directly on the biblical account of the offering of Isaac. The clearness with which the picture is visualized by the poet, and the fine restraint in the telling of the dramatic incident make this passage a fitting close for the paraphrase of Genesis.
[2928.] Haran, the brother of Abraham, is mentioned in Genesis, 11:26, ff.
SELECTIONS FROM EXODUS
[Critical edition: Francis A. Blackburn, Exodus and Daniel, Boston and London, 1907, Belles-Lettres Series.
Translation: Kennedy, The Cædmon Poems, p. 99.
There can be no doubt that both Exodus and Daniel are by different hands from Genesis A or Genesis B, and they are themselves by different authors.]
The Crossing of the Red Sea
[When these words had been uttered] the army arose;
300 Still stood the sea for the staunch warriors.
The cohorts lifted their linden-shields,
Their signals on the sand. The sea-wall mounted,
Stood upright over Israel’s legion,
For day’s time; then the doughty band
305 Was of one mind. The wall of the sea-streams
Held them unharmed in its hollow embrace.
[They] spurned not the speech nor despised its teaching,
[As] the wise man ended his words of exhorting
And the noise diminished and mingled with the sound.
310 Then the [fourth tribe] traveled foremost,
Went into the waves, the warriors in a band
Over the green ground; the goodly Jewish troop
Struggled alone over the strange path
Before their kinsmen. So the King of heaven
315 For that day’s work made deep reward,
He gave them a great and glorious victory,
That to them should belong the leadership
In the kingdom, and triumph over their kinsmen and tribesmen.
When they stepped on the sand, as a standard and sign
320 A beacon they raised over the ranks of shields,
Among the godly group, a golden lion,
The boldest of beasts over the bravest of peoples.
At the hands of their enemy no dishonor or shame
Would they deign to endure all the days of their life,
325 While boldly in battle they might brandish their shields
Against any people. The awful conflict,
The fight was at the front, furious soldiers
Wielding their weapons, warriors fearless,
And bloody wounds, and wild battle-rushes,
330 The jostling of helmets where the Jews advanced.
Marching after the army were the eager [seamen],
The sons of Reuben; raising their shields
The sea-vikings bore them over the salt waves,
A multitude of men; a mighty throng
335 Went bravely forth. [The birthright of Reuben]
[Was forfeited by his sins], so that he followed after
In his comrade’s track. In the tribes of the Hebrews,
The blessings of the birthright his brother enjoyed,
His riches and rank; yet Reuben was brave.
340 [Following] him came the folk in crowds,
The sons of Simeon in swarming bands,
The third great host. With hoisted banners
Over the watery path the war-troop pressed
Dewy under their shafts. When daylight shone
345 Over the brink of the sea, —the beacon of God,
The bright morning,— the battle-lined marched.
Each of the tribes traveled in order.
At the head of the helmeted host was one man,
Mightiest in majesty and most renowned;
350 He led forward the folk as they followed the cloud,
By tribes and by troops. Each truly knew
The right of rank as arranged by Moses,
Every man’s order. They were all from one father.
Their [sacred sire] received his [land-right],
355 Wise in counsel, well-loved by his kinsmen.
He gave birth to a brave, bold-hearted race,
The sage patriarch to a sacred people,
To the Children of Israel, the chosen of God.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The folk were affrighted with fear of the ocean;
Sad were their souls. The sea threatened death;
The sides of the hill were soaked with blood;
450 Gory was the flood, confusion on the waves,
The water full of weapons; the wave-mist arose.
The Egyptians turned and journeyed backward;
They fled in fright; fear overtook them;
Hurrying in haste their homes they sought;
455 Their pride had fallen; they felt sweep over them
The welling waters; not one returned
Of the host to their homes, but behind they were locked
By Wyrd in the waves. Where once was the path
The breakers beat and bore down the army.
460 The stream stood up; the storm arose
High to the heavens, the harshest of noises.
Dark grew the clouds. The doomed ones cried
With fated voices; the foam became bloody.
The sea-walls were scattered and the skies were lashed
465 With the direst of deaths; the daring ones were slain,
The princes in their pomp— they were past all help
In the edge of the ocean. Their armor shone
High over the hosts. Over the haughty ones poured
The stream in its strength. Destroyed were the troop
470 And fettered fast; they could find no escape.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Egyptians were
For that day’s work deeply punished,
Because not any of the army ever came home;
Of that mighty multitude there remained not a one
510 Who could tell the tale of the traveling forth
Who could announce in the cities the sorrowful news
To the wives of the warriors of the woeful disaster.
But the sea-death swallowed the sinful men,
And their messengers too, in the midst of their power,
515 And destroyed their pride, for they strove against God.
[299.] Moses has just finished telling the children of Israel that he has been able to make the sea part its waves so that they may walk across unharmed.
[307, 308.] This passage is obscure in meaning.
[310.] The tribe of Judah lead the way. They are followed by the tribe of Reuben ([v. 331]) and then by the tribe of Simeon ([v. 340]). This order is perhaps taken from Numbers, chapter ii.
[331.] The Children of Israel are called “sailors” in the poem, but no satisfactory explanation has been made of the usage.
[335, 336.] See Genesis 49:4.
[354.] This refers to God’s promise to Abraham. See Genesis 15:18; 22:17.