Cynewulf facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cynewulf
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|---|---|
| Born | England |
| Died | England |
| Genre | Poetry |
Cynewulf (also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf) was one of the few Old English poets whose name we know today. He lived around the 9th century, but could have been active from the late 700s to the early 900s.
Cynewulf was famous for his religious poems. He is seen as one of the most important writers of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry. We know his name because he cleverly wove it into his poems using runic letters. These special letters were like an alphabet used by early English people.
Four poems are definitely known to be by Cynewulf. They are: The Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, Elene, and Christ II (also called The Ascension). Together, these four poems have thousands of lines of verse. This is a lot compared to other Old English poems. For example, Cædmon's Hymn by Cædmon is only nine lines long!
Contents
Who Was Cynewulf?
Where He Lived
We can learn a little about Cynewulf by looking at his poems. The copies of his poems we have today were written down in a dialect called West Saxon. This was used in the south-west of England. However, experts believe Cynewulf probably wrote in an Anglian dialect. This means he likely lived in either Northumbria or Mercia. These were kingdoms in what is now northern and central England.
We know this because some words in his poems rhyme better if you use the Anglian way of saying them. This suggests the original poems were written in that dialect.
When He Lived
It's hard to say exactly when Cynewulf lived. Most experts think he was active in the 9th century. The oldest copies of his poems were made in the late 10th century. This means he must have lived before then.
Some clues suggest he didn't live much before the year 800. For example, the way his name is spelled in the poems changed around that time. Also, the style of writing his name using special letters (called an acrostic) was popular in the 9th century.
What He Did
Cynewulf was definitely a very smart and educated person. His poems show a deep knowledge of Christian beliefs and stories. This means he was probably a man of the Church, like a priest or monk. He also likely knew Latin, as he used Latin writings for ideas in his poems.
The name "Cynewulf" was quite common back then. Some people think he might have been Cynewulf of Lindisfarne, a bishop who died around 780. But we can't be sure. Other ideas include a priest from Dunwich or an abbot from Peterborough.
Cynewulf believed his talent for poetry came from God. In his poem Christ II, he wrote that God "sowed and set in the mind of men many kinds of wisdom." He also said that God "unlocked the art of poesy" within him. This shows he thought poetry was a gift connected to wisdom.
Cynewulf's Poems
Cynewulf is known for four main poems. These are the ones where he signed his name using runes:
- Juliana (found in the Exeter Book)
- Christ II (also called The Ascension, found in the Exeter Book)
- Elene (found in the Vercelli Book)
- Fates of the Apostles (found in the Vercelli Book)
For a long time, scholars thought Cynewulf wrote many other Old English poems. These included the Riddles of the Exeter Book, The Phoenix, and Dream of the Rood. However, today, most experts only agree on the four poems that have his special runic signature.
All four of Cynewulf's poems are written in alliterative verse. This means that words in the same line often start with the same sound, like "sweet birds sang softly." This was a common style in Old English poetry.
His poems often used Latin sources for their stories. These sources included homilies (religious speeches) and hagiographies (stories about the lives of saints). This is different from some other Old English poems that took their stories directly from the Bible.
Elene is Cynewulf's longest poem, with 1,321 lines. Juliana has 731 lines, Christ II has 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostles is the shortest at 122 lines.
Three of his poems are about martyrs. A martyr is someone who suffers or dies for their religious beliefs.
- In Elene, Saint Helena goes on a journey to find the Holy Cross and spread Christianity.
- In Juliana, the main character, Juliana, dies because she refuses to marry a non-Christian man. She keeps her Christian faith strong.
- In Fates of the Apostles, the poem talks about how the apostles "joyously faced" their deaths for their faith.
Elene and Juliana are examples of "saints' legends" in verse. The Ascension (Christ II) is different. It's a strong description of a religious topic, not a saint's life story.
We don't know the exact order in which Cynewulf wrote his poems. Some think Elene was his last poem because it mentions him being old. However, it seems that Christ II and Elene are his best works. Juliana and Fates of the Apostles might have been written when he was less experienced.
His Runic Signature
In all four of Cynewulf's poems, he hid his name within the text. He used runic symbols that also had special meanings related to the poem. For example, in Juliana and Elene, his name is spelled "Cynewulf" using these runes. In Fates and Christ II, it's spelled "Cynwulf."
Cynewulf was like a puzzle-maker, using the letters of his own name to write a poem about the Final Judgment. He says, "C and Y kneel in prayer; N sends up its prayers; E trusts in God; W and U know they will go to Heaven; L and F tremble." And this is written in Runic letters.
This way of signing his work was new for the time. Most poets back then didn't put their names on their poems. Cynewulf might have wanted to show that the poem belonged to him. He also might have wanted to make sure his poems kept their original form.
Another idea is that Cynewulf wanted people to pray for his soul. He might have hoped that if people enjoyed his poems, they would remember him in their prayers. This would be a spiritual reward, instead of money or fame.
See also
In Spanish: Cynewulf para niños
