Medieval Poetry Collection - Medieval Poetry Collection - Delphi Poets Series

Medieval Poetry Collection

(5 th -15th century)

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Delphi Classics 2020

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Medieval Poetry Collection

By Delphi Classics, 2020

Medieval Poetry Collection - Delphi Poets Series

First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2020.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 91348 707 2

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

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NOTE

When reading poetry on an eReader, it is advisable to use a small font size and landscape mode, which will allow the lines of poetry to display correctly.

Whitby Abbey, North Yorkshire Cdmon, the first recorded poet of English literature, lived and worked at the monastery of Streonshalch (now Whitby Abbey).

Cdmon (fl. c. AD 657-684) is the earliest English poet whose name is recorded. He was an Anglo-Saxon that cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonshalch (later Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy (657680) of St. Hilda (614680). Legend tells us that he was originally ignorant of the art of song, but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the eighth century historian Bede. Cdmon later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet. His story is related in Bedes Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum :

there was in the Monastery of this Abbess a certain brother particularly remarkable for the Grace of God, who was wont to make religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and humility in Old English, which was his native language. By his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.

Cdmons only known surviving work is Hymn , a nine-line alliterative vernacular praise poem in honour of God, which he reportedly learned to sing in his initial dream. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English poetry. It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language.

Memorial to Cdmon, St Marys Churchyard, Whitby. The inscription reads, To the glory of God and in memory of Cdmon the father of English Sacred Song. Fell asleep hard by, 680.

N OW [ WE ] MUST honour the guardian of heaven,

the might of the architect, and his purpose,

the work of the father of glory as he the beginning of wonders

established, the eternal lord,

He first created for the children of men

heaven as a roof, the holy creator

Then the middle earth, the guardian of mankind

the eternal lord, afterwards appointed

the lands for men, the Lord almighty.

NU SCYLUN HERGAN hefaenricaes uard

metuds maecti end his modgidanc

uerc uuldurfadur swe he uundra gihwaes

eci dryctin or astelid

he aerist scop aelda barnu m

heben til hrofe haleg scepen.

tha middungeard moncynns uard

eci dryctin fter tiad

firum fold u frea allmectig

NU SCYLUN HERGAN hefaenricaes uard

Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven,

metuds maecti end his modgidanc

the might of the architect, and his purpose,

uerc uuldurfadur swe he uundra gihwaes

the work of the father of glory as he the beginning of wonders

eci dryctin or astelid

established, the eternal lord,

he aerist scop aelda barnu m

He first created for the children of men

heben til hrofe haleg scepen.

heaven as a roof, the holy creator

tha middungeard moncynns uard

Then the middle earth, the guardian of mankind

eci dryctin fter tiad

the eternal lord, afterwards appointed

firum fold u frea allmectig

the lands for men, the Lord almighty.