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He became a man of wide learning, well skilled in "wordcraft" and in the Christian traditions of the time. Such learning could then hardly have been acquired outside of some monastery whither he may have retired. In variety, inventiveness, and lyrical qualities, his poetry shows an advance over the Caedmonian cycle.
The Genesis possesses special interest for the student, since many of its strong passages show a marked likeness to certain parts of Milton's Paradise Lost. As some critics have concluded that Milton must have been familiar with the Caedmonian Genesis, it will be instructive to note the parallelism between the two poems. Caedmon's hell is "without light and full of flame."
"A comparison of the inscription with the Dream of the Rood shows that the former is not an extract from an earlier poem written in the long Caedmonian line which is postulated by Vigfusson and Powell, and by Mr.
Among the poems of this age, we may emphasize: the shorter scopic pieces, of which the Far Traveler, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Fortunes of Men, and The Battle of Brunanburh are important examples; Beowulf, the greatest Anglo-Saxon epic poem, which describes the deeds of an unselfish hero, shows how the ancestors of the English lived and died, and reveals the elemental ideals of the race; the Caedmonian Cycle of scriptural paraphrases, some of which have Miltonic qualities; and the Cynewulf Cycle, which has the most variety and lyrical excellence.
The Authorship and Subject Matter of the Caedmonian Cycle. The first edition of the Paraphrase was published in 1655 by Junius, an acquaintance of Milton. Junius attributed the entire Paraphrase to Caedmon, on the authority of the above quotations from Bede. For us it is mickle right that we should praise with words, love with our hearts, the Lord of the heavens, the glorious King of the people.
There are vivid pictures of battle against the heathen and the enemies of God, as shown by the following selection from one of the poems of the Caedmonian cycle: "Helmeted men went from the holy burgh, At the first reddening of dawn, to fight: Loud stormed the din of shields. For that rejoiced the lank wolf in the wood, And the black raven, slaughter-greedy bird."
What analogy is there between the conflict of natural forces in the Norseland and Beowulf's fight with Grendel? What different attitude toward nature is manifest in modern poetry? What is the moral lesson of the poem? Show that its chief characteristics are typical of the Anglo-Saxon race. Caedmonian Cycle.
In Milton, Satan is shown lying "prone on the flood," struggling to escape "from off the tossing of these fiery waves," to a plain "void of light," except what comes from "the glimmering of these livid flames." The older poet sings with forceful simplicity: It is not certain that Milton ever knew of the existence of the Caedmonian Genesis; for he was blind three years before it was published.
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