Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 4, 2025
"For Cynewulf," says a critic, "'earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God." Cynewulf has inserted his name in runic characters in four poems: Christ, Elene, Juliana, a story of a Christian martyr, and the least important, The Fates of the Apostles.
Matthew from the cannibals. A young ship-master who sails the boat turns out to be Christ in disguise, Matthew is set free, and the savages are converted by a miracle. It is a spirited poem, full of rush and incident, and the descriptions of the sea are the best in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Elene has for its subject-matter the finding of the true cross.
He was old, he tells us, when he "wove word-craft, made his poem, framing it wondrously, pondering and sifting his thoughts in the night-time." The Cross had brought him light and healing, and at the foot of the Cross he laid his gift of song. It is a moot point whether the "Elene" or the "Dream of the Holy Rood" came first.
"There are women like that gleams from lost stars; faces seen at sunset; or where the light is lifting after a storm. I have never cast eyes on such a maid." "When you see the Princess Elene you will behold her," said the page. "I will set forth to war immediately," announced the King.
Then at last Elene smiled and wept, but her strength was gone; and soon afterwards she closed her eyes and went to sleep. King Theophile's heart was broken, for the baby, and not he, himself, had made Elene smile and weep. When the days of the court mourning were over the little daughter was christened, and to her christening came all the wise women of the kingdom.
So while he lingered in her kingdom, building costly monuments to the dead, and showering gold on the wounded, and sending into fine houses the homeless whose hearts ached for vanished humble hearths; while he worked to draw life out of death, he spared no effort to bring a smile to the lips of the Princess Elene. But she never smiled, and though her heart was breaking, she could not weep.
Soon every lady in the court was weeping, but to the eyes of the Princess Elene came no tears, which made Prince Tristan angry, so that he finished his tale in a sullen muttering voice. Then Prince Martin rose and told a story of little children who had climbed into a boat which the rising tide seized and carried out to sea.
King Theophile sighed, for when his Princess spoke in this wise she seemed to pass from his arms into the arms of her dead mother. Now when Elene heard him sigh her heart was touched, for she loved him dearly. "King-Father, do not sigh. I will make my choice, and this will be the manner of my choosing. Thou knowst my tears can show the future."
"Did he ever know slumber again, I wonder," said the King. "O boy, of what use are your love-songs!" "To arouse love in your heart, Sire!" "What good is that when I have no maiden to love!" "Listen, Sire," said the boy. "You are going to war with King Mace who has a most beautiful daughter, the Princess Elene. When you have overthrown him, bring her to your kingdom and wed her."
Garnett's Elene, Judith, and other Anglo-Saxon Poems. What is the relation of history and literature? Why should both subjects be studied together? Explain the qualities that characterize all great literature. Has any text-book in history ever appealed to you as a work of literature?
Word Of The Day
Others Looking