C

CÆDMON (fl. 657–80)
The fi rst English poet with any vernacular work sur-
viving (“Cædmon’s Hymn”), who invented English
religious poetry by combining secular verse techniques
with Christian subject matter.
Bede tells the story in his Ecclesiastical History 4.24,
the only source. Cædmon was a cowherd at the monas-
tery of Abbess Hild at Whitby. One night, after leaving a
feast at the monastery in order to avoid performing with
the harp, he had a dream in which a man commanded
him to sing. Although he demurred, the man insisted
that he do so and gave him the subject matter for his
song: the Creation. At this Cædmon began to sing the
poem that has come to be called Cædmon’s Hymn, the
fi rst recorded English poem. Upon waking Cædmon
reported his dream to the steward and then to Hild and
her advisers, who recited another biblical narrative to
him and asked him to turn it into song as well. When
he had done so, he was invited and chose to become
a monk and devoted his life to composing vernacular
poetry based on religious subjects.
Bede lists Cædmon’s works, which included poems
on Genesis and Exodus, the life of Christ, the apostles’
teachings, the Last Judgment, and heaven and hell. None
survive, but the list resembles the contents of Bodl.
Junius 11, which has thus been called the “Cædmon
Manuscript,” though its contents are not now attributed
to Cædmon.
Cædmon’s Hymn survives in Northumbrian and West
Saxon versions; the latter follows:

Nu sculon herigean heofonrices weard,

metodes meahte and his modgeþanc,

weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,

ece drihten, or onstealde.

He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum

heofon to hrofb, halig scyppend;

þa middangeard moncynnes weard,

ece drihten, æfter teode

fi rum foldan, frea ælmihtig

[Now should we praise the guardian of the heavenly

kingdom, the power of the Creator and the counsel of

his mind, the works of the Father of glory, how he, the

eternal Lord, originated every marvel. He, the holy Cre-

ator, fi rst created the heaven, as a roof for the children of

the earth; then the eternal Lord, guardian of the human

race, the almighty ruler, afterward fashioned the world

as a soil for men.]

Cædmon composed in the repetitious style associ-

ated with formulaic, memorized verse. The three-part

poem turns on the favorite subjects of the Anglo-Sax-

ons: praise, mind, power, time, and God, who creates

the earth as a metaphorical hall (“heaven as a roof”)

for human beings to live in. In verse 6b the brand-new

poet calls God “scyppend” (Shaper), punning on “scop”

(Shaper, poet).

Some cynics dismiss the whole story as another

miracle tale, but Bede, fond of miracles, never uses the

term “miracle” about Cædmon. Hild’s scholars saw

Cædmon’s accomplishment as a heavenly gift, while

modern critics debate how an illiterate cowherd sud-

denly learned to compose sophisticated verse. Theories

include overcoming stage fright, practicing secretly, and

modifying formulas heard in secular verse.

Cædmon’s style and subject matter dominated Anglo-

Saxon verse for 400 years and probably reinforced the

native tendency toward stressed meter. In that sense

Cædmon, encouraged by Abbess Hild, “invented” Eng-

lish verse as we know it.