Medieval Sourcebook:
Caedmon (fl.c. 657-684): Hymn
[Introduction] Cædmon fl. c. AD 657–684) is the earliest English (Northumbrian) poet whose name is known. An Anglo-Saxon who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch (Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy (657–680) of St. Hilda (614–680), he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century historian Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet. Cædmon is one of twelve Anglo-Saxon poets identified in medieval sources, and one of only three of these for whom both roughly contemporary biographical information and examples of literary output have survived. His story is related in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ("Ecclesiastical History of the English People") by Bede who wrote, "[t]here 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." [Wikipedia]
Caedmon's Hymn
Now must we hymn the Master of heaven,
The might of the Maker, the deeds of the Father,
The thought of His heart. He, Lord everlasting,
Established of old the source of all wonders:
Creator all-holy, He hung the bright heaven,
A roof high upreared, o'er the children of men;
The King of mankind then created for mortals
The world in its beauty, the earth spread beneath them,
He, Lord everlasting, omnipotent God.
[Translation by Albert S. Cook]
Bede's Account of Caedmon's Life,
from Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
There was in the monastery of this abbess a certain brother. How
especially distinguished by the grace of God, since he was
wont to make poems breathing of piety and religion. What- a poet
ever he learned of sacred Scripture by the mouth of interpreters,
he in a little time gave forth in poetical language
composed with the greatest sweetness and depth of feeling, in
English, his native tongue; and the effect of his poems was
ever and anon to incite the souls of many to despise the world
and long for the heavenly life. Not but that there were others
after him among the people of the Angles who sought to compose
religious poetry ; but none there was who could equal him,
for he did not learn the art of song from men, nor through the
means of any man ; rather did he receive it as a free gift from
God. Hence it came to pass that he never was able to compose
poetry of a frivolous or idle sort; none but such as pertained
to religion suited a tongue so religious as his. Living always
the life of a layman until well advanced in years, he had never
learned the least thing about poetry. In fact, so little did he Singing at a
understand of it that when at a feast it would be ruled that feast
every one present should, for the entertainment of the others,
sing in turn, he would, as soon as he saw the harp coming anywhere
near him, jump up from the table in the midst of the banqueting,
leave the place, and make the best of his way home. This he had done at a certain time, and, leaving the house
where the feast was in progress, had gone out to the stable
where the care of the cattle had been assigned to him for that
night. There, when it was time to go to sleep, he had lain
down for that purpose. But while he slept some one stood by
him in a dream, greeted him, called him by name, and said,"Caedmon, sing me something." To this he replied, "I know
not how to sing, and that is the very reason why I left a feast
and came here, because I could not sing." But the one who
was talking with him answered," No matter, you are to sing
for me." "Well, then," said he, "what is it that I must sing?"" Sing," said the other, "the beginning of created things." At this reply he immediately began to sing verses in praise of
God the Creator, verses that he had never heard, and whose
meaning was as follows: " Now should we praise the Keeper of
the heavenly kingdom, the might of the Creator and His
counsel, the works of the Father of glory; how He, though
God eternal, became the Author of all marvels. He, the almighty
Guardian of mankind, first created for the sons of men
heaven as a roof, and afterwards the earth." This is the meaning,
but not the precise order, of the words which he sang in
his sleep ; for no songs, however well they may be composed,
can be rendered from one language into another without loss
of grace and dignity. When he rose from sleep he remembered
all that he had sung while in that state, and shortly after
added, in the same strain, many more words of a hymn befitting
the majesty of God.
In the morning he went to the steward who was set over
him, and showed him what gift he had acquired. Being led to
the abbess Hilda, he was bidden to make known his dream and
repeat his poem to the many learned men who were present,
that they all might give their judgment concerning fhe thing
which he related, and whence it was ; and they were unanimously
of the opinion that heavenly grace had been bestowed
upon him by the Lord. They then set about expounding to
him a piece of sacred history or teaching, bidding him, if he
could, to turn it into the rhythm of poetry. This he undertook
to do, and departed. In the morning he returned and delivered the passage assigned to him, converted into an excellent
poem.
The abbess, honoring the grace of God as displayed in the
man, shortly afterward instructed him to forsake the condition of
a layman and take upon himself the vows of a monk. She thereupon
received him into the monastery with his whole family,
and made him one of the company of the brethren, commanding
that he should be taught the whole course and succession
of biblical history. He in turn, calling to mind what he was
able to learn by the hearing of the ear, and,, as it were, like a
clean animal chewing upon it as a cud, transformed it all into
most agreeable poetry ; and, by echoing it back in
' a more
harmonious form, made his teachers in turn listen to him.
Thus he rehearsed the creation of the world, the origin of man,
and all the story of Genesis ; the departure of Israel from
Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land, together with
many other histories from Holy Writ ; the incarnation of our
Lord, his passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven ; the
coming of the Holy Ghost and the teaching of the apostles ;
moreover he made many poems about the terror of the future
judgment, the awfulness of the pains of hell, and the joy of the
heavenly kingdom, besides a great number about the mercies
and judgments of God. In all these he exerted himself to allure
men from the love of wickedness, and to impel them to the
love and practice of righteous living ; for he was a very devout
man, humbly submissive to the monastic rule, but full of consuming
zeal against those who were disposed to act otherwise.
Source. Translation of hymn from A. S. Cook and
C. B. Tinker.Select Translations from Old' English Poetry. (Boston:
Ginn and Co. 1902, p 76.
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