Other Old English Poems
| importance of retainer-lord bond |
| devasting effect of exile |
| widening circles of desolation |
| response of wise man, snotor on mode |
| life is laene, 'life is fleeting' |
| metaphor for the journey of the soul |
| warrior exile a metaphor for exile from heaven |
The Inspiration of Caedmon and Hesiod
"I soon realized that poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and inspiration,
like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say."
Socrates in Plato's Apology, 22c.
Parallels in the story of Caedmon and Hesiod's Theogony |
| 1. Both are alone with animals and are presented as herdsmen: |
| herdsmen as liminal figures who occupy a zone between humans and gods |
| Patriarchs: Abraham, etc. |
| "slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Ex 4:10) |
| but was Cædmon a herdsman? |
| Cædmon: twice an outsider |
| a. a secular worker (herdsman?) for a monastery |
| secular habit vs. monastic vows |
| b. separated from his equals by his inability or unwillingness to sing |
| pious objection to "frivolous" songs? |
| but he is willing to hear them |
| use of heroic meter, form, vocabulary and genre in his hymn |
| repetition and apposition |
| "eulogy" was a native genre reserved for kings and war-leaders |
| 2. They are addressed by divine beings: |
| The muses, daughters of Zeus, address Hesiod. |
| the figure in Cædmon's dream is merely presented as "someone". |
| But the logic of the story implies he is a messenger from God: |
| he command's Cædmon to sing of creation |
| Bede's and the community at Whitby view Cædmon's poetic gift as divine |
| 3. Both poets receive the gift of poetry from these divine beings: |
| "contrast" between the gifts |
| 1. the Muses taught him poetry |
| 2. gave him a staff/scepter of bay |
| 3. breathed into him a "voice/inspired" |
| Bede explains the source of Cædmon's gift: |
| Cædmon "did not learn the art of poetry from men nor through a man (non ab hominibus neque per hominem) but he received the gift of song freely by the grace of God (gratis . . . accepit)" |
| Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by men, (non ab hominibus neque per hominum) but by Jesus Christ . . . |
| Mt. 10:8, where Christ exhorts the apostles to |
| "go out into the world and preach and perform miracles freely through the gifts that they had freely received (gratis accepistis gratis date)" |
| 4. They are told to sing of divine matters: |
| Cædmon is told to sing the beginning of created things. |
| 5. Thus inspired, they recite songs that praise their deities |
| Lines 36-103 is a compressed hymn to the Muses |
| lines 105-962 are an expanded hymn to all the deities |
| 6. Both poets sing of creation: |
| Theogony is our primary source for the early Greek view of creation. |
| 7. Both poets are presented as superior to other poets in their tradition: |
| Hesiod receives a scepter of bay as an emblem of |
| his authority over other poets; like that of a king over his people |
| Bede claims that no other English religious poet is Cædmon's equal |
| 8. The songs of both poets inspire others to turn from earthly concerns: |
| Caedmon inspires others to despise the world and to long for heaven |
| 9. In both stories an opposition is drawn between two types of poems: |
| Cædmon, we are told, never produced poems that were foolish or trivial, but only those which were devout. |
| 10. Both stories reflect important transitions in the content and nature of their poetic traditions: |
| We see in Hesiod the articulation of the shift |
| from a multitude of local or "false" traditions to a single pan-Hellenic "true" tradition, |
| and from the variability of oral composition to the fixity of memory and or literacy. |
| Thus only one Theogony, one Iliad, one Odyssey survive. |
| "Caedmon's Hymn" inaugurates the use of the native Germanic poetic tradition for Christian narratives from the Bible and the lives of the saints, |
| and since it quickly lead to written poems, it marks the shift from orality to literacy. |
How much of the Caedmon story actually happened? |
| Caedmon was an older man who worked for the monastery of Whitby who (at least taking his turn at night) tended the cattle. |
| One night he left a feast early and went to sleep in the cowshed, |
| where he had a dream and woke up with his hymn. |
| In the morning he recited it to his superior, |
| who took him to the abbess, |
| who accepted him into the community, |
| where he composed many religious poems based on the scriptures. |
How much of the story is the product of interpretation or evaluation? |
| 1. The events of the dream |
| "when he awoke, he remembered all that he had sung while asleep and soon added more verses in the same manner, . . ." |
| recomposition in performance? |
| 3. Bede's evaluation of Caedmon as the best of the English religious poets |
| his evaluation of the poetry itself |
| e.g. "extremely delightful and moving poetry" |
| 4. the scriptural contexts of the story |
| echoes of Galatians and Matthew |
| "like some clean animal chewing the cud" |
Comparison with Other Tales of Inspiration
Hallbjorn's inspiration
Mohammad
Why are the stories of Cædmon and Hesiod so similar?
 | 1. Common cultural view of the herdsman as a liminal figure, open to divine contact |
| Imported to England by Christianity |
| 2. Both stories reflect and promote a twofold transition in their cultures |
| a shift in the belief system |
| a transition from the "recomposition in performance" of an oral culture to memorial transmission and/or textual fixity |
| 3. Both stories present divine authorization of the poet's work |
| 4. This authorization results in a hymn of praise from each poet, |
| 5. this authorization is solidified by the recitation of poems about creation |
| 6. Cædmon's experience is viewed by Bede in the context of a tradition of poetic inspiration that begins with Hesiod! |
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