Cynewulf

Cynewulf, an Anglo-Saxon poet of whom almost nothing is known. He has handed down his name wrapped up in runes in his poems Christ, Juliana, and Élene. It seems most probable that he was a Northumbrian, but Wülfker holds that there is no sufficient evidence for this belief. Dietrich identifies him with Cynewulf, the Bishop of Lindisfarne (737–80), but Ten Brink refuses to admit the identity between the two. Cynewulf's principal works may be referred with some degree of confidence to the second half of the 8th century. He belonged to the guild of wandering glee-men, possessed some learning, and was popular with his contemporaries. His poems are aglow with fervid Christian feeling, and show rich imagination and power of language. The influence of Aldhelm is distinctly traceable both in the themes and in their treatment. The chief works are a collection of poetical riddles; the Christ (ed. by Gollancz, 1892), a subject borrowed from the old Latin homilies, in which His birth, His ascension, and the judgment are described, the last being particularly effective; Andreas and Élene, religious epics; Guthlac and Juliana, versified lives of those saints.