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Cynewulf (, ; also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf)Herbert Thurston (1908). "". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company. is one of twelve Old English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today.The twelve named Anglo-Saxon poets are Æduwen, Aldhelm, Alfred the Great, Anlaf, Baldulf, Bede, Cædmon, Cnut, Cynewulf, Dunstan, Hereward and Wulfstan. He presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th centuries.
Cynewulf is a well-attested Anglo-Saxon given name derived from "royal, of a king" and "wolf".
Known for his religious compositions, Cynewulf is regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry. Posterity knows of his name by means of runic signatures that are interwoven into the four poems which comprise his scholastically recognized corpus. These poems are: The Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, Elene, and Christ II (also referred to as The Ascension).
The four signed poems of Cynewulf are vast in that they collectively comprise several thousand lines of verse. In comparison, the one work attributed to Cædmon, Cædmon's Hymn, is quite succinct at nine lines.
This is shown through linguistic and metrical analysis of his poems (e.g., Elene), where in the poem's epilogue (beginning l.1236) the imperfect rhymes become corrected when Anglian forms of the words are substituted for the West Saxon forms. For instance, the manuscript presents the miht:peaht false rhyme which can be corrected when the middle vowel sounds of both words are replaced with an sound.Gradon 1958, pp. 13–14 The new maeht:paeht rhyme shows a typical Anglian smoothing of the . Numerous other "Anglianisms" in Elene and Juliana have been taken to be indicative of an original Anglian dialect underlying the West Saxon translation of the texts.Gradon 1958, pp. 9–14 and Woolf 1955, pp. 2–4 Any definite conclusion to Cynewulf being either Northumbrian or Mercian has been hard to come by, but linguistic evidence suggests that the medial in the signed Cynewulf would have, during the broad window period of Cynewulf's existence, been characteristic of a Mercian dialect.Woolf 1955, p. 6
A firm terminus ante quem that can be put on the date of Cynewulf are the dates of the Vercelli and Exeter manuscripts, which are approximately in the second half of the tenth century. Other than that, no certain date can be put on the author, leaving open the full range of Old English literature between the 7th and the early 10th centuries. Any attempt to link the man with a documented historical figure has met failure or resulted in an improbable connection. However, the presence of early West Saxon forms in both manuscripts means that it is possible an Alfredian scribe initially translated Cynewulf's verse, placing him no later than the turn of the tenth century.
A tentative terminus post quem is based on the two textual variations of Cynewulf's name, Cynewulf and Cynwulf. The older spelling of the name was Cyniwulf, and Sisam points out that the tends to change to an about the middle of the eighth century, and the general use of the phases itself out by the end of the century, suggesting Cynewulf cannot be dated much before the year 800.Gradon 1958, p. 14 Moreover, it has been argued that the "cult of the cross", which can find ground in Cynewulf's Elene, achieved its cultural apex in the eighth century.Gradon 1958, p. 23 Also deserving consideration is the argument that the acrostic was most fashionable in ninth century poetry and Cynewulf's own acrostic signature would have followed the trend during this time.
Cynewulf of Lindisfarne (d. c. 780) is a plausible candidate for Cynewulf the poet, based on the argument that the poet's elaborate religious pieces must lend themselves to "the scholarship and faith of the professional ecclesiastic speaking with authority",Kennedy, p. 20 but this conclusion is not universally accepted.Gradon 1958 Alternative suggestions for the poet's identity include Cynwulf, a Dunwich priest (fl. 803), and Cenwulf, Abbot of Peterborough (d. 1006).
Likewise, Cynewulf's autobiographical reflection in the epilogue of Elene claims that his own skill in poetry comes directly from God, who "unlocked the art of poesy" within him.See Bradley 1982, p. 195, ll.1248–1249. Cynewulf seems to have justified his poetic endeavours through a philosophy in which poetry was "associated with wisdom".See Raw 1978, pp. 24–25.
Early scholars for a long while assigned a plethora of Old English pieces to Cynewulf on the basis that these pieces somewhat resembled the style of his signed poems.Cook 1900 It was at one time plausible to believe that Cynewulf was author of the Riddles of the Exeter Book, the Phoenix, the Andreas, and the Guthlac; even famous unassigned poems such as the Dream of the Rood, the Harrowing of Hell, and the Physiologus have at one time been ascribed to him.
The four poems, like a substantial portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry, are sculpted in alliterative verse. All four poems draw upon Latin sources such as homilies and hagiographies (the lives of saints) for their content, and this is to be particularly contrasted to other Old English poems (e.g., Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel), which are drawn directly from the Bible as opposed to secondary accounts.
In terms of length, Elene is by far the longest poem of Cynewulf's corpus at 1,321 lines. It is followed by Juliana, at 731 lines, Christ II, at 427 lines, and The Fates of the Apostles, at a brisk 122 lines. Three of the poems are martyrology, in that the central character in each suffering or martyrdom for their religious values. In Elene, Saint Helena endures her quest to find the True Cross and spread Christianity; in Juliana, the title character dies after she refuses to marry a pagan man, thus retaining her Christian integrity; in Fates of the Apostles, the speaker creates a song that meditates on the deaths of the apostles which they "joyously faced".Greenfield 1965, p. 154
Elene and Juliana fit in the category of poems that depict the lives of saints. These two poems, along with Andreas and Guthlac (parts A and B), constitute the only versified saints' legends in the Old English vernacular. The Ascension ( Christ II) is outside the umbrella of the other three works and is a vehement description of a devotional subject.
The exact chronology of the poems is not known. One argument asserts that Elene is likely the last of the poems because the autobiographical epilogue implies that Cynewulf is old at the time of composition,Kennedy 1963, p. 20 but this view has been doubted. Nevertheless, it seems that Christ II and Elene represent the cusp of Cynewulf's career, while Juliana and Fates of the Apostles seem to be created by a less inspired, and perhaps less mature, poet.Woolf 1955, p. 7
The practice of claiming authorship over one's poems was a break from the tradition of the anonymous poet, where no composition was viewed as being owned by its creator. Cynewulf devised a tradition where authorship would connote ownership of the piece and an originality that would be respected by future generations. Furthermore, by integrating his name, Cynewulf was attempting to retain the structure and form of his poetry that would undergo mutations otherwise.Wolf 1955, p. 8; Bradley 1982, p. 218 From a different perspective, Cynewulf's intent may not have been to claim authorship, but to "seek the prayers of others for the safety of his soul".Raw 1978, p. 6 It is contended that Cynewulf wished to be remembered in the prayers of his audience in return for the pleasure they would derive from his poems. In a sense his expectation of a spiritual reward can be contrasted with the material reward that other poets of his time would have expected for their craft.Raw 1978, p. 7
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