14 Facts About Cynewulf

Cynewulf is one of twelve Old English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today.

Cynewulf presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th centuries.

Four signed poems of Cynewulf are vast in that they collectively comprise several thousand lines of verse.

All the evidence considered, no exact deduction of Cynewulf's date is accepted, but it is likely he flourished in the ninth century.

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.

Related searches

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.

Cynewulf was without question a literate and educated man, since there is no other way we can "account for the ripeness which he displays in his poetry".

Cynewulf is a well attested Anglo-Saxon given name.

Cynewulf seems to have justified his poetic endeavours through a philosophy in which poetry was "associated with wisdom".

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, but this view has been doubted.

All four of Cynewulf's poems contain passages where the letters of the poet's name are woven into the text using runic symbols that double as meaningful ideas pertinent to the text.

Cynewulf anticipates cryptography, using the letters of his own name to make a poem about the Final Judgment.

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.