General Information about Enlighteners in the English literature

Anglo-Saxon religious poetry is mainly the work of two Christiarn potio who were monks Caedmon (c.675) and Cynewulf (c.800). With the introduction of Christianity in the island and the conversion of the people, Anglo-saxon poeis turned away from the Pagan themes and applied themselves to religious poetry which consists mainly of the poetical rendering of the Biblical stories and lives of the saints.
Bede's Ecclesinstical History gives an account of the life of Caædmon. According to Bede, Caedmon flourished in Northumbria in the last quarter of the seventh century. He was associated with a certain monastery. He was the first man to sing about Christian themes systematically and after him many poets came to sing in the same strain.
The manuscript of a folio of two hundred and twenty nine pages in sixty seven sections discovered in 1630 was supposed to be the work of Cædmon because of the opening lines and because the content tallied partially with the accounts of Bede. The manuscript comprises four different works (1) Genesis; (2) Exodus; (3) Daniel; (4) Christ and Satan. Genesis is divided into two parts - Genesis A and Genesis B. Genesis B thrusts itself in the middle and repeats and elaborates a part of Genesis A. It is a poem about God and angels in heaven, of rebellion of the angels and of the fallen angels in hell, their council and design on man. Adam and Eve were tempted and their fall was recorded with vigour. After a vigorous description of the flood the poem ends abruptly with Abraham at the sacrifice of Isaac. Exodus is the story of the book of Exodus. Here we find the Anglo-Saxon poet in his element: here he calls up a warlike and troublous atmosphere. He gives the description of the marshalling of Pharoah's hosts and the pursuit of Moses and his men. Wild exultation for success was recorded. The poem is characterised by rapidity of narrative and vigour of style.
Daniel is an incomplete poem dealing with the first five chapters of the book of Daniel. There is less of heathen spirit in the poem. Didactic note sometimes borders on dullness. It is, however, marked by a restrained style.
Christ and Satan is actually a group of three different poems (i) Lament of the Falen Angels: (i) Harrowing of Hell; (ii) The Tempiation of Christ. There are however Cynewulfian touches in the poems. Judith is a fine poem attributed to Caædmon. It is only a fragment of some 350 lines which exists in the same manuscript that contains Beowulf. Judith is a version of the vulgate text of the apocryphal book of Judith, and the existing portion tells of beheading of the drunken Holofernes by Judith. Judith rallies the Hebrews to attack the Assyrians, the fear of the Assyrians on discovering the headless body of Holoternes, the defeat of the Assyrians by the Hebrews and Judith's triumpn ana praise to God are described in vigorous and rapidly moving verse.
These are the poems attributed to Cædmon on the authority of Bede, but scholars no longer believe the theory. The poems are of unequal merit. "At best they are strong and spirited with some gift for descriptive writing and choice of incident; at worst they are tedious paraphrases of Biblical stories." Genesis B shows poetic vigour and dramatic skill. The poem is a rudimentary Paradise Lost and indeecd, its finest passages can bear comparison with parts of Milton's epic. The versitication of Genesis B shows a fine technical ease and the adaptation of the conventions of heroic poetry to Biblical narrative is done with great skill. The adaptation to religious verse of the style and conventions of heroic poetry is even more vividly demonstrated in the Anglo-Saxon Exodus. The description of the drowning of the Egyptian host in the Red Sea is done with great vigour. Cynewulf: Unlike Cædmon Cynewulf's authorship of certain poems is beyond doubt. He is the first poet in the English language to sign his works. After the discovery of the name, numerous work including the whole of the Exeter book and Beowulf have been attributed to him by one scholar or another. Four poems, however, besides signed pieces have been regarded by many as probably Cynewulf's: Andreas, The Dream of the Rood, Phoenix, and Guthlac. The reasons given are affinity with the signed poems in theme and thought, similarity of language and expression, sameness in grammar, metre and poetic treatment. Later tendency, however, was to consider them as independent works.The signed poems of Cynewulf are Juliana, Christ, The Fates of the Apostles and Elene. Juliana is based on a Latin original. In the region of Maximian, Juliana, daughter of Africanus was wooed by Elensius, a Roman prefect. Refusing to marry him unless he became a Christian, she was severely persecuted by successive imprisonment, scourging firing, breaking upon the wheel, all of which she withstood by her faith. When she was beheaded, her soul was taken to heaven. The soul of Elensius later killed by shipwreck was dragged down to hell. It is, however, an immature work, a literal translation of the original. The character of the heroine is, however, improved. The introduction of Teutonic atmosphere is notable even in this crude work.Christ is divided into three well-defined parts; Nativity, Ascension and The Day of Judgenent. "Part I" is composed of the conception of Mary, dialogue between Mary and Joseph and the glorious addresses to God. In Part II, Christ before ascension bids farewell to His followers; here is an allegorical passage describing the six leaps of Christ. Part III describes the day of judgement. It calls up vivid terror with the vision of the. Holy Rood brilliant and red all over. The good are transformed to heaven and the poem ends with the description of a perfect land.
The Fates of the Apostles is a weak poem on the lives of the twelve apostles. It is short, sketchy and uninteresting. It makes no addition to his fame.Elene has for its subject the finding of the Cross. The Huns gathered against Constantine who dreamed his famous dream of the Rood and was bid to conquer by that sign. A battle followed and victory was won by Constantine. Then there is the description of his mother's voyage to Jerusalem. His mother Empress Helena conferred with the Jews not to reveal the sight of the Cross. Constantine was imprisoned and then released. Constantine praved to Christ and then he discovered the Cross by a miracle. The rest of the poem is composed of the message of to Constantine, the baptism of Judas, etc. Elene has been called Cynewulf's masterpiece, It is characterised by perfection of art and poetic technique. There is reference to old age in many autobiographical passages. The pomp of war, the gleam of jewels, the joy of ships dancing on the wave give life and colour to the narrative permeated by the serious purpose or the poet. Andreas tells of the adventures, sufferings and evangelical successes or of Andrew. The Phoenix describes an earthly paradise in the East, the beauty of the Phoenix, its flight to Syria after it has lived for a thousand years to build its nest die and be reborn, while the second half takes The Phoenix as an allegory both of the life of the virtuous in this world and the next and as a symbol of Christ.

3. Characteristics of Anglo-Saxton Prose