Introduction to british literature pdf

British literature novels

The details of the life of Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf flourished 8th or 9th century are shrouded in mystery. What is known is that he was one of the earliest religious poets and wrote beautiful verses steeped in Christian belief. Old English poetry can be identified in one of two styles: the Heroic, which is based in pre-Christian Germanic myth; and the Christian, which paraphrases biblical narrative in verse.

Although very little of the Old English poetry survives, what does exist is considered by authorities to be of high literary quality. Christian poetry began to appear around the 7th century, with Caedmon and the subsequent school of Caedmon style. Cynewulf flourished around the mid-8th or early 9th century around the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria or Mercia.

There are two schools of thought on his sketchy personal history. He is sometimes identified with Cynewulf, Bishop of Lindisfarne. Others claim an association with Cynulf, an ecclesiastic who may have been a priest of the Diocese of Dunwich, whose signature is found on the Decrees of the Council of Clovesho signed in Regardless of which theory proves true, Cynewulf is undeniably the author of four poems, having signed his name to these manuscripts in runic letters.

His writing is graceful and masters rhetoric. Yet his work is considered inferior to the heroic poems such as "Beowulf," which is dramatic in its presentation and depicts the human character. Cynwulf speaks of gifts he received in a celebration, which leads one to believe that he may have been a gleeman or minstrel at the court of one of the Northumbrian kings.

He was converted to Christianity as an adult and, throughout his life, devoted himself to writing religious poems. In the pieces that are unquestionably credited to him, he left 2, lines of poetry.