As to its content, Anglo-Saxon poetry is best considered in two groups, according as it follows the heroic or native tradition, or the Christian or literary tradition. Anglo-Saxon poetry of the native tradition goes back in its origins to the earliest historical periods of the race. The most primitive pieces are such poems as the
The Complaint of Deor,' bits of popular lore such as the
and 'Riddles,' and above all the
Although given a Christian color ing here and there by the interpolations of later transcribers and redactors, this poetry is essen tially heathen, or, at least, non-Christian, in spirit. The
Anglo-Saxon poetry of the Christian tradi tion consists chiefly of the poetry of the Cadmonian and the Cynewulfian schools. It is Christian in subject-matter, but in method and style it resembles closely the native heroic poetry, a resemblance due to the conscious maintenance of the national and traditional poetic style. The only early authority for the
existence of a poet Cmdmon is Bede ((Historia Ecclesiastica,' Book IV, Chapter 24) who tells us that C lmon was an illiterate lay-brother of the monastery at Whitby (then known as Streoneshalh), who received miraculously the gift of song and who versified certain stories from the Old and New Testaments. The date at which Caidmon lived, according to Bede, was several generations before himself, that is about 650. Answering in part to Bede's de scription, we have still extant long versified narratives based on the story of Genesis, of Exodus, of Daniel and of Judith. That all of these, however, are the work of a single poet, and that poet the one that Bede mentions, the internal evidence of the poems themselves for bids us to believe. It is probable that the only actual exact specimen of the work of Cmdmon is a short poem of nine lines known as 'Cmd mon's Hymn.' The other Cadmonic poems, although they have features in common, par ticularly as to style and subject-matter, which justify holding them together in a group, are undoubtedly the work of various authors.
Our information concerning a poet Cynewulf is derived altogether from certain poems to which the author has appended his signature in runic letters woven into the context of his verse. These signed poems are the 'Christ,' 'Juliana,' 'Oen& and the 'Fates of the Apo. des.' The period at which Cynewulf lived aac wrote was probably the last half of the azt century, and the region in which he lived probably Northumberland. Various atteinir have been made to identify the poet with per sons mentioned in contemporary historical as nals, but although the name Cynewulf is of as infrequent occurrence, none of these has so far proved convincing The ream/mix important poems of the Cynewulf group, som: of which may have been composed by Cynewni_ although in no instance do the proofs permit positive assertion, are 'Andreas,' based on the apocryphal legend of Saint Andrew ; (Guthhc. in praise of the English saint of that name; the 'Dream of the Cross' ; 'Phoenix,' a tian allegorical poem; 'Harrowing of Hell' arc a number of shorter hymnic poems. The char acteristics which distinguish the Cynewulfm from the Cmdmonic poems are sharply marked. The subject-matter of the latter is chiefly Olt Testament story, of the former, New Testa ment story, as in 'Christ,' and Christian legend as in the story of the finding of the 'Cross' by Saint Helena, the story of Saks Juliana, of Saint Andrew and of Saint Guthlaz. The Cadmonic poetry is characterized in gee eral by severity and simplicity of style, whereas the Cynewulfian poetry is highly colored and romantic in tone. Particularly noticeable in the Cynewulfian poetry is the free and often extravagant use of phrases and themes bor rowed from the These differences in style, however, are relatively not great, and in a general review of Anglo-Saxon poetry one is struck by the remarkable similarity of treat ment which characterizes it throughout There is but one metrical form, sporadic instances of attempts at stanzaic structure, as in (Deor.' merely serving to emphasize the fixed character of the metre.
Aside also from a few pieces written under the influence of the church hymns, the basis of all Anglo-Saxon poetical composition is narra tive. Moreover the authority acquired by the poetry of the native heroic tradition succeeded in imposing an established and conventional standard of style which remained constant throughout the period. In its respect for rule and convention, in its uniform and 'classic' quality, Anglo-Saxon poetry is paralleled by only one other period of English Literature, the Augustan age of the 18th century.