C1EDMON, kiid'mon. An poet of the seeond half of the Seventh Century. The only information of any weight concerning him is in Bede's Ecelesiast lea 1 History (iv . 24), which was completed in 731. According to Bede, Ciedmon was a man of 'secular habit.' liv ing in the monastery at Whitby. in old North umbria. One night while sleeping in the stables, he saw a vision, whence came a voice command ing him to sing the origin of created things. t':edmon immediately began to sing of God the Creator. After relating the story of the poet's inspiration, with many details. Bede says: "Thus sang lie of the creation of the world, and the beginning of the race of men, and all the history of Genesis; of the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and the entrance into the promised land; of many other stories of the Holy Scriptures; of the incarnation of the Lord. His passion, resur rection, and ascension; of the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the teachings of the Apostles; also of the terrors of the future judgment and the horror of hell-punishment, and the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom." There is now in the Bodleian Library. Oxford, a MS. ( \Vest Tenth Century) of sacred epics, of which the poems known as Genesis. Exodus, Daniel,
Christ. and Satan, correspond with the substance of Ccedinon's Paraphrase, as described by Bede. They have been ascribed as a whole, or in part, to Cfedmon. The best criticism, however, holds that some of them, and perhaps none, are his; that they belong, rather, to a class of popular re ligious poems, which may be called, if one likes, Ciedmonian. The theme of these poems antici pates that of Milton's great epics; and attempts have been made to connect Milton directly with the Ccedmon Paraphrase. Other poems besides those mentioned have been credited to Ca-dmon. Of great philological interest—for it is written in the Northumbrian dialect—is the hymn which Ctedmon is supposed to have composed in his dream. These verses are preserved in a MS. Bede's History. now at Cambridge. For text of the exdinon poems. consult: Grein-Wiilker. Bib liothek der anyclsiiehsischen Poesie, Vol. II. (Leipzig. 1894) ; for a translation, Thorpe, cathoon I London, 1632) ; for amount of Cced liain and the poems, ten Ilrink, Early English Literature. translated (London. Isg3) ; and ley, English Writers, Vol. II (London. ISS8).