Who was Caedmon??

• He is the earliest English poet whose name is known.
• Only source of original biographical info is from 8th-century monk Bede
• Caedmon was active somewhere between 657 and 684 CE, but exact dates not known
• Name of Celtic origin, though Bede notes English was his "own" language

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/noa/mp3/audio_ma_02.mp3\

     1         Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard

              2metudæs maecti end his modgidanc

              3uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes

              4eci dryctin or astelidæ

              5he aerist scop aelda barnum

              6heben til hrofe haleg scepen.

              7tha middungeard moncynnæs uard

              8eci dryctin æfter tiadæ

              9firum foldu frea allmectig

primo cantauit Cædmon istud carmen

MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATION

1. Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven's kingdom
2.  the might of the Creator, and his thought,
3.  the work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders
4. the Eternal Lord established in the beginning.
5. He first created for the sons of men
6. Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator,
7. then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind,
8. the Eternal Lord, afterwards made,
9. the earth for men, the Almighty Lord.
10.  In the beginning, Caedmon sang this poem.