Caedmon

(fl. 658-680)

   Little is known about Saint Caedmon the great Anglo-Saxon poet (the name is thought to be Celtic) other than what Bede records. Caedmon, an illiterate Northumbrian herdsman, had a vision in which he learned a hymn, which he recited perfectly when he awoke. He became a monk at Streaneshalch monastery (Whitby) during the rule of the Abbess Hild (between 658 and 680), when he was already an old man. The monks instructed him in the Bible, which he turned into sung verse, thus making Scripture accessible to the laity. A stone is set in the floor of Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. Some of his poems: Caedmon's Hymn, Christ and Satan (the fallen angels; Christ's descent into hell after his death, and the temptation of Christ by Satan), Daniel (the Book of Daniel), Exodus (the flight of the Israelites), Genesis (the Creation).

   Sources: An Anthology of Catholic Poets. Shane Leslie, ed. Macmillan, 1952. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Encyclopedia of Britain. Bamber Gascoigne. London: Macmillan, 1994. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press,2000. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).