Editing Old English literature (section)

=== Poets ===
Most Old English poems are recorded without authors, and very few names are known with any certainty; the primary three are [[Cædmon]], [[Aldhelm]], and [[Cynewulf]].{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=277}}

==== Bede ====
[[Bede]] is often thought to be the poet of a five-line poem entitled ''Bede's Death Song'', on account of its appearance in a letter on his death by [[Cuthbert]]. This poem exists in a Northumbrian and later version.{{sfn|Smith|1978}}

==== Cædmon ====
Cædmon is considered the first Old English poet whose work still survives. He is a legendary figure, as described in [[Bede]]'s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to Bede, Cædmon was first an illiterate herdsman. Following a vision of a messenger from God, Cædmon received the gift of poetry, and then lived as a monk under [[Hilda of Whitby|Abbess Hild]] at the abbey of [[Whitby]] in [[Northumbria]] in the 7th century.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=277}}{{sfn|Vernon|1861|p=145}} Bede's ''History'' claims to reproduce Cædmon's first poem, comprising nine lines. Referred to as ''[[Cædmon's Hymn]]'', the poem is extant in Northumbrian, West-Saxon and Latin versions that appear in 19 surviving manuscripts:{{sfn|O'Donnell|2005|p=78}}

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Cædmon's Hymn in different dialects
! Modern English{{sfn|Hamer|2015|p=126}} !! West Saxon<ref name="CaedmonSweet">{{citation |last=Sweet |first=Henry |title=An Anglo-Saxon Reader |publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1943|edition=13th|location=Oxford|pages=43|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.20777/2015.20777.Sweets-Anglo-saxon-Reader-In-Prose-And-Verseed13#page/n51/mode/2up}} Taken from the Corpus MS. at Oxford (279), commonly referred to as the "O" manuscript of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.</ref>!! Northumbrian{{sfn|Hamer|2015|p=125|ps=, taken from {{harvp|Smith|1978}}, in turn taken from the manuscript known as the Moore Bede (Cambridge Library MS. kk.5.16)}}
|- align="center"
| Now we must praise the Guardian of heaven,<br />The power and conception of the Lord,<br />And all His works, as He, eternal Lord,<br />Father of glory, started every wonder.<br />First He created heaven as a roof,<br />The holy Maker, for the sons of men.<br />Then the eternal Keeper of mankind<br />Furnished the earth below, the land, for men,<br />Almighty God and everlasting Lord.
|
{|
| align="right" | Nū wē sculan herian<br />Metodes mihte<br />weorc Wuldorfæder;<br />ēce Dryhten,<br />Hē ǣrest gesceōp<br />heofon tō hrōfe,<br />ða middangeard,<br />ēce Dryhten,<br />fīrum foldan,
| align="left" | / heofonrīces Weard,<br />/ and his mōdgeþonc,<br />/ swā hē wundra gehwæs,<br />/ ord onstealde.<br />/ eorðan bearnum<br />/ hālig Scyppend;<br />/ monncynnes Weard,<br />/ æfter tēode<br />/ Frēa Ælmihtig.
|}
|
{|
| align="right" | Nū scylun hergan<br />Metudæs mæcti<br />uerc Uuldurfadur,<br />ēci Dryctin,<br />Hē ǣrist scōp<br />heben til hrōfe<br />Thā middungeard<br />ēci Dryctin,<br />fīrum foldu,
| align="left" | / hefænrīcaes Uard,<br />/ end His mōdgidanc<br />/ suē Hē uundra gihuæs,<br />/ ōr āstelidæ.<br />/ ælda barnum<br />/ hāleg Scepen.<br />/ moncynnæs Uard,<br />/ æfter tīadæ<br />/ Frēa allmectig.
|}

|}

==== Cynewulf ====
[[Cynewulf]] has proven to be a difficult figure to identify, but recent research suggests he was an Anglian poet from the early part of the 9th century. Four poems are attributed to him, signed with a runic acrostic at the end of each poem; these are ''The Fates of the Apostles'' and ''Elene'' (both found in the Vercelli Book), and ''Christ II'' and ''Juliana'' (both found in the Exeter Book).{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=278}}

Although [[William of Malmesbury]] claims that [[Aldhelm]], bishop of [[Sherborne]] (d. 709), performed [[secular]] songs while accompanied by a harp, none of these Old English poems survives.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=278}} Paul G. Remely has recently proposed that the Old English ''[[Exodus (poem)|Exodus]]'' may have been the work of Aldhelm, or someone closely associated with him.{{sfn|Remley|2005}}

==== Alfred ====
[[Alfred the Great|Alfred]] is said to be the author of some of the metrical prefaces to the Old English translations of Gregory's ''Pastoral Care'' and Boethius's ''Consolation of Philosophy''. Alfred is also thought to be the author of 50 metrical psalms, but whether the poems were written by him, under his direction or patronage, or as a general part in his reform efforts is unknown.{{sfn|Treschow|Gill|Swartz|2009}}