Cynewulf

Cynewulf (kĭn`əwlf', kn`–), fl. early 9th cent.?, Old English religious poet of Northumbria or Mercia. Four poems have been ascribed to him on the evidence of his signatures in runes in the text of each of these poems. The poems, all more explicitly didactic than any earlier works, are: Juliana, The Ascension, Elene, and The Fates of the Apostles. Other poems, formerly thought his, are now attributed to poets of the "Cynewulf school."

Bibliography

See The Poems of Cynewulf (tr. by C. W. Kennedy, 1949); E. R. Anderson, Cynewulf: Structure, Style, and Theme in His Poetry (1983).

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Cynewulf

 or Kynewulf or Cynwulf

(flourished 9th century AD, Northumbria or Mercia) Anglo-Saxon poet. He is the author of four Old English poems from late 10th-century manuscripts: Elene, about St. Helena; The Fates of the Apostles, on the mission and death of each Apostle; The Ascension, part of a trilogy by different authors; and Juliana, a life of St. Juliana. Nothing is known of the poet outside of the text; its evidence suggests he was a learned cleric of Northumbria or Mercia. Runic characters woven into the text are thought to spell his name.

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Cynewulf, Kynewulf, Cynwulf

?8th century ad, Anglo-Saxon poet; author of Juliana, The Ascension, Elene, and The Fates of the Apostles