Caedmon's Hymn

# 2. Bede was born in AD 673 at the monastery. There is no record of his family, except that Benedict Biscop, the founder of the monastery, was entrusted to care for Bede at the age of 7, and then he went to Ceolfrith. Bede went on to spent the rest of his life living in the monastery. He was named deacon at the age of 19 and priest at 30. Outside of his time in choir, he worked as scholar and teacher; he once said, "It has always been my delight to learn or to teach or to write". And he explains that "I have made it my business, for my own benefit and that of my brothers, to make brief extracts from the works of the venerable fathers on the holy scriptures, or to add notes of my own to clarify their sense and interpretation". His writings started the idea of dating this era from the incarnation of Christ. He was raised within the walls of a Christian environment therefore his writing were all about Christian stories or happenings, such as Caedmons hymn, in which an angel visits Caedmon and he is given the gift of song so that he can spread the word of God through song. He wrote so that people could learn about Christ and all that he did, things like sacrificing himself and all of his teachings. His writings on books of the Bible were widely promoted and widely circulated. He also wrote about nature. He knew that the earth was a sphere and had a sense of many astronomical phenomena. Bede just wanted to educate all around. He focused on Christianity but also stemmed out to other subject areas. I think it is a possibility that Caedmon could be just a figment of Bede's imagination. There is no evidence that says that Caedmon ever existed, the only proof that we have is the story that was passed on over the years and then finally written down. To me, since I am not a very religious person it sounds very far fetched that angels came down to see Caedmon and he could all of a sudden sing. I realize how most people who are religious can believe this but in my opinion I think that Bede made Caedmon up to "sell" his beliefs to others.

2. The Dream of the Rood (choose 1)

# 2. The definition of the word Rood is a cross or crucifix. The rood is the tree in the verse. There is symbolism throughout the whole story in "The Dream of the Rood." I think that the biggest use of symbolism in the verse is that of the tree. The tree, to me, represents not only the cross but also at time the lord Jesus himself. When I read the verse, the way the tree is describing what is happening sounds like it should be coming from Jesus. For example in line 46, "with dark nails they pierced me: on me the scars are visible, open and malicious wounds." I understand the personification that has been given to the tree, but with that personification it almost see the things that are going on through Jesus' eyes. I think that because the tree and Jesus are both going through the same things they become almost one. They were "mocked" as one in line 48, "mocked they us both together." It is only at certain points in the verse that the tree acts as if it were the person on the rood rather then the actual rood itself. The personification of the tree was most likely that of the dreamer. The person who is telling us of his dream in the first part of the verse is the tree in the dream. He is telling the story how he predicts it to have happened, and in being the tree he can see in the same point of view as Jesus did. I feel as though the tree is telling the story that Jesus couldn't tell. The symbolism in this verse essentially tells the story. If it weren't for the personification or symbolism or the tree we wouldn't have a story that is basically told from Jesus' point of view.
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The Dream of the Rood was written to target the early non-Christians in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. The purpose for the story or poem, as it might be called, was to convert them from their pagan beliefs to the Christian religion. The poet is trying to depict all the pain and torture that Jesus had to go through when he dies for all of mans sins. By telling them what Jesus did for all mankind the Christian missionaries were hoping to convert and bring them in to their church. Jesus died for every man and ...

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