Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

"Hail Earendel-soothfast and sunbright
Sunbeam enlightening-all the tides of time

Come Thyself illumine-souls long lost in darkness

Come Thou Lord of Triumph-Thou Giver of Thyself! "9

Then once more the dialogue of Mary and Joseph proceeds, celebrating the Virgin's praise as "the glorious Lady of the middle earth, and the ring-adorned Bride of Heaven," ending with a final chorus in which are pictured the circle of the praising Seraphim, "with winged plumes flashing in the play of their flight," around the throne of the Eternal.

I think perhaps one ought to notice here in passing how in this canto the somewhat sombre and grim aspect of the Gospel, as Cynewulf conceives it, is brightened with the idyllic beauty of the Virgin Mother of the Christ, and through her of that conception of womanhood—an ideal, it should be remembered, worthy of an English poet picturing a woman of the true northern type, generous and gentle and winning, but firm of character, resolute of will, royal of bearing-a conception which, whatever may be the mistakes and heresies of a later Mariolatry, did so much to soften and refine the heroic ideals of our early forbears—

"For in reverence of the Heavenes Queen

They came to worship alle women that been."

Indeed, I think, it is not too much to say that the sweet and tender grace, the humility and loving-kindness of the Virgin, her maidenhood, her motherhood, as pictured in this poem of Cynewulf's, and in the pages of many another English poet down to Chaucer, became for the

men of mediæval England the most vivid and beautiful Christian ideal that filled the minds of men after the image of Christ.10

II.

The second portion of Cynewulf's poem is taken up with the subject of Christ's Ascension, and of the events which followed and preceded it. I have said that the source of the first part was found by Cynewulf in the great pre-Christmas antiphons. So also we shall find that the historic basis of this second part is more or less liturgical; for it is founded on the close of a homily written by Gregory the Great" on one of the special lessons of Ascension-tide (that which was read on the third Nocturne of the Octave), and upon a Latin Antiphon (Hymnum Cantamus Gloria) written by the Venerable Bede, and still in part familiar to the Church of to-day as the hymn "Sing triumphant hymns of praise." The substance therefore of Cynewulf's poem is thus associated with two of the glories of the early English Church. For as the heroic age of that Church may fitly be said to close with the death of Bede, it is surely interesting to find that the Ascension Hymn, which, according to the touching story of Cuthbert, was among the last words on the lips of his dying master, was also enshrined at the very heart of Cynewulf's great epic. And when we remember too how great was the debt of the English Church to Pope Gregory, it is hardly, I think, less interesting to note that the most important part of Cynewulf's "Christ" should consist of a poetic

amplification of one of the most eloquent homilies of that great Doctor of the Church.

But the fact that the Ascended Christ, the King of Glory, victorious over sin and death, rather than the Crucified Sufferer shines forth as the chief Figure of this eighth-century poem-whether suggested to Cynewulf primarily by Gregory's homily or not I cannot sayhas, I think, a far wider interest than its mere historic association with the Ascension-tide offices. For although it cannot be doubted, I suppose, that the harmony of the Christian Creed depends upon the fact of the Ascension of Jesus even as much as upon the fact of the Resurrection itself-for it should not be forgotten. that the circumstances of the Ascension, in their brightness, in their promise, in their miraculousness, in their moving appeal to human aspiration seems especially to attract the contemplation of all who receive the Christian Faith-still it cannot, I think, be denied-it is a mournful fact of history-that the morbid temper of the Church of the Middle Ages could not rest satisfied without perpetual representation of the tortures of the Crucified Christ, and did but very rarely dwell upon the glories of His triumph.

It is, therefore, all the more remarkable to find, on the evidence of this representative poet, that in regard to the due proportion of faith, and especially in relation to this great doctrine of the triumphant Christ, our English forbears in the Church of the eighth century had the root of the matter in them a thousand years ago. For it is this faith in a Christ, who by His incarnation consecrated and ennobled human nature, and

who by His Ascension with that spiritualised human nature into heaven, glorified, may I not say, deified it— "He was made man that we might be made God" 12 are the bold words of Athanasius-and who by His Holy Spirit "gave gifts unto men" for the strengthening and emboldening of His Church, it is this faith which has been the effective antecedent of those historic changes which have modified, if they have not created, our modern civilisation.

It is, I say, therefore, specially interesting to find that the Personality of Christ, in Cynewulf's poem, is undoubtedly pictured as a Divine and Imperial Figure, supreme over heaven and earth, the Lord of Glory and the everlasting Son of the Father, the Judge of quick and dead, even though we are also obliged to allow that the old Saxon poet has conceived Him, in somewhat saga fashion, as a victorious King, whose apostles and saints are thegns and æthelings, dispensing gifts of service among His thralls, waging a world-wide war in which earth and heaven and hell are mingled, and who, when the victory over the dark-burg of hell shall be won, will sit down to feast with His warriors in the great Hall of the light-burg of heaven, amid the singing of the angels, who are the bards of the battle.13

"When the great Leader, the Prince majestic,

Called to Bethany his band of thanes

His dear comrades'

are the words with which Cynewulf prefaces the scriptural account of the farewell words of the ascending Christ to His disciples. So too the great commission

to His Church, "Go ye into all nations, teach, preach, baptize," becomes such an exhortation as would no doubt be natural to a poet whose people were still half-pagan and idolatrous: "Break, break the idols, cast them down, spurn them; quench strife and hatred; sow peace on earth. I will abide with I will abide with you for ever." 14

"Lo! the Holy Hero!" he exclaims, as in his vision he sees the mighty host of the angels coming to meet in mid-space the ascending Christ, and the warrior spirit once more awakens in him, and he bursts into a war-shout, like a chieftain welcoming his over-lord :"Lo, the Holy Hero-warrior King of glory, He the Helm of Heaven, hath arrayed the war Right against his ancient foes, with his only might.

Now will he seek the spirit's throne of grace,
He, the Saviour of souls, the proper bairn of God,
After his war-play! Forward now, ye comrades,
Frankly march along! Open, O ye gates!
He will into you. He, of all the wielder,
He, the City's King-He Creation's Lord,
Now his folk will lead, reft from the devils,
To the joy of joys, by His own victory.

"Twixt God and man he places a ghostly pledge

Of love-Life's solace, and of all Light joy." [563-584.] 15

III.

The third and final portion of Cynewulf's poem is taken up with a description, in swirling verses, full of imaginative splendour, of the Day of Judgment. Like a thief in the blackness of night it surprises men.

"Lo, the fire-blast, flaming far, fierce and hungry as a sword,
Whelms the world withal. Then on every wight

« ÎnapoiContinuă »