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The Medieval Church · c. 850–900
The Signed Poems
Cynewulf
What it is
Four poems — Elene, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles, and Christ II — each with the poet's name spelled out in runes woven into the closing lines, where he asks readers to pray for him and describes his fear of judgement.
Why it lasted
The only named Old English poet besides Cædmon, and the first English writer to sign his work. Elene, on Helena's finding of the cross, is the earliest English treatment of a legend that filled the later Middle Ages.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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