- The Ccedmon Poems. Translated into English Prose by C.
W. Kennedy. (Routledge. 6s. net.)—Dr. Kennedy of Princeton has made a readable prose version of the Biblical poems in Anglo-Saxon long attributed to the monk of Whitby of whom Bede tells us in a memorable passage. The brief hymn is now all that scholars credit to Cwdmon; the paraphrases are by other hands, and the "Genesis," so much discussed as a possible source of " Paradise Lost," is a trans- lation from an Old Saxon poem. But these early Anglo-Saxon works, whoever wrote them, are of much interest. Dr. Kennedy gives a fairly close rendering, though his prose is dull compared to the irregular alliterative verse of the original. In an appendix Mr. Morey, also of Princeton, discusses the very remarkable Anglo-Saxon miniatures illustrating " Genesis " in the Junius MS. at the Bodleian, all of which are reproduced ; he shows how important they are in the early history of English art.
Previous page
