The Old English Poetry Room The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles were written by a number of unknown monks and covered events starting with pre-Roman Britain. The Chronicles are seven manuscripts and two fragments. They were compiled sometime in the last decade of the ninth century. Since there were few sources of history open to the monks, it is speculated that they relied heavily on Bede's An Ecclesiastical History of the English People for information on the period between
The Inspiration of Caedmon The poem "Caedmon," written by Denise Levertov, enlists readers to learn more about God and creation and by doing so expands their understanding of the universe. At one point or another in life, people go through stages where they have no inspiration and sometimes shrink back from something that they think is too complicated to achieve. Therefore, they are limiting themselves and their undeveloped talents, much like Caedmon was before his sudden inspiration by
The history of old English literature begins around 500 B.C. in Britain. In the first century B.C. the Romans conquered Britain, or Britannia, as it was known during that time. As a result, the country was converted to Christianity under the Roman rule. There is very little information regarding literature from this time period, although it is likely that most were religious texts, which were written in Latin. When the Roman Empire was experiencing their downfall, they withdrew their powers from