传记凯德蒙

诗人的传记

670年去世。圣比德记录了惠特比修道院的牧牛人凯德蒙的一生，他虽然粗野，没有受过教育，但由于某种奇怪的力量，晚年却出道歌唱，成为英国诗歌之父。有人说，当他第一次行使他的天赋时，他已经很老了。传说多年来，由于他的害羞，他一直为自己无法在节日场合轮流唱歌而感到羞愧，以至于他会偷偷地躲起来。“因此，有时在宴会上，当大家为了欢乐而同意轮流唱歌时，他一看到竖琴向他走来，就从餐桌上站起来，转身回家。”然而，一天晚上，当他离开宴会躲进马厩时，他听到一个声音说:“唱吧，凯德蒙。给我唱支歌吧。”凯德蒙结结巴巴地回答说:“我不会唱歌。“但你应该唱歌，”那声音回答。“我该唱什么呢?”凯德蒙惊奇地问。 The voice answered: 'Sing the beginning of created things.' And Caedmon, in that moment, attempting to sing, found his stammering tongue had been loosened. In the morning he recalled the words of his song and, adding other verses to it, appeared before the Abbess Hilda, to whom he related his strange story. He sang to her the song he had sung in the night, and she and all who heard were amazed, and agreed 'that heavenly grace had been conferred upon him by the Lord.' He became a lay-brother and, still in the great abbey of Whitby, was taught by his fellow monks the truths of the Bible; these he turned into poetry 'so sweet to the ear that his teachers became his hearers.' 'He sang,' says Bede, 'of the creation of the world, the origin of man, and the history of Israel, of the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ, and the teaching of the Apostles.' This first Anglo-Saxon writer of religious poetry covered with his paraphrases the whole field of Scripture, and though 'others after him strove to compose religious poems, none could vie with him, for he learned the art of poetry not from men, but from God.' He is said to have died in holiness and perfect charity to all, after showing that he knew his life was at an end, although he was not seriously ill. It was a remarkable instance of the power of the Bible to stimulate the imagination and awaken natural genius. Thus, Caedmon brought to the common people the energy and realism of the Scriptures, which, entering deeply into the life of the nation, have never ceased through all the centuries to invigorate and inspire the culture of the English-speaking world. Though only nine lines of one of his hymns, Dream of the Road, said to have been composed in a dream, survives, he is called the 'Father of English Sacred Poetry.' His feast is still celebrated at Whitby.