What is Cædmon's Hymn?
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Cædmon's ''Hymn''}} [[File:Caedmon's Hymn Moore mine01.gif|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|Cædmon's Hymn written in [[Northumbrian dialect|Northumbrian]]. This is the earliest known version of this work.}}]] '''Cædmon's ''Hymn''''' is a short [[Old English]] poem originally composed by [[Cædmon]]. It was about [[God]]. It survives in a [[Latin]] [[translation]] by [[Bede]] in his ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'' and in other [[dialect]]s written down in several [[manuscript]]s of Bede's ''Historia''. Bede wrote about the [[poet]] and his work in the fourth [[book]] of his ''Historia''.<ref>Charles Leslie Wrenn, ''A Study of Old English Literature'' (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1967), p. 92</ref> == Cædmon == Bede told the story of Cædmon who was an [[illiterate]] cow-[[herd]]er who was suddenly able to recite a [[Christian]] [[song]] of [[Creationism|creation]] in [[Old English language|Old English]] verse. This [[miracle]] happened after Cædmon left a [[meal|feast]] when they were passing a [[harp]] around for all to sing a song. He left the hall after feeling a[[shame]]d that he could not contribute a song. Later in a [[dream]] he said a man appeared to him and asked him to sing a song. Cædmon responded that he could not sing. But the man told him that he could and asked him to “Sing to me the beginning of all things.” Cædmon was then able to sing verses and words that he had not heard of before.<ref name=Caedmon1.2>Caedmon; Daniel Paul O'Donnell; Dawn Collins, ''Cædmon's Hymn: A Multimedia Study, Archive and Edition'' (Cambridge [England]; Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer/SEENET/the Medieval Academy, 2007), pp. 1–2</ref> Cædmon then reported his experience first to a steward then to Hild the [[wikt:abbess|abbess]]. She invited [[scholar]]s to evaluate Cædmon’s [[gift]]. Cædmon was sent home to turn more [[Doctrine|divine doctrine]] into song.<ref name=Caedmon1.2/> The abbess was so impressed with the [[success]] of his gift that she told him to become a [[monk]].<ref name=Caedmon1.2