At Heaven’s Gate
The eighth-century English bishop and poet Cynewulf takes us to the threshold of God’s holy city, and gives us a choice.
800
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
The eighth-century English bishop and poet Cynewulf takes us to the threshold of God’s holy city, and gives us a choice.
800
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne) presents the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as a choice given to all mankind: what kind of life do we want in the hereafter, and what are we prepared to do in order to obtain it?
freely translated from the Old English
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
OPEN, ye gates! Creation’s King would enter his citadel, would lead into the joy of joys a people (they are no small company) snatched from the devil by his Victory. Affinity shall angels and men have for ever after. There is a covenant together between God and man, a spiritual pledge: love, hope of life, all the joys of light.
Listen! We have heard how that holy child, the famous Son of the Measurer,* by his advent restored health to us, who dwell beneath the skies, freed us, and kept us free; that now each man living, while yet he remains here, might choose whether
disgrace of hell, or glory of heaven,
light of lights, or hateful night,
exultant choir, or grief in the shadows,
joy of the Lord, or clamour of devils,
punishment with wrath, or glory with honour,
life, or death,
is what he longs to achieve, while flesh and spirit dwell yet in the world. Glory be to the mighty Trinity, and endless gratitude!
freely translated from the Old English
‘The Measurer’ is a name for God as the one who creates all things and knows all things, based on such passages as Habakkuk 3:6, Isaiah 40:11-12 and 2 Esdras 16:56-59.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.