Cynewulf :: Критика
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Критика
Cynewulf's unquestioned poems show that he was a scholar, familiar with Latin and with religious literature, and they display much metrical skill and felicity in the use of traditional poetic language; but of the higher qualities of poetry they give little evidence. There are pleasing passages in Elene, but. the clumsy and tasteless narration of the Latin original is faithfully reproduced, and the added descriptions of battles and voyages are strings of conventional phrases, with no real imagination. In The Ascension the genuine religious fervour imparts a higher tone to the poetry; the piece has real but not extraordinary merit. 'Of the other two poems no critic has much to say in praise. If Cynewulf is to be allowed high poetic rank, it must be on the ground of his authorship of other works than those which he has signed. At one time or other nearly the whole body of extant Old English poetry (including Beowulf) has been conjecturally assigned to him. Some of the attributed works show many striking resemblances in style and diction to his authentic writings. But it is impossible to determine with certainty how far the similarities may be due to imitation or to the following of a common tradition.
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