[lit-ideas] Re: Caedmon -- the first illiterate English poet
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:08:57 -0500
>English is _essentially_ an illiterate language.
All languages are illiterate. Literacy is something quite different from
language. It's like computer code.
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 9:01 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Caedmon -- the first illiterate English poet
From Mitchell/Robinson:
Nu we sculon herigean heonfonices weard
meotodes meahte ond his modgethanc
weork wuldorfaeder swa he wundra gehwaes
ece drihten or onsteadle
he aerest sceop eordhan bearnum
heofon to hrofe halig Scyppend
tha middangeard monncynnes weard
ece drihten after teode
firum foldan frea aelmihtig
--- Beautiful. Caedmon was illiterate, yet this, the first poem ever
_uttered_ in English certainly opened the door for later developments like
"Elegy written in a country churchyard" and other marvels of English poetry.
Cheers,
JL Speranza,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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