Caedmon — a remark

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“I cannot sing; and for this reason I left the feast and went to the stable when I saw the harp coming towards me.”

Explaining Caedmon’s initial reluctance and lack of confidence as a singer · Bede, Ecclesiastical History, IV.24; translated speech

About Caedmon

Caedmon

c. 600–c. 681

In the dim, torch-lit mead hall of a seventh-century Northumbrian monastery, a solitary figure slipped quietly away from the gathering. While his companions sat in warm camaraderie, passing around the harp and singing verses of praise and legend, Cædmon, the cowherd, chose exile over embarrassment. He could not sing…

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