The Inspiration of Caedmon :: Caedmon Essays

The Inspiration of Caedmon The poem Caedmon, written by Denise Levertov, enlists readers to learn more about God and creation and by doing so expands their cause of the universe. At one point or another in life, people go through stages where they have no inspiration and sometimes shrink rear from something that they think is too complicated to achieve. Therefore, they are limiting themselves and their undeveloped talents, such(prenominal) like Caedmon was before his emergent inspiration by the messenger of God. The story of the poet Caedmon and his sudden inspiration is recounted in the Venerable Bedes Ecclesiastical History. In the following lines of the poem Caedmon when he is asked to contribute to the songs, he gets that it is impossible and that if he were to attempt to sing, he would ravish their verses like a clumsy dancer All others talked as if talk were a dance. Clodhopper I, with clumsy feet would break the gliding ring. (1575) When anyone would try to nu dge him forrard to contribute, he would always use the excuse that he was a cowherd to escape the passing of the harp and retreat back to the barn with the animals. He would feel content and at home amongst the animals where he was not forced into improvising verses to keep the banquet lively. While he is sitting amongst the animals, the event occurs that changes his life. In the following lines of Caedmon, he describes the angel that suddenly appears in front of him Until the sudden angel affrighted me - light effacing my feeble beam, a forest of torches, feathers of flame, sparks upflying (1575-76) The next few lines are in association with a similar event that is recounted in the Bible. In the poem Caedmon, the event is described as follows but the cows as before were calm, and zilch was burning, nothing but I, as that hand of fire touched my lips and scorched my tongue and pulled my voice into the ring of the dance. (1576) In Chapter 6, Verse 6 of Isaiah, Isaia h is told to prophesy and he is unwilling, much like Caedmon was unwilling to contribute to the passing of the harp. Isaiah has a similar experience when an angel confronts him in the following lines of the Bible