Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1995

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

English

Major Professor

Joseph B. Trahem

Committee Members

Thomas J. Heffernan, Laura Howes, David Tandy

Abstract

The Ascension is thought to be the work of an obscure Old English poet who inscribed his name, Cynewulf, in runic acrostics in the epilogues of four poems, Elene and Fates of the Apostles in The Vercelli Book and Juliana and The Ascension in The Exeter Book. The Ascension has been edited a number of times as a part of The Exeter Book. most recently in The Exeter Anthology of Old English Poetry compiled by Bernard J. Muir, 1994. Three scholars have edited The Ascension as doctoral dissertations: Louis A. Muinzer. The Signed Poems of Cynewulf, 1956; Michael A. Williams. S.J., Cynewulf: The Ascension of Christ, 1974; and Roland T. Williams, Cynewulf's "Ascension (Christ II):" A Critical Edition, 1974. Albert S. Cook's treatment of the poem as a part of the Christ trilogy in The Christ of Cynewulf, 1900, remains the standard edition. No separate edition of The Ascension has been published.

In the twenty years since Michael Williams and Roland Williams completed their dissertations, critical studies of The Ascension have turned to questions of literary style, structure, theme and purpose, with many scholars exploring the theological and philosophical aspects of the poem. For the present critical edition, I have compared and collated ten editions of the poem, drawing upon the considerable scholarship of previous editors in addition to my own research, to provide a historical, critical context for the reading of the poem. The Introduction contains a description of the manuscript, a discussion of the presumed identity of the poet, the dialect, diction, structure and style of the poem. The theology of the poem and the theme and purpose are also addressed. The text of the poem, with explanatory footnotes, is based upon my own transcription from the manuscript, compared with Robert Chambers facsimile transcription, BL Add. MS 9607 in the British Museum Library, and the facsimile edition of The Exeter Book, edited by R.W. Chambers, Robin Flower and Max Förster. Notes and Commentary follow the text, and the two principle sources, Gregory's Homily 29.9-11 and Bede's Ascension Hymn, are reproduced in the Appendix. A Glossary is also included, listing grammatical forms and line numbers for every entry.

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