Caedmon (1987). Detailed description

Appearing in the 1987 collection Breathing the Water, “Caedmon” stands alongside other religiously themed and historically specific poems such as “The Servant Girl at Emmaus,” “‘I learned that her name was Proverb,’” and “The Showings: Lady Julian of Norwich, 1342-1426.” Although we can appreciate the aesthetic and technical achievements of the poem without delving into the allusions, when trying to appreciate the poem’s different layers of meaning it becomes necessary to have some background information.

Levertov gives us obvious clues for beginning an investigation. The title “Caedmon” is the name of a herdsman who worked for a monastery most of his life. The Venerable Bede tells his story in book 4, chapter 24 of the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (History of the English church and people). Herdsmen commonly entertained themselves by singing and playing music to each other in turn. Caedmon, who did not know how to sing, would leave the party before his turn and on one such occasion went out to the stable to stay with the animals.

He dreamed that night of a man who asked him to sing. Caedmon replied that he did not know how to sing, but the man insisted, offering the suggestion that Caedmon sing of creation. Caedmon suddenly burst forth in verse that praised God with words he had never before heard. When he woke he remembered the words and added more verses. Sharing his gift with others, including learned men, Caedmon became famous as a gifted poet who had the ability to turn scripture into song. Although little is known about the actual man, many consider him the first English poet.

Levertov writes a dramatic monologue from Caedmon’s first-person perspective based on the Bede’s history. This particular poem demonstrates the reason we tend not to assume that the speaker of a poem and its author are one in the same. It also, however, demonstrates the naivete of assuming that no connection exists between author and speaker. Levertov makes slight changes to the story to align it more closely to her own sense of the poetic. For instance, Caedmon is awake in her version of the story, and rather than a man, an angel appears to incite his speech. By depicting a fiery angel who touches Caedmon’s tongue, Levertov enriches the poem with biblical allusions. The scorched tongue could, for example, refer either to the Pentecost or to chapter 6 in the Book of Isaiah, in which Isaiah’s tongue is burned with a coal so that he can tell the world about God.

In addition to playing with allusive meanings, Levertov uses form to add depth to the poem. The first 24 lines of “Caedmon” loosely mimic the Old English style of verse, which uses stressed syllables and alliteration to create balanced halves within each line. Notice, for example, the use of alliteration to organize the following lines: “I’d wipe my / mouth and wend / unnoticed back to the barn / to be with the warm beasts” (italics mine). With the word Until, however, the angel appears and the poem takes on a freer form, using indentations and repetition to suggest the liberty of being able to use language as one chooses (Selected Poems 149).

For Discussion or Writing
1. The poem begins and ends with the same image of “the ring of the dance.” What effect does the repetition have, and what significance might it have for the poem as a whole?

2. In “Caedmon” and other poems, Levertov uses religion to define the creative process. What sort of relationship does she establish or suggest between art and religion?

3. Levertov considered “St. Peter and the Angel,” published three years earlier in Oblique Prayers, a companion piece to “Caedmon.” Compare the two poems and, using specific examples from each, explain why they do or do not relate.