That means "eternal Lord" is also the subject.
![visions of glory endless legend visions of glory endless legend](https://staticctf.akamaized.net/J3yJr34U2pZ2Ieem48Dwy9uqj5PNUQTn/5xAQOKOrPwMtiiuEXiUC6w/530590cf8c00feee8ea5476a79bb40ce/fh_seasons-year1-grudgeglory_ncsa.jpg)
First, eliminate "eternal Lord," another re-titling of God and an appositive of "he" in line 3. The syntax here is a little tricky, so let's break it down. This becomes important in the rest of lines 3-4 because then we get a mini-description of just how God fathered this glory. The first part of line 3 is another appositive, this time providing a further description of line 2, which told us about God the architect and his "mind-plans." Here Caedmon re-phrases this as "work" and re-titles God as the "Glory-Father," emphasizing that he is the parent of all glory. annnd we're still in the same sentence here, but hold tight, because a period is in sight at the end of line 4. He work of the Glory-Father, when he of wonders of every one,
![visions of glory endless legend visions of glory endless legend](https://www-images.christianitytoday.com/images/122122.jpg)
For more on how alliteration became a calling card for all major Anglo-Saxon poetry, see "Form and Meter." And look out for more alliterating words below! What's the effect of putting three M-sounds in a single line? For Anglo-Saxon poets, alliteration was a way of organizing the line around its four stresses and that big space in the middle. For example, if you were to say, "Harry Potter, the boy-wizard," it's clear that "boy-wizard" is a further description or appositive of the first word, "Harry Potter." In this case, line 2 is continuing the description of "heaven-kingdom's Guardian" in the first line.Ĭaedmon describes God in another metaphor as a kind of architect, a "Measurer" whose power is exercised through something called "mind-plans." These might just be "thoughts," but the addition of "plans" in this kenning makes them seem more architectural, like God is doodling with a compass in his head, figuring out the circumference of the world, the depths of the oceanic basins, the height of the sky-you know, the easy stuff. Keep your eyes open for more examples.Īnd while you're at it: Mind the Gap! That cavernous space dividing the line in half is called a caesura, or pause, and it helps to organize each line's orderly system of stresses and alliteration (for more, see "Form and Meter").Ĭaedmon continues his praising with this descriptive appositive, a noun phrase following another word or phrase that continues to describe or identify it. This line gets the metaphors going with "heaven-kingdom's Guardian." "Heaven-kingdom" is an example of a specific form of Anglo-Saxon compound word called a kenning (see more under "Imagery."). God is the subject of this poetic awe and admiration, but he doesn't appear as just "God." Heck no. Speaking in the first-person plural (technical term for "we"), the speaker in the hymn declares that it's time to get our praising on. Now we must praise heaven-kingdom's Guardian,