The Unity and Authorship of the Old EnglishAdvent Lyrics

Abstract

The twelve extant Old EnglishAdvent Lyricshave traditionally been taken as the work of a single poet; this single poet, moreover, is generally thought to have created the sequence as a single, coherent work—albeit one with twelve “parts”. It is here argued that the evidence of theLyricsthemselves in fact suggests that they are not intended to be read as a connected sequence, but as individual, separate poems, and that the sequence as it stands is a compilation, rather than the work of a single poet. These arguments are supported by the variety and disorder of the lyrics' liturgical sources and doctrinal interests, the suggestion of division in the palaeographical data, and above all, the stylistic variations between the lyrics themselves. Such evidence as exists of thematic organisation or unity, it is argued, is best viewed as a product of the organising intelligence of later compilers, rather than the compositional intention of one putative original poet. Finally, it is suggested that the numerous poetic voices of the series achieve their essential unity only when heard as speaking out of a unifying system of monastic life and thought.

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