Caedmon's Hymn

Caedmon Hymn
God's Grace is in everything

Bede's writing about Caedmon and his talent for writing hymns reflects the medieval church's idea that talent is a gift given to a certain individual by God in order to glorify him. This is also the modern interpretation for talents and special abilities, hence the name "God given talent".
Caedmon is at first said to have no talent when it comes to songs and poetic verse, Bede goes so far as to say that he will leave the room before the harp can be passed to him for a song, until that fateful night he has a dream that the Lord came down and demanded a poem.
Afterwards Caedmon is able to take any biblical story and turn them into spectacularly beautiful poems. The kenning's that are in Caedmon's hymn are beautiful, especially those that are referring to God. In the handout translation God becomes "the maker of the heavenly kingdom", but in our book it becomes "heaven-kingdom's Guardian". It is amazing how many different names the medieval poets can conjure up for God. Caedmon's Hymn in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain may have taken on more of a creative flare from Bede, but it serves as an example of the miracles God can perform in peoples lives if one is willing to let him influence your life.