"the first English poet of known name"
Everything we know about his life (and his poetry) comes from Bede.
Died 680 (Oxford Dictionary of Saints)
A stable boy (Crystal) or herdsman (ODS) at Whitby, Yorkshire.
He was at some festivity where everyone was expected to take a turn
singing. He left, for shame that he couldn't sing. Went home, fell
asleep, had a dream where someone asked him to sing.
"I can't"
"You can sing for me"
"What shall I sing?"
"Sing me creation"

Thus the poem, of which we have nine lines in Bede:

(in Northumbrian dialect, here "The Moore Version", from Sweet's
Anglo-Saxon Reader, 15th ed.)

Nū scylun hergan hefaenrīcaes Uard,
Metudæs maecti end his mōdgidanc,
uere Uuldurfadur, suē hē uundra gihuaes,
ēci Dryctin, ōr āstelidæ.
Hē āērest scōp aelda barnum
heben til hrōfe hāleg Scepen.
Thā middungeard moncynnæs Uard,
ēci Dryctin, æfter tīadæ
fīrum foldu Frēa allmectig.

(Crystal's ModEng version)

Now we must praise the guardian of the heavenly kingdom
the might of the creator and his mind’s purpose
the work of the Father of Glory, as he for each of his wonders,
the eternal Lord, established a beginning.

He shaped first for the sons of the earth
heaven as a roof, the holy shaper;
then the middle-world, mankind’s guardian
the eternal Lord, afterwards made,
solid ground for men, the Lord almighty.

On 2/10/2024 4:45 PM, Ross Clark wrote:
> "the first English poet of known name"
> Everything we know about his life (and his poetry) comes from Bede.
> Died 680 (Oxford Dictionary of Saints)
> A stable boy (Crystal) or herdsman (ODS) at Whitby, Yorkshire.
> He was at some festivity where everyone was expected to take a turn
> singing. He left, for shame that he couldn't sing. Went home, fell
> asleep, had a dream where someone asked him to sing.
> "I can't"
> "You can sing for me"
> "What shall I sing?"
> "Sing me creation"
>
> Thus the poem, of which we have nine lines in Bede:
>
> (in Northumbrian dialect, here "The Moore Version", from Sweet's
> Anglo-Saxon Reader, 15th ed.)
>
> Nū scylun hergan     hefaenrīcaes Uard,
> Metudæs maecti     end his mōdgidanc,
> uere Uuldurfadur,     suē hē uundra gihuaes,
> ēci Dryctin,     ōr āstelidæ.
> Hē āērest scōp     aelda barnum
> heben til hrōfe     hāleg Scepen.
> Thā middungeard     moncynnæs Uard,
> ēci Dryctin,      æfter tīadæ
> fīrum foldu     Frēa allmectig.
>
> (Crystal's ModEng version)
>
> Now we must praise   the guardian of the heavenly kingdom
> the might of the creator    and his mind’s purpose
> the work of the Father of Glory,   as he for each of his wonders,
> the eternal Lord,     established a beginning.
>
> He shaped first     for the sons of the earth
> heaven as a roof,    the holy shaper;
> then the middle-world,     mankind’s guardian
> the eternal Lord,     afterwards made,
> solid ground for men,    the Lord almighty.
>

are you writing these from scratch?

On 13/02/2024 11:06 a.m., HenHanna wrote:
> On 2/10/2024 4:45 PM, Ross Clark wrote:
>> "the first English poet of known name"
>> Everything we know about his life (and his poetry) comes from Bede.
>> Died 680 (Oxford Dictionary of Saints)
>> A stable boy (Crystal) or herdsman (ODS) at Whitby, Yorkshire.
>> He was at some festivity where everyone was expected to take a turn
>> singing. He left, for shame that he couldn't sing. Went home, fell
>> asleep, had a dream where someone asked him to sing.
>> "I can't"
>> "You can sing for me"
>> "What shall I sing?"
>> "Sing me creation"
>>
>> Thus the poem, of which we have nine lines in Bede:
>>
>> (in Northumbrian dialect, here "The Moore Version", from Sweet's
>> Anglo-Saxon Reader, 15th ed.)
>>
>> Nū scylun hergan     hefaenrīcaes Uard,
>> Metudæs maecti     end his mōdgidanc,
>> uere Uuldurfadur,     suē hē uundra gihuaes,
>> ēci Dryctin,     ōr āstelidæ.
>> Hē āērest scōp     aelda barnum
>> heben til hrōfe     hāleg Scepen.
>> Thā middungeard     moncynnæs Uard,
>> ēci Dryctin,      æfter tīadæ
>> fīrum foldu     Frēa allmectig.
>>
>> (Crystal's ModEng version)
>>
>> Now we must praise   the guardian of the heavenly kingdom
>> the might of the creator    and his mind’s purpose
>> the work of the Father of Glory,   as he for each of his wonders,
>> the eternal Lord,     established a beginning.
>>
>> He shaped first     for the sons of the earth
>> heaven as a roof,    the holy shaper;
>> then the middle-world,     mankind’s guardian
>> the eternal Lord,     afterwards made,
>> solid ground for men,    the Lord almighty.
>>
>
>
> are you writing these from scratch?
>

See my first post of the year. I'm working my way through a day-by-day
book by David Crystal (A Date with Language). The subjects are
Crystal's. I'm quoting Crystal here and there, adding bits of
information and sometimes my own opinions or experiences.

On 2024-02-11, Ross Clark wrote:

> "the first English poet of known name"
> Everything we know about his life (and his poetry) comes from Bede.
> Died 680 (Oxford Dictionary of Saints)
> A stable boy (Crystal) or herdsman (ODS) at Whitby, Yorkshire.
> He was at some festivity where everyone was expected to take a turn
> singing. He left, for shame that he couldn't sing. Went home, fell
> asleep, had a dream where someone asked him to sing.
> "I can't"
> "You can sing for me"
> "What shall I sing?"
> "Sing me creation"
>
> Thus the poem, of which we have nine lines in Bede:
>
> (in Northumbrian dialect, here "The Moore Version", from Sweet's
> Anglo-Saxon Reader, 15th ed.)
>
> Nū scylun hergan hefaenrīcaes Uard,
> Metudæs maecti end his mōdgidanc,
> uere Uuldurfadur, suē hē uundra gihuaes,
> ēci Dryctin, ōr āstelidæ.
> Hē āērest scōp aelda barnum
> heben til hrōfe hāleg Scepen.
> Thā middungeard moncynnæs Uard,
> ēci Dryctin, æfter tīadæ
> fīrum foldu Frēa allmectig.

Nice example of the now nearly defunct "-ric" morpheme.

--
If hard data were the filtering criterion you could fit the entire
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