The Binding of Religious Heroes inAndreasand theHêliand
Megan Cavell
Scholarly approaches to the Old English Andreas have tended emphasise poem's formulaic debt Beowulf and works of Cynewulf, but as yet unexplored is its strikingly similar use binding motif also present in Saxon alliterative gospel, Hêliand. These two poems, likely produced a period, share not only depiction bound religious heroes that far outstrips their sources, specific linguistic parallels. The suggestion Hêliand's preoccupation with Christ stems directly from experience those Saxons subjugated by Franks is, therefore, problematised when we take into account nature terminology closely related language English. Similarly, desire read saints unique innovation does possibility poet may been familiar tradition which Christ's Passion includes binding. In discussing these texts together, this paper emphasises cross-cultural interest bondage, well importance exploring connections between corpora.
English Studies