"Elene" is a poem in Old English, that is sometimes known as "Saint Helena Finds the True Cross." It was translated from a Latin text and is the longest of Cynewulf's four signed poems. It is the fifth of six poems appearing in the Vercelli manuscript, which also contains "The Fates of the Apostles," "Andreas," "Soul and Body I," the "Homiletic Fragment I" and "Dream of the Rood." The poem is the first English account of the finding of the Holy Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. The poem was written by Cynewulf some time between 750 and the tenth century. It is written in a West Saxon dialect, but certain Anglianisms and metrical evidence concerning false rhymes suggest it was written in an Anglian rather than Saxon dialect. It is 1,321 lines long. The aim of this edition has been to sift the mass of criticism, emendation and speculation which has grown up round the text. In order to bring the work into conformity with the requirements of the series in which it is published it has been necessary in view of the length of the text to reduce the apparatus to a minimum; but it is hoped that the bibliography will afford sufficient guidance to the considerable literature on the text. "[A] careful and scholarly edition of an important early English poem, which scholars and students alike will welcome." Modern Language Review
Author
Cynewulf is one of approximately twelve Anglo-Saxon poets who are known by name, and one of only four whose work is known to survive today. He presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th centuries. He is famous for his religious compositions, and is regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of Christian Old English poetry. Posterity knows of his name by means of runic signatures that are interwoven into the four poems which comprise his scholastically recognized corpus. These poems are: The Fates of the Apostles, Juliana, Elene, and Christ II (also referred to as The Ascension). The four signed poems of Cynewulf are vast in that they collectively comprise several thousand lines of verse.
