Christ, in Old English Crist, is the title given to a triad of Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 religious poems in the Exeter Book

Exeter Book

The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices. The book was donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the...

 comprising a total of 1664 lines and dealing with Christ's Advent, Ascension and Last Judgment. It was originally thought to be one piece completed by a single author, but the poem is now broken up into three parts:

Christ I

Christ I

Christ I, also Christ A or Advent Lyrics, is a collection of twelve anonymous Old English poems on the coming of the Lord, preserved in the Exeter Book...

(also Christ A or Advent Lyrics), a collection of twelve anonymous Old English poems dealing with Christ's Advent.

Christ II (also Christ B), poem written by the Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf

Cynewulf

Cynewulf is one of twelve Anglo-Saxon poets known by name today, and one of four whose work survives today. He is famous for his religious compositions, and is regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of Old English Christian poetry. Posterity knows of his name by means of runic signatures that...

 on Christ's Ascension.

Christ III

Christ III

Christ III is an anonymous Old English religious poem which forms the last part of Christ, a poetic triad found at the beginning of the Exeter Book. Christ III is found on fols. 20b–32a and constitutes lines 867–1664 of Christ in Krapp and Dobbie's edition...

(also Christ C), anonymous poem on the Last Judgment.

Together with Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...

, it constitutes one of the primary examples of Anglo-Saxon literature.

External links

• The Old English poems, Christ I-III
• A Modern English translation (PDF), by Charles W. Kennedy. From "In Parentheses".