The Poem That Defied Erasure: Unraveling the Mystery of "Caedmon's Hymn" Irish researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in Rome's main public library.
Among the shelves of medieval texts, they found the oldest surviving English poem, "Caedmon's Hymn. " This nine line masterpiece is a significant find for scholars of language and culture.
Composed by Caedmon, an agricultural worker from Northumbria, around the 7th century in Old English, "Caedmon's Hymn" marks a major milestone in the evolution of the English language.