Christ I
Christ I (also known as Christ A or (The) Advent Lyrics), is a fragmentary collection of Old English poems on the coming of the Lord, preserved in the Exeter Book. In its present state, the poem comprises 439 lines in twelve distinct sections. In the assessment of Edward B. Irving Jr, "two masterpieces stand out of the mass of Anglo-Saxon religious poetry: The Dream of the Rood and the sequence of liturgical lyrics in the Exeter Book ... known as Christ I".
| Christ I | |
|---|---|
Exeter Book folio 10r, showing lines 139-71 of the poem, and the way in which the manuscript marks the section break between what modern scholars identify as lyrics 6 and 7. The image also illustrates post-medieval glossing of the poem. | |
| Also known as | Advent Lyrics or Christ A |
| Author(s) | anonymous |
| Language | Old English |
| Date | Unknown, possibly around 800 |
| Series | Old English Christ poems, along with Christ II and Christ III |
| Manuscript(s) | Exeter Book, folios 8r-14r |
| Genre | Religious poem in 12 subsections |
| Subject | The Advent of Christ |
The topic of the poem is Advent, the time period in the annual liturgical cycle leading up to the anniversary of the coming of Christ, a period of great spiritual and symbolic significance within the Church — for some in early medieval Europe a time of fasting, and the subject of a sermon by Gregory the Great (AD 590-604). The Old English lyrics of Christ I, playing off the Latin antiphons, reflect on this period of symbolic preparation.