ABSTRACT
A basic pattern of elements is apparent when Cynewulf first refers specifically to the apostles: sume on Romebyrig, frame, fyrdhwate, feorh ofgefon?urg Nerones nearwe searwe,Petrus ond Paulus. The evidence of poetic catalogues, both ancient and modern, suggests that there are a number of narrative procedures available to the poet. In the next occurrence of the pattern in The Fates of the Apostles the poet makes his readers abundantly aware that he is in control of the particular device and capable of exploiting its dramatic potentialities. The alteration of “giddes” to “galdres” is not without meaning in itself, for the connotations of magic or mystery about the word “galdres,” while referring most directly to the preceding runes, has at least oblique reference to the “begang” of “fpas fitte”. To reject the possibility of “mystery” in this poem is to deny oneself the pleasure of intellectual discovery—a pleasure which was perhaps not absent from a contemporary reader’s response to the poem.
