Sapiential Structure and Figural Narrative in the Old English Elene

Abstract

The question of figural narrative in Elene is complicated, however, by the fact that Elene is a translation of a Latin saint’s life, and while the exact text of the version of the “Inventio crucis” legend which Cynewulf used has not been identified, it is virtually certain that Cynewulf drew most of the details of the narrative from his Latin source. But the figural character of most medieval hagiographic narrative is widely recognized, and the fact that Cynewulf was working from a Latin saint’s life does not necessarily mean that Elene must be an unsophisticated and inartistic poem as a result. None of the details—unlike some aspects of Cynewulf’s presentation of Judas—demand figural interpretation; but given the clearly figural nature of Judas’ role and the pattern suggested by the narrative of his conversion, there is a strong a priori probability that the characterization of Elene within the poem.