Daniel (Old English poem)

''Daniel'' is an anonymous Old English poem based loosely on the Biblical Book of Daniel, found in the Junius Manuscript. The author and the date of ''Daniel'' are unknown. Critics have argued that Cædmon is the author of the poem, but this theory has been since disproven. ''Daniel'', as it is preserved, is 764 lines long. There have been numerous arguments that there was originally more to this poem than survives today. The majority of scholars, however, dismiss these arguments with the evidence that the text finishes at the bottom of a page, and that there is a simple point, which translators assume indicates the end of a complete sentence. ''Daniel'' contains a plethora of lines which Old English scholars refer to as “hypermetric” or long.

Daniel is one of the four major Old Testament prophets, along with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The biblical story works through questions of faith and persecution; the poem deals mainly with pride. The Old English Daniel is a warning against pride and there are three warnings in the story. The Israelites were conquered because they lost faith in God, who delivered them from Egypt, and started worshiping idols and this is the first prideful act. The second and third warnings are about internal pride, shown to Nebuchadnezzar II through Daniel's dream interpretations. Provided by Wikipedia