“Heaven is lost to us,” he cried; “but now that we may not have
it, let us so act that it shall be lost to them also.  Let us
make them disobey God,
    “Then with them will he be wroth of mind,
    Will cast them from his favor,
    Then shall they seek this hell
    And these grim depths,
    Then may we have them to ourselves as vassals,
    The children of men in this fast durance.”

Then Satan asks who will help him to tempt mankind to do wrong.  “If to any followers I princely treasure gave of old while we in that good realm happy sate,” let him my gift repay, let him now aid me.

So one of Satan’s followers made himself ready.  “On his head the chief his helmet set,” and he, “wheeled up from thence, departed through the doors of hell lionlike in air, in hostile mood, dashed the fire aside, with a fiend’s power.”

Caedmon next tells how the fiend tempted first the man and then the woman with guileful lies to eat of the fruit which had been forbidden to them, and how Eve yielded to him.  And having eaten of the forbidden fruit, Eve urged Adam too to eat, for it seemed to her that a fair new life was open to her.  “I see God’s angels,” she said,

    “Encompass him
    With feathery wings
    Of all folk greatest,
    Of bands most joyous. 
    I can hear from far
    And so widely see,
    Through the whole world,
    Over the broad creation. 
    I can the joy of the firmament
    Hear in heaven. 
    It became light to me in mind
    From without and within
    After the fruit I tasted.”

And thus, urged by Eve, Adam too ate of the forbidden fruit, and the man and woman were driven out of the Happy Garden, and the curse fell upon them because of their disobedience.

So they went forth “into a narrower life.”  Yet there was left to them “the roof adorned with holy stars, and earth to them her ample riches gave.”

In many places this poem is only a paraphrase of the Bible.  A paraphrase means the same thing said in other words.  But in other places the poet seems to forget his model and sings out of his own heart.  Then his song is best.  Perhaps some of the most beautiful lines are those which tell of the dove that Noah sent forth from the ark.

    “Then after seven nights
    He from the ark let forth
    A palid dove
    To fly after the swart raven,
    Over the deep water,
    To quest whether the foaming sea
    Had of the green earth
    Yet any part laid bare. 
    Wide she flew seeking her own will,
    Far she flew yet found no rest. 
    Because of the flood
    With her feet she might not perch on land,
    Nor on the tree leaves light. 
    For the steep mountain tops
    Were whelmed in waters. 
    Then the wild bird went
    At eventide the ark to seek. 
    Over the darling wave she flew
    Weary, to sink hungry
    To the hands of the holy man.”