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What is the folk song Hele?

Hele is a 9th-century Old English poem containing three riddles (or enigmatic descriptions) of the Christian cross. Ascribed to Cynewulf (by Anglo-Saxon scholar Richard Morris, among others), Hele (meaning "hell" or "underworld") is preserved in the Exeter Book.

Some people interpret this poem by comparing its themes to other similar works from the same literary movement or the same author. In this analysis, a scholar notes similarities in the word structure to other Cynewulfian poems and compares the three-part, riddle structure to Cynewulf's three poems on Christ found in The Exeter Book as well as Cynewulf's Juliana.

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