Christ I, also known as the Advent Lyrics or Christ A, is a collection of 12 poems, appearing on fols. 8a-14a of the Exeter Book. It constitutes lines 1-439 of the poetic triad Christ, which was formerly considered to be one poem. Nowadays the lyric sequence Christ I is regarded as independent from Christ II and Christ III; however, it is quite clear that the three poems are thematically interrelated. In the manuscript the three works appear separated by the typical indicators of textual borders, double spacing and capitalization, which can be seen at the beginning of Christ II and Christ III. As these marks cannot be considered totally reliable in terms of textual delimitation, scholars have used other criteria to demonstrate that the three poems should be viewed as separate works. Hill, for instance,...
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Citation: Salvador-Bello, Mercedes. "Christ I". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14718, accessed 06 December 2025.]
