Attention has been called by Prof. A. S. Cook to an interesting parallel between the description of the Day of Judgment in Cynewulf's Elene , vv. 1277–1320, and a passage in Alcuin's De Fide Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis. Prof. Cook believes that the correspondences between these two passages are so complete as to prove the dependence of Cynewulf upon Alcuin. Inasmuch as Alcuin's treatise was not written until 802–4 a . d ., Cynewulf's dependence, if established, would oblige us to throw the Elene , and perhaps the rest of the Cynewulfian poetry, into the 9th century. The vital importance of such a conclusion to the whole question of Cynewulf's date and identity is apparent.