In this doctrinal appraisal Dr Garde contends that English religious poetry in the early medieval -age of faith- was intended to convey conventional Christian teaching to unlearned audiences. In this reading, Old English religious verse is dominated by the Christus Victor tradition, the exegetical perceptions often assumed in modern criticism are not justified. The tradition of Christ's triumphant Descent into hell, regarded as apocryphal by many critics, is discussed in the context of the Resurrection and Christian expectations of eternal life in the Advent lyrics, the Descent poems, Christ...