There seems nothing peculiar about an Anglo-Saxon poet writing about the theme of the descensus, since the motif was so popular during the period. Certainly narratives of the descensus could conjure up images of liberation, salvation and judgement, and in many instances within the corpus of Old English poetry, writers exercised literary passion to convey what was evidently a popular narrative. Most often, as this chapter examines, the descensus motif was employed to communicate the details of Christ's Passion, the salvation that comes through Him and His victory over Satan. This cosmic struggle between good and evil which had its roots in the Bible and Christian legend met its climax during retellings of the descensus; however, as one would expect a poem entitled Descent into Hell to conform to the typical Anglo-Saxon narratives of the Descent like so many other Old English texts, the poem's blatant deviation from tradition suggests that an objective other than the recitation of the descensus narrative is at its core.

JOHN THE BAPTIST'S PRAYER AND THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS

Before turning attention to Anglo-Saxon poetic comparisons, it would be useful to examine John the Baptist's Prayer in relation to the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospel of Nicodemus. When comparing the two works, the dissimilarities are immediate. Whereas the Gospel of Nicodemus provides a full and detailed account of the evidence surrounding Christ's Descent, the 137 lines of John the Baptist's Prayer necessitate a limited selection of narrative details.