Caedmon's Hymn Lines 5-6

Lines 5-6

He first created                     for men's sons
heaven as a roof,                  holy Creator,

• Now Caedmon goes into a little more detail with these wonders and gives us a chronology. Also notice that humans have entered the story now, so the wonders Caedmon lists are in relation to us—or "men's sons," as the poem puts it, masculinely (FYI, Caedmon: women live here too).
• So first God creates heaven, which Caedmon compares to a roof in an interesting architectural simile (see "The Kingly" section under "Imagery" for how this might relate to God as a king).
• "First" is one of a cluster of "time" words that gives a definite sense of chronology to God's actions. (For more, see "Time" in the "Themes" section.)