Caedmon's Hymn Lines 7-8

Lines 7-8

then middle-earth                     mankind's Guardian,
eternal Lord,                            afterwards made—

• Once the sky is created, God makes the earth. The sentence structure is tricky again, with the subject and object in mixed-up places. "Mankind's Guardian" is the subject doing the making and "middle-earth" is the object being made.
• Wait, God made Gandalf? One hymn to rule them all, one hymn to find them. One hymn to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Get your minds out of Tolkien, hobbit-freaks. "Middle-earth" is our earth. It's also another kenning. For more insight, see "Imagery" below.