Lesson 2: English Literature

• Old English literature spans from around 600 to 1200 AD. It was the soulful and practical expressions of a people who struggled, lost, and triumphed over and against neighboring invaders and warring factions.
• It encompasses Anglo-Saxon written and spoken works from ancient lands of what is now known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Old English literature also includes Anglo-Latin works.
• Venerable Bede - was a monk who wrote the ecclesiastical history of England. This became the cornerstone of the literary tradition. A little later, Alfred the Great came.
• Alfred the Great - Father of the English (Old English) language. He was the first AngloSaxon king who unified the Anglo-Saxons. He brought literacy to the people.
• St. Augustine - In 597 AD, St. Augustine went to England. Because of this, schools and monasteries were founded.
• William the Duke of Normandy - In 1066, in the Battle of Hastings, William the Duke of Normandy defeated the AngloSaxon king Harold Godwinson.
• Old English poetry survived through these four manuscripts

  • The Beowulf
  • The Exeter
  • The Junius or Caedmon Manuscript
  • The Vercelli Book
• Old English poetry is characterized by patterns of four-stress lines and six-stress lines.
• IN ADDITION, A CAESURA OR SYNTACTICAL BREAK IS PLACED IN BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD STRESSES OF THE POEM
• POETRY IN OLD ENGLISH IS KNOWN TO BE FORMULAIC. POETS DRAW FROM A COMMON STOCK OF PHRASE PATTERNS AND HAVE A PRESCRIBED DESCRIPTION FOR EVERY KIND OF CHARACTER.
• FORMULAIC - CONSTITUTING OR CONTAINING A VERBAL FORMULA OR SET FORM OF WORDS.
• Kenning - Is a type of figurative language that poets use Instead of a noun. It is often made up of two words separated by a hyphen.
• The Dream of the Rood (from the book of Vercelli Book) - It was the earliest dream poem and one of the greatest religious poems in the English language. It was about the dream of the rood or the cross as it was used as an instrument for Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind.
• The Dream of the Rood - It symbolized death and punishment, was now a symbol of the redemption of mankind
• The term Middle English was first created to mark a period in the development of the English language. Most of the philologists at that time wanted to divide the history of language into three periods, Old English, Middle English, and New or Modern English. Literary historians adopted the name Middle English from the language historians.
• Middle English: Examples of Stories

  • Saint's Lives
  • Miracle Plays
  • Sermons
• From Old English, they were influenced by the french. Romance was one of their predominant themes.
• Alliterative poetry - has no standard but had a variety of versions that developed as the centuries passed
• bob is the first line that is shorter than the rest, and the wheel is the quatrain that follows the bob.
• Significant Works

  • The Legend of King Arthur by Thomas Malory
  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Le Morte D'Arthur or Death of Arthur - Was first published in 1485 by William Caxton
• the tale was divided into two volume, containing such stories as the tale of King Arthur and the tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake
• The Canterbury Tales - is a long poem by Geoffrey Chaucer about a collection of stories told by 31 pilgrims who went to see St. Thomas Becket's Shrine in Canterbury Cathedral. These pilgrims started their journey from Tabard Inn in Southward. The pilgrims were tasked to tell stories as they embark on their journey and were promised that the best storyteller will be given a reward.
• The Old English Language cannot be read now except by those who have made a special study of it.
• The Middle English Language is easier to read. It is considered a bridge between Old and Modern English. More of the accents of everyday speech heard in the varieties of Middle English Language.
• Old English - (1) Poetry was the dominant genre and epic warlike poetry was the prevalent theme. (2) Verse does not rhyme and each line is joined to the other by alliteration.
• Middle English - (1) The religious theme in Chaucer's poem is shown in the pilgrimage to Canterbury. (2) In Chaucer's verse, rhyme has taken the place of Old English alliteration.
• Old English (Prose) - Old English prose was mainly historical because it was a record of the main happenings of the country.
• Middle English (Prose) - A good deal of this is religious