UNIT 1

1. GENERAL FEATURES

Anglo-saxon literature: literature composed and written down by

the Anglo-Saxons (germanics invaders of England that ruled the british
island until Norman conquest).

Old english literaure: literature written in Old English (OE), the

language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons.

All english literature was written by the Anglo-Saxons but not all
english literature was written in Old English (it can be written in Latin, too).

Old English literature begins in the 7th century. The first text that has
come to us, is from the this century: Hymn, by Caedmon. According to
the Venerable Bede, who was a Anglo-Saxon escolar and a monk,
Caedmon was a simple man working for a monastry, a servant (not a
monk) working there, and at some point he became a poet.

Eclesiastical History, by Venerable Bede.

The last text composed in England in OE was the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle, a historical text started in the kingdom of Alfred the Great. The
main purpose was to create a chronicle of the most important events
that happened in his kingdom. The last entry was written down in 1154.

From the 7th century to 1154, was the time in which the people
used the OE.

MAIN FEATURES

1. Pagan (heathen) VS Christian elements: all the legends and Anglo-

Saxon are stories about dragons, heroes, etc. Wyrd VS Providence.
2. Melancholic tone: this sadness ! Elegiac literature: stoic attitude
towards earthly world, victory, success and favorable
ciscumstances. (EX: Beowulf expresses stoicism even in the peak of
his fame, because he knows he would fail or die one day.) Death
comes to everyone in the end. This attitude soaks Anglo-Saxon
literature. “Ubi sun” where are the ones who where here before us.
They are GONE. And a response of that feeling was to enjoy the
moment ! make the best of it. The notion of an efimerous
existence was suffocated by christian religion.
3. Epic ethos (philosophy): the dominance philosophy in warriors
society (it is a type of society which is all the time fighting to survive
and to gain power. The law of that society is very simple: loyalty
and heroism. The central person of that society is the hero.) Epic
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literature is only masculine literature, women only take second

places in the stories. The story is focused in the military powers and
also in his strength and courage. Fortitudo and sapienta = strength
(moral and physical) and wisdom (prudence, not be an scholar).
“Naked heroism”, which means to be an hero until the end, even if
you have to die.

FORMAL FEATURES OF OE POETRY

1. Variato ! variation = apposition: the accumulation of phrases

separated by commas, giving us a wild description).
2. Epic formulae: set expressions.
3. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds.
4. Absence of rhyme: there is no rhyme at the end of the lines.
5. Two half lines: lines in OE poetry are divided in two half.
6. Compounds: they were mad about compounds.

Scholars devoted their lives to write, in Latin (they were church men).

Latin = language of Church and culture, because Latin was the

language of the Middle Ages (the texts and all the ancient stuff was in
Latin).

In 7th Europe was in darkness times (Dark Ages), the Arabs were
expanding to Iberian Peninsula etc etc natural condiction is going
through cultural bluming.

2. THE LATINIST CLERKS: THE VENERABLE BEDE (673-735)

ECCLESIATICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

The first author was Venerable Bede (Eclesiastical History). Only

realible source that we have for the. It was written with modern style. He
knows it would be read in the future, for the instruction of posterity. For
the chruch it was the first history book written in England. He did
research, as modern scholars would do.

In the Middle Ages, the preception that human being has of reality
might be different from nowadays. The modern mind tends to do
everything with racionalism. From the medieval times the preception was
the result of God’s planning. Miracles were taken as real, as truth.

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The Venerable Bede talked about facts, but also about miracles and
things we don’t believe. He was rejecting some stories because he
understood that they were lies.

He dediced 5 books to tell the story of England:

• Book 1: he gives a geographical description of England island and

he makes a brieve reference to roman occupation of the island.
The most relevant part for the author is a narration of the
conversion to christianity of the first Anglo-Saxon kings. It is very
weel organised and he did a very good research.
• Book 2: he focus on the kingdom of Northumbria, the kingdom that
has accepted christianity but became to paganism by king
Penda.
• Book 3: it shares with the book 2, the idea of christianity and
paganism: they became christianity first and then he come back
to paganism.
• Book 4: the central event is the solution of the conflict existing
between two different christian traditions in the island. The Celtic
Rite became first, mainly from Irland; the Latin Rite came
afterwards, by the Romans. Englands accepted the Latin Rite
becaming from Rome.
• Book 5: it start with the name of John of Beverly (Bishop) and
terminated narrating the events that happened in 731, when he
stop to write.

He’s known as the father of English history. He has the intention to

reporting the past, read by the people in the future. But also, an author
with a clear intention: show God has the Master of the World.

THE SOURCES

He met Abbot Albinus, who was a pure source of information

about the activities of the first misionaries. Nothelm ! Archibishop of
Canterbury, had travelled to Rome to copy the letters that had been
exchange between Pope Gregory I and Augustine.

Venerable Bede had access to the documents available at the

Canterbury Cathedral (1st Bishopric of England) and to some key works
whose influence can be seen in the pages of his work, especiallly on the
Prologue, where he declares the sources that he uses. He did not want
to include anything in his work without proper credit to its sources.

The works that he uses are the following ones:

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• De excidio, by Gildas. ! It focuses on the Roman province of

Brittania.
• Vita Sancti Germani, by Constantius. ! It deals with the lives of
theses famous medieval missionaries.
• Vita Agustini, by Possidius. ! It’s the most relevant biography of
Saint Augustine.

Needless to say that all these works were relevant in the sense that
they provided information for his work.

There are other names to be taken into account as well, one of them
is Aldhelm (640-709), he was the Abbot of one of the most influencial
abbies in medieval England, Abbot of Malmbung Abbey.

3. ANGLO-SAXON POETRY

All the texts written in OE that have been preserve to present day,
have came to us in form of manuscripts.

MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTED BY SIR ROBERT COTTON

Sir Robert Cotton was an English 16th Century literary collector.

Thanks to him, the poem of “Sir Galwain” came to us. All the manuscripts
that were collected by him, are nowadays safely preserved in the British
Library, London.

THE EXETER BOOK

It is a group of manuscripts bound together so it looks like a book,

but it’s not. They are preserved at the Exeter Cathedral.

THE VERCELLI BOOK

It is in Italy.

THE JUNIUS BOOK

Also known as “Junius Eleven” or “Boteleiam Collection of Old

English”.

RELIGIOUS POETRY

Anglo-Saxon poetry is very religious, as most of the writers were

monks, the only one who knew how to read and write. Many other
poems were probably composed in Anglo-Saxon England, but they were

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not preserved. Those which have reached us are the ones kept in
monasteries.

The presence of religous aspects does not exclude pagan tones

every now and then.

CAEDMON

In religious poetry, the first important name is Caedmon, who wrote

Caedmo’s Himn. Very little is known of him. He started a kind of literature
trend that is now called “Caedmonian School” or “Caedmonian Poetry”,
including anonymous texts that deal with biblical topics and follow the
formal convenctions.

One day, Anglo-Saxons converted into Christianity, they were

enthusiastic about the new world that this religion provided even when
they had to make some adjusts.

The Old Testament is a book full of sex and violence; the history of
the people of Israel offers a lot of connection with the Anglo-Saxon
people.

The chosen people (people from Israel), at some point they

became slaves of the Egyptians and Moises freed them. They were
nomads until they found the promise land. Once they were settle down
there, they built cities; but they were a warrior's nation exactly as the
Anglo-Saxons, therefore the literature that the Anglo-Saxons read and
had access to from the people of Israel is a literature that is soak with
epic way of understanding the world, deals with heroism and survival
and also with battles, rape... As far away from each other, they were so
close in this attitude towards life.

Exiles / Newcomers: the people of Israel were exiles of a land that

was new for them so they were newcomers into a place that it was not
their own exactly the same as happened with Anglo-Saxons.

The people of Israel are one of the so-called monotheistic religions (they
believe just in one god), but there is one thing that the Anglo-Saxons
would understand about the god of Israel and it is that the god of Israel
was the lord of army. The god of the testament is the supreme creator of
the universe, there isn't anybody above him but the truth is that the new
testament (2nd part of the Bible) offers a much kinder side of god when
god became one of us, when god became man in Christ, and Christ is
not focused in violence but basically on love and live.

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CYNEWULF

Juliana; Elene: 2 poems that were inspired by a female figure. From

the book of Elene we can see that it is a women having the role of a
man.

POEMS INSPIRED IN BIBLICAL SUBJECTS

All this poems (The Metrical, Psalms; Genesis B; The Exodus; Daniel;
Judith) are inspired by books of the Old Testament and the reason is
simple, the Anglo-Saxons initially might feel more comfortable reading
these texts.

The book of Judith, we have a woman who gains fame and

popularity in the Old Testament because she was able to save her
people from the Philistines that were the rage enemies of the Jewish, so
Judith was a Jewish attractive woman and she seduced the general of
the Philistine army; once he was drunk she cut his head.

LIVES OF SAINTS

A Hagiography means the life of saint.

ALLEGORICAL POEMS

The Panther, The Whale, The Phoenix were real animals that were
presented with human characteristics, in that sense, this are allegorical
narrations.

In The Dream of the Rood we can also say that it was allegorical,
but could an Anglo-Saxon know about panthers? Probably they
wouldn’t know anything. But the sources that Anglo-Saxons had to know
things, like what a panther is, were travel literature.

The Anglo-Saxons were not good sailors, in fact it is probably that

they were scared of the sea and it is possible that a huge creature in the
sea was terrible for them.

EPIC POETRY

BEOWULF

The hero (male, white, heterosexual) is at the centre of the

narration. The most outstanding poems in western Europe, the Poem of
the Nibelungs (Nibelungen Lied) in Germany, The Song of Roldan in
France, Mio Cid in Spain and Beowulf in England. People had a taste for

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these poems, but it’s not only a past event. For example, the fame of
Games of Thrones.

Beowulf is the only poem in which the hero is not in love with a
woman, as in the other epic European poems. Beowulf is preserved in
one main manuscript, The Cotton Vitellius A XV, the only copy of the
poem that have come to us. It’s dated from the year 1000 and it’s made
in a very expensive material called vellum( calf skin).

Chronology of Beowulf

The poem is preserved in a manuscript dated in the year ca.

(around) 1000, but it doesn't mean that the poem was invented in that
date. Some of the events that are narrated in the poem correspond to
the 6th century after Christ, for example: Hygelak, a king of the Geats
who died in an expedition to the Frisians land. He was killed in that
expedition according to Geoffrey to Tours. The author of the poem was
using real facts to create a reliable frame in the story.

8th century has been considered as one of the most probable date
for the creation of the composition. It was though because in the
masterpiece we have the appearance of northern people, in other
words, Vikings (who were presented in a really good view).

The only reason why Beowulf is an English poem it’s because the
language. Some Anglosaxonists claim that the poem was written in the
10th century. The only certainty that we know is that it was composed
before 1000.

Features of Beowulf

1. Not a historical text: it’s an elegiac-heroic poem. So we cannot

expect to represent the society and a description of the land, it’s
just sat there, but it’s a poem, not a historical document.
2. Not a narrative poem: in a narrative poem a story is narrated in
poem; there is internal cohesion between the events. This is not
what happens in Beowulf, it happens in Mio Cid. In Beowulf there
are flashback, anticipations and there is not a lineal development
of the story. The poem is misleading, confusing.
3. The monsters have a really particular importance in the poem: so
much so a summary of that poem will be ! Beowulf vs. three
different monsters. There is much more of Beowulf that the three
monsters, they have a high symbolism even when they are not
symbols with lots of connotations. The dragons are extremely

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important because they stand for everything that the Anglo-

Saxons think that it’s bad in life. Wyrd is materialize in the Dragon.

Beowulf comes from the Geats, although he is not one of them.

Hygelak (Geat’s king) accepted him as one of them. Hrothgar was the
king of Zealand (Sea Land) who one day started becoming disturbed by
Grendel and then Beowulf went to there to fight against it.

Some anglosaxonists said that Beowulf is a beautiful poem in terms

of form, but unfortunately, they added that it’s childish in terms of theme
“a man fighting against monster”.

99% of the story is pageant; there is no Christian moral. It’s a poem

in what the characters are pageants. This people in their lives as they are
described in the poem, they don’t have concerned of God.

DEOR, WALDERE AND WIDSITH

• Deor: is a sad song, the complaint of a poet that has been

replaced. The traditional poet living in aristocracy are
“scoop”, the lord of the house protected them. It means
that if you are a scoop, you love very well, and in Deor, is the
sadness of a poet for being replaced.
• Waldere (just 2 fragments have been preserved): parts of
translation of a longer poem devoted to someone who was
not Anglo-Saxon person, maybe devoted to Walter of
Aquitane.
• Widsith: very interesting for the content of it. It provides a
long list of kings, people and heroes. The different names
that are included are not Anglo-Saxons, so it’s giving us the
knowledge of other heroic models, other people, heroes
from the East.

WAR POETRY

The difference is that in war poetry there is no description of

warriors’ life, just the description of the battles. Besides, in war poetry the
texts are only written about battles, how they kill each other. These three
poems are based in historical events.

THE BATTLE OF MALDOM

The hero / the Anglo-Saxon leader is a Christian and his army too.
They are fighting against the Danish Vikings, who were pageants.

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THE BATTLE OF FINNSBURH AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNNAHURH.

They are narrated in Beowulf.

ELEGIAC POETRY

The Wife’s Lament; The Husband’s Message, The Ruin, Wulf and
Eadwar

RIddles

THE WANDERER

It is the most important elegiac poet that we have.

Overall comment: it is not a poem difficult to understand, it’s

making clear and explicit giving images of the sorrow of elegiac poem.
Reading it, you won’t have a clear idea of who is talking.

[We will never know why the man in the poem is an exile; the idea
of Wyrd is still very powerful. Gnomic comments or expressions; it is used
by the poet to talk directly to the reader (“events always go as they
must”). According to many scholars the way to read that poem is: from
line 1 to 7, it has to be taken as a prologue by the author to what he is
going to present immediately after (the colon) and now the wanderer
speaks. The narrator uses the 3rd person and now it seems like the
wanderer begins to speak in 1st person, so we might differentiate
between the two voices. “ So spake the wise…” the author is again using
the third person, kind of closing. From somewhere the author starts
referring to the man as “wiseman” (to look it up).]

THE SEAFARER

It is narrated by a man who is in a boat, sailing and he seems to be

surrounded. The man is scared about his boat sink in the middle of the
sea and he disappears. The reader realizes that the life in the sea is
opposed to life in the Earth, which is more comfortable, because finally
the author compare living in the earth with living in Heaven.

Sea (threatening place); mortal life on Earth- dry land (safe);

heavenly life.

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THE WIFE’S LAMENT, THE HUSBAND’S MESSAGE, THE RUIN, WULF AND
EADWACER

They are much more difficult to understand because they are

really allegorical. We have not enough information to understand them,
so we consider them as very dark and sad poems, and caused of it, they
are not as famous as the others.

RIDDLES

A riddle is an indirect way of describing something so that you

have to guess what it is. It is a figurative definition of something. For AS,
riddles were so important, certain sense of humour finds it’s own way to
express in riddles (wit = ingenio). The riddles contain sense of humour wit
and they give us ludicrous of these tragedy poems. They were
composed in OE, and the famous scholars wrote riddles. There is a
collection of 100 riddles which are known as Enigmata, composed in
Latin.

4. ANGLO SAXON PROSE

The output of Old English prose text is superior to the poet texts,
even when OE prose did not appear until the 9th century. Generally
speaking, OE prose is basically made up of religious sermons and
homilies and translations of religious works originally written in Latin.
Nevertheless, from a literary view, it is useful to pay attention to those
texts that were not written for a religious purpose, just the ones which are
interesting from a historical view.

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has been described as a the greatest

book composed in England, behind its composition, we have the figure
of Alfred the Great who close to the end of the 9th century, ordered its
composition. After the death of King Alfred, different authors kept on
adding more and more sections to this texts following a chronological
line. It’s written with a clear historical intention, to record the most
important events during the years. It was not until 1154 that the Anglo-
Saxon chronicle came to an end. Under the kingdom of King Stephen,
long after the Norman Conquest.

King Alfred was very busy fighting against the Vikings, but at the
same time until the moment of his death, he was concerned with the
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cultural level of his people, he wants them to read. He knows that his
people had no idea of Latin, so he translates it into the language of his
kingdom. In that sense, the King Alfred was really similar to Alfonso X El
Sabio. Many of his friends took him from the monastery, because he
wanted to become a priest.

THE TRANSLATIONS OF ALFRED AND HIS CIRCLE: POPE GREGORY THE

GREAT'S CURA PASTORALIS; THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD BY OROSIUS;
BOETHIUS' DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIAE AND BEDE'S ECCLESIATICAL
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

HOMILETIC WRITINGS

AELFRIC: CATHOLIC HOMILIES; SAINT’S LIVES

Aelfric was an author, a churchman, who wrote a vast number of

homilies that work later as the Catholic Homilies. The title was later
added. For their homilies, even written in prose, Aelfric enjoys using somo
poetic rhythm, and alliteration, which is the typical OE device. His
second major work is a description of the live of the saints.

WULFSTAN: SERMO LUPI AD ANGLOS

This case is much more interesting, because it is an author writing in

the second millennium 1002- 1023, he is a man living after the date of the
Beowulf manuscript, one of the last Anglo-Saxon authors. His most
famous texts have a title in Latin, but they are written in OE.

Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos, the sermon of the wolf to the Anglo-Saxons,

again we are deaign with another personification. What have a wolf to
tell to the England habitants?

By the time it’s composed, the Vikings were fighting against the
Anglo-Saxon. If you pay attention to the title: lupi means wolf, and
Wulfstan is a wolf.

PROSE FICTION

They were not written with a moral intention, just to enjoy the
action of reading for pleasure.

ALEXANDER’S LETTER TO ARISTOTLE

Alexander’s letter to Aristotle is the translation into OE of a famous

text that was circulating at the time in Europe, a Latin text called [Latin
name] (Alexander was the Macedonian king).

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Also the Anglo-Saxons were highly interested in knowing about

how far places, cultures, people.

THE WONDERS OF THE EAST

The same reason is the popularity of the other text, know as The
Wonders of the East which is literally a book of travels, a traveller
decided to know new places, and he finds strange monsters, cultures,
and people. Monsters were really interesting to Anglo-Saxons.

The Passion of St. Christopher.

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