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Old and Middle English literature

1. Old and Middle English literature Anglo-Saxon Literature / Old English Literature
7th 14th century mid-5th century (raids) ... 7th century (some written documents) ... 1066 beginning of E. literature mainly oral (difficult to date, beginnings, 5-6the century, writing was limited to some social classes) Christianity/ the church - 7th century -> religious texts (their own language) church had the ability to write gives stream to the literature, preserved writing and culture the rulers/ uppers classes - also abilities to write didnt use it for writing novels, but practical purposes subjects - OE literature reflected social situation: hard life, natural disasters, raids, battles, cruelties of the sea and the land, religion, war, daily life, mens struggling against his environment, lifes difficulties, theme of exile someone whos alone, not protected consequences of oral l. - lot of oral literature was lost, what we know about OE literature is from old manuscripts runes - characters added to the Latin alphabet (e.g. thorn /, / and wynn / /) genres: epic poetry, elegies, personal lyric, oral literature - riddles, proverbs, etc. other genres: related to church, devotional works celebrating religious personages and their life, philosophy, translations- Christian Bible was translated prose (usually in Latin) - religious texts, philosophy, grammar, homilies, sermons, hagiographies, chronicles, legal works 4 major collections of manuscripts: Junius / Caedmon manuscript, Exeter Book, Vercelli o text fragments (shorter incomplete works), about 400 manuscripts o Book, Nowell Codex o 7 major scriptoria

English poetry:
dominant genre vivid imaginary, decorative oral poetry (performed by scops ), recorded more than 200 years later Features: alliteration (Oft Scyld Scefing sceaena reatum) caesura (an audible pause that breaks up the lines of verse, gap between lines) kenning (ship = sea-stallion, sea = swan's road, warrior = feeder of ravens) figures of speech that describes some entities in a decorative way litotes ("That [sword] was not useless / to the warrior now." = "The sword was useful.") Caedmon, Cynewulf o Caedmons Hymn (670) 1st fragment Caedmon : worker in monastery in Withby, his works based mainly on the Old Testament narrated in 1st person by someone who shared experience with his readers (listeners) Beowulf o the only long epic poem, author unknown o alliteration, kennings (banhus bone house body), caesura o set outside British Isles, in Denmark where German tribes live o many approaches can be read as a myth, territorial history of settings, outlook into the future o full of monsters, dragons unreal for our century, however, earlier monsters were real for people o is at the beginning of heroic tradition

1. Old and Middle English literature Old English Prose

Venerable Bede (672-735) - Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum / The Ecclesiastical o History of the English People o he was a monk in 8th century devotional writing celebrating the religious life, experiences philosophy translations Christian bible in parts King Alfred (849-901) made his kingdom into a cultural centre - translations from Latin to Old English

Transition from Old English to Middle English 1066 Norman Conquest important from language point of view church used Latin new arrivals were speaking French language was influenced by 3 sources: Anglo-Saxon, e.g.: ask, French question, Latin interrogate

Middle English Literature (1066-1485)

Norman Conquest (1066) massive changes of language, this period was characterized by foreign invasions and internal struggles. 1066 William of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings it led to the Norman Conquest and the occupation of England. 1485 end of War of Roses printing press introduced into Britain Willam Caxton (1422-1491) 1086 - Domesday Book (William the Conqueror) o practical record of what was going on in the area, records of settlements in England practical purpose Layamon (early 13th century) - dating is quite uncertain, English priest poem Brut history of England written, shift of English, archaic expressions, the first history written in English, based on legends, 1st work mentioning the story of King Arthur courtly love tradition o there were wars individuals were isolated this changed theme of love introduced o Norman Conquest theme taken from France o = the love which was practised at the court, mixture of idealistic appreciation of noble men spiritual, also erotic o Holy crusades men went to war women waiting at home, supposed to be faithful question of women in literature o Roman de la rose brought women into focus, images of women celebration songs (Summer is i-cumen in) = summer has arrived celebrated changing weather ballads popular o featured story epic o focused on a character o ended unhappily fantasy - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight o author is not certain - believed to live in London o discussing death of narrators daughter o adventurous story, chivalry, noble knight fantastic motives o alliterative Revival (1350-1400s) alliteration used here o poem survives in a single manuscript that also includes three religious pieces: o Patience poem o Pearl poem

1. Old and Middle English literature

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) o first writer writing in English o translations from OE to Modern English o lots of poems, work about mythology o well educated, worked for court, soldier, diplomat, businessman o The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame o Troilus and Criseyde belongs to poetry, old Greek themes o The Legend of Good Women o The Canterbury Tales

Followers of G. Chaucer: John Gower (1325-1408) o Confessio Amantis Latin title but written in English, celebration of humanity, deals with courtly love, a frame story for a collection of short narrative poems William Langland (1332?-1386?) o Pliers Plowman considered to be recording of dreams, a religious allegory John Lydgate (1370-1451) considered to be as good as Chaucer o Troy Book brought mythic theme into English Sir Thomas Malory (13991471) o Le Morte d'Arthur printed by Caxton, the most complete version of stories about King Arthur John Skelton (14601529) first writer of current events, his style skeltonics short, irregular verse with interrupted rhyme William Caxton (1422?-1491) first printer o first printer o changes in spelling, test was fixed

Theatre

not in the present sense mainly religious Miracle Plays first, bring biblical stories to audience, life of saints Mystery Plays religious theme (resurrection, heaven and hell), 14th and 15th century These both always ended with the Last Judgement, gradually more secularization Morality Plays o not showing religion themes, allegorical dramas depicting the progress pf a single character from birth to death o characters fortune, duty...good or evil qualities, sometimes representing God or Devil o Everyman story of early 16th century Allegory text can be read at levels: 1. value, you believe in the story 2. text stands for sth else representation of sth we must be able to discover it in the text in middle ages people were used to allegories it wasnt difficult to find it in the text