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OEL - ťahák (old_english_literature-tahaky.doc)

Old English Literature, also called Anglo Saxon - mid 5th century – to Norman Conquest 1066

caesura (a pause) and joined by alliteration; genres that can be found in Old English literature

: epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles

Caedmon, Bede, Alfred, and Cynewulf / similes, fast-paced dramatic style

Narrative Secular poetry: most important heroic poem is Beowulf /

The Fight at Finnsburh - retelling of one of the battle scenes in Beowulf ,

Waldere, a version of the events of the life of Walter of Aquitaine / Battle of Maldon

Lyrical Secular Poetry: The poem The Ruin / The Seafarer

Religious Poetry: Cćdmon's Hymn / Cynewulf- The Fates of the Apostles,

Juliana, Elene, and Christ II / Venerable Bede - The Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Old English prose:  Alfred the Great -ANGLO SAXON CHRONICLE

Beowulf is an epic poem composed somewhere between the

middle of the 7th century and the end of 10th century a.d

Old English is very similar to Latin or other languages whose

grammar is expressed by inflection, it means that one word

can have different meanings by different suffixes and the

alphabet contains several unfamiliar letters. Old English

poems were transmitted verbally, on oral presentations and

hearing from generation to generation, so it was always

modified by individual, so we can see a great difference

between written and oral delivery. The poem was constructed

and designed for being heard and sung, always through

oral performance. Epic poem can be defined as a long narrative

poem in elevated style presenting character of high position

in a series of adventures who are related to a central hero or

figure of heroic proportions and through their development

of episodes important in the history of a nation or race.

Epic poem tends to have certain characteristics like a central

hero who is a figure of heroic status, he is legendary, active

in his deeds, he has superhuman values and power, because

he can do what others can not, he can fight with demons,

monsters or gods. In epic poem we always find in the content

and plot the recounting of the deeds of the main hero, and

he is mostly described positively.

The poem deals with legends, i.e. it was composed for

entertainment and does not separate between fictional

elements and real historic events.

filled with elements of the Norse legendarium along with

Christian statements

Christian monk = only members of Anglo-Saxon society with

access to writing materials.

In historical terms the poem's characters would have been pagans

Germanic warrior society, in which the relationship between

the leader, or king, and his thanes was of paramount importance.

This relationship was defined in terms of provision and service

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM Beowulf is essentially a pagan poem

written in times when England was conversing to Christianity, the poem

combines direct references to the Old Testament with pagan references,

and this happens very often. LIGHT AND DARKNESS present the main

storyline of the poem, they symbolize the forces of good and evil which

are always in one circle. SWORD is the symbol of worthiness and power,

is also the tool for revenge and specific symbol of heroism for each tribe.

HEOROT    Hrothgar’s mead-hall is more like a palace, symbolizing his

and the Scyldings’ success. TREASURE AND GOLD are sources of

power for war and battles of the tribesand also symbolize the differences

between kings and feuds. PEACE VS. WARFARE, all old poems describing

real life in more or less mystified way are interested and concerned with

battles an wars, we can not extract this fact from Beowulf, but in this poem

we can find a great difference, because Beowulf essentially lays a great

emphasis on peace keeping through the rules of powerful kings.

THE ME LIT. IS DATE FORM 1066 TO 1485

1066 – Norman Conquest, defeats and kills Harold; William I,

the Conqueror, first Norman King of England (to 1087)

1485 - Battle of Bosworth Field

The period of great transition from French as the language of literature

to English lasted between                1100 and about 1450 to 1500.

In The fourteenth century a new form of English was used. The language                  

of this period is referred to as Middle English. It was in fact Old English

enriched by thousands of French words.

Differences between Middle and Old English

There is the extreme reduction in inflected forms from OE and ME

The system of declension of nouns was radically simplified.

The verb system also lost many old patterns of conjugation.

Many strong verbs were reanalyzed as weak verbs.

This includes the works of William Langland, the Gawain Poet,

Geoffrey Chaucer, Gower, Malory and others. Best known is

Chaucer himself in his Canterbury Tales and other shorter poems.

Mythology – King Arthur and his Knights of Round table, Robin Hood, Middle English religious writing – awareness of woman

( Blessed Virgin, Mother of Christ…)Middle English non-religious writing – love poems , patriotic songs,

carols for x- mass and Easter,

Lyrical texts / Dramatic texts (Folk, Mystery, Morality, Interludes)

Narrative texts - Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas Malory, Langland, Gower        

AUTHORIZED VERSION OF BIBLE
-King James I. of England wanted to translate Bible to the English
-In 1611 the work of 47 learned men was done and that translation known as the Authorised Version was printedPearl Poet – Gawain Poet = Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience and Cleanness, Saint Erkenwald.

William Langland = The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman.

Sir Thomas Malory= The Death of Arthur

John Gower = Mirror of Man, Speculum Meditantis, The Clamoring Voice,

Lover's Confession, Traitié, Tripartite Chronicle, 50 Ballads

CHAUCER - Born (about *1340) and died (†1400)

The Book of the Duchess (1369 and 1374) + Anelida and Arcite

and The House of Fame + Parlement of Foules,

The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde

Treatise on the Astorlab / Chaucer also translated

such important works as Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy

and The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris

Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre

- an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is

known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and

he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line.

helping to standardize  the London Dialect of the Middle English

language. the first author to use many common English

words in his writings. The Canterbury Tales was selected by

William Caxton to be one of the first books to be printed in England.

The Canterbury Tales (about 1387 to 1400)  is a collection of stories and

ymbols – Springtime, Clothing, Physiognomy,

Motifs – Romance, Fabliaux were comical and often grotesque stories

in which the characters most often succeed by means of their sharp wits.

Themes - The Pervasiveness of Courtly Love,

The Importance of Company, The Corruption of the Church

Elizabethan poetry, prose and drama

THOMAS WYATT - he brought the sonnet to English literature

- was influenced by Italian verse forms - work:

They flee from me (the narrator is in prison)

EARL OF SURREY  - wrote the first blank verse in English

Wyatt´s and Surrey´s works are published in compilation

work called Songs and Sonnets.

EDMUND SPENSER - The Shepherd´s calendar

+ The Faerie Queen (invented the Spenserian Stanza)

SIR PHILLIP SIDNEY - Astrophel and Stella

+ An Apology for Poetry/ The Deffence of Poesie

Metaphysical Poets (showing clever tricks of style and unlikely

comparisons) wrote verse which was generally

less beautiful and less musical. mixed strong feelings with reason

JOHN DONNE + BEN JONSON - To Celia

+ Every Man in/out his Humour

+ comedies: The Alchemist, Volpone    

THOMAS NORTH-Translator + RICHARD HAKLUYT

- The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries

of the English Nation + SAMUEL PURCHAS

Purchas his Pilgrims containing A History of the

World in Sea Voyages and Land Travel

JOHN LYLY - Eupheus or the Analogy of Wit

+ Eupheus and his London

ROBERT GREENE - Pandoso gave Shakespeare the

plot of his play The Winter´s Tale

THOMAS NASH - The Life of Jacke Wilton

THOMAS MORE – Utopia

FRANCIS BACON – Essays + A History of Henry VII

+ The Advancement of Learning + The New Atlantis

PLAYS - in medieval drama were miracles and mystery plays

renaissance drama – undidactical, it has secular theme and

conflicts between characters, non-allegorical, played in streets,

squares and houses • Outdoor or „public“ • Indoor or „private“

The Globe + Fortune + Swan

THOMAS KYD - The Spanish Tragedy

+ CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE - Tamburlaine the Great

+ The Jew of Malta + Dr. Faust + Edward the Second