LITERATURA INGLESA
HASTA 1750
A) ANGLO-SAXON AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: 449-1485. NOTABLE EVENTS,
AUTHORS, AND WORKS
Topic 1. Heroes and Myths: Beowulf (selection of fragments)
Topic 2. The Medieval Romance: Courtly Love & Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Full
text)
Topic 3. Medieval Popular Literature. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales:
“General Prologue”, “The Wife of Bath: Prologue & Tale”
THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD (449-1066 AD) QUESTIONS OF THE TIMES
What makes a true hero?
Does fate control our lives? (are we victims of fate, is there any free-will, are we free
to create our life path?)
Can people live up to high ideals? (people were serious-minded, they believed in
several deities, strong belief in fate)
(Anglo-Saxon period = The Dark Ages)
(Epic)
(Monsters (things we cannot control))
HISTORICAL CONTEXT - CHRONOLOGY:
The Anglo-Saxon Period (from 5th century to 1066)
Centuries of Invasion:
1. Early Britain Literature of the time:
2. Anglo-Saxons BEOWULF!
3. Vikings
The Norman Conquest
Medieval Period (from 1066 to 15th century)
The Monarchy Literature of the time: SIR GAWAIN
1. William the Conqueror AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
War and Plague CHAUCER’S CANTERBURY TALES
EARLY BRITAIN: ENGLAND BEFORE THE ENGLISH
, Roman campaigns in the 1st c. BC.
When the Romans arrived, they found the land inhabited by ‘Britons' known as the
Celts (Stonehenge, no written language, absorbed into the Latin speaking Roman
society)
Roman Britannia
Romans withdraw leaving the Britons/Celts behind
Invasions from the Northern Europe (Anglo-Saxon bring Germanic languages)
By 600, Anglo-Saxons conquer the Britons (Angle-land or England, language becomes
more Germanic)
The Anglo-Saxons' two urgings: war and wandering become part of the oral tradition
(Beowulf is an example of an Anglo-Saxon hero tale).
By 800 AD (Anno Domini = the year of the lord): new Germanic invasions (The Danes
(Vikings), Danelaw: conquered territory by Norsemen).
King Alfred (the Britons become organized against the Danes, first true king of the
Britons, period of prosperity).
In 1066, the Normans (French speaking people from Normandy), led by William the
Conqueror attack and defeat the Britains (a blend of the Britons and Anglo-Saxons) at
the Battle of Hastings.
The 3rd language is introduced – French = French culture and literature arrives.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OE LITERATURE:
It is concerned with heroes, adventures, epic tales.
Religious subjects (Christianity spreads quickly in Britannia)
Epic poems praising the deeds of heroic warriors.
Oral tradition where the author is irrelevant.
Memory and performance. (Scops sing professionally)
Grim fatalism (it is not possible to escape your fate)
Latin is the predominant written language (language of the church)
From the 7th century onwards, OE starts to coexist with Latin in written form
NOTABLE OLD ENGLISH WRITERS:
Caedmon (c. 658-680)
Saint Bede the Venerable (c. 673-735)
AElfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1025)
King Alfred (c. 849-899)
LITERARY GENRES IN OE:
Poetry:
o Secular:
Heroic or epic poetry: Beowulf
Battle poetry: The Battle of Maldon
Elegies: ‘The Wife's Lament'.
, o Religious: Caedmon's Hymn.
Prose:
o Secular: historical chronicles, medical, legal and didactic texts: The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle.
o Religious: sermons, saints' lives.
SECULAR OE POETRY: EPIC POETRY
Lengthy epic poems praising the deeds of heroic warriors.
Reflected the reality of life at this time, which was brutal.
Mead halls. (Scops performed there).
Scops or professional poets/Anonymous
Epic poems: entertainment + teaching. History lesson + moral sermon.
Oral art form.
Only a fraction of Anglo-Saxon poetry has survived in manuscripts produced centuries
after the poems were originally composed.
BEDE (C. 673-735)
English monk and historian, known as ‘The Venerable'.
He is the author of Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (“Ecclesiastical history of the
English people” = main historical source for the OE period).
Accurate and reliable observer and compiler of historical information.
Conversion to Christianity.
English Church
TOPIC 1: MYTHS AND HEROES – BEOWULF
Tragic tone, elegiac, pitiful, didactic. Cautionary tale?
Foreshadowing, ominous tone, commiserating over bad luck and tragic events to
follow.
Monster is evil; Monster is the unknown and the uncontrollable
Great divide between Monster-Speaker; physical differences, differences in location
Heathens/pagan vs Christian
The Danes are not monstrous and yet they are doomed because of their faith
(beware!)
BACKGROUND
The most renowned work in OE
3182 lines
Composed around 700 A.D.
The story had been in circulation as an oral narrative for many years before it was
written.
Similar poems recited from memory by a scop or bard, accompanied by a harp.
The opening word of the poem is Hwaet, meaning lo, behold, listen.
, Only a single manuscript of the poem survived the Anglo-Saxon era. In the 1700s it was
nearly destroyed in a fire.
It was not until 1936 when the Oxford scholar J.R.R Tolkien published a paper on the
poem that it became popular.
1936- ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
THE BEOWULF POET
Anonymous author. It is a work of a single poet.
The poet is Christian.
This writer should be called an editor because the poem had a long oral tradition and
finally came to rest as what we know as Beowulf.
The original poem didn't have a title, modern editors gave the poem its name.
The ‘editor' was obviously well-read and conscious of his role as a poet.
SETTING: TIME AND PLACE
The action of the poem takes place around 500 AD
Beowulf is recognized as a hallmark of English literature, yet its heroes and its setting
are not English.
Three separate settings
o Danish kingdom ruled by HROTHGAR, in his mead hall
o A nearby lake where Beowulf fights the monster's mother
o After a time gap of 50 years, the scene changes to the Land of the Geats in
Sweden.
There is an element of real history: Hygelac, Beowulf's Lord, was killed during a raid on
the Franks territory in 520.
Beowulf is a combination of historical events + A-S history + invented material. Christian,
pagan refs; myths and monsters – supernatural element.
STRUCTURE
Chronologically, two sections: Beowulf as a young man and Beowulf as an old man
In terms of action, 3 sections:
o Beowulf's fight against Grendel
o Beowulf's fight against Grendel's mother
o Beowulf's fight against the dragon (the notion of fighting is the guiding
thread, or the structuring element, reflective of a warrior society).
POINT OF VIEW
Omniscient third-person pov
Christian perspective
TONE
HASTA 1750
A) ANGLO-SAXON AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: 449-1485. NOTABLE EVENTS,
AUTHORS, AND WORKS
Topic 1. Heroes and Myths: Beowulf (selection of fragments)
Topic 2. The Medieval Romance: Courtly Love & Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Full
text)
Topic 3. Medieval Popular Literature. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales:
“General Prologue”, “The Wife of Bath: Prologue & Tale”
THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD (449-1066 AD) QUESTIONS OF THE TIMES
What makes a true hero?
Does fate control our lives? (are we victims of fate, is there any free-will, are we free
to create our life path?)
Can people live up to high ideals? (people were serious-minded, they believed in
several deities, strong belief in fate)
(Anglo-Saxon period = The Dark Ages)
(Epic)
(Monsters (things we cannot control))
HISTORICAL CONTEXT - CHRONOLOGY:
The Anglo-Saxon Period (from 5th century to 1066)
Centuries of Invasion:
1. Early Britain Literature of the time:
2. Anglo-Saxons BEOWULF!
3. Vikings
The Norman Conquest
Medieval Period (from 1066 to 15th century)
The Monarchy Literature of the time: SIR GAWAIN
1. William the Conqueror AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
War and Plague CHAUCER’S CANTERBURY TALES
EARLY BRITAIN: ENGLAND BEFORE THE ENGLISH
, Roman campaigns in the 1st c. BC.
When the Romans arrived, they found the land inhabited by ‘Britons' known as the
Celts (Stonehenge, no written language, absorbed into the Latin speaking Roman
society)
Roman Britannia
Romans withdraw leaving the Britons/Celts behind
Invasions from the Northern Europe (Anglo-Saxon bring Germanic languages)
By 600, Anglo-Saxons conquer the Britons (Angle-land or England, language becomes
more Germanic)
The Anglo-Saxons' two urgings: war and wandering become part of the oral tradition
(Beowulf is an example of an Anglo-Saxon hero tale).
By 800 AD (Anno Domini = the year of the lord): new Germanic invasions (The Danes
(Vikings), Danelaw: conquered territory by Norsemen).
King Alfred (the Britons become organized against the Danes, first true king of the
Britons, period of prosperity).
In 1066, the Normans (French speaking people from Normandy), led by William the
Conqueror attack and defeat the Britains (a blend of the Britons and Anglo-Saxons) at
the Battle of Hastings.
The 3rd language is introduced – French = French culture and literature arrives.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OE LITERATURE:
It is concerned with heroes, adventures, epic tales.
Religious subjects (Christianity spreads quickly in Britannia)
Epic poems praising the deeds of heroic warriors.
Oral tradition where the author is irrelevant.
Memory and performance. (Scops sing professionally)
Grim fatalism (it is not possible to escape your fate)
Latin is the predominant written language (language of the church)
From the 7th century onwards, OE starts to coexist with Latin in written form
NOTABLE OLD ENGLISH WRITERS:
Caedmon (c. 658-680)
Saint Bede the Venerable (c. 673-735)
AElfric of Eynsham (c. 955-1025)
King Alfred (c. 849-899)
LITERARY GENRES IN OE:
Poetry:
o Secular:
Heroic or epic poetry: Beowulf
Battle poetry: The Battle of Maldon
Elegies: ‘The Wife's Lament'.
, o Religious: Caedmon's Hymn.
Prose:
o Secular: historical chronicles, medical, legal and didactic texts: The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle.
o Religious: sermons, saints' lives.
SECULAR OE POETRY: EPIC POETRY
Lengthy epic poems praising the deeds of heroic warriors.
Reflected the reality of life at this time, which was brutal.
Mead halls. (Scops performed there).
Scops or professional poets/Anonymous
Epic poems: entertainment + teaching. History lesson + moral sermon.
Oral art form.
Only a fraction of Anglo-Saxon poetry has survived in manuscripts produced centuries
after the poems were originally composed.
BEDE (C. 673-735)
English monk and historian, known as ‘The Venerable'.
He is the author of Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (“Ecclesiastical history of the
English people” = main historical source for the OE period).
Accurate and reliable observer and compiler of historical information.
Conversion to Christianity.
English Church
TOPIC 1: MYTHS AND HEROES – BEOWULF
Tragic tone, elegiac, pitiful, didactic. Cautionary tale?
Foreshadowing, ominous tone, commiserating over bad luck and tragic events to
follow.
Monster is evil; Monster is the unknown and the uncontrollable
Great divide between Monster-Speaker; physical differences, differences in location
Heathens/pagan vs Christian
The Danes are not monstrous and yet they are doomed because of their faith
(beware!)
BACKGROUND
The most renowned work in OE
3182 lines
Composed around 700 A.D.
The story had been in circulation as an oral narrative for many years before it was
written.
Similar poems recited from memory by a scop or bard, accompanied by a harp.
The opening word of the poem is Hwaet, meaning lo, behold, listen.
, Only a single manuscript of the poem survived the Anglo-Saxon era. In the 1700s it was
nearly destroyed in a fire.
It was not until 1936 when the Oxford scholar J.R.R Tolkien published a paper on the
poem that it became popular.
1936- ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
THE BEOWULF POET
Anonymous author. It is a work of a single poet.
The poet is Christian.
This writer should be called an editor because the poem had a long oral tradition and
finally came to rest as what we know as Beowulf.
The original poem didn't have a title, modern editors gave the poem its name.
The ‘editor' was obviously well-read and conscious of his role as a poet.
SETTING: TIME AND PLACE
The action of the poem takes place around 500 AD
Beowulf is recognized as a hallmark of English literature, yet its heroes and its setting
are not English.
Three separate settings
o Danish kingdom ruled by HROTHGAR, in his mead hall
o A nearby lake where Beowulf fights the monster's mother
o After a time gap of 50 years, the scene changes to the Land of the Geats in
Sweden.
There is an element of real history: Hygelac, Beowulf's Lord, was killed during a raid on
the Franks territory in 520.
Beowulf is a combination of historical events + A-S history + invented material. Christian,
pagan refs; myths and monsters – supernatural element.
STRUCTURE
Chronologically, two sections: Beowulf as a young man and Beowulf as an old man
In terms of action, 3 sections:
o Beowulf's fight against Grendel
o Beowulf's fight against Grendel's mother
o Beowulf's fight against the dragon (the notion of fighting is the guiding
thread, or the structuring element, reflective of a warrior society).
POINT OF VIEW
Omniscient third-person pov
Christian perspective
TONE
