A COURSE OF a SURVEY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE (UNIVERSITY STUDENTS INTERNAL USE)

A course of a survey of English and American literature, studentsa hold a thought-provoking conversation with the giants of British and American literary history.. Overview of English

QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

  

A COURSE OF A SURVEY OF ENGLISH

AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

(UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - INTERNAL USE)

Compiled Vo Thi Dung, Ph.D

PREFACE

A course of a survey of English and American literature is intended chiefly

for student university who begin their studies of English and American literature

This course aims at providing the students with a general knowledge about English and American literature from the beginning to the present day Each chapter contains a timeline of historical events along with the dates of key literary texts by the movement’s authors These timelines are designed to help students make connections between and among the movements, eras, and authors covered in each chapter Students are required to master the way it goes in connect with its historical background and the typical authors and works of each period

More than just a survey course, it shows students how Britain’s and America’s cultural landscape acted upon its literature – and how, in turn, literature

affected the cultural landscape A course of a survey of English and American

literature, studentsa hold a thought-provoking conversation with the giants of

British and American literary history As students finish the course and find themrselves on the threshold of the 21st century, they better understand what it means to be both British and American, and a human being in an increasingly complex world

We would be very happy if this material proved to be helpful for the study of the literature as a great pleasure We highly appreciated to receive the ideas and comments from the readers so that it will be corrected and used in an effective way

The author

Vo Thi Dung, Ph.D

TABLE OF CONTENT Page

Part I

CHAPTER 1: SURVEY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

I Brief introduction

II Overview of English literary history

+ The Old English period + The Middle English period + The Modern English period CHAPTER 2: THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

I English literature in the making (450-1066)

+ The earliest inhabitants of England + The Romans conquest

+ The English (or Anglo-Saxon) Conquest + The Danish conquest

+ The Norman Conquest

II The division of English literary history

III Some feature of the Old English literature

+ The prevalence of poetry over prose + Oral

+ Anonymous + Translation + Religious inclination

IV Old English poetry: Typical Old English Verse: Beowulf

V Old English prose

VI.Old English drama

CHAPTER 3: THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE

I Historical background

II Language and literature

+ The Middle English language + The Middle English literature + Typical authors and works: Geoffrey Chaucer CHAPTER 4: THE MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE

+ The Classic literature + The Age of Enlightenment + The 19th century English literature + English literature in the 20th century

Part II

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN LITERATURE

+ Historical background

- Early American and colonial period to 1776

- The religious life

- The American Revolution + Literature

- The literature of exploration

- The early colonial literature in New England: Puritan literature + Typical authors and works

CHAPTER 2: THE MIDDLE AMERICAN LITERATURE

- The Romantic period

- Typical authors and works

CHAPTER 3: THE MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE

+ Historical background

- The Roaring twenties

- America and two world wars

- The world depression

- The New Deal era

- Post - war American: the Cold war + Literature:

- Modernism

- Prose writing

- Typical authors and works

References

PART I ENGLISH LITERATURE

For more than 1,500 years, the literature of this island has taught, nurtured, thrilled, outraged, and humbled readers both inside and outside its borders Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Swift, Wilde – the roster of British writers who have made a lasting impact on literature is remarkable More importantly, Britain’s writers have long challenged readers with new ways of understanding an ever-changing world

ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY

- The Middle Ages (to 1485): Beowulf, Geoffrey Chaucer,The Gawain-Poet, Sir

Thomas Malory

- The Renaissance (1485-1660): Often broken down between “The Sixteenth

Century” (1485-1603) and “The Seventeenth Century” (1603-1660)

- “The Sixteenth Century”: Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, Sir Philip Sidney,

Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare

- “The Seventeenth Century”: John Donne, Ben Jonson, Andrew Marvell, John

Milton

- The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (1660-1798): John Dryden,

Daniel Defoe, Aphra Behn, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Samuel Johnson, Laurence Sterne, William Blake

- The Romantic Period (1798-1832): William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor

Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Keats, Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott

- The Victorian Age (1832-1901): Thomas Carlyle, Lord Tennyson, Robert

Browning, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Matthew Arnold, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde

- Modernism (1901-?): William Butler Yeats, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D H

Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, T S Eliot

Why then are the arts and the sciences important? I suppose with the sciences you would say the answer is obvious We have radium, penicillin, television and recorded sound, motors, cars, air-conditioning… These achievements have never been the primary intention of science; they are sort of by-product, the things that emerge only when the scientists has done his main job That main job simply started: to be curious, to keep on asking the question ‘why”? And not to be satisfied till the answer has been found The scientist is curious about the universe: he wants

to know why water boils at one temperature and freezes at another; why cheese is different from the chalk; why one person behaves different from another; Not only

‘why’ but ‘what’? What is salt made of? What are the stars? The answers to these questions do not necessarily make our lives any easier But the questions have to be asked It is man’s job to be curious; it is man’s job to try to find out the truth about the world about us, to answer the big question ‘what is the world really like?’, ‘The truth about the world is about us” Think over the word ‘truth’ for a moment It is a word used in many different ways - ‘you’re not telling the truth.’ ‘Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.’…I want to use it here in sense of what lies behind an outward show Let me hasten to explain by giving an example The sun rises in the east and sets in the west That is what we see; that is ‘outward show’ In the past the outward show was regarded as the truth But then a scientist came along to question

it and then to announce that the truth was quite different from the appearance: the truth was that the earth revolved and the sun remained still – the outward show was telling a lie The curious things about scientific truths like this are that they often

seem so useless It makes no difference to the average man whether the sun move

or the earth moves He still has to rise at dawn and stop work at dusk But because thing is useless it does not mean that is valueless Scientists think it worthwhile to pursue truth They do not expect that laws gravitation and relatively are going to make much different to everyday life, but they think it is a valuable activity to ask their eternal questions about the universe And so we say that truth-the thing they are looking for-is a valuable

A value is something that raise our lives above the purely animal level- the level of getting our food and drink, producing children, sleeping, and dying This world of getting of living and getting children is sometimes called the world of

subsistence A value is something added to the world of subsistence Some people

say that our lives are unsatisfactory because they are mostly concerned with things that are permanent-things that decay and change Truth is a thing that will last forever

Truth is one value Another is beauty The scientist’s concern is truth; the artist’s concern is beauty Some people-those clever thinkers called philosophers- tell us that beauty and truth are the same things But in fact, the beauty and truth are two of the qualities of God

Anyway, both the scientist and artist are seeking something which they think

is real Their methods are different The scientist set his brain to work and, by a slow progress of trial and error, after long experiment and enquiry, he finds his answer This is usually an excitement moment The artist wants to make something which will produce just those sorts of excitement in the minds of other people-the excitement of discovering something new about the reality He may make a picture,

a play, a poem… but he wants to make the people who see or hear or read his creation feel very excited and say about his creation ‘That is beautiful.’ Beauty, then you could define as a quality you find in any object which produces in your mind a special kind of excitement, an excitement somehow tied up with a sense of discovery It not be something made by man; a sunset or a bunch of flowers or a tree may make you feel this excitement and utter the word ‘beautiful!’ But the primary task of natural things like flowers and trees and the sun is perhaps not to be beautiful but just to exist The primary task of the artist’s creation is to be beautiful

2 What is English literature?

English literature is literature written in English It is not merely the literature of England or of the British Isles, but a vast and growing body of writings made up the work of authors who use the English language as a natural medium of communication In other words, the English literature refers not to a nation but to a language There is a tendency among some people regards, for instance, American literature as a separate entity, a body of writings distinct from that of the British Isles, and the same attitude is beginning to prevail with regard to the growing literatures of Africa and Australia Joseph Conrad was a Pole, Demetrios Kapectanakis was a Greek, Ernest Hemingway is an American, Lin Yutang is a Chinese, but English is the medium they have in common, and they all belong-with Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dickens-to English literature On the other hand, a good deal of the work of Sir Thomas More and Sir Francis Bacon-both Englishmen-is written not in English but in Latin, and William Beckford and T.S Eliot have written in French Such writings are outside the scope of our survey Literature is an art which exploits language English literature is an art which exploits the English language But in this brief history we must confine ourselves to the literature produced in the British Isles

To the writer, geography seems to be more important than history and the geography of England that is perpetually reflected in its literature, far more than the pattern of events which we call the history of a nation England is an island and the sea washes its literature as much as its shores It’s a cold, stormy sea, quite unlike the placid Mediterranean or the warm water of the tropics Its voice is never far away from the music of English poetry, and it can be heard clearly enough even in the novels of a ‘town’ writer like Dickens The landscape of England is varied-mountains, lakes and rivers- but the uniform effect is one of green gentleness-downs and farms and woods The English landscape made Wordsworth; tropical jungles could never have produced a poet like him, and, often, when we read him in the tropics, we find it hard to accept his belief in a kindly, gentle power brooding over nature-it does not fit in with snakes and elephants and tigers and torrential rain We have to know about the English landscape before we can begin to appreciate the English nature poets

Ruling sea and land is the English climate In the tropics there are no seasons except the rainy and the dry, but in England one is aware of the earth approaching

and retreating from the sun-springs, summer, autumn, winter and the festivals associated with these seasons The longing for spring is a common theme with English poets, and Christmas, the winter festival, is the very essence of Charles Dickens Four distinct seasons, but all comparative gentle- the summer is never too hot and the winter is never arctic Snow and frozen ponds and bare trees are common images in English literature, but it is only by a great effort of the imagination that the inhabitant of a perpetually warm land can bring himself to appreciate their significant for the English poet and his English reader It is has been said that the English climate is responsible for the character: they are cold rather than hot-blooded, temperate rather than fiery, active because of the need to keep warm Therefore, unkind person said – you can stand the English climate, you can stand anything The English have, for nearly a thousand years, been free of domination by foreign powers (an island is not easy to invade), and this has made them independent, jealous of their freedom, but also a little suspicious of foreigners The English are, in fact, a curious mixture, and their literature reflects the contradictions in their character

3 The world of literature

‘Literature is what is beautiful aesthetically expressed in verbal symbols and images Literature is shaped content and a significant form

Literature is one of the seven arts of the human kind Other arts are painting, music, sculpture, architecture, landscape gardening and cinema We read (the silent print on a page of literary book) and we enter a mysterious world That is near to us and removes from us It is a world in which we sometimes find our own concerns-our own hopes and fears, loves and hatreds It is a world sometimes so remote from our concerns that we forget about them, and return to them to find that they look different…’

II THE DIVISION OF ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY

The literary history of England may be divided into three periods:

1 The Old English period 450 AD – 1066 (Anglo-Saxon)

The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occur when Rome falls and barbarian tribes move into Europe Franks, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Goths settle

in the ruins of Europe and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrate to Britain, displacing native Celts into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Early Old English poems

such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originate sometime late in the Anglo-Saxon period The Carolingian Renaissance (800- 850 CE) emerges in Europe In central Europe, texts include early medieval grammars, encyclopedias, etc In northern Europe, this time period marks the setting of Viking sagas

During this period the language of the country was called Old English (abbreviated OE), or Anglo – Saxon Its vocabulary was limited Old English was very different from the English we read and hear today However, we have to remember that scholarly works during this period were written in Latin It was not until in the second half of the ninth century that there was a serious attempt to establish a written prose literature in English

anser goos (i.e ‘goose’)

lepus, leporis hara (i.e ‘hare’)

nimbus storm (i.e ‘storm’)

olor suan (i.e ‘swan’)

2 The Middle English period 1066 – 1500 (c.1066-1500CE)

In 1066, Norman French armies invade and conquer England under William

I This marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy and the emergence of the Twelfth Century Renaissance (c 1100-1200 CE) French chivalric romances such

as works by Chretien de Troyes and French fables such as the works of Marie de France and Jeun de Meun spread in popularity Abelard and other humanists produce great scholastic and theological works

Late or "High" Medieval Period (c 1200-1485 CE): This often tumultuous period is marked by the Middle English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the

"Gawain" or "Pearl" Poet, the Wakefield Master, and William Langland Other writers include Italian and French authors like Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante, and Christine de Pisan

During this period the language of the country called Middle English Middle English was in a state of continuous change The vocabulary of the language was enriched borrowing many words from French and Latin

3 The Modern English period after 1500

In this period, the English is substantially very much like the English used today It has been called Modern English But there is one thing we should know not until the 18th century did English spelling come to be standardized

Corresponding to these three periods, there are the Old English literature; the Middle English literature and the Modern English literature

Although we know very little of this period from literature some poems have nevertheless reached us In those early days songs called epics were created in many countries The epics tells of some events from a people history, sings the heroic deeds of a man, his courage and his desire of justice, his love for his people and self-sacrifice for the sake of his country

IV PRACTICE

* For each statement, write T if the statement is true or F if it is false

1 BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes correctly concluded that AD means After Death, i.e., after the death of Jesus

Literature is one of the seven arts of the human kind Other arts are painting, music, sculpture, architecture, landscape gardening and cinema

2 English literature is not merely the literature of England or of the British Isles, but a vast and growing body of writings made up the work of authors who use the English language as a natural medium of communication

3 Britain’s history is considered to begin in the 10th century, when it was invaded from the Continent by the fighting tribes of Angles, Saxon and Jutes

4 The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Middle English

5 Most Old English words were Germanic, having come from the languages of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons French, however, also had a strong influence

on early English

6 During Middle English the vocabulary of the language was enriched borrowing many words from French and Latin

7 An epic poem is very famous in old English literature It is a long, serious, poem that tells a story about an important event

* Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence Circle A, B, C,

D to indicate the correct answer

1 English language had become popular around the world since……… century

a Latin and Celtic c Latin and Celts

b French and English d Latin and German

4 Early Old English poems such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originate sometime late in the ……… period

a Norman French c Jutes

1 The structure of the Globe and the other London theatres has a ………

influence on English drama at its greatest period, because of the audiences which these buildings accommodate

2 The range of Shakespeare's audience is ………… in the plays, which can

accommodate vulgar comedy and the heights of tragic poetry

3 Some of Chaucer's work is prose and some is lyric poetry, but his greatest

work is mostly ………., which we find in Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales

4 ………… was very strong in early English culture and most literary works

were written to be performed

5 The linguistic ………… of the islands in the medieval period contributed to

a rich variety of artistic production, and made British literature distinctive and innovative

6 The poem Battle of Maldon celebrated the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at

which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking …………

7 The Last of the Mohicans takes place during the French and Indian War of

the 1750s During the war, the French and English who would control the colonies, and the French allied themselves with some American Indian nations, sometimes with bloody and disastrous results

* Complete sentences with prompt given

1 It’s no wonder that + clause

2 Much of someone's writing centers on something

3 Years after one’s graduation with the class of + time, + clause

Years after Hawthorne’s graduation with the class of 1825, he would describe his college experience to Richard Henry Stoddard

4 In fact, throughout most of one’s career, someone was one of the most popular writers in + phrase

CHAPTER 2

THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

I ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE MAKING (450-1066)

1 The earliest inhabitants of England

The first known settlers of Britain were the Gaels, who invaded the island from Northern Europe before the 6th century B.C

A second wave of migration brought into Britain several Celtic tribes which

in their turn drove the Gaels westward: these Celts of the second migration were known as the Britons So, the first inhabitants of England were the Gaels and the Britons, the two main races of the Celts

2 The Romans conquest (55BC-the 5 th century)

Julius Caesar invaded England in 55 B.C and again in the following year

He revealed the country to the Roman world but did not conquer it The conquest

of England was undertaken by the Emperor Claudius in A.D 43 The Roman easily conquered the plains of the South and the Midlands but they could not penetrate into the mountain of Scotland The Picts and Scots, two Celtic tribes who lived beyond the Clyde, resisted them victoriously and the Romans finally built wall of

70 miles long across the narrowest part of the island to protect the North of England again them

Though the Roman occupation lasted until the early years of the 5th century, Latin did not succeed in superseding the language of the conquest nation; it was spoken only in the towns and by the educated classes However, England they became an Imperial province, enjoying Roman civilization

3 The English (or Anglo-Saxon) Conquest (450-1066)

When Rome was menaced by the Barbarians, the Roman legions were called back After the Romans withdrew their troop from England in 410 A.D., the Britons were forced to defend themselves alone against the Picts and Scots, and after that, the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons (Teutonic or Germanic invaders), who came in 449 A.D from Jutland, from England (the district now we call Sleswich) and from the plains of Low Germany The Gaels and the Britons were driven back into the mountains of Wales, Cornwall and Scotland, and after 200 years of cruel fighting, the English conquest was complete Long before the

Norman Conquest in 1066, these Teutonic tribes has become so welded together as

a nationality that they called their adopted country Engla-land, land of the Angles,

or England, and their language Englisc, or English The new invaders were the Christianized by Saint Augustine in 597 and except for an interval of a century- from 900 to 1035 ­when the Dance succeeded in occupying the island, the Anglo-Saxons rule lasted uninterruptedly the Norman Conquest in 1066

4 The Danish conquest (middle of 8 th century- 1035)

In the middle of the 8th century, new invaders appeared raided the coast of England Finally they occupied and settled in the North and East of the country These Viking of Scandinavian invaders came from Norway and Denmark between the 8th and 11th centuries One of the Danes, Cannut, became king of the United England from 1016 to 1035

5 The Norman Conquest (1066)

In 1066 William the Conqueror led the Norman army in the last successful invasion of England These new invaders were men of Norse blood - the very brothers of the Vikings who had been raiding the shores of England - who, however, brought with them the tongue and the literature of French

Long after the conquest, bitter hatred prevailed between the Anglo-Saxons and their victors- the Norman – but the two races and the two languages were at last fused into one, and so began English civilization, whose characteristics are half Saxon and half French

II THE DIVISION OF ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY

The literary history of English may be divided into three main periods:

1 The Old English period (450-1066)

During this period the language of the century was called Old English (abbreviation OE), or Anglo-Saxon Its vocabulary was limited

Old English was different from the English we read and hear today However, we have to remember that scholarly works during this period were written in Latin It was not until in the second half of the ninth century that there was a serious attempt to establish a written prose literature in English

Specimen: Cwom pa to flode

(Came then to the flood)

2 The Middle English period (1066-1500)

During this period the language of the country called Middle English Middle English was in a state of continuous change The vocabulary of the language was enriched borrowing many words from French and Latin

Specimen: Whan that April with his showre soote

The drought of March hath pereed to the roote And bathe every vein in wich licuor

Of which vertu engendred is the flowr

(When that April with his shower sweet The drought of March has pierced to the root And bathe every vain in such liquor

Of which virtue engenderd is the flowers)

3 The Modern English language (after 1500)

In this period, the English is substantially very much like the English used today It has been called Modern English But there is one thing we should know not until the 18th century did English spelling come to be standardized

Corresponding to these three periods, there are the Old English literature; the Middle English literature; the Modern English literature

Specimen: When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

I all alone beweep my outcaste state And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries

(From Sonnet XXIX by William Shakespeare 1564-1616)

III SOME FEATURES OF THE OLD ENGLISH LITERTURE

There is not much to say about Old English literature Almost like the draw literature of any land, Old English literature has the following features:

1 The prevalence of poetry over prose

This is easy to understand The ear liked to hear rimes sung, which, thereby, could be memorized more easily

2 Oral

The songs and the stories of these early days were not written but completely oral They were composed, preserve, and sung by professional minstrels called scoops Scoops were men of importance in society

3 Anonymous

The authors of any literature works in Old English are unknown The antiquity of the works, the manuscript origin, and the traditional nature of the dawn literature testify to this anonymity

The most notable of the earliest English literature is BEOWULF This is an old Christianity and Paganism The events of Beowulf took place in Denmark and Sweden, but the customs am manner those of the Anglo-Saxons people

IV OLD ENGLISH POETRY

Old English poetry included long epic heroic poems, which drew on the Bible as well as on pagan sources for their content Some poetry was also based on historical events With a history of invasions and occupations, many writings of this era are chronicles, annals, and historical records Some are in the forms of poetry and describe various battles, for example, "The Battle of Maldon" and "The Battle of Brunanburh" The themes are war, conquest and bravery Many eighth-century works depict Anglo-Saxon resistance against the Vikings Lament and melancholy are frequently present in describing man's struggles against his environment, life's difficulties, and the passage of time Life is fleeting Often a prologue and epilogue express hope in God's compassion and mercy Examples of such poems include "The Wanderer", "The Seafarer" and "The Ruin" Other poems depict the separation of a man and a woman and the accompanying sadness, such as

in "The Wife's Lament" and "The Husband's Message" In these types of poem the man may have been exiled and sometimes there is hope, sometimes not Collectively, Old English poems that lament the loss of worldly goods, glory, or human companionship are called elegies Beowulf is the best-known and best-preserved Old English verse Caedmon and Cynewulf were well-known Old

English religious poets in the 7th and 9th century respectively Much Old English

poetry is difficult to date and even harder to assign to specific authors

1 Typical Old English Verse: BEOWULF

Beowulf is an epic poem of over 3,000 verses, whose manuscript dates from about the 10th-century The poem is the only epic from the time that has been preserved as a whole Its author is unknown, but he seems to have had a good grasp

of the Bible and other great epics, such as Homer's Odyssey The work glorifies a hero and the values of bravery and generosity The story is set in Scandinavia around 500-600 AD - a time of battles and conquests by Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes in Denmark and southern Sweden Its sources are old legends of these tribes who had moved north from Germany over Scandinavia and into Britain It also reflects the acceptance of Christianity by these new British settlers at the end of the sixth century

The first part of the story takes place in Denmark King Hrothgar is being pestered by a water monster, Grendel, who is killing his men Beowulf comes to his aid and kills Grendel and later, at the bottom of the lake, also Grendel's mother, who comes to avenge her son The second part happens in southern Sweden about fifty years later Beowulf himself is a king and has to fight a fire-breathing dragon

As with other Old English literature, this epic incorporates both pagan and Christian ideas The monster-slaying hero has his origin in two ancient fairy tales From the pagan traditions also come a love of war and the virtue of courage The biblical Old Testament supplies the idea about giants and monsters having descended from Cain's line The poem is sometimes seen as a conflict between good and evil From the Christian tradition, it incorporates morality, obedience to God, and avoidance of pride

There are many contrasts, for example, water and fire, youth and old age, life and death, rise and fall of nations and individuals, friendship and desertion, faithfulness and betrayal, heroism and cowardice, hope and resignation, good and evil, as well as the past, present and future

Elegy is apparent throughout - life is passing and is full of struggles and suffering, (This theme has an application also for modern life and the struggles of mankind.) This is contrasted by the courage of the main hero, said to be the

"kindest and noblest of earthly kings and the most desirous of praise and glory" The poem begins and ends with the funeral of a king

The work, written in characteristic Old English verse style, has artistic maturity and unity It uses alliteration (words beginning with the same sound), kennings (metaphorical descriptive phrases or compound words), and internal rhyme (a word within a line rhyming with a word at the end of the line) Each line has two beats or stressed syllables The style of poetical descriptions and word pictures with much repetition makes the action move slowly

The poem is an important source of historical information which was later confirmed by archaeology The tone and descriptions capture the rough, cold and gloomy North Sea atmosphere, as well as life's struggles of the people of that time who had to deal with many trials and obstacles The poem was originally recited by

a court singer and poet called "scop", who accompanied it with music and made occasional changes according to the inspiration of the moment

The story: Original version

Modern version

Once upon a time, in the far north of what is now called Europe, there was a

country, with high mountains and narrow stony valleys, and it had a long seacoast with many harbors and inlets, and the men who lived there were famous for their bravery on both sea and land

Now, for many years Hygelac ruled over his people with a stern but kind hand Beside him was his queen, named Hygd, and called the Wise and Fair About the king and queen were gathered the finest lords of the land All were valiant warriors whose courage had been proved

Among the number of youths who were in thrall to Hygelac was Beowulf, the son of the king’s sister As a small boy, Beowulf had shown such strength of body that Hygelac had early named him one of his thanes So his mother and father gave him up, and young Beowulf went to live with his uncle, to learn the arts of war and the handling of ships

For several years he led a lonely life, for so great was the strength of his limbs that even among those men of vast vigor he was a youth to be marveled at

As the years slipped by and he grew to manhood, he became more and more sullen

in his strength, and his companions dubbed him “The Silent.” His movements were clumsy He tripped over his sword He broke whatever he touched The other youths laughed at him for his awkwardness, but in secret they envied the immense spread of his shoulders and the terrible swiftness of his stride

When Beowulf had at last reached the full tide of his manhood, a feast was held one night in the king’s drinking-hall From all over Geatsland famous warriors and earls gathered at the drinking-benches of their king to hear the songs of the minstrels and take part in games and feats of strength

At the feet of the royal couple sat Beowulf, at a table especially prepared for the king’s earls But Beowulf, unmindful of the talk about him, sat in gloomy silence, brooding

His strength was great, but there was no use for him to put it to, and he longed for wild adventure and the chance to stretch his muscles to the limit of their power

Then, at a signal from Hygelac, the minstrel came forward with his harp He was a tall rugged man, with a beard streaked with gray He had the air of one who had traveled long distances, and his blue eyes were wide and fixed like one used to watching the far horizon

Around him was wrapped a cloak of deep blue, held together by a curious clasp of gold Beowulf, noting the clasp, thought it resembled a coiled snake, for there were two green stones set in it which glittered This man, Beowulf thought, has been in far-away places He will chant us a good song

Then the Wanderer (for so he was called) sat down upon a wooden stool, threw back the cloak from about his arms, and with long thin fingers struck the resounding strings of his harp

He sang in a sharp voice that was like the crying of birds on the gray sea, hut there was sweetness in it at the same time which held his hearers, and the lords of Geatsiand leaned forward on their benches in eagerness to catch every word

He sang of the vast and frozen North, where winter lay upon the land for many, many months, and men fight in the gloomy light of the night-burning sun

He sang of endless forests stretching black and forbidding in a sea of snow; of mountains higher and bleaker than the highest mountains of Geatsiand; of the strange and fearful demons that inhabited this ghostly region

Then the tune of the Wanderer changed His voice fell to a lower note, and

he sang of Hrothgar who was king of the Danes, that country not far from Geatsiand, across the water

He told a sad story of desolation and despair in Hrothgar’s land, because of a beast which had struck mortal fear into the hearts of the lords of Daneland For on one cruel night, twelve years before, there had come a monster, part animal, part man, part bird The lords of Daneland were sleeping soundly, and the monster, who was called Grendel, had forced open the solid doors of the king’s ball and carried away in their sleep thirty of the greatest earls of the Danes

There had been lamentation throughout the land, and many were the attempts

to slay Grendel, but none had succeeded And for twelve long years Grendel repeatedly visited the king’s hall and wrought destruction there Now the land was despoiled of its youthful strength, and there remained to the king only those fighters whose early vigor had long since passed, and Daneland had become a country of old men and defenseless women

Now, all the while that the Wanderer was singing, Beowulf sat as one bewitched

He leaned forward upon the table, his arms folded under his still beardless chin, his eyes fixed upon the minstrel Now and again he lifted his head and shook out the fair hair that hung beneath the golden band encircling his wide white forehead The huge bracelets that weighted his wrists gleamed like his eyes, and the jeweled collar about his throat was tight because of the swelling veins of his neck One thought possessed him:

He would seek out this monster, Grendel, and slay him - yes! slay him with bare hands!

He saw himself face to face with the monster Grendel, and suddenly a wild cry broke from his lips and he leaped from his seat

“Lords of Geatsiand and earls of Hygelac,” he shouted, as the minstrel finished the song, “I am the son of Ecgtheow and of Hygelac’s sister, and in olden times this Hrothgar was a war-brother of my father Therefore I claim kinship to him, and I will go to the land of the Danes and I will slay this Grendel!”

Then there was great confusion in the hail of Hygelac, and the earls called to one another, and dogs barked But Hygd the queen stood up amid the turmoil, and holding a jeweled cup in her two hands because of its weight, stepped down to where Beowulf was, and offered him the cup, and smiled at him in affection

Once again Hygelac commanded silence among the guests in the hall, and turning to Beowulf said: “The time has come, Beowulf, for you to prove your worth The gods have gifted you with the strength of thirty men, and this strength you should use to the advantage of your fellows, our neighbor Hrothgar is

drinking-in sore need Go forth, then, from Geatsland to the land of the Danes, and do mortal combat with this Grendel-fiend.”

For seven days and seven nights there were great preparations in the halls of Hygelac the Great, that Beowulf might go on his adventure fully equipped for whatever a aited him in Daneland From the group of companions who had come to manhood at the same time as himself, Beowulf selected fourteen earls to accompany him He had winched to go alone to the land of the Danes, but his uncle the king had commanded that he be suitably companioned on such a voyage, so that

at the court of Hrothgar it could not be said that Hygelac had sent the, youth upon a fool’s errand and badly equipped

Special shields were made, of stout wood covered with thick hides and bound with iron and studded with golden nails Rich cloaks of scarlet and blue there were for the warriors, and massive bracelets of fine gold for their arms and wrists, and collars of gold wire

When at last they stood ready in the meadhall of Hygelac, they were a fine company of young men, whose like was not to be seen in all the countries of the North Each stood well over six feet in height, with broad shoulders and sturdy legs; and each was swift as a deer

Then came the signal for the journey down to the beach where a ship lay in readiness to receive Beowulf and his earls, and with torches flaming in the grayness

of approaching dawn, they departed

They came at length to the coast of Dane land and the sea boiled white between them and the land, and the land itself was scarred and pitted with a thousand narrow inlets, which were treacherous to seafarers unfamiliar with them The forests that clung to the shore line were half hidden in gray mists that moved and twisted like smoke about the trees, but as the storm lessened, they beached their boat on a tiny strip of sand at the edge of a deep forest hung with gray fog and silent as death

That night, after Beowulf and his companions had rested, for the first time in twelve years there was a great banquet in the hall of Hrothgar The place was decorated with fine hangings, the gold-bright roof burnished until it shone like the sun, and the benches had been scraped and polished by many willing hands Huge fires were built on the hearths, and the smell of roasting meats pervaded the hall

The fires were burnt out on the hearths when the last of Hrothgar’s train had departed Then Beowulf and his companions set themselves to fastening tightly the door of the hall They secured it with wooden bolts and tied it with leathern thongs, and so strong was it that no mortal could have passed through

Then the warriors of Geatsland unfolded their cloaks upon the benches and laid themselves down to slumber, and Beowulf stretched his great length upon the dais of the king, and resolved that through the long night he would never once close his eyes Near the door lay the young Hondscio, Beowulf’s favorite earl, who swore that if anyone broke through the door he would be the first to give the intruder battle

Silence crept over the shrouded forms where they lay upon the floor and benches, and there was no sound save their steady breathing and the faint sighing of the night wind in the trees about the hall

Beowulf, upon his couch, lay still as death, but his eyes moved here and there in the deepening gloom of the hail

Outside, a fog was creeping up from the sea, obscuring the moon in milky eclipse, and at last there was not even the sound of the wind in the trees To Beowulf the deep silence seemed full of moving things invisible to human eyes Gradually there came over him a kind of drowsiness that he fought to ward off His eyelids fluttered against his eyes, and then he swooned with a sleep that lay upon his limbs like a heavy garment

But suddenly there was a rustling among the wet trees, and a noise like the deep grunt of a pig, but soft and low, startled the fog- bound night, and the drops of mist-water on the trees fell sharply to the ground like heavy rain Then the fog parted evenly, and in the wide path it made through the night a Shadow loomed gigantic in all that was left of moonlight

Slowly, slowly it neared the great hail and the night shuddered at its coming, and behind it, as it moved, the fog closed again with a sucking sound And the Shadow stood before the great door of the hail, and swayed hideously in the ghastly light

Within there was a deep stillness, and Beowulf and the Geatish earls slept soundly, with no knowledge of what stood so evilly beyond the door For the monstrous Shadow was the fiend Grendel, and standing there in the fog- strewn night he placed a spell upon those who slept to make them sleep more soundly But Beowulf hung between sleeping and waking, and while the spell did not completely deaden his senses, it so ensnared his waking dream that he fought desperately against it in his half-sleep and was not quite overpowered

Little by little the thongs that secured the door gave way, and the huge wooden bolts yielded under the pressure that was strained against them, but no sound broke upon the silent struggle that went on between Grendel and the door Beowulf tossed and turned in waking, but the other earls of Geatsiand fell deeper and deeper into the swooning sleep

Then with a rush, the door flew wide, and the fog and salt-smelling night swept in And in the doorway, swaying this way and that, stood Grendel, huge and dark against the dark night, the fog weaving about him in white veils, and the door

of the hail limp on its hinges

And Beowulf came out of his dream-spell and saw what stood so vast and evil in the doorway But his eyes were heavy with the spell that clung to him as the wisps of fog clung about the body of Grendel, and only slowly was he able to distinguish the monster Through his nightmare, now, there came the sense of what had befallen him, and he strove to cast the last remnant of the magic from him as he saw the great form of Grendel swoop down upon the innocent form of young Hondscio, catch him up in enormous hands, and tear him limb from sleeping limb And now at last Beowulf saw what manner of thing this Grendel was His legs were like the trunks of trees and they were covered with a kind of gray dry scale that made a noise like paper as the fiend moved this way and that The body of the beast was shaped like that of a man, but such a man as no mortal eyes had ever before beheld, and the size and shape of it were something to be marveled at

The head was the head neither of beast or man, yet had something of the features of both, and the great jaw was filled with blunt fangs that ground the bones

of the unhappy Hondscio to pulp Shaggy matted hair hung over the low forehead, and the eyes in the face of Grendel were the color of milk

Horror-struck upon his couch, Beowulf felt his limbs in thrall and could move neither leg nor arm to raise himself as Grendel devoured the body of the young Hondscio

And when Grendel had finished his horrid meal, the beast straightened a little his vast form and looked now to the left, now to the right, until his gaze fell upon the length of Beowulf Then the milk-white eyes burned with a dull light that was like the light of the moon, and slowly, slowly Grendel moved toward the dais But Beowulf, stung with loathing, leaped from his bed

Silently they fought in the fog-strewn hail Silently their bodies twisted and bent, this way and that, and Beowulf kept Grendel’s huge hands with their long claws of sharp bone from him, and Grendel in turn sought to tear apart the quick body that slipped so easily through his arms and legs

Their bodies wove in and out among the sleepers, and Beowulf felt the hot reek of Grendel’s breath upon his cheek, and the sweat stood out on Beowulf’s broad brow and ran down into his eyes and blinded him And Grendel’s huge hands sought over and over again to clasp his opponent’s head, to crush it in their grip

Then the fight became a deadly struggle in one far corner of the hall, and neither one gained any advantage over the other Then Beowulf slipped On the earthen floor they fell together and the force of their fall made the earth tremble But Grendel’s hold lessened, and fear smote the heart of the fiend He strove only

to free himself from Beowulf’s grasp and flee into the night away from this white youth whose strength was the strength of thirty men

And now Beowulf had the upper hand, and flew at the giant’s throat But here his hands clutched at thick scales upon which he could get no grip Grendel nearly took the advantage, but before he could seize Beowulf, the lord of Geatsiand had fastened both mighty hands upon the monster’s arm, and with a sudden twist that forced a groan of agony from Grendel’s lips, leaped behind him

Now came the final struggle, and sweat poured from Beowulf, while from Grendel there oozed a slimy sap that smelled like vinegar, and sickened Beowulf But he clung to the monster’s arm, and slowly, slowly he felt its great muscles and sinews give way, and as his foot found Grendel’s neck, he prayed to all the gods for help, and called upon his father Ecgtheow for strength to sustain him in this desperate effort

And the mighty arm of Grendel gave way in the terrible hands of Beowulf, and, with a piercing shriek that shook the gilded rafters; Grendel stumbled forward, leaving in Beowulf’s hands the gory arm

Beowulf fell back upon the dais, the bleeding arm of Grendel in his hands And Grendel, with a prolonged and ghastly wail, his blunt fangs gnashing together

in dumb fury, stumbled toward the door, and before Beowulf could recover, the fiend was away into the fog which swallowed him as surely and completely as though he had plunged into the everlasting sea

2 Caedmon - a 7th-Century Poet

Caedmon was one of the religious writers of the time His works were based mainly on the Old Testament Some historians have attributed to Caedmon writing

a 3,000-verse poem about the creation of the world (Genesis), which basically

follows the Bible text with some departures He may have also written two other works, Exodus and Daniel, though some feel that all three works have anonymous authorship Exodus deals with the Israelite escape from Egypt and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea Daniel includes the fall of Jerusalem, the two dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's interpretation of them, and the miraculous survival of Daniel's three friends in the fiery furnace A short hymn in praise of the creation,

"Hymn of Creation", is also attributed to Caedmon

3 Cynewulf- a 9th-Century Poet

A later poet, Cynewulf, and his followers, drew on the New Testament, as well as historical events connected with Christianity His works include The Fates

of the Apostles, a short martyrology, The Ascension (or Christ II), a homily (lecture on moral conduct) and biblical narrative, and Juliana, the story of a saint The most famous is Elene (Helene), which describes Constantine's victory under the sign of the cross, his conversion, and his mother's legendary miraculous discovery of the original cross in Jerusalem At this time, the "Holy Cross" cult was spreading across Europe and the cross was becoming sacred Over the centuries, it would be used as a symbol giving blessing to the expression of man's basest instincts Cynewulf's work is clear and technically elegant His theme is the continuing evangelical mission of the church from the time of Christ to that of Constantine Cynewulf's followers later produced literature mixing Oriental, pagan, and Christian thought with images from nature and the animal world For example,

"The Panther" symbolized Christ, 'The Whale" the Devil

IV OLD ENGLISH PROSE

Prose developed later than poetry - in the ninth century - but sometimes it also partly contained the characteristics of poetry It was influenced by Latin, the language of the church and the educated It consisted of factual, historical, and religious writings

1 King Alfred's Works

King Alfred the Great (reined 871-900), one of the most significant rulers of the first millennium, after making peace with the Vikings, made his kingdom into a cultural centre He translated many works from Latin, especially in the areas of religion, history and philosophy This was the foundation of the written national language The first translated works included The Pastor's Book, containing ideals

for a pastor, with which Alfred as a secular ruler identified He also translated Baede 's Church History and other historical accounts In addition, Alfred compiled medical information, annals, chronicles, and information for law books His works lacked originality, and were more instructive and educational than artistic and beautiful

2 Later Annals and Religious Writings

The first half of the tenth century saw Alfred's successors expand politically and militarily, but not culturally due to exhaustion from frequent battles with the Vikings Only the annals continued and some poetry about victories over the Vikings The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the best-known work of historical records spanning even beyond the Norman Conquest It contains both prose and poetry In the second half of the tenth century came cultural enlivenment through the Benedictian reform, a monastic reform which resulted in a religious revival The main literary styles included homilies, sermons, stories of saints' lives, and Bible translations The chief authors were Aelfric and Wulfstan

3 Aelfric and Wulfstan

Aelfric, abbot of Eynsham, wrote three cycles of forty homilies each (two volumes of Catholic Homilies and Lives of the Saints), as well as other homilies, pastoral letters, and several translations His writings were clear to understand and beautiful in style His alliterative prose, which loosely imitated the rhythms of Old English poetry, influenced writers long after the Norman Conquest Wulfstan, the archbishop of York, wrote civil and church-related legal codes as well as homilies

He denounced the morals of his time and exhorted people to repentance The belief was that the Viking occupation and the resulting oppression and suffering were the

result of sin, and that the end of the world was at hand

V OLD ENGLISH DRAMA

The origin of drama goes back to brief scenes that monks acted out in churches to illustrate Bible stories These later developed into full-length plays Sources of drama were primarily Catholic traditions and ceremonies that were gradually becoming worldlier The Catholic Church throughout Europe controlled almost the entire ideological sphere, including literary art Drama was developing

in churches where the whole society from the king to the lowest citizen gathered It therefore had to cater to the broadest audience; hence its tendency toward secularity

and language understood by the masses Two strong undercurrents influenced early drama: Folk plays based on ancient nature culls and pagan traditions; and classic Greek and Latin drama which were preserved, at least in rudimentary form, throughout the Dark Ages Catholic services were often in the form of drama- with colorful robes, recitation, singing and acting Easter and Christmas ceremonies developed into major dramas in the ninth and tenth centuries Herod's murderous

acts often became a focal point of Christmas plays with horror and violence

VI PRACTICE

* For each statement, write T if the statement is true or F if it is false

1 The epics tells of some remarkable events from a people history, sings the heroic deeds of a man, his courage and his desire of justice, his love for his people and self-sacrifice for the sake of his country

2 Britain’s history is considered to begin in the 7th century

3 Anglo-Saxon language (Old English) brought to England in 450

4 The Anglo-Saxons were a pagan society, but information about their lives and culture has been told by Christian writers

5 The Anglo-Saxons worshipped pagan/heathen Gods like earth, heaven and powers of nature This was the origin of the old stories

6 One of the most well-known eighth century Old English pieces of literature

is Beowulf, a great Celtic epic poem

7 Prose developed later than poetry - in the eleventh century - but sometimes it also partly contained the characteristics of poetry

8 King Alfred the Great (reined 871-900), one of the most significant rulers of the first millennium, after making peace with the Vikings, made his kingdom into a cultural center

9 The story Beowulf began its descent into darkness and death in Demark with King Hrothgar

10 The events of Beowulf took place in Denmark and Sweden, but the customs and manners those of the Anglo-Saxons people T

11 Old English poetry included long epic heroic poems The themes are religion, saints and bravery

12 Old English prose was influenced by Latin and French It consisted of factual, historical, and religious writings

13 King Alfred the Great made his kingdom into a cultural center In his reign, many works translated from Latin, especially in the areas of religion, history and philosophy such as The Pastor's Book, Baede's Church History

14 In King Alfred the Great’s reign, the first translated works included The Pastor's Book, containing ideals for a pastor

* Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence Circle A, B, C,

D to indicate the correct answer

1 Which people began their invasion and conquest of southwestern Britain around 450?

a the Normans b the Geats c the Celts d the Anglo-Saxons

2 Words from which language began to enter English vocabulary around the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066?

a French b Norwegian c Spanish d Danish

3 The popular legend of which of the following figures made its earliest appearance in Celtic literature before becoming a staple subject in French, English, and German literatures

a King Arthur b Saint Patrick c King Alfred d Sir Gawain

4 Toward the close of which century did English replace French as the language of conducting business in Parliament and in court of law

a tenth b eleventh c twelfth d fourteenth

5 What is a masterpiece of a poetry piece from Old English literature?

a The Wanderer c Beowulf

b The Wife's Lament d The Seafarer

6 When did Old English literature become popular?

a In the fourth century c In the seventh century

b In the fifth century d In the eleventh century

7 Old English poets, such as the Beowulf poet, were fascinated by the tension between which two aspects of their hybrid culture?

a Islam and Christianity c insular and continental philosophy

b pagan and Christian moral codes d oral and written literatures

8 Beowulf is one of the most famous poems in Old English It is about

……… lines long and the story revolves around three battles

a 2000 b 3000 c 4000 d 5000

9 Where did the events of Beowulf take place in?

a Denmark and Sweden c Denmark and France

b Sweden and France d All are correct

10 How many warriors did Beowulf assemble? Tập hợp

a 10 b 12 c 14 d 20

11 After Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother, how long does he rule over the Geats?

a 10 years b 20 years c 3 years d 50 years

12 Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother by using a giant, magical………

a bow and arrow b catapult c dagger d sword

13 Beowulf defeats Grendel by ripping off its ………

a claw b head c tongue d legs

14 Grendel’s mother lives…………

a in a lake b in the dungeon c in the woods d on an island

15 How many men does it take to carry Grendel’s head back to the mead-hall?

a 100 b 2 c 20 d 4

16 What is the best guess of when the poem Beowulf was composed as a whole?

a 1200 AD c 50 B.C

b eight century AD d fifth century AD

* Answer the following questions

1 What is Old English language also known as?

2 How long did the Old English literature last?

3 What was the time period of 500-1100 AD in British history characterized by?

4 What three influences shaped the Old English language?

5 How did the invasions and occupations of Britain influence Old English literature?

6 What does Old English literature consist of?

7 What is the epic?

8 Summarize the story of Beowulf and what it tells about (not more than 150

words)

9 What were the origin and the sources of Old English drama?

10 What two strong undercurrents influenced Old English drama?

11 What did the poem Beowulf glorify?

* Complete sentences with prompt given

1 self-sacrificed for

2 described the historical past of the land from

3 helped someone get rid of

9 to lead to the rise of something

10 to be at last fused into one

11 maintained its position as

This period was characterized by these remarkable events:

1 The perfect state of national reunification

2 The foundation of the Houses of Lords (1314) and Common (1332)

3 The widespread of education and the establishment of the universities of Oxford (1249) and Cambridge (1284)

4 The 100-year War between England and France (1337-1453)

5 The War of Rose between two houses: Lancaster and York (1455-1485)

6 The rebellion of the peasants in Kent for social justice

II LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

1 The Middle English language

During the early years of the Normans occupation, three languages were used at the same time in England: French was the language of the nobility and of the government, the court, and the school; English was clung stubbornly by the Anglo-Saxon commoners; and Latin maintained its position as the language of scholars and the church

In 1204, England’s ties with Normandy were broken, and French influence

in government began to wane One of the results of this political change was the gradual reestablishment of the English language By 1300 English was again known by all classes in English though it did not become the official language of the courts until 1362, and the language of the schools – in place of French – until

1385 But English then was very different from the English spoken by Bede or

Alfred the Great English was assimilating the Latin-based French vocabulary, and the complicated inflections of the Anglo-Saxon language were disappearing

Middle language was a language of constant change, varying from year to year and from country to country Because it was so unstable, it is possible to describe it only in a very general way as a language of dying inflections

Out of the tangle of local dialects, one finally emerged as the standard for English speech and writing: the East Midlands dialect East Midland dialect was accepted as the standard language because:

 the East midlands was the largest and most populous of the language area

 the East midlands dialect was spoken by Londoners

 the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge were in the East midlands area

2 Middle English literature

2.1 New forms of literature

During the Middle English period, the literature of England underwent a change as dramatic as that of England’s language As a result of the contact with Continental writing, new forms of writing appeared in England: The Romance, the Religious Drama and the Ballad

The Romance was a story describing the marvelous exploits of some hero of chivalry The first romances were written in verse, some later ones were written in

a combination of verse and prose or in prose alone Originally a French import, the Romance quickly seized on the Celtic legends of Wales and Cornwall Myth and Magic, and some small histories were woven into a fascinating series of tales about the legendary king Arthur and his court These Celtic inspired romances were as popular on the Continent as they were in Britain

The Religious Drama was at first closely associated with the church In time, plays were more and more secular and started to move out of the church and became very popular The most popular form of drama of that time was miracle plays, mystery plays and morality plays: these popular plays can be considered the beginnings of a native English drama, which paved the way for the magnificent secular theatre of the 16th and early 17th century

A new form of verse, the Ballad, was welcomed Lyrical poetry based on continental models appeared side by side with the older Anglo-Saxon metrical

forms: ballad became very popular, especially with the common people The ballad properly an anonymous dance-song, a song accompanying a dance with joined hands, probably sung at social gatherings These familiar ballads of this period were “the wife of Usher’s well” (48 lines), “Sir Patric Spens” (44 lines), and

“Robinhood and guy of Gisborn” (234 lines)

2.2 The spirit of Middle English literature

The Middle English period was also Catholic England’s Great Age of Faith Religion was greatly integrated into English life Man lived his life in a awareness

of the presence of God, with a clear understanding of the facts of judgment eternity Even the secular writing of the time accepted the idea of a God-centered universe – the idea that was at the heart of medieval thinking

This was also the era of “Merry England” Cheerful optimism pervaded the writing of this period The authors of this period often wrote about the beauty of human soul and of nature

2.3 Middle English literature figures

Almost 300 years before Chaucer (1066-1360) little English literature was produced From 1360 to 1400, most of the great literature of this period was written, a good part of it by one man named Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) Chaucer has been considered one of the best story-teller of the world His masterpiece “The Canterbury tales” still remain eternally alive Other poets of Chaucer’s time – not many – were the Pearl Poet with his romance “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (1735); William Langland with “Vision of Piers Ploughman” (1362) in which he attacked the social evils of his time, rebuked evil-doers and urged men to learn to love After Chaucer’s death, there were almost no literary works except one by Sir Thomas Malory: “King Arthur’s Death” (Morte d’Arthur-1470) Thomas Malory made this collection of stories about king Arthur and his knight of the round table from the Arthurian legends circulating in French and English romances about the knights

In a word, this period saw a brilliant development of English literature, especially with Geoffrey Chaucer But before and after the age of Chaucer were periods of literature bareness

3 Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)

Portrait of Chaucer from the 17th century

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London, probably 1343 Whether he studied

at any - or at both – of the two great English universities, we do not precisely know The first established fact about his life is that in 1357 he was quire or page to Lady Elizabeth, countess of Ulser, wife of Prince Lionel (third son of King Edward III in France) Two years later he took part in the expedition of Edward III in France; in the courses of this inglorious campaign he was made prisoner; the king paid £ 16 towards his random and very soon after took him into his service

French poetry was then the delight of all cultured men, and Chaucer himself may have tried his hand at French verse But his reputation as a translator was at once established after he translated “The romance of he Rose”, a great French poem, into English

After 1367 Chaucer was appointed valet to the king’s Chamber In the following years he was sent on several missions abroad (France and Italy) During these journeys, he was able to perfect himself in the Italian language and to acquire

a precious knowledge of Italian and French literatures

In 1386, Chaucer sat in Parliament as one of the knights of the Shire for

Richard II, who had succeeded King Edward III: Richard’s ministers were compelled to resign their offices, and Chaucer was dismissed In the end Richard, however, triumphed over his adversaries, in 1394 Chaucer obtained a grant of 20 for life from this year until his death; he seems to have been frequently in straits for money Chaucer died in London in October 25, 1400 He was the first writer to be buried in the Poet’s Conner of Westminster Abbey

His works: The Book of the Duchess (a dream vision narrative poem), Anelida and

Arcite (Anelida and Arcite is a 357 line poem by Geoffrey Chaucer It tells the

story of Anelida, queen of Armenia and her wooing by false Arcite from Thebes,

Greece.), The Canterbury Tales (a collection of stories written in Middle-English

by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral)

4 Typical work of Middle English literature

“The Canterbury Tales” is Chaucer’s masterpiece designed about 1387 The original plan for this work project was about 120 stories Actually Chaucer completed 22 and 2 more were left unfinished

The pilgrims to Canterbury

In “The Canterbury Tales”, the stories are told by persons of all ranks and conditions Pilgrimages were at the end of the 14th century very popular, and no shrine in England was an object of greater worship than that of Saint Thomas

Without questioning the devoutness of the good folk who took part in such pilgrimages, we may surmise that the spirit of “holiday-making” was pleasantly mingled with the earnestness of their religious pursuits

“The Canterbury Tales” was probably first sketched out in 1386, while Chaucer was living in Greenwich, some miles have been able to see the pilgrim road that led towards the shrine of the famous English Saint Thomas à Becker, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170

Chaucer’s narrative gives us a picture of a spring pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral It also presents a vivid panorama of the contemporary life and people A party of 29 pilgrims gathered one April evening at the Tabard Inn in Southward, just outside London They were on their way to the Cathedral of Saint Thomas à Becker After supper, aiming at reducing the tedium of the long journey, the inn-keeper proposes a plan: each pilgrim would tell 2 stories on the way to Canterbury and 2 more the way back The best story-teller of all would be offered a free supper

at the Tabard Inn The owner of the Inn, Harry Baily, of course, would act as the judge himself

The main or general prologue, which is extracted for studies below, is especially interesting because it is really a miniature of England of the 14th century

The General Prologue

WHEN APRIL with his showers sweet with fruit The drought of March has pierced unto the root And bathed each vein with liquor that has power

To generate therein and sire the flower;

When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath, (5) Quickened again, in every holt and heath,

The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun Into the Ram one half his courses has run, And many little birds make melody

That sleep through all the night with open eye (10) (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)

Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage, And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,

And specially from every shire’s end (15)

Of England they to Canterbury wend, The holy blessed martyr there to seek Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak

Befell that, in that season, on a day

In Southward, at the Tabard, as I lay (20) Ready to start upon my pilgrimage

To Canterbury, full of devout courage, There came at nightfall to that hostelry Some nine and twenty in a company

Of sundry persons who had chanced to fall (25)

In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all That toward Canterbury town would ride

The rooms and stables spacious were and wide, And well we there were eased, and of the best

And briefly, when the sun had gone to rest, (30)

So had I spoken with them, every one, That I was of their fellowship anon, And made agreement that we’d early rise

To take our way, as to you I’ll devise

But nonetheless, whilst I have time and space, (35) Before yet farther in this tale I pace,

It seems to me accordant with reason

To inform you of the state of every one

Of all of these, as it appeared to me, And who they were, and what was their degree, (40) And also what array they all were in;

And with a knight thus will I first begin

III PRACTICE

* Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence Circle A, B, C,

D to indicate the correct answer

1 Which king began a war to enforce his claims to the throne of France in 1336?

a Henry II b Louis XIV c Edward III d Henry III