OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

The Old English Literature particularly known as the Anglo-Saxon Literature. It was written in Old
English.

The earliest surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon Literature go back to 680 A.D. , when a cattle herder
named Caedmon wrote a divinely inspired poem about the creation at the monastery of Whitby where
he worked. It was later known as Caedmon's Hymn which was composed in the 7th century is often
considered as the oldest extant poem.

The Grave is one of the final poems written in Old English, and presents a transitional text between
Old and Middle English whereas , the Peterborough Chronicle continues until the 12th century.

The poem Beowulf, which is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182
alliterative lines. This poem is also the oldest surviving long poem and one of the
most important works of Old English Literature. It was written in England
between 8th and the early 11th century. The scholars referred it as “Beowulf poet”
because the author was anonymous.

Anglo-Saxons cultural order is social, whether on the meadhall of monastery.

They were led by a powerful leader ,the ring giver , the hlaf ford whom is the loaf giver and hlaf dige
(lady or loaf sharer). They give rewards to the servants (fyrd).

Song and poetry is very important in this culture. We can see in The Wanderer and even in Beowulf
their heroic pre-Christian belief that fate(wyrd) is all you have here, no immortality except the name
you left behind you, happiness is an earthly thing , your rank is isn't as important as what happens to
your soul , earthly rank isn't important, give gold to Church divest yourself of earthly possessions. The
Wanderer is a good illustration of that contrast- the lost man feeling his life is over because he lost his
lord but trying to accept Christian stoicism at the end.

The Old English Literature is consists of :

Sermons and Saints Live's
Biblical Translations
Translated Latin work of the Church Fathers
Anglo-Saxons Chronicles
Narrative History Works
Practical Works on grammar, medicine , geography and poetry
There are almost 4oo surviving manuscripts from the period of which about189 are considered
“major”.
This is the Exeter Book of Anglo-Saxon Poetry(10th century; Exeter D. & C.
MS. 3501): The Wanderer, 11. 133, f. 76v
(Picture courtesy to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral)
This book was given to the library of Exeter Cathedral by the first bishop of
Exeter, Leofric who died in 1072. It was written by a single scribe. The Exeter
book is the only surviving source fr most works like The Wanderer, The
Seafarer, Widsith, Wulf and Eadwacer , The Wife's Lament including great
collections of witty riddles at which the Old English poets excelled.
 MIDDLE ENGLISH

Middle English refers to the varieties of the English language spoken after Norman Conquest. It was
developed out of late Old English , seeing many dramatic changes in its grammar, pronunciation and
orthograhy.

Middle aged period began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift.

Some Famous Writers during the Middle English Literature

Geoffrey Chauser- He was the major poet of England in the late Middle ages. He was also the most
significant writer before Shakespeare. Chauser's main works on this period are:

* The House of Fame - which was about the adventure of Aenas after the Fall of Troy
* The Parliament of owls - a story about the mating of the birds on St. Valenines Day
* The Legend of good women – unfinished work on classical heroines
* Troilus and Criseyde – for which he drew on Boccaccio
* The Canterbury Tales – unfinished work approximately 17,000 lines

John Wycliffe- He was known as the early reformer in the Catholic church. Wycliffe , together with all
his followers was responsible for producing a translation of the Bible. His writing style is close to the
original and the version contains a large number of Latin loans.

Sir Thomas Mallory – He was the author of Le Morte d'Arthur. It is an account in prose of legendary
Celtic King Arthur and the Knights of the round table.

Some Significant literary Works of This Period

1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- It is a chivalric romance nd one of the best known Arthurian
stories, with it's plot combining two types of folklore motifs , the beheading game and the exchange of
winnings. It was written in alliterative verse, each of which ends in a rhyming bob and wheel. An
important peom in the romance genre.
2. Morte D'Arthur- It was first published in 1485 by William Caxton , and best known work of
Arthurian literature in English.
3. The Vision of the Piers Plowman- It was a Middle English sllegorical narrative poem by William
Langland. It was written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called “passus” (step)
4. The Owl and the Nightangle- It was a poem detailing about the debate between the owl and a
nightangle. It was the earliest example of debate poetry in the Middle English.
5. Canterbury Tales- It was a collection of 24 stories that runs over 17,000 lines written in Middle
English by Geoffrey Chaucer. It became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace.

The Significant Literary Genres were:

1. Elegy- a poem for serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
2. Religious Liturgy- is the customary public worship done by a specific religious groups according to
it's particular beliefs, customs and traditions.
3. Narrative Romance- story lines of the most popular movies and romantic novels
4. Lay or Lais- “lyric lay” is a lyrical narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplers that often deals
with tales of adventure and romance.
5. Arthurian Romance- a narrative written prose or verse and concerned with adventure, courtly love
and chivalry
6. Fabliau- a metrical tale , typically a bawdily humorous one, of a type fund in early French poetry.

PERIOD OF THEODORES

Theodore The Studite- (Theodore Studita, St. Theodore of Stoudios and St Theodore of Studium) was a
Byzantine monk and abbot of the Stoudios Monastery.

He was also a hymnographer and theologian.

His great theological contribution was:

On the Holy Icons – was written in defense of icons during the Second Iconoclasm.

He was known for his writing and influence on monastic reform.

His feast day is on November 11.

ELIZABETHAN PERIOD

Elizabethan literature refers to bodies of work produced during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and is
considered to be one of the most splendid ages of English Literature.

Lyrics of the Elizabethan Age

One of the most finest lyricist was Sir Philip Sidney.

• He was a courtier, statesman, soldier and a poet.
• His books of sonnets Astrophel and Stella was printed in 1591, after his death

Sir Walter Raleigh

• He was a soldier, sailor, explorer, courtier and a writer.

William Shakespeare
• He was the greatest dramatist and also a great poet who wrote around 130 sonnets.
• He developed the Shakespearean Sonnet.
• Many of his sonnets refer to a girl, a rival poet and a dark-eyed beauty.
• His longer poems Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece were rather cold without feelings

Edmund Spencer- was a famous poet who introduced the Elizabethan age properly. He wrote:

1.The Shepherd's Calendar, a poem in 12 books, one for each month of the year
2.The Faerie Queen, it was an allegorical work with 3 themes, a political, moral and fairy tale theme.

The Metaphysical Poets

The following age, the Jacobian Age, was more interested in the mind than in heart or eye. They were
known as Metaphysical poets, who write poems with less beauty & less musical but contained tricks of
style and strange images.
 VICTORIAN PERIOD

The Victorian Era

• was the great age of the English novel- realistic, thick plotted , crowded with characters and
long.
• It was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class.

Some of the Famous Writers

The Novel

• Charles Dickens- full overflowing drama, humor and an endless variety of vivid characters and
plot compilations
• William Makepeace Thackeray- best known for Vanity Fair , which wickedly satirizes hypocrisy
and greed
• Emily Bronte's- known for her single novel, Wuthering Heights , was a unique masterpiece
propelled by a vision of elemental passions but controlled by an uncompromising artistic sense.
• George Meredith- produced novels noted for the psychological perception.
• Anthony Trollope- famous for sequences of related novels that explore social, ecclesiastal and
political life in England.

Non-Fiction

• Thomas Macaulay & Thomas Carlyle- the historian , social critic and prophet whose rhetoric
thundered through the age.
• John Stuart Mill- the great liberal scholar and philosopher
• John Ruskin- the great art historian and critic who concerned himself with social and economic
problems.
• Matthew Arnold's theories of literature and culture laid the foundations for modern literary
criticism and his poetry is also notable.

Poetry

• Alfred Lord Tennyson- preeminent poet of the Victorian age, his poetry was tempered by
personal melancholy , in mixture of social certitude and religious doubt it reflected the age.
• Robert Browning- best remembered for his superb dramatic monologues.
• Rudyard Kipling- the poet of the empire triumphant, captured the quality of the life of the
soldiers of British expansion.
• Dante Gabriel Rosetti- a painter poet who sought to revive what they judged to be the simple,
natural values and technique of Medieval life and art.
• Algernon Charles Swinburne- began as pre-Raphaelite but soon developed his own classical
influenced sometimes florid style.