English Literature History /Sejarah Kesusastraan Inggris

Middle English
The Middle English Period

The Middle English period was marked by the Norman conquest of mainland
England. This happened on October 14, 1066 AD, known as "The Battle of
Hastings", or the last day of the battle between the Normandy army (led by Duke
William II of Normandy) and the British troops (under the leadership of King
Harold Godwinson). /King of the United Kingdom).

Medieval England was heavily influenced by French culture since William the
Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, came to power in England. French culture also
greatly influenced the development of literature and the English language. Early
medieval English literature is also known as Anglo-Norman literature and begins
when William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066.

French became the language of the upper classes as well as the official language
of government. The famous type of literary work is "romance". The characteristics
of French and Anglo-Norman literary works include various forms of poetry, the
style of language expression is bright and simple, always has a bright nuance.
These French traits can be seen in medieval English works, especially the works
of Geoffrey Chaucer. Late medieval literature can be said to belong to Chaucer or
is called the Age of Chaucer. The works of medieval English literature can be
divided into 3 types, namely poetry, prose, and drama.

3 Types of English Literature In Middle English Period

POETRY
Medieval poetry consists mostly of metrical romances or romantic stories written
in rhyme about French heroes (Roland), Celtic heroes (Arthur), and English
heroes (Bevis o Hampton). Metrical Romance is a long narrative poem about love
and adventure.
Metrical Romance which tells about the adventures of kings, knights, beautiful
women is only presented to the upper class (nobles). But there are also storytellers
of travel stories (minstrels), who make ballads for the lower classes.

Ballads provide an overview of the feelings and thoughts, life, and suffering of
small people. The common features of ballads are the presence of speed and
compaction, the movement of the scene moves quickly, and visual details are very
prominent. The titles of ballads that are quite famous include Sir Patrick Spence,
Lord Randal, Edward, Edward, The Three Ravens, The Douglas Tragedy, and
others.
Chaucer's greatest work is the Canterbury Tales, a collection of 70 narrative
poems, of varying line length and subject matter. Canterbury Tales provides a
realistic picture of British life. This collection of poems is rich in humor despite
the criticism leveled at various characters, especially priests who neglect their
duties and who still attach importance to worldly pleasures.

The themes in The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer's extraordinary work,

are diverse and unique. They not only dealt with class dilemmas and deception,
but also exposed the immoral and corrupt standards of the church in the early 14th
century. And Social satire is the main theme of The Canterbury Tales.

Kutipan dari The Canterbury Tales oleh Geoffrey Chaucer, abad ke-14

Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury Whan that Aprill, with his
shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every
veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;Whan Zephirus eek
with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes,
and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,And smale foweles
maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open eye-So priketh hem Nature in
hir corages);Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

Terjemahan:

Di sini bermula Kitab

Cerita-Cerita dari Canterbury
Ketika pada bulan April,
dengan hujannya yang
manisKekeringan bulan Maret
telah menembus akarnyaDan
memandikan semua pembuluh
darah dengan cairan seperti
ini,Untuk menghasilkan di
dalam dan menumbuhkan
bunga;Juga ketika Zephirus
("angin barat") dengan
nafasnya yang
manisMemberikan ilham pada
semua pohon dan heethTunas-tunas lembut dan matahari mudaTelah berlari
separuh jalan pada rasi Aries,Dan burung-burung kecil bernyanyi,Yang pada
malam hari tidur dengan mata terbuka-Dan kemudian alam menusuki
keberaniannya);Kemudian orang-orang menginginkan untuk pergi berziarah.
Chaucer's career as a poet can be divided into three periods:

- The first period (1359-1372) During this period Chaucer was heavily
influenced by French culture. As a young man, Chaucer worked as a
bodyguard for the king and participated in many expeditions in the
Hundred Years' war in France. In France, he studied French culture and
literature. When he returned to England, he translated works of French
literature, including the Romance of the Rose.

- Second Period (1392-1386) In this period Chaucer was influenced by

Italian culture. Chaucer as the King's envoy often visited Italy in the
context of diplomatic missions. In this country, he studied Italian art,
culture, and literature. She wrote Troilus and Criseyde, The House of
Fame, and The Legend of Good Women.

- Third Period (1386-1400) This period can be called the English period, in
which Chaucer has managed to free himself from foreign influences and
produce original British works in both form and style. This period is a
period of maturity (maturity) and his masterpiece is Canterbury Tales.

One of Chaucer's contributions to the development of English literature is

the use of certain dimensions:

- The iambic pentameter used in heroic couplets

- The rhyme royal, or 7 line stanza, also with the heroic couplet
- The octosyllabic couplet (7 syllable lines with 4 stresses).
Another great poet who contributed to the development of English literature is
William Langland. He gave many sermons on the quality of man and the dignity
of work and wrote a poem entitled Piers Plowman.

PROSE

An example of medieval English prose is John Wyclif. He is a professor at the

University of Oxford and a church figure. In the field of literature, Wycliff is
known as a translator of the scriptures. His translation work was distributed
throughout England and was instrumental in establishing standard English to
replace the various dialects.

Another prose work is the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey Monmouth

(1100-1154) a book containing the history of the kings of England. It was he who
created King Arthur as a romantic hero. Norman-French writers regarded
Geoffrey's work as an authentic historical document and used it as the basis for
stories about King Arthur and his knights.
DRAMA

The drama originally grew within the church as a medium for clergy to explain
their sermons. Since the sermons in the form of demonstrations were given in
Latin which was not understood by the majority of the people, they were
gradually replaced by English. Drama plays are taken from the scriptures. For
example, on Christmas day the play of Christ is shown, while on Easter the story
of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is presented. In the Middle Ages (13th
century) there were two kinds of drama, namely Miracles which played the lives
of saints, and Mysteries which took themes from the Bible.

Spirit on Middle English

The spirit found in most works in Middle English is about heroism or chivalry
wrapped in some romance in it.

In Middle English, his work is brighter than in Old English. For the famous work
in Middle English, The Canterbury Tales is more a satire for important figures
who neglect their work.