A Course of

English Literature
Lecturer: Tran Minh Chuong, MA.
Stages of English Literature
A Timeline of Britain’s History (Norton 8th Ed.)
43 – ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain
ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest
597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon
conversion to Christianity
871-899 Reign of King Alfred
1066 Norman Conquest
1154-1189 Reign of Henry II
ca. 1200 Beginning of Middle English Literature
1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight
1485 William Caxton’s printing of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte
D’ Arthur, one of the first books printed in England.
Stages of English Literature
Stages of English Literature
Old English Literature ca. 450 – 1066
Middle English Literature 1066 – 1485
Modern English Literature 1485 – present
1. The Renaissance (16th -17th centuries) William Shakespeare
– Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1601)
2. The Enlightenment (18th century) Daniel Defoe
– The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson
Crusoe (1719)
- Gulliver’s Travels
3. The Romanticism (early 19th century)
4. The Realism (late 19th century)
5. The Modernism and Post-modernism (20th century)
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
• Historical Background
• After the Roman withdrawal (420 A.D.), England was invaded and
occupied by the Anglo-Saxons (the Germanic tribes from Northern
Europe).
• These invaders brought with them the Old English - also called
Anglo-Saxon. It was the earliest form of English and was spoken to
ca.1100.
• Chracteristics of Literature
• Dominated by poetry over prose
• Mainly orally made and is transferred mouth-to-mouth.
• Anonymous
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE | Beowulf |
Beowulf in hypertext

• Beowulf, composed somewhere between 700 to 1000 A.D.,

is an early Anglo-Saxon heroic epic in Old English and is
sometimes called Britain's national epic.
• The epic gives us an interesting picture of life in those old
days. It tells of some events from a people’s 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.
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE | Beowulf |
• GENRE: Heroic epic in alliterative verse
• SETTING: Around 500 A.D. and earlier in Denmark and
Geatland
• MAJOR Between close-knit warrior societies and the
CONFLICT: various menaces that threaten their boundaries
• CLIMAX: Beowulf’s encounter with Grendel’s mother
• THEME: - The Importance of Establishing Identity

• SYMBOLS: - The banquet (feast)

• SIGNIFICANCE:
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE | Beowulf |
• The poem is a classic example of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
• It has no rhyme, but each line has alliteration (repetition of
the same consonant in words or syllables).
• For example, the repetition of the sounds [b] and [f] in the
following lines makes them musical and gives them rhythm:
Then the baleful fiend its fire belched out,
and bright homes burned. The blaze stood high
and landfolk frighting.
• Another interesting feature of the poem is the use of picture
names (metaphors). The unknown poet calls the sea a “sea-
road”, or “salt-streams”, the musical instruments “joy-wood”,
“glee-wood”, etc.
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE | Beowulf |
Now read the story and consider the 1. Which
8.
5. He builds
Then onethe
Beowulf mightytohall
is returns
true? to
his homeland and
following questions for discussions. commemorate
becomes king ofhis his success
people, in Geats.
the warfare and
Late
Use the glossary for help.
 a. Beowulf is in Old English.
in Beowulf’s
glory life, a fire dragon, probably
1. Why does king Hrothgar have  b. inItbattle.
is about Denmark only.
called
2. He Sua,
is finds out
angered thatthe
with its gold
noisycup has
feasts
Heorot built? 
been c.stolen,
It is so
a heroic
he startsepic of overeverything
to destroy 3,000
that Hrothgar his men are having in the
2. Why does Grendel attack in sight lines.
with his fire breath. Beowulf sets to
hall.
Hrothgar's men?  d.it. It was made by a famous poet.
kill
3. How does Beowulf kill Grendel? 3.
 During a fierce
6. Denmark fight with
and Sweden (theGrendel in the
Geatland).
e. Its form is in alliterative verse.The
4. How does Beowulf kill Grendel's hall, Beowulf
creators manages
of Beowulf were toAnglo-Saxons,
tear one of who
 f.
Grendel’s It is
armswritten
from/offin pairs of
histhese rhymed
bodycountries.
at the
mother? had come to England from
shoulder. lines.
Grendel escapes to his home in the
5. Why and when does Beowulf fight 7. See in your book.
the dragon?  g. It was written inand1066.
marshes/moors/swamps dies there.
6. Which countries is Beowulf about? 4. During a fierce combat with Grendel’s
mother in her lair/cave under an eerie lake,
Why?
Beowulf grasps a mighty sword from her
7. What is the significance of the
own armory and beheads her.
epic?
8. What are the characteristics of the
epic?
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE | Beowulf |

1.
3.
2. In thedoes
4. How
What epic
is poem
happens
theBeowulfBeowulf,
after
defining featurewho
Beowulf
end? is Hrothgar?
defeats
of Grendel?
alliterative verse?
A. Beowulf’s
Hrothgar
Beowulf
Every brother
slips
steals
character inisthe
treasure
basedpool ofablood
from
on areal
dragonandand
cracks
historicalthen his skull.
sills
figure. him.
B. King
Grendel’s
Beowulf
Each of
linethe Geats
ghost
enjoys
features returns
his to
old age
many haunt
as King
words thestart
that mead
of hall.the same
thewith
Geats.
C. letter.
King
A dragon
Grendel’sof the Danes
appears
father and Beowulf
stalk burns down back thetomead hall.and
Geatland
C.
D. kills
It’s inhim.
Beowulf’s
Grendel’s iambic pentameter.
father
mother comes to avenge him.
D.
E. A
It dragon
Hemakes
Grendel’s attacks
heavy
fatheruse
is celebrated theaofGeats,
as and
literary
hero and Beowulf
home.dies a hero’s
allusions.
goes
E. death defeating him.
The supernatural plays a large role in the plot.
E. Beowulf stays in Denmark as Hrothgar’s guest of honor.
 Review
1. Before the Anglo-Saxons, the .......... had invaded and occupied
England for .......... centuries .
2. Old English Literature was written in the language of ..........
3. The setting place of Beowulf is in ………. and in ……….. (a region
in what is now southern Sweden).
4. The characteristics of Old English literature were ..........
5. Beowulf is a heroic epic because … and it is often called ".........."
6. Beowulf (in Beowulf ) comes from .......... to help .......... get rid of
..........
7. Beowulf is the protagonist while antagonists are .......... because ..........
8. In Beowulf, the main literary technique is .......... which is ..........