05-Jul-22

History of English Literature Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Periods of English Literature:
1. Anglo-Saxon Period (450-1066)
2. Middle English Period (1066-1500)
3. The Renaissance Period (1500-1660)
4. The Neoclassical Period (1660-1798)
5. The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
6. The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
7. The Modern Period (1901-1939)
8. The Post Modern Period (1939- Present)
The Jutes
The Angles
The Saxons
- The three Germanic tribes that invaded Britain in 5th century AD.
- Indigenous Celtic-speaking people in Britain, notably Britons
Celtic- A branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging
from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over
Europe in the pre-Christian era

Features of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Language, style and Sound

Celts(associated with places like
France and western Germany in the
late Bronze Age, around 1200 BC)-
a people who dominated much of
1. It was originally delivered orally, as it was intended to be
chanted with harp accompaniment by the Anglo-Saxon bards.
2. It has structural alliteration. That is, it contains syllables beginning
with similar consonantal sounds.
3. its composition lacks rhyming scheme.

western and central Europe in the 1st

millennium BC, giving their language,
customs, and religion to the other
peoples of that area.

1

Features of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: subject
matter/theme
1. Many ANGLO-SAXON poems dwell on heroic
themes of honour, valour in battle and fame
as they tell sacred legends and stories. In
fact, epic poetry has been known to be one
of the earliest literary forms.
2. A number of Anglo-Saxon poems dwell on
the sorrow and ultimate futility of life,
harshness of circumstances, as well as
helplessness of man in the hands of fate.
05-Jul-22
3. There is an injection of the Christian idea of dependence on
God in many old English poems (this is to weaken the sense
of the ultimate power of arbitrary fate.
4. There are also poems that reflect everyday realities like
‘seafarer’.
‘Beowulf’ which was believed to have been written between the
8th century and the late 10th century; and ‘The Wanderer’ are
other examples of Old English poems.
An example of Anglo-Saxon poets is Cynewulf