Old English Literature ( 500-1100 AD)

BACKGROUND – 500-1100 AD – foreign invasions and internal struggles => mixing races, tongues, cultures

• 5th century – Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes) occupied BRI
• end of 6th century – Anglo-Saxons accepted Christianity
• 8th century – Vikings invaded BRI => King Alfred the Great makes peace with the Vikings and develops culture
• 1066 – Battle of Hastings and Norman conquest (end of OE period)
• language = Old English (Germanic words); Latin had also a big influence

GENRES – main = poetry, prose; other = proverbs, riddles, maxims, charms, wisdom sayings
TOPICS – thoughts about life, universe and nature

OE POETRY – based on hist. events (invasions, occupations, battles) => long epic heroic poems, chronicles, historical records)
- about war, conquest and bravery, about melancholy and hardness in their lives
- elegies – about the loss of worldly goods, glory and human companionship
- alliterative verse = head rhyme used instead of rhyme => unrhymed alliterative lines made up of two sections, each of which has two main rhythmic stresses and an indefinite number of syllables
- kennings – metaphorical descriptive phrases to produce more alliteration (sea = wilt road…)

OLD ENGLISH PROSE - developed later than poetry (9th century)
- factual, historical, and religious writings
- influenced by Latin – the language of the church and the educated

OLD ENGLISH DRAMA – first brief scenes that monks acted in churches to illustrate Bible stories – later full-length plays
- 2 strong undercurrents: - folk plays based on nature cults and pagan traditions
- classic Greek and Latin drama

OE POETRY
BEOWULF - epic poem of over 3'000 verses; manuscript dates back to the 10th century

• author is unknown – but had a good knowledge of the Bible
  elegy is apparent – life is passing, full of struggles and suffering; poem begins and ends with the funeral of a king

• characteristic Old English verse – alliteration, kennings (metaphorical descriptive phrases) and internal rhyme

• 2 beats or stressed syllables on each line; much repetition makes the action move slowly

• 1st part takes place in DEN – King Hrothgar is being pestered by a water monster Grendel, who is killing his men => Beowulf
  comes and kills Grendel and later Grendel's mother who wants to avenge Grendel

• 2nd part takes place in S SWE about 50 yrs later – Beowulf is a king and fights with a fire-breathing dragon

• it glorifies a hero, bravery and generosity; it also reflects acceptance of Christianity

• it is set to Scandinavia around 500-600 AD (time of battles and conquests of Anglo-Saxons in DEN and S SWE)

• as with other Old E. literature it incorporated both pagan and Christian ideas

  • pagan => love of war and courage X Christian => morality, obedience to God

• there are many contrasts – water X fire, youth X old age, life X death, heroism X cowardice, past X present X future

• it was originally recited by a court singer and poet called “SCOP” [šop] – accompanied it with music

CAEDMON (7th ©) – religious poet – works based on the Old Testament

• 4 works that are assigned to him, but they may have anonymous authorship:
  GENESIS – a 3,000-verse poem about the creation of the world – it follows the Bible text
  EXODUS – deals with the Israelite escape from Egypt and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea
  DANIEL – includes the fall of Jerusalem, 2 dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's interpretation of them, and the
  miraculous survival of Daniel's three friends in the fiery furnace
  HYMN OF CREATION – a short hymn (a religious song) praising the creation

CYNEWULF (9th ©) - religious poet – works based on the Old Testament and historical events connected with Christianity
ELENE (HELENE) – most famous – Constantine's victory under the sign of the cross (the cross became sacred)
THE FATES OF THE APOSTLES – a short martyrology
THE ASCENSION (CHRIST II) – a homily (lecture on morality) and biblical narrative

OE PROSE
KING ALFRED THE GREAT (871-900)

• translated many works from Latin (religion, history, philosophy)
• THE PASTOR'S BOOK – one of the first translated works – ideals for a pastor
• CHURCH HISTORY – translation of the work by Venerable Baede
• he also compiled medical information, annals, chronicles and law books – his writing was more educational than beautiful
• under his reign: THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE – best-known work of historical records – contains both prose and poetry

AELFRIC (10th-11th ©, abbot of Eynsham)

• wrote 3 cycles of 40 homilies (two volumes = CATHOLIC HOMILIES + one = LIVES OF THE SAINTS), pastoral letters, translations
• also wrote THE LATIN GRAMMAR and THE LATIN – ANGLO-SAXON DICTIONARY
• clear and beautiful in style writings – alliterative prose – imitated rhythms of OE poetry

WULFSTAN (10th-11th ©, archbishop of York)

• wrote civil and church related legal codes, homilies
• believed that the Viking occupation and resulting suffering were the result of sin => and that end of the world was coming