OLD ENGLISH AND MIDDLE ENGLISH

OLD ENGLISH AND BEOWULF

It is appropriate to think of the language and literature of Anglo-Saxon England as "Old English," because the language is the remote ancestor of the English spoken
today.

Most of the surviving vernacular poetry of Anglo-Saxon England consists of free translations or adaptations of Latin saints' lives and books of the Bible. Secular heroic
poetry has little or nothing to do with England or English people. Beowulf is set in Scandinavia; its principal characters are Danes, Geats, Swedes, and there are brief
references to other pagan Germanic tribes such as the Frisians, Jutes, and Franks.

Summarize the plot of Beowulf. Is he an epic hero?

OLD ENGLISH

Old English (or, Anglo Saxon) prosody, that is, the way verse is composed (especially, the way the verse sounds or the lines rhyme) is characterized by, among other
things: …………………………..,………………………………………,……………………………………..and …………………………………………….

Can you complete the sentence and explain each of the elements added?

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD TO CHAUCER (1100-1340)

The light of the Renaissance brought the brilliance into the modern world and relegated the obscurity of the Dark Ages. In England, Geoffrey Chaucer was in every man the
man of an ideal ability and temperament.

Why is Geoffrey Chaucer considered “The Poet of the People”?

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD TO CHAUCER (1100-1340)

The transition from Medieval Literature to the literature of the Norman-French showed the transformation of the epic warrior fighting against monsters to a champion of
Christianity against the infidel, largely as a result of the Crusades. This “new” epic hero was then the medieval knight.

Literature created a new form of expression, a new epic form, the metrical romance.

How do you define the metrical romance? What were the “Matters” of medieval romance?

MIDDLE ENGLISH and GEOFFREY CHAUCER

Read and provide examples of the relevance of French language in English and Geoffrey Chaucer’s contribution to Middle English

Linguistic and cultural changes in Britain were accelerated by the Norman Conquest in 1066, when words from French began to enter the English vocabulary. Awareness of a
uniquely English literature did not actually exist before the late fourteenth century. In this period English finally began to replace French as the language of
government. Geoffrey Chaucer's decision to emulate French and Italian poetry in his own vernacular would greatly enhance the prestige of English as a vehicle for
literature.

The second half of the fourteenth century saw the flowering of Middle English literature in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and the Gawain poet.