ANGLEŠKA SREDNEJVEŠKA KNJIŽEVNOST; Maver; IZPIT :: 15.

Februar 2011
Topics:
OE PERIOD
- historical background and the Germanic conquest of Britain
- The culture (including the language) and the civilization of the OE period
- King Alfred and his literary programme
- The film discussion based on king Alfreds life as a military leader
- OE prose other than king Alfreds translation
- OE religious poetry (Ceadmnon, Cyewolf)
- The dream of the rood
- The wanderer, the Seafarer
- Secular poetry
- OE heroic verses tradition
- Beowulf (structure, reference to the then social context, critical approaches, etc. ..)

13.10.2010
OE PERIOD – THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD 5th cent – 1066
- MIGRATIONS of the Saxons, the angles, and the jutes (Germanic tribes). They came from other parts of Scandinavia(Sweden,
Norway) to the british island.
>The Scandinavian/Germanic connection was very strong.
>Jutes were the lesser importance; the other 2 predominated.
>Term OE was invented in the 19th cent.
- Before their arrival the territory wasn’t conquered, the tribes conquered it. Before there were native population lefts: Scotland, Wales.
- Important conquerer was Hadrian (hadriand wall is therefore), he established many tribes
- At the end of roman period ppl were ....(?) – lefts were persecuted from their territory to Wales (submerged identities –the lefts.
(Wales-the country of slaves)
- Ireland was also Christianized but was not affected by these tribes, it had a different development
- These 3 tribes emalgamated –Emalgamation-meaning into one; they merged into one as far as religion, language, ..1 cent later we can
already talk about a nation state. The ppl called themselves Angli(s) [from Scandinavian adjective englisc]
- In the 6th cent the migration was bigger, because missionars were also sent to these countries
 Anglo-saxon domination
- King Alfred was king of Wessex-the most powerful king (of Wessex, there were also essex and sussex-sb obsessed with sex:P – they
were united in Wessex) [Thomas Hardy wrote Wessex poems –victorian poetry]
>also the king of Mersey was very important
> the humber
>east anglia (wtf)
- In the 8th cent started the VIKING INVASION(from Scandinavia, Sweden, Norway). This was a problem(no shit:P) –the Vikings had
no intention to settle; they robbed, raped women, were violent and then left.
>battles with them (which were very successful during the king alfreds period)
>the border was established between Vikings because they stayed longer and longer – the DANE LAW separating east and west < in
went along the ancient roman road
>in the east the danes/the Vikings emalguated among Saxons < they all became a mixture [superstate:anglosaxons; substarte:Vikings]
- King Alfred died in 899. After his death the Vikings started to move across the borderline so much so that in the 10th century (also
early in the 11th cent) we get Danish kings who rule England –they were absorbed into anglosaxon culture.
>its fascinating that the englisg language accommodated alot because of changing all the time, but still managed to stay a language

[1066 – the Normans come and its the end od OE period]

CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION OF OE PERIOD

(old + middle English period = medieval = the Dark Ages muahaha –negative, violent, slavery, nothing new happens, dark,..)
In the literature::1.the negative things-darkness; positive-brightness.
2.The culture and the litearature show a binary: evil vs good; dark vs bright, order vs chaos; law&order vs lawlessness.
3.split between the PAGAN and the Christian world.

> OE culture was relatively rich. (british museum in ldn. Excavating –they had an interesting way of burying their kings&leaders.) they
were buried in a mound (=gomila).
> Fear of apocalypse was strong among ppl in those times, they were generally afraid of the future/of the end of the world. Many profits
and fake apostles made alot of money. –the apoliptical view
> Allegorical approach:: means that a certain physical object (architecture, literature) was seen/interpretated as an image of some spiritual
truth. All physical appearances stood 4 sth else.

> 4 groups of manuscripts: (manuscript –mss) ..they contain all the important things
-literature was written down on the parchment (pergament)
-they were reffered as scriptoria/scriptorium, before that literature was transmitted orally
-there was also and option of handing out letters –runes (rune alphabetic)
1.: THE BEOWULF MS; the most important one, is somehow damaged because of the fire ..the cotton ms(is in british library in ldn)
2.: THE EXETER MS/BOOK; a selection of texts
3.:THE VERSELLI MS; named after a town Versailles in Italy
4.: THE JUNIUS MS; now in bodelian library

> The main literary genres were:

-Historical works; THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
-The anglo-saxon HEROIC EPIC (junaški ep)
-The OE CHRISTIAN/RELIGIOUS POETRY (semireligious)
-A HAMILY/SERMON-homitetic prose
1.King/queen
20.10.2010 2.aristokracy
> the clash between the pagans and the chriatian world 3.the majority
> FEUDALISM: it was typical for a feudal society that there was this social pyramid hierarchy were slaves,soldiers >
Subjects

>one group of texts was only allowed for the aristocracy and certain literature was written only for the subjects(subjects-they were
subjected to someone; also aristocrats to king)
> a THANE: anglo-saxon lord; someone who was given a huge amount of land for soing something noble – fighting in wars etc..
> WYRD its a prechristionied concepted, it means fate, concept of doomed, of apocalypse – ppl are constantly aware of their physical end,
were afraid.
> courage was also an important symbol – heroic, epic. There were also heroic women :D. of course things that are heroic 4 the kingdom.
> there was a bilingual situation in these days – LATIN (introduced through Christianity in the 1st cent). It was the language of
scholarship/scholars –non religious ppl who were interested in science, knowledge,... 2nd language was OLD ENGLISH VERNACULAR
LANGUAGE. it was a Germanic language(from Germanic tribes) spoken by the majority of population. There were 4 dialects of Old
English but Wessex(west Scandinavian) dialect became the predominant-the linguistic norm. >> in the 9th cent we already talk about the
Kings English.
> we could speak about Scandinavian –old norse parth > runs, monuments with runs. There were 25 different runs, theyre epigraphic
letters – they visualise sth.

THE EPIC OF BEOWULF

- goes back to the 10th cent, the year 1000
- its sources and beginning go way back to 5th, 6th cent. It was transmitted orally and than written down.
- is a hybrid; a mixture of old English language and _______?
- OE language was an inflected language – words changed endings, the meaning of the words derived from grammatical language (wtf?)
- similar to brižinski spomeniki =P
- there were a lot of borrowed words from Scandinavian and latin.

KING alfred?
-was an important literary person –he translated a lot, felt the need that works in Latin had to be translated into OE language, so a lot of
people could read them
-he supported the publication of anglo-saxon chronicle, the monks were recording the history of anglo-saxon chronicle.
>not everybody were using OE language, there was an anglo-saxon monk who rather wrote in latin, he was a scholar –
Bede the Venerable: The Eaclesiastical History of English People (was copied in the 8th cent.)

SAINT AUGUSTINE
-his works were translated from latin to Oe language
-was an important missionary who was sent from rome to Christianize the territory
-was a monk, a missionary, a scholar

ALCUIN
-was a scholar, he was also a monk, but continued as a scholar
-he was sent by the king to france
-he went to the court of the great king Charles the Great (was an important person, he was trying to unite the Christian kingdoms) – Alcuin
was the main scholar on his court, had his own school, etc.

KING ALFRED (THE GREAT)

-he was not the oldest son and wasn’t meant to become a king. He wanted to become a monk, he was sent by his father to rome where he
learned latin, became fascinated by the classical ancient architecture of ancient rome.
-england at that time seems to him as a dark, boring, ..place. after he came from rome, that was also a reason to start translating.
-he was brought up to become a spiritual person, not a warrior king
-in 9th cent he defeated the Vikings at P...?
> As a literary person :: He started the renaissance of English letters. With him the English literature started to develop. Works were
originally in latin and are considered as kex texts of the period. They didn’t translate word for word literally, they translated by
paraphrasing. The concept word was described by using several words. These translations were very free, different from orginals.

Texts translated by Alfred and his group::

1.Pope Gregory, PASTERAL CARE(cura pasturalis): written in latin.
Here he added his famous preface where he states his objectives; why he started to translate, his opinions, he complains about the fact of
OE culture/learning is low, compared to rome. He wanted to raise the level of England, to be compared to other countries.
This text is a pragmatic text. He says that not only religious books should be translated, but all the books. Scholar books too.
Liberal arts: in the field of humanities & natural science –artes liberals. They taught geometry, mathematics, history, grammar, rhetoric.
2.Orosius, UNIVERSAL HISTORY: in latin.
Its an encyclopaedia. A group of texts that describe the known history of Europe –the known word at that time.
[the raise of Christianity, the peagan tradition, the expandion of Europe.] Its a history book with religious texts. It also contains
travelogues –they always want to spread horizons, descriptions of historical events.
3. Boethius, THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY. In latin.
- spiritual mind, life, philosophy. Its a philosophical text but also describes the essential ontological questions of life..Why are we
here?,etc..
4. Bede the Venerable, THE EACLASIASTICAL HISTORY. In latin.
-the main source of knowledge and information for the anglo-saxon period.
5. Saint Augustin, SOLILOQUYS. In latin. A soliloquy= a meditative monologue.
-about his life, what was important in life, his religious, philosophical views
6. King Alfred, ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. Hes not really the author, he started this -writing the chronicles.
- theyre not signed, we don’t have the author.
- they continued to be published all the was through 12th cent
- he started that, the last one who wrote them were the Benedictine monks – Revival. They were written in several scriptorias: York,
Winchester, Peter Borough version. The Benedictian monks were especially powerful in the Kingdom of Mercia –king Edgar (2nd
flowering renaissance of OE language)
- its not only faction, but a creative text (not fictional, something in between)
> FACTION::these books always were facts+fiction –the genre of faction. We have to bear that in mind :P
- During Alfreds reign they started to develop prose –sermons and homilies. This prose was especially developed by
Benedictin monks (Aethelwold, Aelfric, Wulfstan)
ETHELWOLD was the oldest. He started and continued in 10th cent, after Alfrats(?) death. He collaborated with King Lfred, cuz he was
much more educated in latin(and etc.) than Alfred. He showed great erudition and diversity in his texts.
AELFRIC was the most productive of all 3. He wrote a number of homilies. He created a subgenre – Life of a Saint –a normal person who
becomes a saint. He uses alliteration.
WULFSTAN is known for the Sermon of Wulfstan to the English (in latin). He speaks about the Viking raids –brief attacks. His
conclusion is somewhat – that the English ppl are clundered by the Vikings because they sin too much(theyre sinners).

The movie:: shows the fusion of 2 nations. Shows the unity that Alfred provided, the language, the religion. Also his own dilemmas,
problems, becoming king by force. Alfred united all the kingdoms in one, problem among all people –among the whole spectrum of
anglo-saxon.

GENRES::
RELIGIOUS AND SEMI-RELIGIOUS GENRES: major genres, they presented the very beginning of English literature
1. old English poetry:...2. heroic poetry
Its a semi.religious poetry. Theres a clash between old pagan Scandinavian themes and the new Christian topic themes. England was for
the 1st time brought to (antiquity???neki no?) through Latin works. Themes were specific::the figure from Christianity would appear as
pagan lord. Christian figures were very much down to earth.

>8th cent: beginning of OE religious poetry, especially in the north

POETS & WORKS: (beginning of E literature)

1.CAEDMON: a monk mentioned elsewhere; very important anglo-saxon poet. He wrote HYMN in which he praises the divine existence
of god. God is described in terms of earthly lord form is about a group of ppl who are gathered in an abbey after dinner and they set up
a competition in poetry writing. Everyone from the group is asked to make a short poem right there on the spot. The transmission was
oral. (different versions of the same text). Creating poetry was also a communal act-within a group of ppl.
- the word for the anglo-saxon poet was a SCOP=a shaper etymologically, he didn’t really invent the subject matter, he simply shaped
it..while poet etymologically means creator. Shaper vs.. maker/creator. (wtf?)
-HYMN: there is a speaker who has a vision of god; he comes back to the group of people in the abbey –he sings about Christian god
throughout his life.
-poems by Caedmon: Genesis, Daniel, Exodus

-DEOR is also important-its a poem without an author. Its religious and it also tells us something about the scop-the speaker of the poem.
He says he wants to create a movement to himself through the poem-the scops/the poems. This is important because its written outloud.
Scop wants to be remembered for ever, till infinity. Deor uses alliteration, alliterating sounds that are repeated under stress(in stress
words).

2.CYNEWULF: is considered a much better poet. He wrote biblical stories-its a kinda genre/subgrenre within OE anglo-saxon poetry. He
wrote about the lives of individuals who become saints or people who helped spread Christianity throughout the world. the fates of the
apostols.
-interesting because of his women characters, he wrote JULIANA and ELENE –they suffered because they tried to spread Christianity. He
shows how these ordinary people become immortal through the eyes of church. –how these lives were depicted.
-much more meditative and philosophic poet, adds to artistic value

3.THE DREAM OF THE ROOD has no author. (red-the colour of suffering Christ)
-written in a special style-dream vision. Also important later in the Middle ages. There is a speaker in the poem who in his dreams has a
vision- these visions are not necessarily religious.
-the poem is based on an actual cross/stone monument on the border between Scotland and England (rotwel cross ? ..has its own
prechristioned history)
-its not the cross whose dreaming :P the speaker of the poem is dreaming:: 1st part: He falls asleep and has a dream about this cross. The
cross starts to talk to him, its personified. We get subjective attitude of the cross-its made of wood. The cross tells the speaker what it was
like when it/he was a tree and how they cut it down, how he became a cross.
2nd part: the cross tries to convince the speaker to go around the world and talk about the cross. The cross wants to Christianize the world.
3rd part: the speaker wakes up and decides to spread around the cult of the cross – the cross becomes a sign: each reader has to go through
process of signification.
-SOUL and BODY: written in subgenre, the soul and body genre. They speak about the dualism of the human existencethe physical and
spiritual form of existence
-written in dialogues. Voices that speak against each other. The voices speak in favour of themselves: spirits for themselves and body for
itself. The debate has no answer, in the end the reader figures out what he wants.

SECULAR NON-RELIGIOUS POEMS::

1.THE WANDERER: is a person who could be described as Everyman –a person who wanders through life and asks himself about the
meaning of existence-meaning of life. Philosophy, existentialism – EXISTENTIALIST TRAUMA; when poems look for the meaning of
life, suffering of a fatal wanderer who is nameless if you don’t belong to the society, youre out.
-it represents everyman, everyone could be him
-OE anglo-saxon poem
-W. H. Auden wrote another poem –pretexts of intro textuality – the wanderer inspired Anden to write his own poem
speaker of the poem(long, narrative poem) is in despair, very nihilistic- he looks at life strictly fatalistic. The idea, msg to the audience
than is to show that one has to have faith in lord, god; otherwise hes lost. Today ::tells us about the general feeling of a man.
-speaker of the poem has only one option: self-rely, he knows that he only has to rely on himself-something that makes him go on. He
feels isolated/lonely, probably without a lord because he is in exile(izgnanstvo) –hes doomed to live in isolation.
W.H.Auden, Wanderer: the failure of human relationships, he sees the inability of human beings to establish a relationship.

2.THE SEAFARER:: about a sailor, a seaman, someone who travels the sea.
-in the spirit of adventure, much more lyrical, full of realistic details, very vivid, detailed
-comparation:. The seafarer being described as being away from the sea, he suffers because hes not used to living a life on the continent,
he yearns to go back to life of adventure and experience
-he, the seafarer goes himself exile-he likes it on the sea, self imposed exile which he likes
-in the spring he sees that he has to leave and go back to the sea
-based on a French –a reverdie, about something new, he goes back to the sea, he is revived
-much more down to earth poem, it describes a poem of reverdie, spring revival
comparison: theme of exile. Both poems have in common the exile, isolation of the society.;Theme of the last survivor: both represent
humanity as such. ; theme describing transience of life: a very common theme in OE literature as such.; both figures are meditative-they
think a lot about their faith/destiny; they believe in the concept of wyrd – something that cannot be controlled.

3.OTHER POEMS WHICH ARE SECULAR the author is unknown

* WIDSITH we don’t know the author, maybe the name of the poem is also the authors name. Its a poem about a poem –his fame will
live on forever with the poem. The poem uses images of doom, apocalyptic images(frequent in OE literature), the conclusion is that poems
will survive.
* THE RUING
*THE RIDDLES
* poems about animals; THE WHALE(it was a mythical character); THE FENIX
they wanted to describe the presence of god, the whale is a sign for something bigger; powerful, special animals.
*ELEGIES celebrate the lives of anglo-saxon kings, each elegy examines the purpose of their lives..if he was so great, than why did he
had to die? –wheres the greatness and the power?
* COMPANION PIECES: THE WIVES LAMENT and THE HUSBANDS MESSAGEformed like a dialogue

Old English heroic poetry (epic of Beowulf)

BEOWULF:: -most important work from OE literature
-a movement
-consists of 2 parts; within them there are many episodes/ DIGRESSIONS(=odmik,skrenitev,razpravljanje o postranskih stvareh)- when
you move away from the main plot

1st part:: THE PLOT
About a hero, Beowulf, who is a young man in his country
Geatland, the land of Geats. He comes from Sweden to the
Danish kingdom where the story takes place. He is called by the
Danish king Hrothgar to fight the monster Grendel, which is
attacking their kingdom.
2nd part:: describes Beowulf as an old king who has to come
back from Denmark. He comes back to geatland and rules his
country. As an old king he is faced with another major problem
–to fight a dragon. [monsters, dragon supernatural creatures,
but they do have human characteristics –are beings]

BEOWULF THE EPIC – DETAILS

-3000 lines of verses
- its narrative, every epic has a very strong epic narrative, a lot of suspense
- early heroic epics were 1st transmitted orally, therefore had existed centuries before being written down
Means: it had to be transmitted where people meet; at social events, political meetings, marriage, etc..-a tradition
- divided into certain sections – FITTS – 43 fitts
- 1st manuscript of Beowulf is the Cotton manuscript. Later got caught in fire and is damaged.

GENERAL ABOUT BEOWULF

1.desribes the passage between the pagan into the Christian world
2.transition chaos /orderless law and order
3.a passage/ transition from barbarian world where vengeance ruled(revenge) ..this shows even later, hamlet for example: Who is the one
to give revenge? I/ we / he or the god? – epic of Beowulf speaks against the revenge
4.gives examples-speaks against the incest(were very common among hierarchy)
5.about the killing of your own member of family (patricide, matricide,..) issues dealt in old greek tragedies –relationships between the
family
6.BEOWULF generally a positive character. A bear –somone strong and courageous and also very generous, hes a bear man –rider of
bees(honey-bees-bears), someone beastly but positive
7.the whole myth is an example of MYTHOPOESIS: myth + poetry, to crate myths through poetry. They believed myths had to be created
and it was good –through poetry to make us believe something –MYTHOLOGISING THINGS.
8. Many symbols used in the epic
symbol of HEOROT:name of the main-whole writing place where lords/kings met. (A mead hall= the hall where the mead is consumed,
mead is the drink made of honey, medica :P. They could meet there, get drunk with mead, fall asleep and monster would eat them –
devour(požreti) =to eat a person, digest so it would become a part of him. Grendel eats people(hes half human) because he wants to
become like them, a part of them, its a kinda revenge of his, he fells left out(aww :P).
-at the beginning Heorot is described as a lighted place, symbolises the power and unity of the danes
 weakness of Danish society ::
*the Danish society is actually weak, the society is rotten – the lords no longer support the king, they are his vassals(podložnik),
but theyre no longer loyal to him. Theyre afraid of grendel, king calls Beowulf for help.
*incest among the royal family: was very common in Denmark and its critised in the epic.
- reasons for the downfall in Denmark and also for beowulfs death in the 2nd part of the epic
- in the 2nd part when Beowulf is an old king he eventually goes ___ because he was not accepted by his lords
- one of his lords Wiglaf does stay faithful to Beowulf and becomes the future king after Beowulf
 reason for the death of Beowulf is that he fights the dragon, the dragon is enraged because the gold had been stolen from him; Beowulf
wants to save his kingdom BUT also fights for material purpose –the gold.(temptation of the gold-money)
about the family values: the epic attacks the incest relations between the members of family
revenge/vengeance: not to be taken as a concept, is shown in the epic only as a vicious circle, something that never really ends –
vendetta. Shown also through digressions –they show a completely different Scandinavian tribes that go through this vengeance problem.
physical strength and courage of the warriors is exaggerated, is boosted
nobility: the question of high blood, blue blood- going back to the 1st members of the family

One of the literary critics who was interested in this era and time was J.R.R.TOLKIEN. he studied the medieval era and he wrote a book
The critics and the monsters(?) where he claims that Beowulf is a historical document and an important work of art. He says that Beowulf
shows how evil is present in this world, that one has to be constantly in a battle with goodness(symbolic significance). He sees the world
as black and white, while other critics see the shades of gray :P. He studied Beowulf, his interpretation is also influenced because of the
raise of European totalitarian regime.

STRUCTURE OF THE HEROIC VERSE:

-when Scandinavian tribes came to England, they brought a fully developed system based on alliteration (it produces a very clear phonetic
effect –repetition of the same consonant in the stressed syllables)
-in OE heroic verse it consists of a short verse, which contained varying number of syllables –at least one of which was accented
-the accents in this verse were not natural, were grammatical the accent fell on that syllable which normally carrie the stress on that
particular syllable (??to nvm čeje res tko, check up).
-there was 1 line of verse which consisted of 2 half lines hemistiches

__________________________________________________ _____2nd hemistiche___________________________________

1st hemistiche / halfline
A break which is called A CAESURA
the on and the off verse; they were connected by alliteration, by alliterating sounds, the sounds that alliterate. Alliterating sound is a
STAVE.

STYLISTIC DEVICES IN BEOWULF: typical of OE heroic verse, beginnings of figurative language used in OE literature

1.VARIATION; the information given in the 1st line (in the on-verse) repeats in the 2nd line(in the off line). Nothing substantially new is
added by variation –it provides a poetic reality.
2.KENNING(S) = new compounds, new words. The process of using kennings is kenning.
are descriptive compounds
can be considered as OE metaphors
are formed by a noun and some other part of speech
kennings are different, they add significant new information about the object described
kennings became stock phrases –phrases that are set, they were even reduced to the level of stereotypes/cliché.
[for ex.: the seaa cup of waves; the shipa floater on the waves; a lord/a thanethe dispenser of rings
3.HEITI: a development of a kenning. Heiti represents the substitution of one noun
-instead of describing
4. AN UNDERSTATEMENT: its a description of a person or an object by stating its negative/its opposite
- common today(sarcasm?) .. Example: the beauty of a woman would be understated like she were ugly but in reality beautiful.
- these features used in long, epic poems, short narrative poems. –if this short poem was written by a scop its a LAY.
 in LAYS :: (OE heroic verses) like in generally in OE heroic verse
-there are historical characters like Atella, Cannute the Great (Danish king)
-theres a stress on the courage, the courage is celebrated
-we find elements of folklore, local elements from individual regions
-supernatural elements
-theme of sacrifice of certain things

BEOWULF was probably written down in the 8th cent, though some believe it was composed earlier and carried on by oral transmission. It
is the result of composed authorship, probably more than 1 author. (It was transmitted centuries from paganism. ..?), certain parts of
Beowulf seem more Christian and were probably added later(Christian interpelations)

SUMMARY::
1ST PART OF THE EPIC
Beowulf is a young warrior hero who is called to Denmark because there was no one who could fight Grendel, the monster. A family tree
of Danish kingdom /dynastic tree is traced to the past because they wanted to stress that Denmark had a certain tradition –the whole
family tree is described.
Than its all moved to time when English king Hrothgar is faced to danger, Hrothgar is a good king.
When theyre merry-making :P, they get drunk with mead and fall asleep. The monster Grendel comes and wants to kill them and eat them.
He is half human half monster cursed by god for having killed his own brother (Im not sure I think so??). he is forced to live is isolation,
he lives in a cave away from people. When theyre merry-making he hears the sounds of joy and happiness from the palace and he suffers,
thats why he attacks.
Beowulf comes and sets off to kill the monster –the battle is described as an epic battle, the place is shaking on its foundation, evil vs
goodness. In the end Grendel tries to escape, but Beowulf cuts off his arm. Grendel dies because he had his whole arm cut off. Beowulf
takes his hand to show the evil has ended.
BUT the trouble is of course not over yet :P. Grendels mother comes to take revenge, Beowulf fights her. He almost gets killed, but the
last minute sees a sort and kills her. Cuts her head off and brings it to the people again to show the evil has really ended. Beowulf returns
to homeland, is offered the kings daughter, which he excepts and becomes the king of Geatland.

2ND PART OF THE EPIC ::

Beowulf is an old king and the dragon is the monster he has to face now. The situation is very different, the goal is the money, the dragons
gold had been stolen by a fugitive slave and the dragon is enraged. Beowulf is interested in gold, he became a totalitarian ruler, he no
longer wants to dedicate his powers to thanes. Hes not a positive king anymore like the Danish king Hrothgar was. They make a tragic
flaw(?), Beowulf becomes a tragic hero in the 2nd part because hes not a good person anymore, hes shown as an egoistic person.
Beowulf is wounded and dies when ..
the epic ends with along description of beowulfs burial, a pagan description, his warriors ride around his grave(shows the pain).

THE MAIN THEMES ::

Most important is THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, dark vs brightness, in the dark you can do things that are evil
muahaha :D
THEME OF A GOOD KING: from a good kind to totalitarian, narcissist king. A symbol for the fact that if a king is bad, the society is
bad too. If the king is good, the society is good too. The old Beowulf is shown at first good and than as bad –society becomes too obsessed
with gold.
THEMES OF REVENGE
THEME OF STH ??
THEME OF LIVE PASSAGE: since life is short, transient, one has to do good deeds in order to earn a better place in the after life

STRUCTURE AND IMAGERY ::

- very visual, concrete, very realistic
- there are used clusters of images; sleep, wakefulness –
SLEEP:when youre asleep youre vulnerable and grendel can come; sleep is at night – thats when evil can act out, evil can have a go;;;
WAKEFULLNESS: represents clearness, you see things, you are ready, constantly alert, on the watch and you can fight evil
- whenever the shiny, glittering images of gold are used, it always has a negative meaning – a sense of doom, glitter and gold always show
short duration, superficiality
- the images of light that are used are exaggerated
- fire destroys but also purifies

STRUCTURE BY TOLKIEN::
- beowulf is structured as a thesis vs antithesis, everything thats stated is later antithesised
- the epic shows the clash between the old and the new world
- that the epic is much more artistically accomplished and sophisticated than it looks at 1st sight
- on verse, off verse –thesis which is deconstructed in antithesis
- Beowulf may be a hero for all those ppl, but for him he is very human, positive and negative, a normal human being
- for the 1st time it gave ppl the possibility of national ..?

A LOT OF MAIN CHARACTERS: (part of women)

-a lot of women characters who represent a contrast to the violence and courage and the psychical strength
-because of the women characters the epic shows the very human price that ppl have to pay, the price was high
-the women characters are frequently shown as widows, result of heroism and etc. also mothers, mistresses,..
-the main figure of a woman is a mourning woman –danish princess Hilde burgh

COMPARISON::ANGLO-SAXON EPIC VS GREEK EPIC

If we compare Ahiles and Beowulf: Ahiles is full of anger and revenge, ruthlessness; while Beowulf shows a different kind of beahavour-
responsibility, magnanimity(velikodušnost), wisdom. The anglo-saxon epic is full of historical facts that give a huge simility/realness to
life(the wars between the Geats, the Swedish, the Danish)

the element of DOOM, you cannot escape your destiny, youre doomed
some critics have called the epic allegory; it praises the king and is kinda allegorical relation towards the king
the IRONY; when something is shown strong is really weak and vice versa.
the double irony :P : he saves the kingdom, but the kingdom is now without a king, his homeland is now vulnerable and
without a king
the CHRISTIAN ELEMENT; the idea that youll be rewarded in the afterlife so you have to do good deeds
some elements took place alot earlier, in the 6th cent, it adds to the credibility, the question of the audience
a book mentioned in Beowulf, the audience of Beowulf
IN THE ESSAY:
in the essay she says(who says?) that readers today cannot fully understand the complicated dynastic background and the historical
events of that time
people in those times probably believed in the existence of supernatural existence which now isn’t the case, the epic is the result of
several authors and because of so many Christian interpretations-the target audience of Beowulf must have been Christianized

JOHN GARDNER –Am author

wrote a book named Grendel-a response to the narrators view
in his work Grendel is given a voice, he responds to Beowulf and to Danish people, he gives a reason why he killed all those men.
Beowulf is considered as a protext of this work.

THE BATTLE OF MORDON: heroic epic; written later than Beowulf

-it deals with the Danish law, Vikings, ...
-its very imagistic: the images used are very powerful, concrete, shocking...more than Beowulf.
-consists of 2 parts, but hasn’t been preserved in totality
-a traitor; a person who is ready to destroy the country for the Vikings
-the warrior hero on the other hand is ready to risk his life for the kingdom
JUDITH: a woman warrior, a heroine

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

ME PERIOD (5th cent-1066 ... 1066-1485=ME period)

-the Norman conquest ( language, literature, development,..)
-the Benedictine revival (start at the end of OE period and continues into ME period)
-european influence on ME literature
-ME scholarship (razvoj univerze)
-courtley love (dvorska ljubezen) and the troubadours ideal
-courtley love and its influence (romantic love and its influence)
-ME literary /critical interpretation and the techniques of writing
-ME literary genres
-romance and its developments
-the Arthurian romance (the stanzaic and the alliterative version, Thomas Malory)
-courtley novels
-sir Gawain and the green knights (structure, interpretations)
-ME prose
-Geoffrey Chaucer (influences, main works, the Canterburry Tales, the general prologue)
-William Langland and Margery of Kempe

the anglo-saxon king Harod was killed/defeated when the Norman king William later called the conquer when he crossed the channel
(?)
untill the end of the 15th cent a totally different state in Britain

THE BAYEUX TAPISTRY a graphic novel

-a visual text, like cartoon
-like a huge propaganda/a cartoon, which was commissioned after the Mormon French came to England a short graphic novel
-it was done in England, many scenes
-in order to show their success in England
-important as a part of French nationality
-to show he was already once successful
-english spelling of names; latin inscription
-the French wanted it to be there for everyone to how how king ___
-the bishop was actually half brother of king William

THE DOOMSDAY BOOK/THE BOOK OF DOOM

- Several volumes, ordered by William the Conqueror, where everything was written in detail(examp;the property of ppl)
- Recapitulation (pregled) of everything
- A book of doom because they couldn’t really do much about it, it was how it was, the whole system was controlled

Anglo-saxon king sang to someone something (??)

anglo-saxons shown as barbarians
middle English period became similar to Europe
the 3 main social estates; the clergy(duhovščina), the aristocracy(knights, etc) and the subject(lowest class)
pilgrims are representative of social groups, we get a broad view of the society
ME period, almost exclusively for the aristocrat class
more appreciated when represented a group of people, not individuals
zodiac was very popular

THE LITERATURE
written firstly in French, there was a bilingual situation of English and French language. 90% of ppl spoke ME language, 10% were of
French origin, soldiers and knights.
the velvet revolution took place and the two languages emulgated and fused into sth new, an emulgation of 2languages. It was still
English, but different, it had a lot of French influence.
french kings had their lands in Normandie. England was for them a new excepted home, they tried to learn English and the mixture
became even more mixed :P. English became a national language(middle English), no longer the old English.

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

many things were dropped in the language
it took prefixes and suffixes from French
many new words were added, over 10000 new words
it became much more flexible and subtle and now it was possible to express the little shades of meaning
now you could explain the same thing in a lot of different ways: Germanic languages and roman languages(example:chivalry-
knighthood
french words were usually more sophisticated and were used by a small amount of people
COURTLEY LOVE:=dvorska ljubezen
the concept of it came from the continent, from france; lamour courtouis/fin amourspecial love

during this time England was cut off its Germanic roots –in close context with Europe
many words were borrowed from latin, Italian, French,

5 major Middle English dialects were: Northumbrian dialect, West Midland dialect, Southern dialect, Kentish dialect in Kent, še en???
with mixing French and English the language was simplified so that the French could learn it; the final e became mute, before basically
all sounds were pronounced, grammatical rhythm
the religious centre moved to Edinburgh

WULFSTAN: continued from 11th to the 12th cent. Stated the movement called the Benedictine revival. They continued to write.

WALTER SCOTT: romantic writer in 19th cent.inspirated by the ME language

is fascinated by Middle ages in his writing
IVANHOE: takes place during the time of ?? he wanted to recreate the middle English situation-uses expressions and words of French
and norman english and English origin spoken by the proper class by whom this is spoken
in terms of preparation of food, cousine, more exquisite, the word would be French, also love/lovemaking
war, weapons and not prepared meat would be English words (swine vs. Pork)

the middle English period dissolution and disintegration

the subject matter of literature is a dilemma between the main protagonist and the social connective demands enquired from them as
from that position(class); dilemma between subjective and social demands  the psychological portrait::the character who is torn between
these two
these influences in literature were major, originally written in French(not only in England, also through the rest of Europe)..
THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE/novel of the rose. Has 2 authors: Jean de Meun and Chretien de Troyes(+Guillarme de Lorris also
wrote a part). Its an allegory(highly apprechiated in ME literature), can be complicated-two objects are compared, one is missing
the rose stands for a lady who is being conquered by a knight. To have her/ make love to her, he sets off...?? check that
sexuality is allegorical, its direct if you know what its talking about, if you have a dirty mind :P

POETRY::
alliteration: something that is a part of the accentual poetry, the syllabic line, syllables are counted and measured rather than accents- in
Germanic languages). In metrical scheme; accentual-syllabic replaces the old system(accents and syllables are measured/counted)

NOBLESSE/OBLIGE: nobility requires a certain kind of responsibility, a certain kind of behaviour

courtesy that they used in their dialogues
they were supposed to show piety(pobožnost)..to live and obey according to catholic church
generosity
courage
protection of the poor from injustice
behaviour in a gentleman way-not forcing the lady in things she didn’t want
throughout centuries the concept of knighthood has changed radically, many of them decided to go to the holy land to fight muslim etc.
many knights in literature are shown as greedy, far away from the ideal of the knight

much of ME language was multilingual, texts were written down in 2,3 languages so that a French or an English person could read it (or
scholar in latin)
during the ME period the university education also began, scholarship was organized in England too, the oldest universities were
established, Cambridge, oxford, bologna in paris,. ..students were of different states

work ANCRENE RIWLE as a result of benedictin revival, anonymous work. Its written in prose and its not a sermon although is about
religion. Its about 3 women who decide to live in a monastery in commonwealth. They become nuns, they finally except Christ. They see
the Christ very psychically, as a lover whose going to take them as brides.

ME literature is very rhetorical, rhetoric as a discipline is studied separately, is highly important. It was not so much important what you
said, but how it was said(rhetoric figures). Literary works that were the most important had to be rhetorically effected ??(studied,played?)
the logical organization of thoughts in order to achieve a better articulation of the idea

trivium and quadrivium: what they were taught in schools, na zapiskih

much of ME literature is rhetorical and exaggerated

LITERATURE ORIGINALITY::
Of minor importance-rules of expression, the codes of expression. At that time literature is not meant for everyone.
the criteria was the communicative value of literature.

LITERARY GENRE WHICH DEVELOPED IN ME PERIOD::

TRAVELOG aka travel writing; 1st one was sir John Mandevilla who wrote about his travels in the orient. He introduced the
orientalism to England,, he was in a way a colonizer. He travelled through those lands for the 1st time and wrote about it –orientalism.
DEBATE ::two voices that discuss, debate certain issues, about what is important in life, a well-known debate.
THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE :: they debate life, each of them presents a certain view on life. Owl says the important things are
wisdom, control, sexual restraint; but the nightingale says its joy of life, entertainment, sex :P. There is no final conclusion, so the reader
makes his own conclusion.
GENRE OF BEAST-FABOLE /animal fabol:: animals; each animal speaks of certain doctrine
FABLIAU::uses animals as the main protagonists, its much more explicit on describing sexuality, almost obscene, bawdy(opolzko), its
humorous and was extremely popular among readers
A BALADE:: has a very strong ??sth, is based on a dialogue, concentrates on the most important aspects of a certain event, leaping and
lingering narration –you leave out the unimportant parts
CHRONICLE:: semi-literary work, which concentrates on real historical events but is written in a literary way, fiction,..
A LAY:: short, narrative poem, written in norman French, many of them are about celtic past.
THE LIFE OF A SAINT:: a description describing the life of an average person becoming a saint.; semi-literary genre. It describes an
actual life of a certain person.
THE SOUL AND BODY GENRE:: poems which are similar to debates, dualism of the human life is discussed the most
SHORT LYRICAL POEMS:: mystery about love, not so much about courtly love but more about love among lower classes in general
A REVERDIE:: a poem that celebrates the return of love. Geoffrey Chaucer used this in a form of tales ::he sees the return of spring as
something positive(doh), to him greenery is the return of life.

T.S.ELLIOT: The waste land:: written in the extended reverdie turned upside down. He says that spring does come, but brings false
promises –the Europe is not green and happy/optimistic ; he says that the European life is dead, very misleading –false promise of the
future.

MEDIEVAL LITERARY INTERPRETATION:./EVALUATION::how a text was evaluated

3 levels of interpretation that were taken into account::
the level of LITERA; the simplest level of interpretation, according to the letter, the literal interpretation, nothing concerning the
meaning
SENSUS: the level of the meaning, the sense, included the meaning of the text
SENTENTIA:: symbolic and literary meaning of the text were studied.

TECHNIQUES OF ME WRITTING
the classical roles of authors became influential, imitated, ..HORACE: famous for his saying of dulce et utile(sweet, but has a msg, a
moral thing)
CICERO: they would say what mattered in a literary text, has to have a certain meaning, something useful in the text(solace and
sentence)
one technique to present the material was amplifying, the author was able to amplify certain words(ojačati)
the author could skip certain parts

THEY HAD TO OBEY CERTAIN RULES THOUGH::

begin with a proverb and than the story, present how the proverb is true
a tale ??
exemplium:: a short tale which is used as an example and later explained in greater detail

OTHER THINGS::
- repetition
- comparison :: drawing parallels
- apostrophe: a direct address to the reader (??)
- digression; the writers were able to create a very subtle text through digression; also often in terms of flashbacks, recollections of sth that
had happened before.
- descriptions: of ppl, of certain events; descriptions were very much codified. Stereotypes of certain social groups. STEREOTYPE: a
person who has a name but represents a class/ the social group, rather than an individual person.

CHAUCER: describes ppl, uses types of ppl –types of pilgrims, each pilgrim represents a certain social group, he creates types in certain
artisans ......they describe ppl on their looks, clothes, their face, head, their moves/gestures, they would tell about psychological world on
the base of their looks. Example: her dress reveals her social status; face; gestures  on their looks they describe their psychological state.
the study of psysiophony :features of the face, the nose, distance between the eyes, they would write about the psychic and moral values
of a person

COURTLeY LOVE
came from france, Italy
main theme based on romance
from norman French tradition
the concept of love was put in forms by travelling poets, they were called trouveres; on the other hand there were troubadours, came
from south of francetrubaduresque became important in __(?) cent.
influence of the troubadours came from Italy through dante and boccacio

IN GENERAL::
theres a certain code of behaviour
many things were codified, a certain way of writing/doing stuff
certain behaviour of wooing and lovemaking
knight and the lady are the main characters, the knight kneels to her, she is almost like a goddess, he expects something in return
1st:platonic love; 2nd : not anymore that platonic :P. The relationship becomes sensual, passionate
target of love in courtly love is that you take the person sexually, the idea is to make love come true, love is about everything, love is
considered as the main principle regardless of the obstacles(she may be married, she may be of a higher position,..noone of it matters).
question of adultery, which is often here- is understood, because love is the main thing. Adultery isn’t explicitly criticized.
DICHOTOMY(division into two parts) between the idealization of the relationship and on the other hand courtly love is realistic –the
goal is love although there are consequences
a search for the perfection of love-spiritual and psychical; this concept crashes with the ideal of marriage(which is very celebrated and
praised)
geoffrey Chaucer wrote Canterbury tales, but we have individual tales which speak about...(courtly love probably?)..Troilus and
Criseyde:: Chaucer describes the two lovers and their love as madness, their relationship is madness and has a negative influence on them
and the people around them. To Chaucer courtly love is good, but only until its not exaggerated.

SIR THOMAS MALORY put together and brought the best known version in the Arthurian romance about king Arthur.
he says that courtly love can have disastrous effect on the two lovers, people connected to them and the kingdom –society can fall apart.

not to say that they don’t understand/except the principle of true love, but only to a certain point
romeo &Juliet

17th cent:: metapsychical poets( john dunne): courtly love tradition but with a certain balance/certain limit.
late 18th/19th cent –victorian tradition in the Victorian period, courtly love became trivialised and made fun of
the stress was on the marriage as a responsibility, even if ppl aren’t happy, they should stay together

Courtly love:
- A lover: as a bewildered person who is unaided to sleep, who frequently turns pale, losing his appetite, he is in agony, but when the
lady excepts him, his love is returned, his state of sickness magically and immediately disappears
- The influence(physical aspect of love) entered the troubadour tradition; it came from an Arabic culture
- This love is very attractive, passionate, sth to strive for, sexual, bodily, unavoidable, physical consummation as recreation rather than
procreation, some sort of escape from the bitter reality-freedom, joy
- 1st level: when the knight, poet, troubadour is lower positioned than the lady, he is able to show great gentleness and courtesy and
delicacy of his feelings
- The knight proves his love -with words, -at a tournament, -a test for the lady (to the husband of the lady)
- Concept of courtly love:: you have to do it with a certain balance, some limitations
- Influence from france, French influence
- Romances took place in exotic places
- Escapiot :::today has a negative connotation
- The protagonist is tested constantly
- Medieval knight whose physical ability is tested 1st, he is the one who excepts the test
- The mistake could be of any kind hurting someone, in perception –it makes the knight a tragic

ARTHURIAN ROMANCE, THE STANZAIC AND THE ALLITERATIVE VERSE, THOMAS MALORY (poglej na net/zapiske)

....tema naslov ??đ

-the grail symbol/the search for the grail in malories

SIR THOMAS MALORY
- Grail symbol is the topic of the Da Vincii code, DB explores and speculates on it
- The grail is supposedly drinken to the end, but the last drops of blood stay in, over the time that became an archetype –symbol of the
grail; malory linked it to the ancient celtic symbol
question concerning the fisher king; T.S. Elliot was fascinated by this; he used the Fisher king in his poem The Wasteland
THE FISHER KING is about a search of some remedie for the sick dying king of Britain, ....?....who drinks the cup, the same thing
basically; the king is dying, is in trouble. So the knights/warriors search for the cure to cure the king (epic of T.S.Elliot; also movie The
fisher king. At the end they suggest that the king can only be cured by altruism, by not being egocentric, by helping other ppl, symbolic
significance of the fisher king.
THE GRAIL :: also in the French romances by Arthurian authors, also in german literature
malory used the celtic fisher king imagery, the king imagery, the French sources and he created a very readable version
search for the grail; the grail really means a search for the truth, its no longer about a cup search, its a search for religious life. Spiritual
vs religious connotation.
in 20th cent. Critics were no longer interested from this point of view, but from the psychoanalytical point of view and also historical
point of view
dan brown took from the work written earlier, from the work holy blood, holy grail. The idea that he took from his work is really the
uterus(??wdf) of mary who gave birth to Christ
they were predecessors of the French marovinian dynasty
the idea behind the holy grail is that the roman catholic church was trying to keep a secret, a conspiracy theory.
the bible speaks only about those things that the woman is excluded(keeps silent about giving birth to,..Brown speculates on this
issue of conspiracy theory and finds many pieces of evidence which supposedly shows about this-they were hiding it. , the church tried to
kept it a secret
Grail=graal.
- The French term has to be mentioned: sangreal –from royal blood, descendents of royal blood
- The da vinci code : one of the most readable books nowadays
- Instance of period during the 2nd Ww: adolf hitler was obsessed with the idea of the grail, he sent his soldiers to find the grail, he
searched for the symbol of the purity of his race, of his culture; the fact that he was sending people to search for it goes back to
prechristian times; shows the fascination of the search for the grail, evidence that there were evidence of jesus etc.so it shows they
were hiding it;
- the main idea for the searching for the grail in Malories work is trying to find evidence that there is god

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

- produced towards the end of the 14th cent
- sir Gawain presents THE IDEA OF CHIVALRY, original idea..but he is not perfect, he is a human being, has minor flaws
- wants to show the values of chivalry
- relatively a long romance, over 100 stanzas; it comes together with two other poems like Patience, Purity, Pearl(allegories)
Pearl is a particulary well known allegorie, a dream-vision allegorie; it uses the image of this precious thing which is rare(pearl),
presents the daughter of a certain person, he realizes she is precious after she dies

SuMMMARY:: sir Gawain is one of the knights. The green knight who he encounters is a supernatural being.
green is symbolic. The author of the romance insists on the colour green, because its the colour of nature-its powerful. He is than much
stronger, much taller, much more handsome, ..everything, even his horse..is green
sir Gawain is tested about all things that a good knight should have- his honour, his humbleness, his courage, his goodness, also his
behaviour, his sexual restraint to a certain point.(the knight was not suppose to have encounter, just in a relationship and not by adultery.
The poem begins on a Christmas night, green knight emerges at the feast around Christmas time, out of the blue, to test king camelots
knights..he challenges the knigts on the so called Beheading game. He proposes to the knights to test their courage. The knight are allowed
to strike a blow with an axe to the green knight in exchange that in years ahead the green knight would be able to strike a blow to them
also.
noone was ready to sacrifice their life, thats not good for the country. The king Camelot(?) is not satisfied with this and says hell do it,
but it shouldn’t be the king who does this, so Gawain says hell do it.gawain is ready to sacrifice his life fr Arthur(zdej kr atrhur).
gawain takes a blow and the green knights head is cut off. But the green knight is immortal, picks up his head and goes off with the
horse :P
gawain has to do it, some day he has to return to the green knight to receive the blow
throughout the next year Gawain goes on a journey by himself looking for the Green Chapel, feels isolated, alone, little he resembles
Galahad for his search(??)
eventually he finds a beautiful shiny castle, and Lord Bertilak who greets him with his lady bertilak. They give him food, shelter, theyve
heard about him, that hes looking for the green chapel and tell him its close and theyll give him a guide to find it.
in the meantime during gawains stay at the castle, Gawain is tested once again, in terms of his courtly love behaviour
during his state the lord proposes that they go hunting, Gawain says hes tired and lord leaves him home and says that at evening theyll
exchange gifts. The main thing at the castle is Lady Bertilak, who is supposedly very beautiful(more than Guinevere, Arthurs wife). She
makes a very clear sexual move toward Gawain and wants to seduce him, is very forthcoming. He only gives her a kiss.
at the evening Gawain receives a deer, he gives the lord a kiss and laughs
next day the lord receives 2 kisses
3rd day they give each other 3 kisses and also she gives him something else (huh, what would that be :P). She gives him a belt that gives
magic powers to the one that wears it (yeahyeah:). Gawain thinks about it and excepts the belt because he knows he has to fight the Green
Knight.(connotation about having sex, intercourse by excepting the belt).
at the evening he gives 3 kisses to the Lord and keeps silent about the belt, he receives a fox, this has a symbolic significance as the lord
suspects something, knows gawains not completely honest)
the next morning Gawain goes to meet the green knight, goes to the chapel. The green knight blows with an axe at his head and there
are 3 blows(a pattern of 3 blows).1st:Gawain moves away, 2nd :is afraid,moves away(pussy:), 3rd attempt...gawain knows he has to stand
the test or die, he just waits for the blow, the green knight strikes at him but hurts him just a little, he bleeds a bit. After that Gawain is
relieved, green knight reveals his true identity. Its really been Lord Bertilak all the time and tells Gawain that he left him alove, because
hes a perfect knight with exception of not telling him for the belt. But he understands because he was afraid for his life.

INTERPRETATIONS::
1. the green knight represents fertility, Gawain remains alive, hes almost a perfect knight but not entirely
2. that Gawain has an experience throughout his journey from a young knight to that day, that he learns –a neutral interpretation.
3. The Christian one; sir Gawain who is put at the test by the lady that he except the belt(in Christian world he did commit adultery
with the lady by taking the belt because he wanted to save his life) he is shown as a weak character because he put the faith in the
belt, something materialistic, and not in god and by praying. BUT his guilt is than again not so great, its just a sign of humanity,
were all human, he just wanted to stay alive.

.. Gawain tells in Camelot to Arthur about the belt, hes ashamed. But in reality Arthur sees this as a minor thing and decides that Gawain
should from now on wear this green gertel(the belt?) that shows the potential weakness of the human flesh, just as a sign. Arthur says that
also the other knights have to wear this so it shows that theyre human, they have potential flaws.

lately wrote about Gawain; to him this 14th cent romance affirms life in the face of death
he says(who says?) that we can in this way connect this to the idea of thanksgiving as celebrating a revival/return of victoriousness of
life/death –shown by plenty of food.