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Old English Literature

This document provides an overview of Old English and Middle English literature from 600-1500 AD. It discusses key personalities like Bede, Alfred the Great, and William the Conqueror and how they influenced the development of English. It describes Old English poetry as being religious, Germanic in nature, and featuring kennings and alliterative patterns. Middle English literature was influenced by Norman French and focused on religion, with notable works including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales.

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187 views18 pages

Old English Literature

This document provides an overview of Old English and Middle English literature from 600-1500 AD. It discusses key personalities like Bede, Alfred the Great, and William the Conqueror and how they influenced the development of English. It describes Old English poetry as being religious, Germanic in nature, and featuring kennings and alliterative patterns. Middle English literature was influenced by Norman French and focused on religion, with notable works including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales.

Uploaded by

Raven
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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OLD ENGLISH &

MIDDLE ENGLISH
LITERATURE
UNIT 14: Lesson 1
by: John Samuel Dimaano
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
↣ spans from around 600 to
1100 AD
↣ was the expressions of
people who struggled, lost, and
triumphed over neighboring
invaders and warring factions
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
↣ encompasses Anglo-Saxon
written and spoken works from
ancient lands
now known as The United
Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
↣ also includes Anglo-Latin
works
↣ could be described as
religious
↣ Germanic in nature
PERSONALITIES
ST. BEDE (aka Venerable Bede)
↣ was a monk who wrote
the ecclesiastical history of
England
PERSONALITIES
ALFRED THE GREAT
↣ Father of the English (Old
English) language
↣ brought literacy
↣ was the first Anglo-Saxon king
who unified the Anglo-Saxons
PERSONALITIES
WILLIAM THE DUKE OF NORMANDY
↣ Battle of Hastings
(1066), he defeated the
Anglo-Saxon King Harold
Godwinson
PERSONALITIES
WILLIAM THE DUKE OF NORMANDY
↣ ushered in Anglo-Norman
dominance in Britain after the
battle
↣ made a shift in the
development of English Literature
OLD ENGLISH POETRY AND PROSE
↣ Old English Poetry survived through four
manuscripts;
The Beowulf Manuscript
The Exeter Book
The Junius or Caedmon Manuscript
The Vercelli Book
OLD ENGLISH POETRY AND PROSE
↣ Old English Poetry;
is formulaic
is characterized by patterns of four-
stress lines and six-stress lines with
the addition of a caesura (or
syntactical break)
OLD ENGLISH POETRY AND PROSE
↣ Old English Poetry;
features the use of kennings

Kenning is a type of figurative language


that poets use instead of a noun.
(They may call the sea as a swan-road or a
sword as a wound-hoe)
EXAMPLES:
"The Dream of the Road" from the Vercelli Book
(poetry)
"The Law Code of Kind Aethelberht I of Kent"
dated 597
(prose)
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
↣ first created to mark a
period in the development of
the English language
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
↣ works in this period are
devoted to some aspect of
religion
↣ both religious and
secular in nature
MIDDLE ENGILSH POETRY
↣ early periods centralized poetry
adapted from the Normans
↣ focused on their linguistic
characteristics rather than the aesthetics
↣ influenced by the French
MIDDLE ENGILSH POETRY
↣ Romance was one of their predominant
themes
↣ alliterative verse is one of the features of
Middle English poetry along with the stress and
Example:
caesura from the Old English period
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (exhibits
the style of bob and wheel)
MIDDLE ENGILSH POETRY
SIGNIFICANCE WORKS
"Le Morte d’Arthur or The Legend of King
Arthur" written by Thomas Malory
first published in 1485
containing such stories as the tale of
King Arthur and the tale of Sir Launcelot
du Lac
MIDDLE ENGILSH POETRY
SIGNIFICANCE WORKS
"The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer
a long poem
a collection of stories told by 31
pilgrims who went to see St. Thomas
Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral

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