OLD ENGLISH LITRETURE

1. English literature

2. Pre-Historical – 1066 A.D.

3. English Periods
1. Pre- history (Celts) 400BC
2. Roman Empire up to 43 BC-400 AD
3. Old English (450-1066 A.D.)
4. Middle English (1066-1500 A.D.)
5. Modern English (1500-present days)

5. Pre-Historical / Pre-Roman
 The island we know as England was occupied by a race
of people called the Celts. One of the tribes was called
they Brythons or Britons
 The Celts were Pagans and their religion was know as
“animism” a Latin word for “spirit.” Celts saw spirits
everywhere
 Theologians (priests); their role was to go between the
gods and the people

6. Roman Occupation
Hadrian’s Wall

7. Important Events During Roman Occupation
 Julius Caesar begins invasion/occupation in 55
B.C.
 Occupation completed by Claudius in 1st cent. A.D.
 Hadrian’s Wall built about 122 A.D.
 Romans “leave” in 410 A.D. because Visigoths
attack Rome

8. Important Cultural and Historical Results of
the Roman Occupation
 Military—strong armed forces (“legions”)
 Pushed Celts into Wales and Ireland
 “Rome’s greatest gift to Britain was peace” Infrastructure
 Government (fell apart when they left)
 Walls, villas, public baths (some remains still exist)
 Language and Writing
 Latin was official language
 Religion
 Christianity

9. Important Events in the (First) Anglo-Saxon
Period
 410- 450 Angles and Saxons invade from Baltic shores
of Germany, and the Jutes invade from the

10. Viking Invasions 787-1066

11. Important Results of the Viking Invasions
 Politically and Culturally
 Continued political instability and conflict
 Linguistically (The English Language at its Earliest)
 Old English is mainly Germanic in grammar and lexicon
(words)
 LOTS of dialects of Old-English, as one might imagine. This
is because there were several separate Kingdoms many
founded by essentially five or six different cultures: Angles,
Saxons, Frisians, Jutes, Danes, and Swedes

13. Quick History of English Language
 Old English (OE) dates from approximately* 400 A.D.
to 1066
 They are quite different to the eye and ear. Old English
is nearly impossible to read or understand without
studying it much like and English speaker today would
study French, Latin, or Chinese
 A perfect example of the old English is BEOWULF

14. Poets of the Old English Literature
 Only four English poets are known
 1. Caedman
 2. Cynewulf (‘s poems are religious, wrote 4 poems
Jaliana, The Fates of the Apostles, Christ and Elene)
 3. Alfred Great
 4. Bede

15. Themes of Old English poetry
1. Heroic poetry

16. Themes of Old English poetry
2. Elegiac
poetry

17. Themes of Old English poetry
r
3.Riddle

18. Themes of Old English poetry
4. Classical and Latin poetry

19. Themes of Old English poetry
5. Christian poetry

20. Themes of Old English poetry
- Heroic poetry
-Elegiac poetry
-Riddles
-Classical and Latin poetry
-Christian poetry [ saints’ lives, Biblical paraphrases and
Original Christian poems]

21. Characteristics of Old English
poetry
 Old English poetry has no rhyme
 Each half-line is joined to other by ALLETRATION
e.g. Care / cut fire/ fight
 Thins are described indirectly and in combination of
words.
e.g. Ship= sea traveler
sailor = sea soldier or seaman
sea = waves or ocean-way

22. Most interesting piece of the
OEL
Beewolf
Genesis
Exodus
Christ and Satan
Andereas
Guthlac
The Dream of the Road
The Battle of Maldon
The Husband’s Message (lyric)
Deor’s Complant (lyric)
The Wanderer (lyric)
The Wife’s complaint (lyric)

25. Old English Text
Oft him an-haga are gebideþ
Metodes mildse þeah-þe he mod-cearig
Geond lagu-lade lange scolde
Hreran mid handum hrim-cealde sæ
Wadan wræc-lastas. Wyrd biþ ful aræd.
Swa cwæþ eard-stapa earfoþa gemyndig
Wraþra wael-sleahta wine-maga hryre.
Oft ic scolde ana uhtna gehwelce
Mine ceare cwiþan nis nu cwicra nan
ðe ic him mod-sefan minne durre
Sweotule asecgan. Ic to soþe wat
ðæt biþ on eorle indryhten þeaw
ðæt he his ferhþ-locan fæste binde
Healde his hord-cofan hycge swa he wille.

26. Another Way of Looking at the History of English
Old English 400-1066 Beowulf
(from
Beowulf!)
“Gaæþ a wyrd swa hio scel” (OE)
=
“Fate goes ever as it must” (MnE)
OE=Old English MnE=Modern English

27. Old English: Beowulf

28. Most interesting piece of the
OEL
Genesis B
It is shorter and concerned with the begging of the world
and the fall of angel ( angels servants of God in heaven
& Satan and other angels disobeyed God became devil’s
servants in Heal.

29. Most interesting piece of the
OEL
Guthlac
It is written in two parts.
Guthlac is a holy man