History of English Lit

1. British Literature:
Crash Course
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2. Pre Chaucerian Age Prologue to English Literature/ Pre
Chaucerian Age
Introduction:
● The Old and Middle English
ages, 600-1485
● Literature from these early times
survives mainly in fragmented
form
● Old English is the term
associated with 5th century
Britain which was constituted
by seven kingdoms

3. Dates Major Events
410 Roman legions leave Britain
450
Anglo- Saxon invasions from
Germanic regions
590
Canterbury Christian Mission
established
793-95 Viking invasion
802 England united under King Egbert
885 Alfred the Great, partition of England
917-26 England regains Danish-held territories
1066
Edward the Confessor dies, Harold
succeeds. William of Normandy
defeated Harold (Battle of Hastings)
Pre Chaucerian Age

4. Hymns
Caedmon's
Hymn 680 AD
The Exeter
Book
Deor's Lament
The Seafarer
Pre Chaucerian Age

5. The Middle Ages was a vast literary
time period:
- It stretches from the collapse of the
Roman Empire in Britain to the
beginning of the Renaissance
- A period of enormous historical, social
and linguistic change
- Anglo Saxon Literature || Anglo Norman
Literature || Middle English Literature
Pre Chaucerian Age

6. Anglo Saxon Literature:
- The Angles, the Saxons, The Jutes
- Were the three related Germanic
tribes who invaded the Roman
province Britannia (England)
around the year 450 after the
Romans withdrew
- The name English derives from the
Angles
Pre Chaucerian Age

7. - As the Germanic tribes invaded, native
Britons withdrew from England to Wales,
where the modern day version of their
language is still spoken
- The Anglo Saxon were invaded in turn by
the Danes in the 9th century
- Anglo Saxons had a tradition of oral poetry
but only circumstantial evidence of this
tradition remains in manuscripts , most
remaining Old English poetry is contained
in just four manuscripts
Pre Chaucerian Age

8. Caedmon’s Hymn:
● The oldest literary text
from the region is known
today as Caedmon’s
Hymn
● Caedmon’s Hymn has
been dated at around 680
AD
● It is a song sung by a
farmer in praise of God
● It is the first Christian
poem in English
Pre Chaucerian Age

9. Deor’s Lament and The Seafarer:
● These are narratives of everyday life sung
by common folk rather than specialist
poets
● These two songs along with some other
songs are present in one manuscript called
The Exeter Book
● These collectively date back to the 10th
century
The Dream of the Rood, dated at the 7th century
All the above constitute the first literary texts in
English. They are important precisely because they
are in English and not in Latin. The use of the local
language marks the creation of a distinct local
cultural atmosphere. Therefore, constructing an
“English” identity.
Pre Chaucerian Age
Pre Chaucerian Age

10. Pre
Chaucerian
Age
The Dream of the Rood:
- Earliest Christian Poem in the corpus of
Old English Literature
- Example of Dream poetry
- Alliterative Verse
- Preserved in the 10th VERCELI BOOK
- Rood= rod/ pole/ crucifix
- Authorship- scholars have suggested
possible authors like the Anglo Saxon poets
Caedmon and Cynewulf

11. Romances:
● A romance is a tale of chivalry, courage,
love and danger
● The hero passes through various trials and
obstacles before attaining the heroine, his
beloved
● Traditionally, the hero is virtuous and the
obstacles involve testing his virtue
● His faith enables him to win the battle
against evil and resist temptation
● The romance involves the hero’s descent
into physical danger and mental despair
before he raises himself to success
● Most of the European romances can be
traced back to the Arthurian legends
Pre Chaucerian Age

12. Romances
Beowulf
Brut
Pre Chaucerian Age

13. Beowulf:
● The first major or popular text from the Old
English period
● Written almost entirely in Germanic
● Beowulf sets out to defeat the monster, Grendel
● Grendel is himself roughly human in shape and
is descended from Cain
● Cain is the first murderer in human history
according to the Christian doctrine
● A Germanic tale thus becomes a Christian
allegory
● Grendel represents evil
● The work focuses on the fate of the
communities and races (Danes and the Geats)
Pre Chaucerian Age

14. Brut:
● A text traceable to a particular author who
is identified as LAYAMON
● It is a saga of the dark ages, starting with the
Romans (5th century) and bringing it up to
the time of the Britons and the Arthurian
legends
● It is also the first sustained attempt to
provide a “national” history of Britain
● Wars, Christianity, love, romance and
Arthurian tales appears in the work
● It is called the first national epic in English
● It departs from the then dominant languages,
Latin and French, to create a work in the
local language
Pre Chaucerian Age

15. Religious Works
Bible
St.
Augustine
The City
of God
Confessio
ns
Religion during the
period and related works:
Pre Chaucerian Age

16. ● Religion specifically Roman
Catholic Christianity played the
most important role in European
medieval life
● The Bible and the works of St.
Augustine were significant texts in
the dissemination of Christian
thought
● The medieval age believed that
there was the Bible and the Book
of Nature
● The Bible revealed the truth to
humans
Pre Chaucerian Age

17. St. Augustine:
● His works proposed two cities:
○ The City of Man: which was
temporary and subject to decay
○ The City of God: which was
permanent and perfect
● Man was the sojourner in the City of
Man and his goal was to reach the City
of God
● St. Augustine found the symbol for the
City of God in places like the New
Jerusalem
● The Church also represents the City of
God
Pre Chaucerian Age

18. Cambridge and Oxford
Universities:
● The establishment of
education systems in
England facilitated
discussions of
interpretations and the
evolution of critical thinking
among like minded people
● The 14th century is a
landmark period for English
scholarship and literature
Pre Chaucerian Age

19. Allegory:
● Has one surface level of meaning, but on being
read closely reveals something more
● It is used to deliver a message to the attentive
reader
● Political allegories:
○ In the political allegories the characters and
events described in the literary text represent
actual historical figures and events
● Allegories of ideas:
○ They are used to represent abstract concepts
such as ‘good’ or ‘evil’
○ John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) is a
well known example of allegory of ideas
○ This type of allegory personifies virtues and
concepts
● There are various forms of allegory: fable,
exemplum and the parable
Pre Chaucerian Age