1. Chapter One The Anglo-Saxon Period (450 —— 1066)
1. Historical background
The Celts 〉the Brythons.
The Iron Age.
The ceremonies of May Day and the cult of mistletoe.
From 55 BC to 407 AD, the Roman Empire, a slave society.
London was founded.
Little influence on the cultural life of the Celts,
Town with names ending in “chester” or “caster”.
De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar and Germania by Publius Cornelius Tacitus
450 AD, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
“angul” means a hook; “seax” means a short sword.
Around 500 AD, the Celtic King Arthur fought against Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. Camelot, King Arthur’s capital.
Later 8th, the Danes, or the Vikings.
King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849-899)
Harold, the last Saxon King 〉William the Duke of Normandy.
597, Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to England and the first converted king was King Ethelbert of Kent.
2. Northumbrian School and Wessex literature——two highlights in the development of the Anglo-Saxon literature.
Monasteries and abbeys in the kingdom of Northumbria.
Caedmon in the 7th turned the stories in the Bible into verse form——Paraphrase. Inspired by God.
The Venerable Bede (673-735), wrote in Latin The Ecclesiastical History of the English People from Caesar to 731. It was Bede who told about the story of Caedmon.
The reign of King Alfred (871-899)
First, Latin books into West Saxon dialect. It is said that King Alfred translated the history of Bede.
Second, the launching of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, from Caesar’s conquest to 1154.
Third, created a style of Anglo-Saxon prose which was not obscure.
3. Anglo-Saxon poetry
The earliest is Widsith and the last is Maldon.
Beowulf
As early as the 6th in oral form
Written down in the 8th.
The manuscript preserved dates back to the 10th and in Wessex dialect. One datable fact in the poem is a raid on the Franks by Gelac in 520. 3183 lines.
Danish King Hrothgar built a hall called Heorot.
Grendel for 12 years.
Beowulf, nephew to King Hygelac of the Geats. With 14 companions.
Hrothgar's friend Aeschere killed by Grendel's mother.
Killing Grendel’s mother with a magic sword in the cave.
One of the 12 companions, Wiglaf, helped Beowulf kill the dragon.
Physical strength demonstrates his high spiritual qualities.
A mixture of paganism and Christian elements.
Old English Poetry:
1. The technical structure:
1) Every line consists of two clearly separated half lines between which
is a caesura. The two parts of the line are united by alliteration, a form of initial rhyme, which is the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.
2) Every half line consists of two feet and each foot is made up of an
accented syllable and a varying number of unaccented syllables. 3) Generally there are 3 alliterations per line, two in the first half line and one on the first foot of the second half line.
2. The scop also used a figurative language called “kenning”, a metaphor usually composed of two words, which becomes the formula of a special object: “helmet bearer” for “warrior.”
3. The use of repetition and variation. Same idea expressed more than once by synonyms.
PS: 第4頁第2段第3行經Word自動更正提示以及維基百科確認，
“Ecclesiatical”為印刷錯誤，應為“Ecclesiastical”。
2. Chapter Two The Norman Period (1066-1350)
1. Historical background
1066, the battle of Hastings
The Normans, also descendants of Scandinavian marauders, having seized a wide part of northern France.
Accelerated the feudalism in England.
Large tracts of land by the king, barons, knights and the church.
A peasant uprising in 1381.
2. Middle English
For 3 centuries after the Norman conquest, two languages were used side by side in England: Latin and French.
Words and expressions from Latin and French and Greek in the 14th. Inflectional forms dropped and grammar simplified.
3. Religious literature
The issue of personal salvation.
Moral and spiritual responsibilities of individual rather than his ethical and social responsibilities.
Conventional theme: homiletic paraphrases of the Gospels
4. Romance and the influence of French literature
Through French literature the introduction of Italian literature.
Chief breeding ground was the aristocratic society in France in the 12th and early 13th and was introduced into England in the second half of the 13th and the 14th.
In subject matters, romance naturally falls under three categories.
1) The matter of France: the exploits of Charlemagne the Great and Roland, a national hero in the 8th, Chanson de Roland.
2) The matter of Rome: Alexander the Great and the siege of Troy.
3) The matter of Britain: the Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain, Launcelot, Merlin, the Holy Grail, the death of King Arthur.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Written about 1375-1400.
About 2500 lines.
Four “fyttes”.
Green Chapel
First day, a deer; second day, a boar; the third day a fox. A girdle. —〉the Order of Garter
A true knight should not only dedicate himself to the church but also should possess the virtues of great courage, of fidelity to his promise, and of physical chastity and purity.
It contained several element which prepared for a new culture.
A vivid portrayal of the hero and a fine analysis of his psychology.
A well unified and exciting plot full of climaxes and surprises. The three hunting scenes and the three bedchamber scenes are closely related with each other.
A mixture of Anglo-Saxon poetry, the musical effect of which depends on the alliterated initial syllables and French poetry, the musical effect of which depends on the fixed number of accented and unaccented syllables in a verse line. Paragraphs of long alliterative lines of varying length are followed by a single line of two syllables, called “the bob”, and a group of four-stressed lines called “the wheel”, i.e., a set of short lines forming the concluding part of a stanza.
3. Chapter Three The Age of Chaucer (1350-1400)
Historical background
Chaucer and William Langland (1330?-1400?) and the writer of Sir Gawain were contemporaries.
But he deserves a period of his own.
Two historical events which their influence can be detected in the
writings of Chaucer and Langland: The Hundred Years’ War from the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) to the reign of Henry VI (1421-1471), or from 1337-1453; the peasant uprising of 1381, the reign of King Richard II.
The Hundred Years’ War for the French throne.
The first seven English kings were in fact living in France.
Starting from King Henry III, England became the principal concern of the English kings.
An awakening of national consciousness in England. No longer vassals to the French but claimed that they had the right to succeed the French
throne. And the French language was gradually replaced by the native tongue.
Peasant uprising. John Ball: “When Adam delved and Eve span / Who was then the gentlemen?”
From Kent to London under the leadership of Wat Tyler.
William Langland and another writer John Wycliff (1324?-1384)
expressed people’s hatred for the church and the government.
John Wycliff (1324?-1384)
One of the first figures who demanded to reform the church.
Translated the Bible into standard English. Fixed a national standard for English prose to replace various dialects. Father of English prose.
Many pamphlets in Latin to attack the feudal lords and the church. Opposed to the claim of the Pope to the English throne. Civil authority had the right to deprive the church of the property if it proved unworthy of people’s trust. The views were taken over by the peasants in their uprising.
William Langland (1330?-1400?)
Piers Plowman, or The Vision of Piers Plowman, another alliterative poem besides Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Giving a realistic picture of the 14th century England.
The form of allegory, a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper underlying meaning, and serve to spread moral teaching. An allegory has a double meaning. A primary or surface meaning, and a secondary meaning, or underlying meaning. In an allegory, abstract qualities or ideas, such as patience, purity or truth, are personified as characters in the story.
The visions the poet had on a May morning.
A high tower —— Truth
A deep dungeon —— the Father of Falseness
People from all walks of life, laymen and religious people.
Gluttony.
Lady Meed (bribery) to be married to Falseness but protested by Theology. The king proposed to marry her to Conscience but failed. Meed is expelled and Conscience and Reason become king’s counsellers.
Conscience preaching to the people and Repentance moving their hearts, including the Seven Deadly Sins.
People came to seek for truth but no one knows the way. Then Piers Plowman appears. This episode suggests that man should do the task that falls to his lot.
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340-1400)
Born in a wine merchant family with rising fortunes.
Grew up in London.
1357, a page at court.
1359, joined the army in the Hundred Year’s War and was taken prisoner. 1360, returned to England and married a maid of honour of the queen. For the next ten years in the Continent on diplomatic missions. 1382, Controller of Customs at the port of London.
1386, PM from Kent
John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster. 1340-1399. English soldier. The fourth son of Edward III, he ruled England during his father's last years and in the beginning of Richard II's reign.) as his patron.
〉 A great variety of occupations and experiences as well as close observation of life made him familiar with the lives of various classes.
Died on Oct 25, 1400, the Poet’s Corner in WestminsterAbbey.
Works divided into 3 periods, corresponding to the 3 periods of his life.
(1) 1360-1372, wrote under the influence of the French literature, even translated French poems himself. Poem The Book of the Duchess, much of conventional romance elements in it.
(2) 1372-1386, under the influence of the Italian literature. Troilus and Cryseyde, adapted from a long poem by Boccaccio, the writer of The Decameron. The Parliament of Fowls and The House of Fame.
(3) the last 15 years of his life. The Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. A general prologue and 24 tales that are connected by “links”.
Tarbard Inn. 29 pilgrims to St. Thomas Beckett’s tomb at Canterbury. The host is Harry Bailey. Expected to tell 120 tales, i.e. each person tells 4 tales.
The significance of The Canterbury Tales
(1). A comprehensive picture of Chaucer’s time. The gentle class; the burgher class, the wife of Bath included, who has married five times; the professionals. All persons connected with the church are drown with touches of gentle irony and mild satire, with the exception of the poor parson. His satire can be the bitterest in the portrayal of the pardoner and the summoner. In this sense Chaucer himself is “the smyler with the knyf under the cloke.”
Each character not only a representative of his or her class but also has an individual character of their own.
(2). The dramatic structure of the poem has been highly commended by critics. Unlike The Decameron, it is cleverly woven together by links between the stories. Most of the stories are related to the personalities of the tellers, the personalities of each character, his or her private life and habits, his or her mood and social status are revealed in the prologue and in the story he or she tells, as well as by their behaviour along the road and their remarks on the way.
Most important is the part played by the host Harry Hailey.
(3). Chaucer’s humour: a characteristic feature of the English literature.
(4). Contribution to the English language: wrote in the London dialect of his day. He was at one moment serious and another light-hearted and full of fun and sometimes he could be very poetical. He proved that the English language is a beautiful language can be easily handled to express different moods. In doing so Greatly increase the prestige of the English language.
1. Chapter One The Anglo-Saxon Period (450 —— 1066)
1. Historical background
The Celts 〉the Brythons.
The Iron Age.
The ceremonies of May Day and the cult of mistletoe.
From 55 BC to 407 AD, the Roman Empire, a slave society.
London was founded.
Little influence on the cultural life of the Celts,
Town with names ending in “chester” or “caster”.
De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar and Germania by Publius Cornelius Tacitus
450 AD, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
“angul” means a hook; “seax” means a short sword.
Around 500 AD, the Celtic King Arthur fought against Cerdic, the founder of the kingdom of Wessex. Camelot, King Arthur’s capital.
Later 8th, the Danes, or the Vikings.
King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849-899)
Harold, the last Saxon King 〉William the Duke of Normandy.
597, Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to England and the first converted king was King Ethelbert of Kent.
2. Northumbrian School and Wessex literature——two highlights in the development of the Anglo-Saxon literature.
Monasteries and abbeys in the kingdom of Northumbria.
Caedmon in the 7th turned the stories in the Bible into verse form——Paraphrase. Inspired by God.
The Venerable Bede (673-735), wrote in Latin The Ecclesiastical History of the English People from Caesar to 731. It was Bede who told about the story of Caedmon.
The reign of King Alfred (871-899)
First, Latin books into West Saxon dialect. It is said that King Alfred translated the history of Bede.
Second, the launching of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, from Caesar’s conquest to 1154.
Third, created a style of Anglo-Saxon prose which was not obscure.
3. Anglo-Saxon poetry
The earliest is Widsith and the last is Maldon.
Beowulf
As early as the 6th in oral form
Written down in the 8th.
The manuscript preserved dates back to the 10th and in Wessex dialect. One datable fact in the poem is a raid on the Franks by Gelac in 520. 3183 lines.
Danish King Hrothgar built a hall called Heorot.
Grendel for 12 years.
Beowulf, nephew to King Hygelac of the Geats. With 14 companions.
Hrothgar's friend Aeschere killed by Grendel's mother.
Killing Grendel’s mother with a magic sword in the cave.
One of the 12 companions, Wiglaf, helped Beowulf kill the dragon.
Physical strength demonstrates his high spiritual qualities.
A mixture of paganism and Christian elements.
Old English Poetry:
1. The technical structure:
1) Every line consists of two clearly separated half lines between which
is a caesura. The two parts of the line are united by alliteration, a form of initial rhyme, which is the repetition of the same sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.
2) Every half line consists of two feet and each foot is made up of an
accented syllable and a varying number of unaccented syllables. 3) Generally there are 3 alliterations per line, two in the first half line and one on the first foot of the second half line.
2. The scop also used a figurative language called “kenning”, a metaphor usually composed of two words, which becomes the formula of a special object: “helmet bearer” for “warrior.”
3. The use of repetition and variation. Same idea expressed more than once by synonyms.
PS: 第4頁第2段第3行經Word自動更正提示以及維基百科確認，
“Ecclesiatical”為印刷錯誤，應為“Ecclesiastical”。
2. Chapter Two The Norman Period (1066-1350)
1. Historical background
1066, the battle of Hastings
The Normans, also descendants of Scandinavian marauders, having seized a wide part of northern France.
Accelerated the feudalism in England.
Large tracts of land by the king, barons, knights and the church.
A peasant uprising in 1381.
2. Middle English
For 3 centuries after the Norman conquest, two languages were used side by side in England: Latin and French.
Words and expressions from Latin and French and Greek in the 14th. Inflectional forms dropped and grammar simplified.
3. Religious literature
The issue of personal salvation.
Moral and spiritual responsibilities of individual rather than his ethical and social responsibilities.
Conventional theme: homiletic paraphrases of the Gospels
4. Romance and the influence of French literature
Through French literature the introduction of Italian literature.
Chief breeding ground was the aristocratic society in France in the 12th and early 13th and was introduced into England in the second half of the 13th and the 14th.
In subject matters, romance naturally falls under three categories.
1) The matter of France: the exploits of Charlemagne the Great and Roland, a national hero in the 8th, Chanson de Roland.
2) The matter of Rome: Alexander the Great and the siege of Troy.
3) The matter of Britain: the Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain, Launcelot, Merlin, the Holy Grail, the death of King Arthur.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Written about 1375-1400.
About 2500 lines.
Four “fyttes”.
Green Chapel
First day, a deer; second day, a boar; the third day a fox. A girdle. —〉the Order of Garter
A true knight should not only dedicate himself to the church but also should possess the virtues of great courage, of fidelity to his promise, and of physical chastity and purity.
It contained several element which prepared for a new culture.
A vivid portrayal of the hero and a fine analysis of his psychology.
A well unified and exciting plot full of climaxes and surprises. The three hunting scenes and the three bedchamber scenes are closely related with each other.
A mixture of Anglo-Saxon poetry, the musical effect of which depends on the alliterated initial syllables and French poetry, the musical effect of which depends on the fixed number of accented and unaccented syllables in a verse line. Paragraphs of long alliterative lines of varying length are followed by a single line of two syllables, called “the bob”, and a group of four-stressed lines called “the wheel”, i.e., a set of short lines forming the concluding part of a stanza.
3. Chapter Three The Age of Chaucer (1350-1400)
Historical background
Chaucer and William Langland (1330?-1400?) and the writer of Sir Gawain were contemporaries.
But he deserves a period of his own.
Two historical events which their influence can be detected in the
writings of Chaucer and Langland: The Hundred Years’ War from the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) to the reign of Henry VI (1421-1471), or from 1337-1453; the peasant uprising of 1381, the reign of King Richard II.
The Hundred Years’ War for the French throne.
The first seven English kings were in fact living in France.
Starting from King Henry III, England became the principal concern of the English kings.
An awakening of national consciousness in England. No longer vassals to the French but claimed that they had the right to succeed the French
throne. And the French language was gradually replaced by the native tongue.
Peasant uprising. John Ball: “When Adam delved and Eve span / Who was then the gentlemen?”
From Kent to London under the leadership of Wat Tyler.
William Langland and another writer John Wycliff (1324?-1384)
expressed people’s hatred for the church and the government.
John Wycliff (1324?-1384)
One of the first figures who demanded to reform the church.
Translated the Bible into standard English. Fixed a national standard for English prose to replace various dialects. Father of English prose.
Many pamphlets in Latin to attack the feudal lords and the church. Opposed to the claim of the Pope to the English throne. Civil authority had the right to deprive the church of the property if it proved unworthy of people’s trust. The views were taken over by the peasants in their uprising.
William Langland (1330?-1400?)
Piers Plowman, or The Vision of Piers Plowman, another alliterative poem besides Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Giving a realistic picture of the 14th century England.
The form of allegory, a story or description in which the characters and events symbolize some deeper underlying meaning, and serve to spread moral teaching. An allegory has a double meaning. A primary or surface meaning, and a secondary meaning, or underlying meaning. In an allegory, abstract qualities or ideas, such as patience, purity or truth, are personified as characters in the story.
The visions the poet had on a May morning.
A high tower —— Truth
A deep dungeon —— the Father of Falseness
People from all walks of life, laymen and religious people.
Gluttony.
Lady Meed (bribery) to be married to Falseness but protested by Theology. The king proposed to marry her to Conscience but failed. Meed is expelled and Conscience and Reason become king’s counsellers.
Conscience preaching to the people and Repentance moving their hearts, including the Seven Deadly Sins.
People came to seek for truth but no one knows the way. Then Piers Plowman appears. This episode suggests that man should do the task that falls to his lot.
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340-1400)
Born in a wine merchant family with rising fortunes.
Grew up in London.
1357, a page at court.
1359, joined the army in the Hundred Year’s War and was taken prisoner. 1360, returned to England and married a maid of honour of the queen. For the next ten years in the Continent on diplomatic missions. 1382, Controller of Customs at the port of London.
1386, PM from Kent
John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster. 1340-1399. English soldier. The fourth son of Edward III, he ruled England during his father's last years and in the beginning of Richard II's reign.) as his patron.
〉 A great variety of occupations and experiences as well as close observation of life made him familiar with the lives of various classes.
Died on Oct 25, 1400, the Poet’s Corner in WestminsterAbbey.
Works divided into 3 periods, corresponding to the 3 periods of his life.
(1) 1360-1372, wrote under the influence of the French literature, even translated French poems himself. Poem The Book of the Duchess, much of conventional romance elements in it.
(2) 1372-1386, under the influence of the Italian literature. Troilus and Cryseyde, adapted from a long poem by Boccaccio, the writer of The Decameron. The Parliament of Fowls and The House of Fame.
(3) the last 15 years of his life. The Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. A general prologue and 24 tales that are connected by “links”.
Tarbard Inn. 29 pilgrims to St. Thomas Beckett’s tomb at Canterbury. The host is Harry Bailey. Expected to tell 120 tales, i.e. each person tells 4 tales.
The significance of The Canterbury Tales
(1). A comprehensive picture of Chaucer’s time. The gentle class; the burgher class, the wife of Bath included, who has married five times; the professionals. All persons connected with the church are drown with touches of gentle irony and mild satire, with the exception of the poor parson. His satire can be the bitterest in the portrayal of the pardoner and the summoner. In this sense Chaucer himself is “the smyler with the knyf under the cloke.”
Each character not only a representative of his or her class but also has an individual character of their own.
(2). The dramatic structure of the poem has been highly commended by critics. Unlike The Decameron, it is cleverly woven together by links between the stories. Most of the stories are related to the personalities of the tellers, the personalities of each character, his or her private life and habits, his or her mood and social status are revealed in the prologue and in the story he or she tells, as well as by their behaviour along the road and their remarks on the way.
Most important is the part played by the host Harry Hailey.
(3). Chaucer’s humour: a characteristic feature of the English literature.
(4). Contribution to the English language: wrote in the London dialect of his day. He was at one moment serious and another light-hearted and full of fun and sometimes he could be very poetical. He proved that the English language is a beautiful language can be easily handled to express different moods. In doing so Greatly increase the prestige of the English language.