Literature 6v Old & Middle English

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LITERATURE

6VWO 2nd term

What defines literature?

Slide heading

A DEFINITION

Literature, in its broadest sense, is any written work. Etymologically, the term derives from Latin litaritura/litteratura “writing formed with letters,” although some definitions include spoken or sung texts. More restrictively, it is writing that possesses literary merit. Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre).

Fictional literature

Non-Fictional literature

What is the difference between these types of literature?

KINDS OF LITERATURE

Literature can be devided into two kinds: Fictional and Non-Fictional Literature.

Fictional Literature

• gives facts that can be proven, reality raher than imaginary things

• Autobiographies, biographies, essays, diaries and journals, magazines, newspapers, subject text books.

Non-Fictional Literature

• to provide information, education and entertainment to the reader

• based on the writer’s imagination rather than reality

• Includes plays, poems, short stories, novels, songs, oral literature

THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

ANGLO-SAXON RIDDLES

I'm by nature solitary, scarred by spear

and wounded by sword, weary of battle.

I frequently see the face of war, and fight

hateful enemies; yet I hold no hope

of help being brought to me in the battle,

before I'm eventually done to death.

In the stronghold of the city sharp-edged swords,

skillfully forged in the flame by smiths

bite deeply into me. I can but await

a more fearsome encounter; it is not for me

to discover in the city any of those doctors

who heal grievous wounds with roots and herbs.

The scars from sword wounds gape wider and wider

death blows are dealt me by day and by night.

ANGLO-SAXON RIDDLES

Wob's my name if you work it out;

I'm a fair creature fashioned for battle

When I bend and shoot my deadly shaft

from my stomach, I desire only to send

that poison as far away as possible.

When my lord, who devised this torment for me,

releases my limbs, I become longer

and, bent upon slaughter, spit out

that deadly poison I swallowed before.

No man's parted easily from the object

I describe; if he's struck by what flies

from my stomach, he pays for its poison

with his strength - speedy attonement for his life

I'll serve no master when unstrung, only when

ANGLO-SAXON RIDDLES

Favoured by men, I am found far and wide,

taken from woods and the heights of the town,

From high and from low. during each day

bees brought me through the bright sky

skillfully home to a shelter. Soon after that

I was taken by men and bathed in a tub.

Now I blind them and chasten them, and cast

a young man at once to the ground,

and sometimes an old one too.

He who struggles against my strength,

he who dares grapple with me, discovers immediately

that he will hit the hard floor with his back

if he persists with such stupidity.

Deprived of his strength and strangely loquacious,

he's a fool, who rules neither his mind

nor his hands nor his feet.

Now ask me, my friends,

who knocks young men stupid,

and as his slave binds them

in broad waking daylight?

Yes ask me my name.

To which other languages is Old English related?

Dutch, Frisian, French

THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

• Earliest form of English is called old English (or Eald Englisc).

• Germanic language and related to Dutch, Frisian and German.

• The most important work of this time is a record of historical events (891-1154), England is the only country in Western Europe to have a chronicle during these centuries.

• Most lyric poems describe the (melancholic) feelings of the writer.

• Beowulf, written about 700 (anonymous) shows the way of life and ideals of the Germanic peoples.

THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

What year did the Norman Conquest begin?

A

1066

B

1215

C

1100

D

1000

Which language heavily influenced Middle English?

A

Latin

B

German

C

Old English

D

Norman French

What was a major result of the conquest?

A

Rise of democracy

B

End of monarchy

C

Feudal system introduction

D

Creation of the printing press

The feudal system was a hierarchical social, economic, and political structure in medieval Europe based on land ownership

MIDDLE ENGLISH

• Language change started by the Norman Conquest in 1066

• William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy and, later, William I of England) invaded the island of Britain

What else happened:

• The Hundred years’ war (1337-1453)

• The Black Death (1348)

• The Barren Age (1400-1500)

The fourteenth century saw the Great Famine and the Black Death, catastrophic events that killed around half of England's population, throwing the economy into chaos and undermining the old political order. With a shortage of farm labour, much of England's arable land was converted to pasture, mainly for sheep. Social unrest followed in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

MEMENTO MORI

Latin motto that means ‘remember that you will die’

Literature

• Ballads: used to communicate the new, stories and express opinions.

  • Betrayal, lost love, revenge, death

  • Ballad singing was an improvisational art form

• Fables: Stories about animals, which usually have a moral undertone.

  • Allegory → A metaphor which continues the whole way through a literary work

  • Personification of animals

• Most works anonymous

• Robin Hood

The Canterbury Tales

• Written by Geoffrey Chaucer (between 1387 and 1400).

• An anthology of twenty-four short stories

• Frame narrative: presented as storytelling contest held by a group of pilgrims travelling from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

• Still incomplete at the end of Chaucer's life (the General Prologue introduces more pilgrims).