Anglo-Saxon England Literature and Medieval Works
Anglo-Saxon England (5th-11th)
The literature of this era was created for oral transmission. Oral composition, with texts written down five centuries later. Folk literature included work songs, sung by slaves and soldiers.
Charms (5th-9th)
Gadmund’s poem was created after the Saxon invasion of England, following the Roman Catholic retreat. Gadmun is a name of pagan origin. The poem aimed to curse bad people and was used to recover stolen goods.
- No rhyme at the end of the line.
- Repetitions.
- Periphrasis (describing instead of directly mentioning).
- Alliteration (repetition of sounds).
Rhythm was created through repetition of sounds. Regular alliteration occurs when sounds repeat. Irregular alliteration occurs when vowels alliterate with all vowels. In Anglo-Saxon poetry, each line is divided into two hemistichs, separated by a caesura.
Cotton Vitellius
Beowulf was collected with other texts in this book. In the manuscript, the lines are not structured as a poem. When making translations and copies, lines were cut according to the rhythm. In the manuscript, the poem is written like prose. Beowulf is a Geatish hero who travels to the Danes to help them with the monster Grendel.
- Scyld: Ancestor of the Danes. He is found, prospers, and becomes king.
- Scyld: Beowulf (the Dane): Heafdene: Hrothgar (the current King).
“Comitatus” represents a pre-feudal system, a community with a king and his followers (nobility/servants). Community rules are based on loyalty and fidelity. Not following the rules means exile. Wergild was a fine paid for killing someone, preventing revenge killings.
Kennings are common in Old English. Instead of repeating names, they use descriptive phrases. Examples include:
- “ring giver”: the king
- “into keeping of his Lord”: to die
- “a ring-whorled prow”: a boat
- “flood’s sway”: ocean
This is the second time Beowulf is launched to the sea, this time for good, surrounded by treasures, similar to when he was a child. This could be a comparison with Moses. This reference to the Christian tradition is present throughout the book, as England was already Christian when it was written.
The poem was composed after the events, so the poet gives information about future events. The poet knew that the Swedes would invade Gateland.
The funerary rite changes, becoming more Christian. Instead of launching him to the sea, they burn his body in a pyre, with the smoke (representing the soul) going to heaven. The Christian features added to a poem set in a pagan era are due to it being written in a Christian era.
It was first written down around the 10th century. Although the “Cotton Vitellius” in which the poem was written was burnt, the material prevented the poem from disappearing.
Shakespeare
Medieval theatre existed before Christianity, so it is pre-Christian. With Christianity, the purpose of drama changed from entertainment to didactic. Shakespeare’s aim was to entertain.
Interludes were short acts performed during long religious performances, meant to entertain and relax people. Shakespeare’s plays are developments of those interludes. The purpose was to entertain.
16th Century: Renaissance
It arrived later in England, as the Norman influence lasted longer. In this period, works were written in Early Modern English.
Sonnet (Troilus song): A composition from Italy. English sonnets have three “quatrains” and a “couplet”, rhyming abab bcbc cdcd ee. There was an important idea of blond, blue-eyed, red-lipped, white-skinned women in the Renaissance.
Pearl (“Cotton Nero Ax”)
Shares an author with SGGK. The pearl and the five-pointed star are symbols of perfection, representing the beginning and the end. It is a very elaborated, perfectly composed lyrical poem with a didactic purpose, made by and for learned people.
There is concatenation, where the last line of a stanza is repeated in the first line of the following stanza, forming a unity. The repeated word will have different meanings. The concept develops throughout the poem.
The pearl represents a beloved woman, the narrator’s daughter. She is three, pure, and innocent, and went to heaven when she died. Her body stays on earth, but her soul went to heaven. All souls are feminine and pure, otherwise, they wouldn’t go to heaven. The narrator sees his daughter in a dream, dressed as a maiden in white. When souls go to heaven, they become wise. The daughter teaches her father what she learned in heaven. The father and daughter are separated by a stream.
The poem has 101 stanzas: 100 meaning perfection + 1 unity = perfect unity (101). They have rhyme and alliteration. The 12-lined stanzas represent symbols: the 12 gems, apostles, months, tribes of Israel, etc.
The poem has aesthetic, mystical, mythological, and religious values. There is a symbolic birth of the crop and the harvest, related to death: the corn is cut and it dies. The river of life can only be crossed once. The withered flower represents the precious, everlasting pearl.
The 1st stanza is an allegory; the daughter is a pearl. She will instruct her father about celestial wisdom. The pearl represents spiritual purity and human innocence. In medieval times, the figure of women that will instruct men will be the Virgin Mary.
The poem doesn’t merely repeat things. Everything told implies transformation. There is a circularity as in SGGK. The protagonist is not the same; there is a spiritual transformation of the dreamer.
Boethius
An influential artist, painter, and philosopher of the 14th century. He was critical of the power of that time. Imprisoned for something he didn’t do and sentenced to death. He wrote “The Consolation of Philosophy”. He influenced many authors of his era, such as Chaucer. Although Catholic, he turned to philosophy when thinking about death. Philosophy speaks to him in the shape of a woman.
Chaucer takes the idea of tragedy from him. Tragedy is related to being scared of life and what will happen. When you reach happiness, you get anxious thinking when something bad will happen. When you are sad, you have to realize that it won’t last forever. “The Wheel of Fortune” is a concept of his. Chaucer uses it in his works, like Troilus and Criseyde. Another idea Chaucer takes from him is that the saddest thing is to remember that you have been happy and to remember it while you are sad.
The Canterbury Tales (“Ellesmere”)
The characters tell four stories: two on their way to Canterbury and two on their way back.
The narrator is not always identified with the author. This is seen in “The Tale of Melibee,” when the one telling the story is told to shut up as he doesn’t know how to rhyme. It is supposed that the one telling the story is Chaucer, so it is an irony.
The General Prologue: Chaucer places the pilgrimage in April, the beginning of spring. Spring has the meaning of rebirth, which is what you get with pilgrimage. There is an anachronism in this work, as he mentions a rainy April, which is quite difficult in England.
The pilgrimage to Canterbury is made to see the martyr St. Thomas Becker.
How he depicts the characters: clothes, professions, and status.