anglo saxon literature
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A powerpoint presentation about Anglo Saxon LiteratureTRANSCRIPT
Anglo Saxon Period
Britain became separated from mainland Europe at the end of the last Ice Age (10.000 years BC)Population: small Normandic group of Fishermen/hunters
In 2000 BC Stonehenge was completed. It is a circle of stones, and is regarded as the most famous prehistoric monument in Britain.
Invaders:1. Neolithic People: (3000 BC)2. Beaker people (2400 BC)3. The Celts ( 700 BC)4. The Romans (55BC –
Full occupation 43 AD)-They brought an urban civilization
-built good roads -brought peace and prosperity.
Even today the ruins of Roman buildings, forts, roads and baths can be found all over Britain.
5.Anglo-Saxons
• -Angles (Germanic Tribes) smaller kingdoms• -Saxons 1. Wessex (West Saxons• & south and sw of Eng).• -Jutes 2. Mercia (Midlands)• 3. Northumbria(North Eng)•
6. The Vikings ( Danes)
(came from Norway and Denmark) occupied north and east of Eng.)
KINGS1. 1st King----Offa of MerciaWitans : (Royal Council) Consisted of a group of leading
warriors and religious figures (function as advisors of King—issue law) 2. King Alfred the Great: brought peace, promoted the use
of written English rather than Latin. He improved the state of education. He knew how to write good clear prose. With helpers he translated much Latin into English (including the Ecclesiastical History of Bede)
3. King Edward (Saxon King from Normandy - North of France
4. Duke William of Normandy He won a great victory at Hastings in 1066 Known as William the Conqueror—crowned as King of
England.
• Anglo Saxon Ideals:
• Loyalty to one’s Lord/King
• Hospitality
• Belief in fate
• Love of glory
RELIGION• During the Roman Occupation: Christianity• Anglo-Saxons: Believed in Germanic Gods Christianity—through the Celtic church
St. Augustine (Monk) sent by Pope to reestablish Christianity. + Celtic bishops• The whole Britain had been converted to Christianity by 660
• Anglo-Saxon society
• Organised in small units --- huts
• They were farmers or fishermen
• They brought new technology in agriculture –crop rotation
Literary Context
• Oral Literature - oral poetry
• Deals with heroic or legendary episodes from history of Germanic Tribes
• Performed by a “scop” (poet) and accompanied by harp
All the records of the early literature of the Anglo-Saxons belong to a Christian England, written by clerks in monasteries.
We must think of this literature as being oral, passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation.
Old English Poetry• metrical • rhythms• no rhyme• use of alliteration (repetition of same consonant sounds)• use of assonance (repetition of same vowel sounds)• kennings (phrases that are elaborate and indirect way of
naming persons, things, events. Eg. Soul’s prison/ house of bones for body; Battle-sweat for blood)
Caedmon’s poem is perhaps the first piece of Christian literature to appear in Anglo-Saxon England. It was written in old English.
According to literary historians it was divinely inspired.
Caedmon, who was rather shy, was embarrassed to sing at the feast, so he went out to the stable. He fell asleep and had a dream, in his dream he saw a man who asked him to sing a song. Although Caedmon said he could not sing, with divine inspiration he started to sing verses in praise of God the Creator whom he had not heard before.This talent was believed to be a gift from God and Caedmon composed more verse without being able to read and write.
Bede, (AD 672-735), who was the first historian to attempt to write the ecclesiastical history of the English Church with his book Ecclesiastical History of the English Church and its People. Bede talks about Caedmon in his book saying that Caedmon sang the story of the Book of Genesis (1st chapter of the Old Testament) covering Christ’s life and death and many other aspects of Christian teaching.
None of Caedmon’s other compositions survived, and we do not know how many of them Bede knew himself.
For Bede, Caedmon’s poetry represents a beginning, and a divinely inspired one.
Beowulf
The oldest poem in the English language is Beawulf. It was not composed in England, but on the continent of Europe. The new settlers brought it over.
It is an epic poem consisting of over 3000 lines.
It is essentially a warrior’s story. It is about the hero who gives his name to the poem and his struggle with a foul monster (half-man, half-devil) called Grendel.
It contains supernatural elements and historical facts, and offers hints of Christian teaching, Anglo-Saxon society and its values.
An epic or heroic poem is:
• a long narrative poem;
• on a serious subject;
• written in a grand or elevated style;
• centered on a larger-than-life hero.
The epic poem, "Beowulf", describes the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The hero, Beowulf, is a seemingly invincible (indestructible) person with all the extraordinary traits required of a hero. He is able to use his super-human physical strength and courage to put his people before himself. He encounters hideous monsters, but he never fears the threat of death. His leadership skills are superb and he is even able to boast about all his achievements. Beowulf is an epic hero who risks his life countless times for immortal glory and for the good of others.
Other Anglo-Saxon Poetry• Songs• Heroic tales• Riddles• Elegiac poems-tell the sadness of exile or
separation from one’s Lord or community• The Wanderer• The Seafarer• Wulfstan (the Archbishop of York – he wrote a
prose crying out that the end of the world is coming)
The Wanderer
The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century. It counts 115 lines of alliterative verse.
• Some scholars believe that the poem was composed around the time the Anglo-Saxons were making the conversion to Christianity, sometime around 597, though others would date it as much as several centuries later.
• The Wanderer’s monologue (a prolonged talk by a single speaker) is divided into two distinct parts, the first being a lament for his exile and the loss of kin, friends, home, and the generosity of his king. In nature he finds no comfort, for he has set sail on the wintry sea. The speaker dreams that he is among his companions and embracing his king, but he is in the middle of the gray winter sea where snowfall mingled with hail.
• In the monologue’s second part, the Wanderer reflects more generally on man’s fate, urging resignation and control of emotion as ways of meeting adversity. From the ruined walls and cities he encounters on his travels, he witnesses the destruction that societies experience other than his own. This part of the poem introduces the ubi sunt (latin, where are those who were before us?, highlights the idea of mortality) theme, as the Wanderer questions what has become of the things he has known and realizes that many have vanished.
• The poem, like much other Anglo-Saxon poetry, links pagan and Christian values in an uneasy combination.
• The authorial voice begins and concludes the poem, referring to God and stressing the importance of faith, themes absent from the Wanderer’s speech.
• The Wanderer’s lament, even in the voice of an outcast, upholds Anglo-Saxon tribal values, notably loyalty, generosity, courage, and physical strength.
• It reflects an overriding concern with the hostile aspects of nature and with the power of fate.
The Seafarer
The Seafarer is an Old English poem recorded in the Exeter Book, one of the four surviving manuscripts of Old English poetry. It contains 124 lines and has been commonly referred to as an elegy, a poem that mourns a loss, or has the more general meaning of a simply sorrowful piece of writing.
• It is told from the point of view of an old seafarer, who is evaluating his life as he has lived it. The seafarer describes the desolate hardships of life on the wintry sea.
• He describes the anxious feelings, cold-wetness, and solitude of the sea voyage in contrast to life on land where men are surrounded by kinsmen, free from dangers, and full on food and wine.
• The climate on land then begins to resemble that of the wintry sea, and the speaker shifts his tone from the gloomy of the winter voyage and begins to describe his yearning for the sea.
• Time passes through the seasons from winter—“it snowed from the north” (31b)—to spring—“groves assume blossoms” (48a)—and to summer—“the cuckoo urges” (53a). It is here that the speaker’s soul flies out over the sea in search of heaven and comes back eager and ready to depart.
• Though this poem begins as a narrative of a man’s life at sea, it becomes a praise of God. At line 66b, the speaker again shifts, this time not in tone, but in subject matter.
• The sea is no longer mentioned; instead the speaker preaches about the path to heaven. He asserts that “earthly happiness will not endure" (line 67), that men must oppose “the devil with brave deeds” (line 76), and that earthly wealth cannot travel to the afterlife nor will it determine the wealth of the soul (lines 97-102).
• Next the speaker provides the reader with proverbs and then calls to men to consider where they want to spend the afterlife and “then reflect upon how we could come there” (line 118). Heaven is a goal for man to reach by living a good, honorable life. This is a reward to man for faith, as well as a reward for God who “has honored us for all time” (124). The poem ends with a note of gratitude to the Lord.
Both poems are melancholic in tone, and they give a powerful description of nature.
Bede (AD 672-735)
Bede was the first historian to attempt a history of the English. Even if his viewpoint and main interest was for the ecclesiastical side to the history of the English.The title Venerabilis (‘the Venerable’) seems to have come within two generations after his death.
• In 731, the Venerable Bede completed his most famous work,
the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People). His greatest work, it is the foundation of all our knowledge of British history.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is another important piece of prose that gives us a lot of information about the main happenings of the country.
It was kept by monks in seven successive monasteries.