Transcript The Old English Period

The Old English Period
THE CELTS WERE IN MOST
PART OF EUROPE
The Celts in Britain
• THE CELTS WERE NOT AN EMPIRE.
• THE CELTS WERE CULTURE.
• THE ANCIENT CELTS WERE GREAT
WANDERERS AND CONQUERORS.
• THEY LIVED IN ROUND HOUSES WITH
THATCHED ROOFS.
Ancient Rome
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
ROMAN BRITAIN
Romans landing in Britain
Caesar
• Caesar wrote as follows...
• "Druids know much about the stars and
celestial motions, and about the size of
the earth and universe, and about the
essential nature of things, and about the
powers and authority of' the immortal
gods; and these things they teach to their
pupils."
• A.D. 43 the Emperor Claudius sent another army
to invade Britain.
• Some Celts decided to make peace with the
Romans in return for keeping their kingdoms.
• In some parts of Britain there were still fierce
battles against the Romans. For example at
Maiden Castle (a huge hill fort near Dorchester
in Dorset) archaeologists found evidence of a
battle which the Romans had won. Buried on the
site were the skeletons of young men, some of
which even had cut marks of Roman swords on
their bones.
Main Roman roads in Britain
English adopted Roman ways of
living and organisation
When the Romans became
Christians
• The British became Christians too.
The Romans leave Scotland in
410AD
• Probably, because
the army was needed
elsewhere in the
Roman Empire.
• By this time four main
kingdoms emerged:
the Picts, the Scots,
the Angles & the
Britons.
The
attack of
the Great
Alliance:
SCOTS,
PICTS
and
SAXONS
The Anglo Saxon Period
The Angles, Jutes and Saxons
invaded Britain
Resistance
• Romans were
gone.
• A King defended
his land:
King
Arthur
New map of Britain
The VIkings
• In the 9th century, the English king, Alfred
the Great forced the Vikings to leave the
whole of western England.
• During the 10th Century the English
reconquered many Viking areas.
• But in the early 11th century the whole of
England was ruled by the Viking King
Knut.
With the Viking King CNUT the
invasion was massive
New map of Britain: A.D. 874-920
Canute "strengthened his position
in England"
• He married Emma of
Normandy, the widow of
Æthelred, who was Canute's
former opposition in England.
• King Edward the confessor promises to give his
crown to Duke William of Normandy.
• The Witan decides that at the death of Edward
the next king should be Harold.
• In 1066 the Battle of Hastings takes place and
William defeats Harold.
• So the new king of England is a Norman and
that’s the end of the Old English Period.
Literature in the Old
English Period
Repetitions
Rythm
Caesura
Alliteration
Literary Forms
Oral Tradition
Kennings
Rhyme
Poetry
ANGLO-SAXON VERSE
•
•
•
•
It is alliterative
Similar sounds at the beginnings of word.
It has 4 strong beats.
It has 1 break in the middle of the line.
Beowulf
BEOWULF
• Beowulf can be divided into two
halves.
• The first half tells of the arrival of
Beowulf the Geat in the Danish
court of Hrothgar. Beowulf has
come for Geatland to the court to
rid of Grendel, a monster that has
been killing Hrothgar’s men over a
twelve year period. Beowulf fights
the monster and kills it. His mother
threatens Hrothgar’s kingdom and
Beowulf defeats her as well.
BEOWULF
• The second half takes place
50 years later. Beowulf has
become the king of Geatland
and has ruled wisely. A thief
has disturbed a dragon and it
begins to kill Beowulf’s people.
Beowulf sets off to kill the
monster but this time the
victory costs him his life.
Litrary forms in Beowulf
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alliteration
Epic
Elegy
Epithet
Allusion
Kenning
Foreshadowing
The Medieval Times
King William “The conqueror”: His
Reign
• He built stout castles all over England.
• The Tower of London was built to protect
London from possible attacks.
Normans in England
• The Normans were descendants of
Scandinavians who had settled in France
and had acquired some French manners
and culture and so spoke French as well
as they had kept their love for adventure.
• They brought England:
– Their law and order
– Political organisation
– Most important of all the FEUDAL SYSTEM
FEUDAL SYSTEM - FEUDALISM
• It was a political and
social system that
had been started in
the continent
(Europe).
• The system was as
follows:
Chivalry
• It comes from the French word:
CHEVALIER = HORSEMAN or
KNIGHT
• So, a knight had:
– A sense of honour
– Respect for women and religion
• The ideal knight had the
following qualities:
–
–
–
–
Devotion to God
Loyalty to his lord
Valour
Protective kindness to the weak.
• These social and moral forces
were rules and regulations for
the English.
THE LITERATURE OF
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH
•A notable amount of
medieval literature is
anonymous.
•Medieval authors often
tended to re-tell and
embellish stories they heard
or read rather than invent
new stories.
Medieval Literature
• It also tells of chivalrous deeds and noble
knights.
• Some romantic stories about national
heroes were brought from France like
those about King Arthur and his knights.
• The finest metrical romance was written by
an unknown Englishman: “Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight”
Writings
Characteristics
of Medieval
Literature
•Heroism
•Idealised Behaviour
•Use of allegory
•Romance
•Christian message
The Ideal of Courtly Love
• This relationship was modeled on the
feudal relationship between a knight and
his liege lord.
• The knight serves his courtly lady with the
same obedience and loyalty which he owes
to his liege lord.
• She is in complete control; he owes her
obedience and submission
The Quest
• In addition to the theme
of Courtly Love, the
Quest was highly
important
Three Medieval Poets
• William Langland: “The vision of William”
• The unknown writer of “Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight”
• The most important of all, known as the
father of English Literature GEOFFREY
CHAUCER.
Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight
Author of Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight
• Some asumptions about this author are
that he:
– had lived in court.
– was not young when he wrote his work.
– was associated with a monastery.
– Lived near Wales (Celtic place)
SYMBOLS:
The Pentangle
The Green Girdle
MOTIFS:
The Seasons
Games
THEMES:
The Nature of Chivalry
The Letter of the Law (Covenant)
Geoffrey Chaucer
•
•
•
•
•
Born in London.
Son of a wine merchant.
At 17 became PAGE of Prince Lionel.
Had an active and adventurous life.
Went to war with the Prince when England was
at war with France.
• There, was taken prisoner but ransomed with
the help of the King.
• At 34 became controller of the customs in the
Port of London.
• Became clerk of the King’s works.
Geoffrey Chaucer
•
•
•
•
•
•
Was well off until political changes took place.
Lost pensions and prosperity.
Knew poverty as well.
In his later life became justice of the peace.
A year later became Member of Parliament.
His earliest poetry was translations from the
French.
• His first English book was “The book of the
Duchess”
• In 1389 began writing his masterpiece “The
Canterbury Tales”
THE CANTERBURY TALES
• It is about a journey of a group of pilgrims from
London to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in
Canterbury Cathedral.
• They are 30 pilgrims including Chaucer.
• Each pilgrim was to tell 2 tales on the way to
Canterbury and 2 more in the way back.
• But these 120 tales were not finished.
• Chaucer died and could only finish 22 tales.
• The tales are preceded by a very long Prologue.
• A quest is a hero’s journey towards a goal.
The objects of quests require great exertion
on the part of the hero, and the overcoming
of many obstacles.
• The hero's must obtain something, or
someone, by the quest and with this object
return home.
Ballads
Long narrative form.
It is a Literary form
It belongs to the Oral tradition
It is an impersonal narrative moving from dialogue to
action.
The theme is often tragic.
It deals with a single episode.
It has little background information.
Some of them use refrains, incremental repetition
and a rethorical device.