Old and Middle English literatures
1) Old English literature
Context
- AD410-1066: Anglo-Saxon times = early medieval England
- Britain invaded by Jutes, Angles, Saxons, later Vikings and Normans
- 2 cultures: Christian (St Augustine 597) and pagan/ heroic
The forms of Old English poetry
- Oral poetry: ballads*, carols*, lullabies* (short forms) / epics* (long forms)
Définition
Ballad
A folk song or orally transmitted poem telling in a direct and dramatic manner some popular story derived from a tragic incident in local history or legend.
Carol
A song of religious rejoicing, usually associated with Christmas or Easter in the Christian calendar. In the Middle Ages however, a carol could be a purely secular song of love or satire.
Lullaby
A soothing song used to send a child to sleep.
Epic
A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes in a grand ceremonious style. Exs: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Beowulf.
- Meant to be sung: easy to remember and deliver, form based on repetitions (rhythm*, alliteration*) with a caesura*
Définition
Rhythm
.The pattern of sounds perceived as the recurrence of equivalent ‘beats’ at more or less equal intervals. Most English poetry is based on an underlying rhythm made up of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Alliteration
the repetition of the same sounds – usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables – in any sequence of neighbouring words: ‘landscape lover, lord of language’ Tennyson)
Caesura
A pause in a line of verse, often coinciding with a break between clauses and sentences.
- Example from a later (Middle English) poem, Sir Gawayn and the Green Knight:
He had death-struggles with dragons, did battle with wolves
Warred with wild trolls that dwelt among the crags,
Battled with bulls and bears and boars at other times
And ogres that panted after him on the high fells
Définitions
Ballad
A folk song or orally transmitted poem telling in a direct and dramatic manner some popular story derived from a tragic incident in local history or legend.
Carol
A song of religious rejoicing, usually associated with Christmas or Easter in the Christian calendar. In the Middle Ages however, a carol could be a purely secular song of love or satire.
Lullaby
A soothing song used to send a child to sleep.
Epic
A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes in a grand ceremonious style. Exs: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Beowulf.
Rhythm
.The pattern of sounds perceived as the recurrence of equivalent ‘beats’ at more or less equal intervals. Most English poetry is based on an underlying rhythm made up of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Alliteration
the repetition of the same sounds – usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables – in any sequence of neighbouring words: ‘landscape lover, lord of language’ Tennyson)
Caesura
A pause in a line of verse, often coinciding with a break between clauses and sentences.