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The Old English Period ( – 1066)Title: BeowulfAnonymous

Prologue (1-16a)http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Prologue.html

1-3

4-7a

7b-11

12-16a

Qu i e t !O u r s t o r y s p e a k so f t h e S p e a r - D a n e st h e i r g r e a t e s t k i n g s 'a c c o m p l i s h m e n t sh o w i n f o r m e r t i m e sl i v e d f e a r l e s s m e n .

S h i e l d S h e a f i n g s h o o k t h e c l a n sc l e a r e d m e a d - s e a t so f m a n y a p i l l a g e rm a d e w a r r i o r s s t a m m e r— h e w h o s t a r t e d o u tw o r t h l e s s , a f o u n d l i n g .

T h a t w a s n ' t f o r l o n g !H e w a x e d u n d e r c l o u d sc l i m b e d i n m e n ' s e y e st i l l a l l n e i g h b o u r i n g t r i b e ss e n t t r i b u t e t o h i mu p o n t h e w h a l e ' s w a ya n d h i s w o r d w a s l a wt o a l l w h o h e a r d . H e w a s a g o o d k i n g !

T h e n t o t h e k i n ga c h i l d w a s b o r na p r e c o c i o u s l a dt h e L o r d h a d s e n tt o s a v e t h e p e o p l e .H e s a w h o w d e s p e r a t et h e i r l i v e s h a d b e e nw h e n l e a d e r l e s sa l o n g t i m e .

Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship, dating from between the 8th to the early 11th century. It’s a remarkably long poem: 3182 lines.

In the poem, Beowulf, a Swedish hero, battles three enemies: a dreadful monster Grendel, who has been attacking the mead hall (a place of festivities) in Denmark and its inhabitants; Grendel’s mother; and, later in life after returning to Geatland (modern southern Sweden) and becoming a king, he fights an unnamed dragon. Beowulf is fatally wounded in the final battle, and dies as a hero.

mead hall

First page of the Beowulf manuscript

Notes:

1 Old English verse-form Rhyme:

Rhythm:

2 Why so many details:

3 Why Christian elements in pagan story:

4 Why Scandinavian main persons:

The Middle English Period (1066 - 1400)Titles: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Morte d’Arthur (Sir Thomas Malory), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Geoffrey Chaucer, a diplomat, heard new forms of poetry in France and Italy (like the Decamerone, a frame story by Bocaccio) and introduced it in England. He wrote his own frame story (a story containing lots of different stories), from which we can learn a lot about his time.

The Canterbury Tales is a story about a group of pilgrims who travel to Canterbury, to visit the shrine of Thomas a Becket. On their way they tell each other stories, to shorten the way. The group contains all kinds of people, like a nun, a priest, a knight, a miller, etc. Because of this we get to know a lot about their way of living.

The Canterbury Tales is written in poetry: with an iambic rhythm and rhyme of the final syllables.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GihrWuysnrc

Middle English language is still hard to read: here the beginning of the book:

When April with his showers sweet with fruitThe drought of March has pierced unto the rootAnd bathed each vein with liquor that has powerTo generate therein and sire the flower;When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,Quickened again, in every holt and heath,The tender shoots and buds, and the young sunInto the Ram one half his course has run,And many little birds make melodyThat sleep through all the night with open eye(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,

To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.And specially from every shire's endOf England they to Canterbury wend,

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the roote,And bathed every veyne in swich licourOf which vertu engendred is the flour,Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,And smale foweles maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open ye(so priketh hem Nature in hir corages),Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;And specially from every shires endeOf Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,The hooly blisful martir for to seke,That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

The holy blessed martyr there to seekWho helped them when they lay so ill and weak.

From: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey ChaucerPrologue

With him there was his son, a youthful squire,A lover and a lusty bachelor,With locks well curled, as if they'd laid in press.Some twenty years of age he was, I guess.In stature he was of an average length,Wondrously active, aye, and great of strength.He'd ridden sometime with the cavalryIn Flanders, in Artois, and Picardy,And borne him well within that little spaceIn hope to win thereby his lady's grace.Prinked out he was, as if he were a mead,All full of fresh-cut flowers white and red.Singing he was, or fluting, all the day;He was as fresh as is the month of May.Short was his gown, with sleeves long and wide.Well could be sit on horse, and fairly ride.He could make songs and words thereto indite,Joust, and dance too, as well as sketch and write.So hot he loved that, while night told her tale,He slept no more than does a nightingale.Courteous he, and humble, willing and able,And carved before his father at the table.

The squire is described as a person with many good characteristics.

Questions1 How would you characterize the squire?

2 What does the description tell you about the ideals inthis era?

3 What happened in 1066?

4 Why are there so many French loan-wors in the English language?

The Barren Age (1400 – 1500)Ballads

This was a century of wars: the 100 years’ war against France, and a civil war about the succession to the throne, which lasted thirty years. Because of this, there was not much literature, just a few ballads that were handed down orally and written down centuries later.

Sir Patrick Spens (Anonymous) The King sits in Dumferline town, Drinking the blood-red wine; ”O where shall I get a good sailorTo sail this ship or mine?”

Up and spoke an eldern knight, Sat at the King’s right knee: ”Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor That sails upon the sea.”

The King has written a broad letter, And signed it with his hand, And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens, Was walking on the sand.

The first line that Sir Patrick read, A loud laugh laughed he; The next line that Sir Patrick read, The tear blinded his ee.

“O who is this has done this deed, This ill deed done to me, To send me out this time of the year, To sail upon the sea?”

“Make haste, make haste, my merry men all, Our good ship sails the morn;” “Oh, say not so, my master dear For I fear a deadly storm.

“Late, late yestreen I saw the new moon With the old moon in her arm; And I fear, I fear my dear Master, that we will come to harm.”

O our good Scots nobles were right loath To wet their cork-heel’d schoone, But long ere all the play were play’d Their hats they swam aboon.

O long, long may the ladies sit With their fans into their handsOr ere they see Sir Patrick SpensCome sailing to the land.

O long, long may the ladies standWith their gold combs in their hair, Waiting for their own dear lords, For they’ll see them no more.

Half o’er, half o’er to Aberdoor It’s fifty fathom deep; And there lies good Sir Patrick Spens, With the Scots lords at his feet.

Recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs7nWKYyUFU&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=29A413385920592F&playnext=1&index=16

The Ballad

Rhyme:

Rhytm:

Story – telling:

Theme:

Characteristics:

The Renaissance (1500 – 1660) Poets: Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare (sonnets), John Donne, George Herbert (metaphysical poetry), John Milton.

Man became an individual, strived to be complete and many-sided, became interested in history, in far countries, etc. The printing press became more common. The period is famous for its sonnets and plays.

Mark Anthony’s speechFrom: Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare

Act 3, scene 2

Julius Ceasar has been murdered by Brutus and other aristocrats, because they accused he was too ambitious (that he wanted to be emperor of Rome actually). Brutus explained this to the crowd, who then totally agreed with his reason for killing Ceasar. This is Mark Anthony’s funeral speech.

First Citizen Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.

Third Citizen Let him go up into the public chair; We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.

ANTONY For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. (Goes into the pulpit)

Fourth Citizen What does he say of Brutus?

Third Citizen He says, for Brutus' sake, He finds himself beholding to us all.

Fourth Citizen 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.

First Citizen This Caesar was a tyrant.

Third Citizen Nay, that's certain: We are blest that Rome is rid of him.

Second Citizen Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.

ANTONY You gentle Romans,--

Citizens Peace, ho! let us hear him.

ANTONYFriends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest – For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men – Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason! Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X9C55TkUP8

Even though in his speech Antony never directly calls the conspirators traitors, he is able to call them “honourable” in a sarcastic manner that the crowd is able to understand. He starts out by citing that Caesar had thrice refused the crown, which refutes the conspirators main cause for killing Caesar. He reminds them of Caesar’s kindness and love for all, humanizing Caesar as innocent.

Next he teases them with the will until they demand he read it, and he reveals Caesar’s ‘gift’ to the citizens. Finally, Marc Antony leaves them with the question, was there ever a greater one than Caesar?, which infuriates the crowd. They agree with Mark Anthony and start a mutiny.

Shakespeare

William Shakespeare had to flee his home town, because he was suspected of poaching. In London he started to work at the theatre, first by looking after the visitors’ horses. He then got some minor roles, appeared to have talent and became an actor. Because they needed more plays, he started writing comedy plays, then wrote a number of history plays and created four tragedies.

Notes about Shakespeare:

Dates:

Born in:

Education:

Early marriage to:

Sonnets:

Plays:

Four tragedies:

Globe theatre:

Definition of a tragedy:

Elizabethan theatre:

Actors

Stage

The Restoration Period (1660 – 1700) After England had been a Republic for 11 years, king Charles II was restored to the throne. The metaphysical poets wrote peculiar poetry as a reaction to Renaissance poetry.

Metaphysical poetry:

o Use of ordinary speech mixed with puns and paradoxeso The exaltation of wit and originality in figures of speech o Often poems are presented in the form of an argument

 John Donne, A Hymn to God the Father  

WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,  

  Which was my sin, though it were done before?

 

Wilt Thou forgive that sin through which I ran,  

  And do run still, though still I do deplore?  

When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done;                  5

        For I have more.  

 Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won  

  Others to sin, and made my sins their door?  

Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun  

  A year or two, but wallow’d in a score?    10

When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done;  

        For I have more.  

 I have a sin of fear, that when I’ve spun  

  My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;  

But swear by Thyself that at my death Thy Son    15

  Shall shine as He shines now and heretofore:  

And having done that, Thou hast done;  

        I fear no more.

1 What sin does John Donne mention in the first stanza?

2 What kind of sin mut be meant in the 2nd stanza?

3 How does Donne reverse the argument, solve his problem before he gets an

answer?

4 Find two puns and explain them.

 

George Herbert, Love III  

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,  

      Guilty of dust and sin.  

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack  

      From my first entrance in,  

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning                  5

      If I lack’d anything.  

 ‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’  

     Love said, ‘You shall be he.’  

‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,  

      I cannot look on Thee.’    10

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,  

      ‘Who made the eyes but I?’  

 ‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame  

      Go where it doth deserve.’  

‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’

   15

      ‘My dear, then I will serve.’  

‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’  

      So I did sit and eat.

1 This poem is about a dialogue: who are speaking?

2 Why is the I-person hesitating to go in?

3 Love asks the I-person if he is missing anything. Why does the I-person reply with: Ä guest, worthy to be here?”

4 What are Love and the I-person actually arguing about?

5 Who is Love? Prove your answer.

6 Where does the conversation take place?

7 In waht way can this poem be used as a preparation for Holy Communion?

The Neo-Classical Period (1700 – 1798)Alexander Pope, John Dryden

Imitation of the classical writers. Reason is more important than emotion. Poetry was about form (rhyme, rhythm) and formulating universal ideas in poetic words. Many proverbs and sayings had their origin in this period.

the first opera in England was created: Dido and Aeneas, by Purcell (composer) and Tate (writer). It was written for a girls’ boarding school. Aeneas has to found the city of Rome, but ends up in Carthage, where he meets the beautiful queen Dido. They fall in love. However, the witches tell him to leave Carthage and fulfill his task. He obeys the witches and leaves. Dido is so miserable that she commits suicide by taking poison.

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD

By Thomas Gray (1716-1771).

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,And leaves the world to darkness and to me.…

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,Or busy housewife ply her evening care:No children run to lisp their sire’s return,Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share,…

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smileThe short and simple annals of the Poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour:-The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

…

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;Along the cool sequester’d vale of lifeThey kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Neo-Classical poetry Romantic poetry (1798 – 1840)clarity, order

reason, general truths

poetic language, classical forms heroic couplet: 2 rhyming lines, iambic pentameter

moralistic: literature must please and teach

the poet as a mirror of Society: he formulates what everybody already thinks

naturalness

emotion, personal feelings

natural language, old verse-forms ballad, alliteration (Old English)

literature gives spiritual insight

the poet as a lamp: a philosopher who teaches new truths about life

reason and general truths become visible in: -proverbial sentences -generalisations

Questions:1 Indicate Neo-Classical aspects in Elegy written in a country

churchyard. Quote from the text.

2 Indicate Romantic aspects in Elegy written in a country churchyard. Quote from the text.

emotion and personal feelings become visible in: -interest in nature as a theme, love, common man, children, death -interest in the past (also past verse- forms) -strive after freedom, equality, brotherhood

Neo-Classical:

Symmetrical, garden paths straight, trees and bushes cur into shape.

Romantic: Natural, winding lanes, no visible fences.

The Romantic Period (1798 - 1840)Poets: William Worsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

As a reaction to the Neo-Classical Period, the poets use simple language to convey new ideas. They see themselves as philosophers. They are interested in nature, simple people, love, emotion, death.Notes:

1798:

From: William Blake (1757 – 1827)

The Lambfrom Songs of Innocence

  The Tygerfrom Songs of Experience

 

  Little Lamb who made thee  Dost thou know who made theeGave thee life & bid thee feed.By the stream & o’er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing wooly bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice:  Little Lamb who made thee  Dost thou know who made thee

  Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,  Little Lamb I’ll tell thee:He is called by thy name,For he calls himself a Lamb:He is meek & he is mild,He became a little child:I a child & thou a lamb,We are called by his name.  Little Lamb God bless thee.  Little Lamb God bless thee.

 

Tyger Tyger. burning bright,In the forests of the night:What immortal hand or eye,Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.Burnt the fire of thine eyes!On what wings dare he aspire!What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,Could twist the sinews of thy heart?And when thy heart began to beat,What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,In what furnace was thy brain?What the anvil? what dread grasp,Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spearsAnd water’d heaven with their tears:Did he smile his work to see?Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright,In the forests of the night:What immortal hand or eye,Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

1. Similarities and differences in the two poems

2. The poems as thesis and antithesis – who is theLamb for and who is the Tyger?

3. The complete human being as synthesis: in what way is he a Lamb and a Tyger?

4. Stanza 5 of the Tyger: what event does it refer to?

5. What is suggested about God and his creation?

The Victorian Period (1840 - 1900)Poet: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Author: Charles Darwin, Novelist: Charles Dickens

Queen Victoria reigns England for nearly 60 years. Poetry is still about emotion. People get insecure because of Darwin’s theory of evolution as described in his book: On the Origin of Species.. The first novels are written: this is the first time in history that prose has been used to create literature.

Dover Beachby Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888)

Stanza 1 – 3:

The I-person hears the grating sound of the pebbles thrown on the beach by the waves. He is reminded of Socrates, who connected the sound to the ebb and flow of human misery. The I-person connects it to the ebb of retreating faith on earth.

4The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world.

5Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Questions

Stanza 41 The poet compares the sea with Faith. What do full tide (vloed) and low tide (eb) mean in this metaphor?

2 What is it exactly that makes the poet so sad?

3 In the first stanza vast means something positive, in the 4th stanza the meaning of vast is quite negative. Explain.

Stanza 54 The poet says the world seems to be a good place. Quote four words that the poet uses to describe this positive image.

5 But it's not true: the world is not a good place. Why not?

6 Last three lines: it's as if we are fighting in an army, but we don't know who is our friend and who is our enemy. Why have we become so miserable?

The Early Modern Age (1900 - 1920)The war Poets: Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen.

When the First World War broke out, most people were eager to fight for their country.

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori:mors et fugacem persequitur virumnec parcit inbellis iuventaepoplitibus timidove tergo.""How sweet and fitting it is to die for your native land:Death pursues the man who flees,spares not the hamstrings or cowardly backsOf battle-shy youths."

There were many soldiers who wrote about this war, most of them showing its horrors and uselessness.

The Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me:That there's some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. There shall beIn that rich earth a richer dust concealed;A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,A body of England's, breathing English air,Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.And think, this heart, all evil shed away,A pulse in the eternal mind, no lessGives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke

Form:

Homesick? Nationalistic?

Idealistic?

When The Hero appeared in print, in 1917, many people were shocked. Fellow-officers condemned him. They found the poem caddish, as it could destroy every mother's faith in the report of her son's death.

Sassoon made clear that the poem did not refer to anyone he had known. "But it is pathetically true. And of course the average Englishman will hate it", he remarked - shaping a distance between the 'averages' and 'those who know better'.

Certainly Sassoon was breaking the conspiracy of silence, but many soldiers felt that those at home should be made to realize the full horror, and the ugliness, of the war as much as possible.

The Hero

‘Jack fell as he’d have wished,’ the Mother said, And folded up the letter that she’d read. ‘The Colonel writes so nicely.’ Something broke In the tired voice that quavered to a choke. She half looked up. ‘We mothers are so proud Of our dead soldiers.’ Then her face was bowed.

Quietly the Brother Officer went out. He’d told the poor old dear some gallant lies That she would nourish all her days, no doubt. For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy, Because he’d been so brave, her glorious boy.

He thought how ‘Jack’, cold-footed, useless swine, Had panicked down the trench that night the mine Went up at Wicked Corner; how he’d tried To get sent home, and how, at last, he died, Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care Except that lonely woman with white hair.

Siegfried Sassoon