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2. The Major Features of Middle English Literature (1066 - 1500) (Middle…
2. The Major Features of Middle English Literature
(1066 - 1500)
Middle English
:fire:1066:
Battle of Hastings, the Norman Conquest
- French was privileged at Royal Court + Government (A-S lost its position); Normans changed England into
feudal state
;
:red_flag:English prose and poetry pushed into the margins of society
:red_flag:new official language:
Norman French
(secular administration) +
Latin
(church affairs)
:pencil2:
Domesday Book
- Latin, a list of all land taken by William Conqueror
:!:
12th century
: lit. and English emerge again
:recycle:No literary tradition,
constituted from the Old English
inflectional suffixes dropped (
less inflected
) - more
fixed word order, simplified grammar
borrowings from French; Early Middle English (1150 - 1350) - French words, Latin words,
no standard + dialects
(
East Midland dialect
:speaking_head_in_silhouette: - Thames including London:
official dialect
- kings, Chaucer) => Mod. En.: 13th century
11th, 12th c.- 3 states: :lips:
nobility French,:lips:clergy Latin,:lips:common ppl English
songs + ballads
- oral tradition
French Court:
court of chivalry novels/chivalrous romance
-
metrical romances
(mythology, tales of chivalry and adventure)
character of Brut
- legends: 1st king of England + founded London
12th century
:writing_hand::skin-tone-3:
Geofrey of Monmouth
Latin chronic -
History of the Kings of Britain
(Brut + other heroes; base for
King Lear
) translated as
Lyamon's Brut
:pen:
a chronicle in verse:
Brut
:pen: (national epic about mythical Britain)
13th century
genres
allegorical fable
animal epic
secular lyrics
exemplum = tale in verse about miracles
secular poem
The Owl and the Nightingale
:pen:= an animal story -
allegorical debate
:monkey: (aesticism x joy of life), comic
14th century
England - centralized, social changes; public broadened;
growth of middle classes
who spoke :lips:
English
= rapid development + spread
against corruption and nobility of clergy, against education only in Church
religious prose
:writing_hand::skin-tone-2:
John Wycliffe
(1320 - 1384)
called for
reformation
:fire:(precusor of the Protestant Ref.) -
secular power: independent
:!:
:family:opportunity to :book: read Bible for anyone, translated Bible
sermons + religious writings addressing normal ppl
group of "
Poor Priests
" - his teaching among ppl
:pen:
The Wycliffe Bible
(English: everyday conversation + lit.)
new genres
travelogue
tales about travelling, cannibals, fantastic elements, the earth is said to be round (:pen:
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
)
dream vision
romance
chronicle
hymn
elegy
ballad
allegory
poetry
:champagne:
Alliterative arrival
(2/2 14th c.) - unrhymed alliterative verse: 2 developments - :arrow_down:
decreasing of French + :arrow_double_up: increasing literacy
(manuscript copies);
immitation of poetry
:writing_hand::skin-tone-2:
William Langland -
:pen:
The Vision Concerning Piers Plowman
(1380) - alliterative verse,
religious satirical allegory
- vision of better Christian life, PP will guide ppl to this life from corrupted lives they lead =
spiritual revival of an individual
:silhouette:
:pen:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
written by unknown :writing_hand::skin-tone-2: -
the Gawain-poet
=Ricardian generation of English poets; alliterative verse;
Arthurian writing of the Round Table
(folk, myths)
Pearl
-
Gawain author
:writing_hand::skin-tone-2: - religious
dream poem
(salvation, afterlife; misunderstandings Pearl x narrator)