1. Old English. “Beowulf” as the first major work of old English literature.

The first major work of old English literature is the epic poem “Beowulf”. It may be called the foundation stone of all British poetry. It tells of times long before the Angles and Saxons came to Britain. The poem was composed by an unknown author. Many parts were added later. The manuscript of the poem is in the British Museum now. The poem tells us about the adventures of a brave hero named Beowulf. He lived in Southern Sweden. He was rather strong and performed heroic deeds twice to save the people from monsters .Beowulf fought not for his own glory, but for the benefit of his people. He was ready to sacrifice his life for them. His unselfish way in protecting people made him worthy to be a folk-king. The poem gives us an interesting picture of life in those days. It tells us of fierce fights and brave deeds, of speeches of the leaders and sufferings of his men. It describes their life in the hall, the terrible creatures that they had to fight, and their ships and travels. They had a hard life on land and sea. They did not enjoy it much, but they bore it well. The poem shows different spheres of people's life.

The poem contains more than 3 thousand lines. It is rich in epithets and metaphors. Beowulf was the embodiment of best human features of devotedness to people and self-sacrifice. Beowulf’s victory over the monsters symbolizes the triumph of man over the powers of darkness, evil and death. The merit of the poem lies in the vivid description of the life of that period, in the heroic deeds of Beowulf and in the beauty of the language.

2. Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer and his “Canterbury Tales”.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) occupies the central position in Middle English literature. He was born in a family of a wine-merchant. He traveled much and lived a busy life. He was often sent to foreign countries on diplomatic mission. He knew literature and culture of foreign countries very well. Chaucer’s earliest poems were written in imitation of the French romances. The second period of Chaucer’s literary work was that of the Italian influence. The third period of Chaucer’s creative work began in the year 1384 when he started writing his masterpiece “The Canterbury Tales”.

“The Canterbury Tales” are a series of stories written in verse. The framework which serves to connect them is a pilgrimage to Canterbury. It contained 21 complete stories and 3 unfinished. Chaucer planned to write 120. 30 pilgrims are going to Canterbury. To while away the time they agree to tell stories. Among the pilgrims there were the representatives of various types of manual labour.

Chaucer was an innovator as far as genres are concerned. He introduced into the English literature the psychological versified novel, the ode /oud/ (ода). He is considered to be the father of the English language. He wrote in the London dialect and his writings helped it to become the basis of the English literary language. He introduced new principles in the describing life and men’s character. He was also close to the culture of new times – the times of the Renaissance with its humanistic views and belief that a human being was the greatest value.