15) Early Celtic literature.

The first country where the literary traces could be observed was Ireland. Ireland was Christian from the 5 century. It together with other Celtic countries preserved at strong oral tradition. From this period dates as great and tragic epic tale “The Raidy of the cattle of Cooley”. This epic was composed in the 5^th century but written down in the 7 century. The part of this work the earliest Irish literature is religions. Many works are believed to be by St. Patrick himself the others of other are unknown. St. Patrick was the father of the Catholicism in Ireland; he was the 1 bishop of the Catholic Church. But the great Irish literature was produced between the 6 and 9 cent. At that time Ireland was known all over Europe as the country of scholars, saints and its learning served as the basis to many catholic works. In general Irish literature like a literature of Scandinavian countries developed outside the influence of Roman. But some ways of writing poetry influenced on the Irish fashions after the 6th century. For contemporary scholars it is surprising that they find almost no evidence and influence of Roman culture of the earliest English Literature. Although, E. was the Roman Province for many years. The question can be answered if you take 2 words – Britain and England. Rome conquered the britons & probably they had some literary traditions, but nothing survived. The name “England” came from Angles. So he earliest E. literature is Germanic in culture. To this period belongs the famous epic “Beowulf” which is Anglo-Saxon. It was composed in the 7^th century, but written down later. It deals with adventures of the hero, which takes place in Denmark in the 6^th century. Besides, “Beowulf” quite a lot of Anglo-Saxon poetry came down to us. The poetry is primitive in the choice of subject. The subject is restricted to religion, war, and tribal glorification. There are no love poems, no nature poems, nothing that people later would call “lyric”.

16. The geographical position of Wales and reveal its peculiarities

Wales is united politically legally and administratively with England. It occupies the Western peninsular of GB.

The capital is Cardiff. The population is 3 million people. The territory is 21 000 km2

Wales also includes the Isle of Anglesey. The official language is English, but over half of the population can speak Welsh. Wales has a very strong Nation identify. People are proud of their culture and language. Every year they have The Royal Iesteddfod of music and poetry in order to encourage using Welsh.

The present Welsh people are descendants of Celtic-speaking inhabitants of those times. They call their country Cymry and themselves Cymry which means a compare or a friend.

Wales a mountains country and this feature reflected in the way of life of people.

In the North are the Snowdown with the highest point of E. and Wales in Snowdonian (1085 m)

In the centre of the country there are the Cambrian Mountains with the richest deposits of coal.

The main rivers are –The Severn, the Conway, the Wey, The Usk, and the Teity.

The main cities are – Swansea, Newport, and Milford-Hewn.

Wales is mainly a mountainous country and most of the lowland is found in the deeper valleys and on the coast. The mountains are built of old rocks, resistant to erosion. In northern and central Wales grits, shales and volcanic rocks are built of Old Red Sandstone.

Above the plateau in the north are ranges developed on the more resistant grits and volcanic rocks. One of these is the Snowdonia range, which includes Snowdon 3.560 ft (1.084 m) – the highest mountain in England and Wales. The plateau is deeply dissected by the rivers which drain it , that is the rivers Conway, Severn, Wye, Usk.

In Snowdonia there are many U-shaped valleys and glacial troughs. In a mountainside occur many armchair-shaped hollows, often containing a small lake as the result of ice action during the Ice Age.