ENGLIS H LITERATURE

THE MIDDLE AGES

Literature is closely connected with the life and history of the people. If the modern reader looks at earliest English literature, poetry or prose, he finds that it reads like a foreign tongue and can be understood only in translation. Why is it so? Who were those ancient people, the creators of the early compositions which later on gave rise to so varied literature as English literature?

The ancient britons

One of the tribes who lived in Britain in the 4th century B.C.¹ was called Britons. They belonged to the Celtic race and spoke Celtic. There are still some traces of this language found in geo­graphical names, e. g., Stratford-on-Avon², Aberdeen³. Another Celtic tribe Gaels [geilz] lived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Their descendants still live there and use some words of Celtic origin, e. g., Loch⁴ Lomond.

The life of the ancient Britons was very primitive. They planted corn, lived upon fish and the flesh of their cattle, made coarse cloth for their clothes, and were good warriors⁵. They also built many temples and altars, fragments of which can still be seen in Great Britain.

¹ B.C. (before Christ) — before our era

² avon — a river

³ an estuary

⁴ a lake

⁵ soldiers

The Britons had a strange and cruel religion — the religion of the Druids¹. They sacrificed human beings and often burnt men and their animals together with them.

Such was the condition of the ancient Britons when the Romans came to conquer their land in the year 55 B.C.

Britain was a Roman province from the I century A.D.² till the beginning of the V century A.D. ;

The Romans had heard from travellers about some valuable metals which had been found in Britain. Julius Caesar ['dsuiljas 'siizs] was the first Roman who invaded the country in the I century B.C., yet he was unable to conquer it. The Roman conquest of Britain was made later under Emperor Claudius ['kb:djas] in A.D. 43.

The Romans brought their civilization with them and taught the Britons to build bridges, houses and roads. In England one can still find interesting remains of the Roman times, such as some ruins of public baths and tiled floors of Roman villas. Many of the great highways of England have been built on the military roads once made by the Romans. A large number of English words come from the Latin language, e. g., "street" comes from strata, "wall" from vatlum, "port" from portus, etc.

The anglo-saxon period

When in about 410 the Roman forces were withdrawn to protect Rome itself the Germanic tribes — Angles ['asnglz], Saxons f'saeksnz] and Jutes ['d3u:ts], began their invasion of Britain, They came from the shores of the North Sea and the Baltic and settled in what is now the county of Kent. The Britons were either made slaves or driven to the west of Britain.

All these invaders together created the Anglo-Saxon Eng­land — "Angle-land". During that period the land was divided into little kingdoms. The most important were Mercia ['msijja], Northumbria |по:'9лтЬпэ], Kent and Wessex. The political power soon shifted to Wessex.

In 787 the Vikings [Vaikirjz] began their invasion. They brought with them their customs and laws. Some of them settled in Nor­thern and Eastern England.

The Anglo-Saxons were comparatively well-developed. They liked to hold meetings in which people could express what they thought and felt. They were brave, hardy, artistic, poetic people and had a highly developed feeling for beauty. The Anglo-Saxons had no written language yet. The songs, stories and poems they made up had to be memorized and were handed down from gener­ation to generation.

¹ Celtic priests

² A.D. {Anno Domini) — in our era

ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE

"Beowulf" ['beiawulf] is the most important poem of the Anglo-Saxon period and the oldest of all European epics'. Though the Angles brought "Beowulf" with them to England, it has nothing to do with it. The epic is not even about the Anglo-Saxons, but about the Scandinavians when they still lived on the continent in the III or IV century.

The story of Beowulf was written down in the X century by an unknown author,- and the manuscript is now kept at the British Museum.

The social significance of the poem lies in the detailed descrip­tion of the manners and customs of the people at that time, of their way of life, of the relations among the members of society and in the portrayal of their towns, ships and feasts.

Some of the people described in "Beowulf" are historical. Others are the product of imagination. The main hero, Beowulf, is a strong, courageous, unselfish, proud and honest man. He de­fends his people against the unfriendly forces of nature and be­comes the most beloved and kindest king on the earth as the theme of the poem is the struggle of good against evil.

The epic consists of two parts. The first part tells us how Beo­wulf freed the Danes from two monsters. Hrothgar ['hroega:], King of the Danes, had built a beautiful palace called Heorot. He and his men rejoiced there every night. But this was hateful to Grendel, a terrible monster, who lived in a lake. Night after night he attacked the men and took some of the sleepers away. One day a young Viking, Beowulf by name, fought with Grendel and de­feated him. The next night Grendel's mother came to revenge her son. Beowulf followed the monster to her home in the black waters of the deep lake. He killed her with a magic sword which was lying on the floor in her cave.

The second part of the poem shows Beowulf as a wise king in Jutland. He was already an old man when he had to defend his country against a fire-dragon who came to his kingdom to kill people and eat their food. Beowulf defeated the dragon, but he himself died-

It is not only the subject of the poem that interests us but also its style. "Beowulf" is one of the early masterpieces of the Anglo-Saxon or Old English language.

The poem is famous for its metaphors. For instance, the poet calls the sea "the swan's road", the body — "the bone-house", a warrior — "a hero-in-battle". etc.

a long story or poem describing the adventures of a great hero

The lines of the poem do not rhyme, but each line has allitera­tion, e. g.,

Grendel was the grim guest called Great Mark-Stepper that held the moors, the fen and fastness.

Alliteration made the poem very musical. It was easy for the people to sing it.

Bede (673—735). In the III century Christianity [,kristi'<eniti] penetrated into the British Isles. The Anglo-Saxons were also con­verted to Christianity. Monks set up monasteries which became the centres of learning and education. The clergy wrote their verse, prose and chronicles in Latin. The Venerable Bede ['venarabl 'bi:d], the greatest of these writers, described the country and the people of his time in his work "The History of the English Church" ("Ecclesiastical¹ History of the English Race"). His work was a fusion of historical truth and fantastic stories. It was the first his­tory of England, and Bede is regarded as "the father of English history".

Caedmon. A shepherd Caedmon ['kaedman] started singing verses and became a poet. Later monks took him to a monastery where he made up religious poetry. Up to the VII century every­thing was written in Latin. He was the first poet who composed in Anglo-Saxon.

Alfred the Great (849—901) was the king of Wessex. He was an outstanding figure in English history and a writer. He is the only English king who is called "Great". Though he was a cap­able soldier he fought no wars except those in order to defend his country. He built a fleet of ships and beat the Danes who had again come to invade Wessex. He also made up a code of law which helped to stabilize the country. He tried to develop the .culture of his people. He founded the first English public schools for young men. He learned Latin in order to translate into his own tongue books "needful for all men to know": "The History of the World of Orosius jVrousjas]" and Bede's "Ecclesiastical History". In his time "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was begun. It was the first prose work in English literature.