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UNIT 2. LITERATURE OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

KEY IDEA Medieval works, such as The Canterbury Tales and Arthurian romances, drew from many sources, historical and contemporary, while reflecting the society and ideals of their time.

Literature Focus I. Medieval Narratives

By the 1300s English was again the dominant language of England, and literature written in English was again common. By then, the language had developed into Middle English. It incorporated many French words and displayed strong French influence in its spelling, literary expressions, and grammar, which was simpler than that of Old English. The literature that employed this language differed markedly from Old English literature. Old English literature tended to speak as if with one dignified voice, expressing ideals and concerns of the nobility. In contrast, Middle English literature spoke in many voices on a wide range of popular topics.

By the end of the 14th c., a typical Londoner who could read would have been interested in narratives— a type of writing that relates a series of events—written in verse. Typical medieval narrativesincluded ballads, romances, allegories, and moral tales. Most of them were religious in theme, but many others were concerned with love, exemplary life and behavior, and political and societal issues. Although comedy and humor are not something we often associate with the Middle Ages, the medieval mind had a sophisticated sense of irony and a taste for comic narratives, which were, in fact, common.

Medieval Romance • Romances are stories of adventure, love, heroism, and chivalry. • They are set in an idealized world unlike medieval England. • The real Arthur was a 6th-century warrior. • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte d’Arthur are two medieval romances.
Between 1350 and 1400, a large body of narrative works was produced in England. These were written in Middle English, a language that had developed and replaced the use of French, which had been the predominant language of educated people in Britain. Literacy had become more common, and new printing methods had made literature more widely available; thus, educated citizens had access to more literary works. Popular narratives of the time included Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the King Arthur romances, with their themes of chivalry, love, and religious devotion; William Langland’s Piers Plowman, an allegory that exposed the corruption of church, state, and society; and Geoffrey Chaucer’s groundbreaking work, The Canterbury Tales. It was Chaucer, with his sense of humor, style, and realistic characterizations, who overshadowed his peers, changed the nature of literature, and became known to subsequent generations as one of the greatest poets in the history of English literature.

French Romance

The break with the Old English literary tradition appears perhaps most strikingly in what became the most popular genre in medieval England: the romance. Having originated in France in the 1100s, most romances describe the adventures of legendary knights and celebrate a chivalric code that emphasizes courtly love—in which a man’s love for one idealized woman makes him a better person. The heroes of romances are admirable men who nevertheless share the feelings and weaknesses of ordinary humans. The heroes of Old English literature can seem, by contrast, superhuman and impossibly perfect.



Working in both verse and prose, many English writers produced romances about the legendary King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. From what little is known of him, Arthur was a Briton, a Romanized descendant of the long-haired, blue-dyed warriors who fought Caesar’s army. A Latin history written around AD 800, two hundred years or more after Arthur’s death, first mentions “Artorius” as a leader in the 6th-century battles against Anglo-Saxon invaders.

For centuries, oral poets in Wales celebrated their legendary hero Arthur just as Anglo-Saxon scops celebrated Beowulf. Then, about 1135, the monk Geoffrey of Monmouthproduced a Latin “history” based on old Welsh legends. Geoffrey’s book caught the fancy of French, German, and English writers, who soon created their own versions of the legends, updating them to reflect then-current notions of chivalry. While the traditional tales focused on Arthur himself and on his courage and success in battle, these new romances used Arthur and his court as a backdrop for stories about knights who go through trials and perform great feats—often (influenced by the idea of courtly love) in the service of a lady.

Literary History Lancelot and Guinevere A 12th-century Frenchman, Chretien de Troyes, was inspired by the stories of the passion between Lancelot and Guinevere. He was one of the first to tell of their romance. Over the course of a century, scribes copied his stories and changes were introduced. Scholars believe that the element of romance in the stories is rightly attributed to Chretien, as when Lancelot, while riding his horse, finds a comb with a few golden hairs and nearly faints with emotion upon finding that the comb belongs to Guinevere.
About 1375, an anonymous English poet wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, recounting the marvelous adventures of a knight of Arthur’s court who faces a series of extraordinary challenges. Exciting, suspenseful, and peopled by an array of memorable characters, from the mysterious green giant who survives beheading to the all-too-human Sir Gawain, the 2,500-line poem is easy to imagine as a favorite of troubadors and their audiences.

A century later, in Le Morte d’Arthur, Sir Thomas Maloryretold a number of the French Arthurian tales in Middle English. Despite its title, which means “The Death of Arthur,” Malory’s book includes many episodes in the life of the legendary king and is considered a precursor to the modern novel. Oddly enough, it was printed just weeks before the final battle in the Wars of the Roses,the last English battle ever fought by knights in armor. Fittingly then, the literary fall of Camelot coincided with the real-life end of chivalry—and the end of the Middle Ages as well.

 

 

Reading from Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory   So [Arthur and Merlin] rode till they came to a lake, the which was a fair water and broad, and in the midst of the lake Arthur was ware of an arm clothed in white samite, that held a fair sword in that hand. Lo! said Merlin, yonder is that sword that I spake of. With that they saw a damosel going upon the lake. What damosel is that? said Arthur. That is the Lady of the Lake, said Merlin; and within that lake is a rock, and therein is as fair a place as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this damosel will come to you anon, and then speak ye fair to her that she will give you that sword. Anon withal came the damosel unto Arthur, and saluted him, and he her again. Damosel, said Arthur, what sword is that, that yonder the arm holdeth above the water? I would it were mine, for I have no sword. Sir Arthur, king, said the damosel, that sword is mine, and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall have it. By my faith, said Arthur, I will give you what gift ye will ask. Well! said the damosel, go ye into yonder barge, and row yourself to the sword, and take it and the scabbard with you, and I will ask my gift when I see my time. So Sir Arthur and Merlin alit and tied their horses to two trees, and so they went into the ship, and when they came to the sword that the hand held, Sir Arthur took it up by the handles, and took it with him, and the arm and the hand went under the water.
Reading Check How would you compare medieval knights with Anglo-Saxon warriors?

 


The Age of Chaucer

The Age of Chaucer • Geoffrey Chaucer is “the father of English literature.” • Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales reflected his society and led to an appreciation for English as a literary language. • Ballads are narrative songs relating the lives of common folk.
The most famous writer of medieval times, “the father of English literature,” was Geoffrey Chaucer,a poet who demonstrated the potential of English as a literary language. Drawing on sources as diverse as French poetry, English songs, Greek classics, contemporary Italian tales, and Aesop’s fables, Chaucer masterfully blended old with new, all in the natural rhythms of Middle English, the spoken language of the time.

The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s best-known work, displays his ability as a storyteller, his keen sense of humor, and his sharp eye for detail. A collection of tales ranging from irreverent to inspirational, it is held together by a frame storyabout a group of pilgrims who pass time on their journey to the shrine of Thomas à Becket by telling stories. The pilgrims’ characters are revealed through the stories they tell and their reactions to one another’s tales. Though Chaucer apparently intended to have each of the 30 pilgrims tell 4 stories apiece, he died having completed only 24 of the tales.

Chaucer lived during a time of change and turmoil in England. He was born just a few years after the outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War and was still a small child when the bubonic plague hit Europe. The Black Death, as it was known, greatly reduced the population, which led to a shortage of laborers. In turn, serfs realized their new value and left the land to work in towns and on neighboring estates. This shift led to the decline of feudalism and the growth of a new middle class, to which Chaucer’s family belonged. In addition, the war with France had spurred the re-emergence of the English language among the ruling class. With its cast of characters ranging across British society, from the “perfect gentle Knight” to a common miller, and its use of everyday English rather than elevated Latin or French, The Canterbury Tales reflected all of these developments.

Chaucer was not the only poet of his time to compose in English or to write about ordinary people; William Langlanddid both in his masterpiece Piers Plowman, as did writers of the popular balladsof the day—narrative songs telling of the lives of common folks or of characters and events from folklore. The combination of Chaucer’s literary gifts and social status, however, led to a new appreciation of English as a language that, while useful in everyday life, was elegant and poetic as well.


Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1367


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