THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. VENERABLE BEDE AND CAEDMON AND JTER MEDIEVAL POETS. PRINCIPLES OF VERSIFICATION.

The glory of the beginning of the English literature belongs to the North rather than the South.(Angles, rather than Saxons). At the beginning of the 7^th century Northumbria gained a supreme position which was not entirely lost for two centuries. It was in Northumbria that Bedecreated his “Ecclesiastical history of the English people”. It was written in Latin. Bede was brought up under the best influences of time. Benedict, a founde of the monastery where Bede dwelled traveled to Rome and brought with him books, pictures, costly relics and teachers. Scholars consider his “history” the finest historical work of the early Middle Ages. It one of the main sourses of the English history up to his time.

Cadmanwas a poet. He never wrote himself because he was illiterate and was put down by Bede.

Now we must praise heaven-keepers Warden.

The Makers might and his mood-thought.

The work of glory father as he of every wonder

Eternal land formed the beginning.

He first shaped for earth’s children

Heaven for roof Holy shaper

Then mid-earth, Mankind’s Warden

Eternal Lord afterward produced for men the Earth.

The ruler Almighty

His Hymnhas all the characteristic features of medieval verse. Alliteration - in every line. Abrupt lines, more like interjections. The absence of connecting particles. Periphrasis, repetition of the same idea in various phrases. 3 lines are about God’s making the Earth , three lines are about Earth itself. The str-re is symmetrical. Jazzy quality.

There are several works that are ascribed to Cademan. The works can be summed up as presenting 1. the creation of man. 2. The fall of the Angels and man. 3. later history of the death of Abraham. 4. the descend of Christ into heaven. The mastery of the works is remarkable. They display much imagination

Anglo-Saxon Literature(the 7th-11th centuries)

The culture of the early Britons changed greatly under the influence of Christianity. Christianity penetrated into the British Isles in the 3rd century. It was made the Roman national faith in the year 306 when Constantine the Great became emperor over the whole of the Roman Empire. The religion was called the Catholic Church. The Greek and Latin languages became the languages of the Church all over Europe. At the end of the 4th century, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Britain was conquered by Germanic tribes. They were pagans. They persecuted the British Christians and put many of them to death or drove them away to Wales and Ireland. At the end of the 6th century monks came from Rome to Britain again with the purpose to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. The monasteries where the art of reading and writing was practised became the centres of almost all the learning and education in the country. No wonder many poets and writers imitated those Latin books about the early Christians, and they also made up many stories of their own about saints.

In 617 – Edwin came to become a King. Mercian, Saxons and Britons submitted to him. Peace over England – time for literature to develope. 673 – Benedict (Bede) – the founder of monasteries, he brought books to his country and teachers (Latin). He wrote his works in Latin. His greatest work – Ecclesiastic history of the English people. The manuscript contain beautiful pictures. This … spoke of the introductionary of Christianity. He described the country and the people of his time in his work The History of the English Church. 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", Another outstanding figure in English history and literature was Alfred the Great (849-901), the king of Wessex. Though he was a soldier he fought no wars except those in order to defend his country. He also made up a code of law. He tried to develop the culture of his people. He founded the first English public school for young men. He translated the Church-history of Bode from Latin into a language the people could understand, and a portion of the Bible as well. To him the English owe the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which may be called the first history of England, the first prose in English literature. It was continued for 250 years after the death of Alfred, till the reign of Henry II in 1154.

A poet appeared in the 7th century by the name of Caedmon who wrote in Latin and Anglo-Saxon. He was a shepherd, who started singing verses and became a poet. Later monks took him to a monastery where he made up religious poetry. He wrote a poem —the Paraphrase. It tells part of a Bible-story.

Date: 2016-01-05; view: 2178