Vybrané kapitoly z britské literatury
Mengel – 1st lecture and seminar •Latin literature(the Roman monks Christianising the country): •saints' legends •chronicles(what happened in that time - a factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence) •prayersetc. 2)the mountains offered shelter, the mountains become the new homes of the people who were pushed back by • Who is still Gaelic-speaking? o Ireland o Wales o Scotland o mountainous parts
Beowulf Old English poemBeowulf, heroic epic of3182 long lines- from 8th century, but only later manuscripts esp. from 10th century: • the only long epic poem, a story of about 3,000 lines • the first English epic (the story in poetry of the adventures of a brave man or men) • the name of the author is unknown •1st line broken into parts by gaps called ceasura •alliteration– repetition at the beginning •kennings– figures of speech that described entities in decorative way (bantus = bone house = human body) • manyapproaches– can be read as a myth, territorial history of settings, outlook into the future • full of monsters, dragons – unreal for our century, however, earlier monsters were real for people • is at the beginning ofheroic tradition MY NOTES ▪Beowulf –about Danes, aristocrats, the leaders of the people, about lineage ▪Man is responsible for fighting the enemy. ▪World of hard values(courage, aristocratic descent, who is the best warrior?) ▪The story displays a fight between a monster and a warrior. ▪Angles, Saxons and Jutes brought this story over to the England with them, the story was set in the place they came from (Denmark, southern tip of Sweden) ▪1st they spread it orally, then some people took them down and then they were printed (15th century) ▪A relique of literature – Beowulf – very valuable piece of literature ▪Beowulf – a bear ▪Value system– is an aristocratic one, it is a male value system, women were just for pleasure?, very physical word, you had to be strong, have a sword ▪usually, the courage was inherited by the son (from the father), ▪fighting, wars, conflicts, conflicts between neighbouring countries, sequence of wars ▪aristocrat – is the best warrior
▪IS IT STILL THE SAME? Look at English House of Elizabeth and the princes (Andrew – rotten to the core in aristocratic houses) ▪Language- shows “alliteration”, which is very well-done – e.g. while waging the warfare – alliteration, interior rhyme – consonants rhyme internally ▪it creates the rhyme - the rhythm is flowing, very artistic language is used OLD NOTES FROM PREVIOUS STUDENTS: • set outside British Isles, in Denmark where German tribes live • not about England, but aboutHrothgar, the King of the Danes, and about a brave young man,Beowulf, from southern Sweden who goes to help him (Hrothgar is in trouble) • his great hall, calledHeorot, is visited at night by a terrible creature,Grendel , which lives in a lake and comes to kill and eat Hrothgar’s men • one night Beowulf waits secretly for the creature, attacks it, and in a fierce fight pulls its arm off; the creature manages to get to the lake again, but dies there • then its mother comes to the great hall in the search of revenge and the attack begins again • Beowulf follows her to the bottom of the lake and kills her there • in later day, Beowulf, now the king of his people, has to defend his country against a fire-breathing creature — he kills the animal but is badly wounded in the fight, and dies
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