ENGLISH 2201
The Middle Ages
Old English/Anglo-Saxon period
o
Latin and old English
1066 official breaking point between old English and middle
English conquest period
Norman Conquest, Battle of Hastings, William of
Normandy spoke French (language of power)
Middle English Period
o
Latin, French, and middle English
Pre Conquest England
Authors of old English into word play (Riddles & Kennings)
o
Kennings
Language-Bearers (89)
“He will come again to this middle-earth” (104)
Beowulf- “ring givers” and “peace weavers”
“The wanderer”- hardscape (earth-trader)
8/26 Riddles & Kennings
Riddle- a form of wordplay
o
Associative logic
Metonymy: Wall Street, the bench (the judge)
Synecdoche: wheels- car
Metaphor: love=battlefield
Logic dictated by culture
Kennings-
o
Compound word phrase “ring-giver”
o
A substitute label for another simple noun “ring-giver” = “king”
o
A style of circumlocution or “speaking around”
MAKE A KENNING FOR NEXT WEEK. BE SPECIFIC.
8/29 Middle Ages
*
What languages were spoken and written in the pre conquest period Latin
and old English*
Monastic culture
o
“Rule” (St. Benedict)
o
Chastity- poverty- obedience
Prayer-meditation-labor
“Reading and writing “Opus Dei” (Gods Work)
o
all by hand, done by scribes
Lindisfarne (monastery)
Lindisfarne Gospels
o
Ducks
o
Interlacing changes point of views (ex game of
thrones, thrillers)
Book of Kills 9
th
c
o
Manuscript Culture
Vellum, Parchment- from sheep or cattle
“hands” & abbreviations
expensive
Pre Conquest literature
o
Latin
History
Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English people 731
AD (*Latin)
Conversion of England
Life on earth is compared to a sparrow??
Whitby Abbey
o
Abbess Hild- ruled double monastery
Theology
Moral and religious writings
Lives of saints
o
Old English
History
Moral and religious writings
Poetry
o
Preserve the earliest known poem in old English
“Caedmon’s hymn”
o
Half line alliteration
o
“Dream of the Rood”
Earliest English example of the “dream
vision”
Framed narrative
Story of the dreamer
Story of the cross
Surreal imagery
Cinematic imagination
Transformations
Cross
“Warrior”/Christ
Dreamer
Elegies
o
“Ubi sunt”. “where are they”
o
About loss
Loss of friends
Loss of community
Loss of a loved one
Loss of a civilization
Loss of self
o
Causes
Death
Sickness
Passage of time
War
Natural disaster
o
“The Wanderer”
The speaker
All his friends are dead, life as he
knows it is gone, everyone is gone
Reflects on own situation
The human condition
Ubi Sunt
Everything passes away
Resolution
Personal and real description of
loss, speaker is a warrior, only
survivor
Worldly
Spiritual
Riddles
Narratives about old testament heroes, Christ, apostles,
saints
o
Beowulf (Elegy)
Anthology of monsters
Epic disappointment?
Iliad
Aeneid
Nibelungenlied
Norse sagas
Subjects
Gods
Men & arms
War
Dranes
Hrothgar
Wealhteow
Unferth
Hrotholf
Geats
Beowulf & more
“In the dark nights”
Grendel
o
Glowing eyes, steely nails,
bigger than any man
