Writers from the Old English period

Writers from the Old English period

Ælfric (955?-1020?) [Dark Ages] A monk of the late Old English period who wrote prolifically, often on linguistic matters. Apart from his Catholic Homilies and Lives of the Saints we have a Latin grammar with glossary which was compiled in English. His Colloquium was intended to improve knowledge of Latin among his pupils. Ælfric worked as a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Winchester and later at Eynsham (near Oxford) where he became abbot around 1006.

Alfred, King (849-899) [Dark Ages] The most famous of Old English kings, called ‘Alfred the Great’. He was a West-Saxon and assumed the leadership of his community in 871 and was immediately confronted by difficult military engagements with the Vikings who were pressing south. Alfred was also concerned with the reform of monastic life and had a number of translations made which are importants monuments of (early West-Saxon) Old English.

Bede, The Venerable (673?-735) [Dark Ages] English monk and historian. Bede was born in Northumbria and became a monk at Jarrow where he remained for the remainder of his life. Bede is known to posterity as the author of Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ‘Ecclesiastical history of the English people’ which is the main historical source for the Old English period. He was an accurate and reliable observer and compiler of historical information and it is to him that we know of when and how the initial Germanic invasion of Britain took place.

The Origin Of English Video

When we talk about ‘English’, we often think of it as a single language. But what do the dialects spoken in dozens of countries around the world have in common with each other, or with the writings of Chaucer? Claire Bowern traces the language from the present day back to its ancient roots, showing how English has evolved through generations of speakers.

The Origins of the Old English

The Origin Of the Old English

Old English is one of the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. It was spoken, and written, in England before about 1100AD. It is sometimes referred to as Anglo-Saxon.

There were four distinct dialects of Old English: Northumbrian, Mercia, Kentish and West-Saxon. This is known through differences in spelling. After 900AD West-Saxon became widely used as a standard written language, and is sometimes referred to as 'Classic West-Saxon'.

Two stages of the West-Saxon dialect can be distinguished - early West Saxon (eWS), which is the language of the time of King Alfred (c. 900), and late West Saxon (lWS), which is seen in the works of Ælfric (c. 1000). The most important difference is that in eWS ie and īe appear in lWS texts as y and ŷ (for example, eWS fierd becomes fyrd in lWS). Another is that ea may be spelt e in lWS (for example, eWS scēap becomes scēp in lWS).

According to Tacitus the West Germanic people were divided into three major tribal groups: Ingvaeones, Istvaeones, Erminones. It is not clear what these groups corresponded to, but they mark out some important geographical distributions that correspond to later dialect groups.


This whole issue of word origins is very difficult as Latin, the Germanic tongues, Old English (derived from Germanic), and the Celtic tongues are all ultimately derived from a common Indo-European root, and are cognates (related). This can easily be demonstrated by looking (for example) at the words I, me, is, brother, ten.

Old English, New Influences

 

EDSITEment's introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature

June 14, 2011 | By Aia Hussein

From https://www.neh.gov/news/old-english-new-influences

 

Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature – of which the best-known example is the epic poem Beowulf – flourished from the sixth century CE until the Norman Conquest. But its influence persists today in many contemporary fantasy works of which J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and J. K. Rowling’s wildly popular Harry Potter series are perhaps the most recognizable. One need only scan the shelves at a local bookstore or note the continued popularity of contemporary medievalist fantasy dramas to know that the old world of the Anglo-Saxon literary tradition, with its fire-breathing dragons and unique poetic form, continues as part of mainstream popular culture.

 

As one of the first literary scholars to write seriously on the monsters of Beowulf in his seminal work “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” J. R. R. Tolkien understood well the effects of Anglo-Saxon literature on the modern imagination. A number of Anglo-Saxon themes and motifs appear in his Lord of the Rings trilogy and many of the character and place names in the mythological world of his novels are derived from Old English. For example, the root word searu-, which means "treachery” or “cunning,” appears in the name Saruman – whom devoted Tolkien fans will recognize as a major antagonist in the fantasy novels; and the Old English word for earth, middan-geard, becomes Middle-earth, the aptly-named fantasy world of the novels.

Less overt, but no less interesting, is the apparent influence of Anglo-Saxon literature on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Harry’s fierce battle with the Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire recalls another mighty confrontation between man and dragon as described in Beowulf.

Undoubtedly functioning as one literary influence among many, Anglo-Saxon literature is most apparent in Rowling’s use of words like “deathday” – an annual celebration of a ghost’s death as opposed to birth – which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary is derived from the Old English word deothdeage. Similarly, “grindylow” – the name of an underwater species that attacks Harry during the Triwizard Tournament – may be derived from the name of one of Beowulf’s antagonists whose home is also underwater, Grendel.

There are countless other literary works that could be analyzed for their Anglo-Saxon inspiration, demonstrating that critical study of the language continues to be both interesting and relevant. This it’s a fragment of the riddle 4 of Beowulf

My gown is silent as I thread the seas,
Haunt old buildings or tread the land.
Sometimes my song-coat and the supple wind
Cradle me high over the homes of men,
And the power of clouds carries me
Windward over cities. Then my bright silks
Start to sing, whistle, roar,
Resound and ring, while I
Sail on untouched by earth and sea,
A spirit, ghost and guest, on wing.

 

 

Periods of English Literature

Periods of English literature

Old English: sixth through eleventh centuries

c. 410: Withdrawal of Roman legions

449 :Jutes arrive in Kent under Hengest

477 :First Saxon invasion (Sussex)

495 :Second Saxon invasion (Wessex)

537 :Death of King Arthur (resistance of Britons at an end)

547: Norwegian (Viking) colony in Northumbria

565 :St. Columba: Irish mission

597 :St. Augustine at Canterbury (Roman mission)

664 :Synod of Whitby eighth century Mercia (Midlands) predominant among seven kingdoms (Northumbria, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Wessex)

802: Egbert of Wessex rules over Essex, Kent, Sussex

866 :Danish "Great Army" (Vikings) lands in East Anglia and occupies Northumbria and Mercia as well

871 :Alfred the Great King of Wessex (d. 899)

878: boundary to Danelaw between London and Chester tenth century English forces re-occupy Danelaw

c. 990: another Danish invasion in the south (Sweyn)

1016: Canute, son of Sweyn, king of England

1042 :Death of Canute´s son; Edward the Confessor

1066: Death of Edward the Confessor; Harold (queen´s brother) defeats the Norwegian invaders at Battle of Stamford Bridge (near York), but is defeated himself in the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror (Normandy).

Quiz

1. During the Old English Period, who invaded Britannia (Great Britain)?
A. The Jutes
B. The Angles and the Saxons
C. All of These
D. The Danes / Scandinavians


2. Who was the legendary literary figure said to have resisted the Germanic invaders/mercenaries?

A. Hrothgar
B. Alfred the Great
C. King Arthur
D. Joseph of Arimethea


3. For many years, there was no native literature in England. What changed that?
A. The Romans established schools of literacy
B. The island became largely Christian
C. The Germanic invaders brought a literary tradition
D. The Druids recorded their religious histories


4. Whose "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" recounts the story of the Church in England?
A. St. Jerome's
B. Venerable Bede's
C. St. Augustine's
D. King Ethelbert's


5. What Old English poem tells the story of resistance against a Scandinavian raid?
A. The Battle of Maldon
B. Beowulf
C. Caedmon's Hymn
D. The Dream of the Rood


6. What king of the West Saxons supported literature, even translating Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy"?
A. King Henry
B. King Alfred
C. King Ethelbert
D. King Arthur


7. Bede tells the story of an unlearned cowherd who instituted a school of Christian poetry. Who was he?
A. Hrothgar
B. Caedmon
C. Beowulf
D. Heglac


8. The author who wrote down "Beowulf" was probably a:
A. Christian
B. Roman Pagan
C. Celtic Pagan
D. Danish Pagan


9. Who is "the young hero" of the poem "The Dream of the Rood"?
A. Hrothgar
B. Beowulf
C. Jesus Christ
D. King Arthur


10. Which of the following is an example of a kenning?
A. Swift sword
B. Triumph-tree
C. Keel
D. Wyrd

11. Where does this quote come from? "Then middle-earth, mankind's Guardian, eternal Lord, afterwards made."
A. The Lord of the Rings
B. The Battle of Maldon
C. Beowulf
D. Caedmon's Hymn


12. From what work does this quote come? "Wonderful was the triumph-tree, and I stained with sins, wounded with wrongdoings."
A. Beowulf
B. The Wanderer
C. The Battle of Maldon
D. The Dream of the Rood


13. What work begins, "Yes, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes' kings in the old days--how the princes of that people did brave deeds."
A. The Dream of the Rood
B. Beowulf
C. The Battle of Maldon
D. The Wanderer


14. What work contains the characters Birhtnoth and Ethelred?
A. Beowulf
B. The Wanderer
C. The Dream of the Rood
D. The Battle of Maldon


15. In "Beowulf," what is wergild?
A. Fate
B. Whale-road
C. Monster
D. Blood-price

Poetry

Old English poetry falls broadly into two styles or fields of reference, the heroic Germanic and the Christian. Almost all Old English poets are anonymous.

Although there are Anglo-Saxon discourses on Latin prosody, the rules of Old English verse are understood only through modern analysis of the extant texts. The first widely accepted theory was constructed by Eduard Sievers (1893), who distinguished five distinct alliterative patterns. His system of alliterative verseis based on accent, alliteration, the quantity of vowels, and patterns of syllabic accentuation. It consists of five permutations on a base verse scheme; any one of the five types can be used in any verse. The system was inherited from and exists in one form or another in all of the older Germanic languages. Two poetic figures commonly found in Old English poetry are the kenning, an often formulaic phrase that describes one thing in terms of another (e.g. in Beowulf, the sea is called the whale road) and litotes, a dramatic understatement employed by the author for ironic effect. Alternative theories have been proposed, such as the theory of John C.