English, Literature and National Identity

Answer: Onion
Middle English The most famous poem in Middle rbury Tales. Here is a section from the beginning, describing the reason for the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.
Humpty Dumpty Sat on A Wall
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king‟s horses and All the king‟s men Cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again
The spread of empire from 1600 to 1900 saw the
spread of the English language to North America, Australasia, India and west and south Africa. To run an empire you need a literate commercial and administrative class. Education becomes important. But in the education received by the aristocratic, ruling class in the 1600s and the 1700s it was Classical Literature and the languages of Latin and Greek that constituted the literature and languages that marked out an „educated man‟.
Early Modern English
Shakespeare‟s plays come from this early modern
period. But at the time a more well known book across the country was Foxe‟s Book of Martyrs [1563] This was a widely circulated account of the persecution of Protestants and combined a plain account in modern English with woodcut illustrations showing martyrs being put to death. It helped shape a modern non-conformist British identity. Men and women would die for their beliefs.
Modern English [1500s to present]
Foxe‟s Book of Martyrs [1563]
BRITISH EMPIRE MAP 1897
Empire and the spread of English
Part two English in Schools and Universities: English Literature and National Identity
Alice Through the Looking-Glass [1872]
Or , as Shakespeare has Juliet say in Romeo and Juliet
Juliet What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title Romeo and Juliet [1597] Act II Scene II
gathers pace in the early 19th century and triggers debates about literacy and the need for an educated working class. 2.State education begins in 1870 precisely because Britain‟s great rival, Germany, has state education and is successful economically. 3.The birth of subject English in English universities in the late nineteenth century
And specially from every shires ende Of engelond to caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke Modern English version And specially from every shire‟s end of England, to Canterbury they go [wende], the holy blissful martyr to find, who has helped them when they were sick.
English, Literature and National Identity
DR ROBIN PEEL PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY UNITED KINGDOM
Part one What is „English‟ and „English Literature‟?
We might say that „English‟ is the language and
Homer and the literature of Ancient Greece
The nineteenth century and the emergence of state education
1.The industrial revolution begins in England. It
Shakespeare and Henry V
And you, good yeoman, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not; For there is none of you so mean and base, That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' | Henry V Act 3, Scene 1]
Old English , also known as Anglo Saxon
Exeter Cathedral contains an Anglo Saxon volume
known as the Exeter Book.
Old English or Anglo- Saxon
Riddle 25 Old English Ic eom wunderlicu wiht wifum on hyhteneahbuendum nyt; næ gum sceþ þ eburgsittendra nymthe bonan anum.Staþ ol min is steapheah stonde ic on beddeneoð an ruh nathwæ r. Neþ eð hwilumful cyrtenu ceorles dohtormodwlonc meowle þ æ t heo on mec griperæ seð mec on reodne reafath min heafodfegeð mec on fæ sten. Feleþ sonamines gemotes seo þ e mec nearwað wif wundenlocc. Wæ t bið þ æ t eage. Modern English I am a wondrous creature for women in expectation, a service for neighbours. I harm none of the citizens except my slayer alone. My stem is erect, I stand up in bed, hairy somewhere down below. A very comely peasant's daughter, dares sometimes, proud maiden, that she grips at me, attacks me in my redness, plunders my head, confines me in a stronghold, feels my encounter directly, woman with braided hair. Wet be that eye.