1.1.古英语时期文学

Old English Literature

(A.D.600-about A.D.1100)

1.Historial background of this period and the evolution of the English language

1. Historical background of this period and the evolution of the English language

Britain, the biggest of the British Isles, was originally inhabited by primitive Celtic tribes known as Britons. During this period, Britain was successively invaded by peoples from varying languages and cultures. Major invasions were made by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons，and the Normans.

Roman Invasion

In A.D.43, the Romans landed in Britain and made South Britain a Roman province. People in Britain had to pay tributes or taxes to the Roman Empire. But they still kept their language (Celtic) and their customs. The Romans ruled Britain for almost four centuries. In A.D.410, when the Roman Empire was declining, all the Roman troops went back to the continent to join the civil war there and never returned.

Anglo-Saxon Invasion

From the middle of the fifth century (A.D.449), three Teutonic groups (Angles. Saxons and Jutes) invaded the island from the regions of Denmark and the Low Countries (Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg). The Celts were driven westward to Wales and Cornwall. From the Anglo-Saxon conquerors came the name ‘England’ and ‘English’.

The early Anglo-Saxons were heathen people. In A.D. 579, the Pope sent a Christian mission under Augustine from Rome. The missionaries were very aggressive and succeeded in converting English people to Christianity. By the end of the 7th century, all England had been Christianized.

Early Anglo-Saxons spoke a language, which belongs to the Germanic language family and which is called Old English today. It is spoken from about A.D.600 to about 1100.

Danish Invasion (from the late 8th century)

Norman Conquest

After the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066, English as a language of a subjugated people underwent tremendous changes through contact with Norman French. The forwarding of stress brought about the loss of some of the old inflections. And the English vocabulary was gradually enlarged by borrowing and assimilating thousands of French, Latin and Greek words and words from many other languages.

The English language had entered the second stage by 1100— Middle English (1100-1500), in its evolution from old English to modern English (from 1500 onward).

2.Old English literature

2.1. Old English Poetry

Much of the Old English poetry was intended to be chanted, with harp accompaniment, by Anglo-Saxon bard. Generally speaking, all the old English poetry that has survived can be divided into two groups: the religious and the secular.

2.1.1 The religious group

The religious group of poetry is mainly on biblical themes or on saints’ lives. Among them are Genesis A and Genesis B. Genesis B is concerned with the beginning of the world and the fall of the angels. It is a short piece of writing; the poet has thoroughly enjoyed describing God’s punishment of Satan and the place of punishment for evil in hell. Most of the long Genesis A is dull and little more than old history taken from the Bible and put into poor old English verse. Another poem taken straight from the bible is the well-written Exodus, which describes how the Israelites left Egypt

2.1.2 The secular group

In addition to these religious compositions, old English poets produced the national epic and a number of lyrical poem of short length, which do not contain specific Christian doctrines and which evoke the Anglo-Saxon sense of the harshness of circumstances and the sadness of human lot.

Beowulf is the first great English literary work and is regarded today as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. I t is a folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from their continental homes. It had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds years before it was written down in the tenth century. The name of its author is unknown.

Synopsis of Beowulf

Beowulf is not about England, but about Hrothgar, King of the Danes, and about a brave young man, Beowulf, from southern Sweden, who goes to help him. His great hall, called Heorot, built for big gatherings and feasts with his followers, has been laid waste for twelve years by a monster named Grendel, which lives in a lake and comes to kill and eat Hrothgar’s men at night. One night Beowulf waits secretly for this thing, attacks it and in a fierce fight pulls its arm off.

It is mortally wounded and manages to reach the lake again, but dies there. Then its mother comes to the hall in search of revenge, and the attacks begin again. Beowulf followed her to the bottom of the lake and kills her there. In later days Beowulf, now king of his people, has to defend his country against a fire-breathing dragon. He kills the animal but is badly wounded in the fight, and dies. The poem ends with a sorrowful description of Beowulf’s funeral fire.

Stylistic features of Beowulf

Alegdon tha tomiddes maerne theoden

Haeleth hiofende hlaford leofne

Ongunnon tha on beorge bael-fyra maest

Wigend weccan wuwu-rec astah

Sweart ofer swiothole swogende leg

Wope bewunden

The sorrowing soldiers then laid the glorious prince, their dear lord, in the middle. Then on the hill the war-men began to light the greatest of funeral fires. The wood-smoke rose black above the flames, the noisy fire, mixed with sorrowful cries.

From the few lines above, we can see that:

Each half line has two main beats.

There is no rhyme. Instead, each half line is joined to the other by alliteration.

Things are described indirectly and in combinations of words. For instance, a ship is not only a ship; it is a sea-goer, a sea-boat, a sea-wood, or a wave floater. If the poet wants to say that the ship sailed away, he may say “the ship, the sea-goer, the wave floater set out, started its journey and set forth over the sea, over the ocean-streams, over the waves.”

4. As is known, the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized by the end of the 7th century. At that time few but monks could read and write, the earliest English books were written down by them. But as the monks hated the heathen books, they managed to tinge them with some Christian color which does not go in with the content of the whole thing.

Major themes

1.This epic presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world represented by Grendel, his mother and the fire-breathing dragon under the wise and mighty leader.