Old English Period (3-4 5-6period) 古英语时期

Cynewulf 基涅武甫
Cynewulf: mythical figure
The finest poem: The Dream of the Rood 《十字架之梦》, the first known example of the dream vision, a genre later popular in Middle English literature. ―Christ‖: best known, didactic poem.
Chief Literary Achievements of the Period
Anglo-Saxon poetry
※ the bulk of A-S poetry extant is religious or Christian two Christian poets Caedmon Cynewulf
Beowulf
Characters 1/2
Beowulf: nephew of Higlac, king of the Geats.
Hrothgar: king of the Danes. Wiglaf: a Geat warrior, one of Beowulf’s select band and the only one to help him in his final fight with the dragon.
Beowulf: A Brief Introduction 1/3
In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the help of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall (Heorot) has been under attack by a being known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel’s mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus in Geatland.
The English Conquest (449-1066)--the Anglo-Saxon period
449 Traditional date for the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England. The forming of England (the land of Angles) people: English, language: Anglo-Saxon (Old English) Social condition: a transition from tribal society to feudalism
King Alfred the Great (Wessex)
Life story: traveling experience to cultural center of Europe, in 871 became the king of Wessex, fight against the Danes, strength his nation and gather many scholars, do translation together, died in 901.
Characters 2/2
Monsters
Grendel: man-eating monster who lives at the bottom of a foul mere, or mountain lake. Grendel’s mother: waterwitch who seeks revenge. Dragon: giant fire-breathing serpent whom Beowulf fights in Part Two of the epic.
Norman Conquest
1066 Battle of Hastings, the start of the Norman Conquest of England (1066–75). Duke William of Normandy was crowned king on October 14, 1066.
Old English Period 450-1066
Celtic inhabitation
Celtic tribes: Briton BC 400-300; earliest inhabitants in recorded history
Powerfully-built, fair-haired, tenacious ―Britain‖ ―the land of the Britons‖
Aelfric 埃尔弗里克
Chiefly religious in content, mainly some homilies. Translate in Anglo-Saxon of the first seven books of the Bible and wrote a treatise ―Concerning the Old and New Testament‖—a popular introduction to the contents of the Bible in old English. 其作品包括《天主教布道文集》，《圣徒传》 以 及拉丁语法。
The English Conquest (449-1066)--the Anglo-Saxon period
Religion: heathen Northern mythology After 597, St. Augustine, Christianized in the 7th century, written language
Beowulf: A Brief Introduction 2/2
It has a two-part structure (i.e., the poem is divided between Beowulf’s battles with Grendel and with the dragon) and the other, a three-part structure (this interpretation argues that Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s mother is structurally separate from his battle with Grendel).
Beowulf
a. the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons, the only surviving full-length heroic epic in Old English, 3,182 lines, written down around the 8th cent. Its author is anonymous. b. the story: legend of the warrior and the chieftain, a reflection of the ancient tribal society c. features: alliteration, Kenning, etc.
Caedmon 凯德蒙
Caedmon: the earliest known English poet (his story is charmingly told by the Venerable Bede). the first ―Hymn‖ ―Caedmonian poems‖ (anonymous authors): paraphrase of Bible— ―Genesis B‖.
Bede Alfred the Great Aelfric
Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede (672/673 –735)
Bede— “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People”
① published in Latin, translated into Anglo-Saxon by king Alfred in 891. ② Roman invasion to A.D.731, relates history from religious point of view and full of strange stories and miracles. ③ ―Father of English History‖
The Roman Conquest
(55B.C.- A.D. 410) 2/2
The Influence of Roman civilization:
introduction of the Roman mode of life and civilization: architecture, theatres, baths, streets, roads, walls, villas, engineering skills, the Roman law.
Myths and legends: the Ar百度文库hurian legends.
The Roman Conquest
(55B.C.－A.D. 410) 1/2
55 B.C. —407 Julius Caesar, slave systems.
but the first significant campaign of conquest did not begin until AD 43, in the reign of the Emperor Claudius. 410A.D. The end of Roman rule in Britain.
Alfred’s contributions to English Literature ① numerous translation from Latin ② rather free way in translation ③ the role he played in the launching of ―Anglo-Saxon Chronicle‖
The Danish Invasion
The Danes (787-849) Viking raid on the great monastery of Lindisfarne, first recorded major Viking raid in Britain. (793) King Alfred the Great (849-901) The Danes (1013-1043)--- expulsion, followed by the Normans
Other Old English poems
Other Old English poems include various riddles, charms, saints’ lives, gnomic poetry, and other Christian verse.
Prose: earliest in Latin