Old English Literature - History of English literature - Part -1

 Old English Literature - History of English Literature - Part 1

It is the first article of the new series, History of English literature. In this series, we will talk about all the literary ages of English literature from old age to the modern age. And, as usual, our topic starts with here, Old English literature. 

This old English period falls under the period of 450-1150 (as per the Oxford University). However, there include two parts of that period. The first one is called Anglo Saxon Period and the other one is the Anglo-Norman Period. We will discuss in detail all of the two periods in the next section and also see the main context. 

Historical Background: Before going to know about the literature of the then time, first we should have the idea of historical events and contexts of that time. There was a time when Celtic people lived there. ‘Celt’ was a tribe who also known as Britons. Many scholars believed that here is the source of the name ‘Britain’. However, Roman Emperor Claudius occupied Britain in 43 AD. Then, Roman rule started. After a long time, particularly in 410 AD, the departure of the Romans made lawlessness in Britain and helped the invaders to attack from the North. 

However, one thing to know about that whenever Britain got attacked by the invaders or any tribe, it mostly occurred in the North. After some years, three Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) occupied Britain and started to rule over. For this reason, it is called the Anglo Saxon Period. Among these, the Angles were the most powerful tribe in Britain, and by the name (Angle’s land), the name England takes birth in the future. As they were tribes, so they were Pagans( i.e- who have no particular religion and worship more than one god, called pagan). 

But, after some years this Paganism started to convert into Christianism as a result of St. Augustine’s Christian mission at Canterbury in 597 AD. There was no such historical event in England until 1066 AD when king Harold was defeated by William I of Normandy. This battle is called The Battle of Hastings or The Norman Conquest. From this, the Anglo-Norman Period begins. 

Poetry: Before the written form of poetry, there was a time when the oral tradition was there. And for that reason, many of old English poetry had not survived. However, those were survived, are now in four manuscripts. And the names are - 1. The Beowulf MS, 2. The Junius MS, 3. The Exeter Book and 4. The Vercelli Book. 

We can see the divisions of the poetry of the old English period as - Heroic, Religious, and Elegies. 

The heroic poem means a poem where we can find Heroism which means a supernatural or mythical character as a hero or the villain. Here, the hero’s character is described with the light of Bravery, Honesty, and Truthfulness. These types of poems are generally found as long narratives and sometimes we can say epic as well. 

Eg. Beowulf, The Battle of Maldon falls under this section. 

Religious poems are generally found in addressing or preaching about the connection between God and Mankind. And, a pattern of serving God is always present there in any kind of religious poem. This type of poem was written after 597 AD. 

Eg. The Dream of the Rood, Genesis, Exodus, are belonged to this genre. 

Elegy was also present in old English literature. Elegy means the lamentation of any kind of separation from some near one or dear one. And it was very much different from the previous two categories. 

Eg. The Ruin, Deor’s Lament, The Seafarer, and The Wanderer are splendid examples of this type of poem. 

Prose: In that time, there were neither novels nor drama. The only thing, we find that some Latin and Biblical translations in prose format. And most of the works were done after the arrival of Alfred the Great as a king. Alfred had played a crucial role in writing those translations and sometimes he included on it. However, we find also the name of Aelfric and Wulfstan in that period. Besides this, there was the Anglo Saxon Chronicle which belonged to that period. 

Literary Characteristics: 

1. Anonymous: The first characteristic of old English literature is that most of the works were unnamed and anonymously written. If we discard the prose pieces, then most of the poetry falls under anonymous origins.
2. Narratorial feature: Another feature is the narratorial one. In that time, most of the literary works especially the poems generally dealt with the first-person narrative. As a result, the reader or the hearer can relate directly with the narratorial ‘I’. Mainly we see this feature in Caedmon’s Hymn. 
3. Alliteration: Alliteration is one type of poetic device where we find repeated words or sounds in a text. So, many of the poems were alliterative in the old English period. And, many scholars think it is a product of an ancient oral tradition of the bards.
4. Subject Matter: Another property of old English verse lies in its subject matter. There was no such popular love poem or writing romances. Religion, War, Heroism, Trials of daily life were the main theme we find in old English writings.