Module 2: Old English Literature
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Old English Literature
Poetry
There are two types of Old English poetry: the heroic, the sources of which are pre-Christian Germanic myth, history, and custom; and the Christian. Although nearly all Old English poetry is preserved in only four manuscripts—indicating that what has survived is not necessarily the best or most representative—much of it is of high literary quality. Moreover, Old English heroic poetry is the earliest extant in all of Germanic literature. It is thus the nearest we can come to the oral pagan literature of Germanic culture, and is also of inestimable value as a source of knowledge about many aspects of Germanic society. The 7th-century work known as Widsith is one of the earliest Old English poems, and thus is of particular historic and linguistic interest.
Beowulf, a complete epic, is the oldest surviving Germanic epic as well as the longest and most important poem in Old English. It originated as a pagan saga transmitted orally from one generation to the next; court poets known as scops were the bearers of tribal history and tradition. The version of Beowulf that is extant was composed by a Christian poet, probably early in the 8th cent. However, intermittent Christian themes found in the epic, although affecting in themselves, are not integrated into the essentially pagan tale. The epic celebrates the hero's fearless and bloody struggles against monsters and extols courage, honor, and loyalty as the chief virtues in a world of brutal force.
The elegiac theme, a strong undercurrent in Beowulf, is central to Deor, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and other poems. In these works, a happy past is contrasted with a precarious and desolate present. The Finnsburgh fragment, The Battle of Maldon, and The Battle of Brunanburh, which are all based on historical episodes, mainly celebrate great heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. In this heroic poetry, all of which is anonymous, greatness is measured less by victory than by perfect loyalty and courage in extremity.
Much of the Old English Christian poetry is marked by the simple belief of a relatively unsophisticated Christianity; the names of two authors are known. Cædmon —whose story is charmingly told by the Venerable Bede, who also records a few lines of his poetry—is the earliest known English poet. Although the body of his work has been lost, the school of Cædmon is responsible for poetic narrative versions of biblical stories, the most dramatic of which is probably Genesis B. Cynewulf, a later poet, signed the poems Elene, Juliana, and The Fates of the Apostles; no more is known of him. The finest poem of the school of Cynewulf is The Dream of the Rood, the first known example of the dream vision, a genre later popular in Middle English literature. Other Old English poems include various riddles, charms (magic cures, pagan in origin), saints' lives, gnomic poetry, and other Christian and heroic verse.
The verse form for Old English poetry is an alliterative line of four stressed syllables and an unfixed number of unstressed syllables broken by a caesura and arranged in one of several patterns. Lines are conventionally end-stopped and unrhymed. The form lends itself to narrative; there is no lyric poetry in Old English. A stylistic feature in this heroic poetry is the kenning, a figurative phrase, often a metaphorical compound, used as a synonym for a simple noun, e.g., the repeated use of the phrases whale-road for sea and twilight-spoiler for dragon (see Old Norse literature ).
Prose
Old English literary prose dates from the latter part of the Anglo-Saxon period. Prose was written in Latin before the reign of King Alfred (reigned 871–99), who worked to revitalize English culture after the devastating Danish invasions ended. As hardly anyone could read Latin, Alfred translated or had translated the most important Latin texts. He also encouraged writing in the vernacular. Didactic, devotional, and informative prose was written, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, probably begun in Alfred's time as an historical record, continued for over three centuries. Two preeminent Old English prose writers were Ælfric, Abbot of Eynsham, and his contemporary Wulfstan, Archbishop of York. Their sermons (written in the late 10th or early 11th cent.) set a standard for homiletics.
A great deal of Latin prose and poetry was written during the Anglo-Saxon period. Of historic as well as literary interest, it provides an excellent record of the founding and early development of the church in England and reflects the introduction and early influence there of Latin-European culture.
Overview
A large number of manuscripts remain from the Anglo-Saxon period, with most written during the last 300 years (9th to 11th centuries), in both Latin and the vernacular.
Old English literature began, in written form, as a practical necessity in the aftermath of the Danish invasions—-church officials were concerned that because of the drop in Latin literacy no one could read their work. Likewise King Alfred the Great (849-899), wanting to restore English culture, lamented the poor state of Latin education:
So general was [educational] decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could...translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe there were not many beyond the Humber
—Pastoral Care, introduction
Alfred the Great proposed that students be educated in Old English, and those who excelled would go on to learn Latin. In this way many of the texts that have survived are typical teaching and student-oriented texts.
The bulk of the prose literature is historical or religious in nature. There were considerable losses of manuscripts as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Scholarly study of the language began in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I when Matthew Parker and others obtained whatever manuscripts they could.
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The Anglo Saxons and the Jutes, of Germany bring among them their language, paganism and their district warrior traditions as they invades the Roman colony of Britain in the fifth and sixth century. The Anglo Saxons are fierce and adventurous people with the fonaness of war and love for the blue sea. Their manliness, heroism and hard toil are exhibited in Anglo Saxon heroic poetry. Here we come across a generally elevated elevating, and male centered literature, one which lays stress on the virtues of a tribal community, on the ties of loyalty between lord and liegeman, on the significance of individual heroism, and on the powerful sway of ‘wyrd’ or fate.
Beowulf is an epic narrative celebrating the achievements of a hero. The poet narrator is anonymous and knows that his story is of a pagan type where the characters reflect pagan virtues and pre-Christian attitude to the outside world. The storyline of Beowulf in built around great fights with monsters who come in between the narrative by intruding themselves into accounts of human celebration and community. Hrothgar, the king of Danes, builds a wonderful court at Heorot where at every night there is feast and merry making. But there is a sinister and grotesque order of creatures bent on finishing off both king and court. Monster Grendel under the cover of the dark night intrudes into the court and kils the warriors. These things continues for long fifteen years. Then it is Beowulf the hero who accosts the abominable predator Grendel, challenges him, inflicts the fatal blow to the intruder and drives him back to his lair in the wilderness and kills him. There is euphoria and jubilations over the triumph of Beowulf over Grendel, the malevolent monster. But soon Grendel’s mother wants to average her son’s death and mounts a new attack on Heorot. Beowulf chases her into her watery retreat along with his followers. Running through uninhabitable deserts, empty fons, and black sea cliff, he ultimately kills the she monster. After taming the unsafe, cold wild world of beasts, the inheritence of the out cast, the exile and the out sider, Beowulf gets honours and rewards in his homeland. He later becomes the king of Gates and rules for many years. In his old age, Beowulf once again wages a fight for great cause but his ‘wyrd’ (fate) plays a grand and tragic irony. Beowulf is betrayed by his own followers except one to whom ‘Death is better for Warrior than a woeful life shame’. Beowulf is fatally wounded and dies a death of an epical hero.
Beowulf is a saga of primitive race-their values, moxals, loyalty, sacrifice, fearlessness, courtesy, tolerance and heroism. It is an experience of primitive people marching towards a civilized people.
We find the reflection of social and military fidelity in Beowulf in other old English literature. The Battle of Maldon or The Death of Byrthnoth is a terrific battle fought between the Essex nobleman Byrthnoth and a pirate party of Vikings. It is an older epic style and examine the stresses and strains innate in the heroic mode of action. Byrthnoth is great and brave but a rash warrior. He achieves martyrdom by losing his life and those of his vassals for the sake of his liege – lord king Ethelred and his nation.
The Fight at Fimsburg, a fragment of only fifty lines is a spirited account of fighting and brings out the fierce struggle and heroism in whom blood – lust is yet very strong.
In another poem Judith we have only the end of it, but that, giving in some 350 lines the slaughter of Holoferness by Judith and the Triumph of the Jews, is the most interesting part of the story.
The Anglo – Saxon heroic poems are vivid description of the battles and struggles, yet, they are allegorical in the inner interpretation to the fight between good and evil, between humanity and the destructive forces and the Wyrd or forces of nature. The imageries in of artistry and poetic inspirations for the English poets of next generations.
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A large number of manuscripts remain from the Anglo-Saxon period, with most written during the last 300 years (9th to 11th centuries), in both Latin and the vernacular.
Old English literature began, in written form, as a practical necessity in the aftermath of the Danish invasions—-church officials were concerned that because of the drop in Latin literacy no one could read their work. Likewise King Alfred the Great (849-899), wanting to restore English culture, lamented the poor state of Latin education:
So general was [educational] decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could...translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe there were not many beyond the Humber
—Pastoral Care, introduction
Alfred the Great proposed that students be educated in Old English, and those who excelled would go on to learn Latin. In this way many of the texts that have survived are typical teaching and student-oriented texts.
The bulk of the prose literature is historical or religious in nature. There were considerable losses of manuscripts as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. Scholarly study of the language began in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I when Matthew Parker and others obtained whatever manuscripts they could.
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