Thursday, October 15, 2009

English literature, medieval

In medieval England (12th–15th century), the ascendancy of Norman-French culture in the post-Conquest era, followed by the re-emergence of native English works – by such authors as Chaucer, Langland, and Malory, and numerous anonymous authors, – marked the Middle English period of English literature. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, more lay people were literate, and the Paston Letters form one of the first records of one family's ordinary lives. These, together with a growing number of financial and legal records, sermons, chronicles, poems, and charters, form the basis of modern historical knowledge of the period.

Although the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle continued to be written until 1154, with the arrival of a Norman ruling class at the end of the 11th century, the ascendancy of Norman-French in cultural life began, and it was not until the 13th century that English literature regained its strength. Prose was concerned chiefly with popular devotional use, but verse emerged typically in the metrical chronicles, such as Layamon's Brut, and the numerous romances based on the stories of Charlemagne, the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, and the classical episodes of Troy, derived from Homer's Iliad (c. 700 BC).

First of the great English poets was Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), whose early work reflected the formality of the predominant French influence, but later the realism of Renaissance Italy. Of purely native inspiration was the medieval alliterative poem Piers Plowman (1367–86) by William Langland, and the anonymous Pearl, Patience, and Gawayne and the Grene Knight. Chaucer remained unmatched in the period, although the poet John Skelton was one of Chaucer's more original successors; the first secular morality play in English, Magnyfycence (1516), was written by Skelton. More successful were the anonymous authors of songs and carols, and of the ballads, which often formed a complete cycle, such as those concerned with the outlaw Robin Hood. Many stories were carried by travelling minstrels. Drama flourished in the form of mystery plays and morality plays. Prose reached new heights in the 15th century with Thomas Malory's retelling of the Arthurian legends in Le Morte d'Arthur (c. 1470).

Literature-Study

Welcome to Literature-study-online, a site dedicated to the study and enjoyment of English literature. The site has grown from my own enthusiasm for reading and studying literature. I hope you find it useful. You are welcome to participate by using the forum. Throughout the site, the Bookshop links are intended to assist anyone wishing to find or purchase books. The Google search boxes will help you search this site, or the web.

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Kids and Teens: School Time: English: Literature

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Start with:
Literary Resources on the Net
"This set of pages is a collection of links to sites on the
Internet dealing especially with English and American literature, excluding single electronic texts, and is limited to collections
of information useful to academics."
Maintained by Jack Lynch.

Open Directory: British Literature - (dead link)
A large collection of online resources with short descriptions.

Voice of the Shuttle:English Literature
"...includes works written in English taught in departments of English and American literature. Some authors are also cross-listed under separate national, regional, or ethnic categories (e.g., "Irish," "Australian," "Afro-American") on the Other Literatures Written in English and Minority Literatures pages...The "Voice of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Research" is woven by Alan Liu

Continue with:
Andrew Moore's Teaching Resource Site
"...contains resources for teachers and students of English language and literature, as well as basic information about how to acquire skills in ICT and Internet technologies."
By Andrew Moore, Teacher, School Improvement Service of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Ben Johnson (1572-1637)
By Anniina Jokinen

Bibliography on 18th Century English Studies
By Carole Meyers

The British Library

Calls for Papers
"This page is a bulletin board of calls for papers for scholarly conferences, anthologies and journals in a variety of fields often connected with English departments."
From EServer

Celebration of Women Writers
"...provides a comprehensive listing of links to biographical and bibliographical information about women writers, and complete published books written by women."
Edited by Mary Mark Ockerbloom

Chorus- Resource for Academic & Educational Computing in the Humanities
"...an international "meta-resource" exploring and supporting the use of new media in the arts and humanities. It includes a general reviews section and several topical sections featuring reviews, original research, bibliographies, annotated links and Shockwave demonstrations."
College Writing Programs, UC Berkeley

EIRData
Princes Grace Irish Library (Monaco) Electronic Irish Records Dataset
"An A-Z reference guide to 4,380 Irish writers in all historical periods ; A complete list of Irish-subject publications since 1990 ; An up-to-date Bulletin of Irish Conferences & Cultural Events ... and much, much more."

English Language and Literature Resources
Maintained by Judy Reynolds, San Jose State University Library

English Literature Resources
Sections include: E-texts ; General English Literature sites ; English Literature Links sites ; Sites about specific authors ; Contemporary writing.
Created to accompany the London School of Journalism's English Literature Distance Learning Course.

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    "These English Literature essays are not necessarily directly related to our English Literature Distance Learning course, but are intended to provide background reading for our English Literature students and anyone else studying English Literature. Contributions are welcomed. Visitors are also invited to send comments on the essays to be added to a forthcoming Comments page

English Literature: Early 17th Century (1603-1660)
A well organized and beautiful site.
By Anniins Jokinen

English Literature and Religion
"The main feature of this Web site is a large bibliographical database about religious aspects and backgrounds of English literature, from the Middle Ages to the present century, with primary (though not exclusive) emphasis upon writers within the Anglican tradition."
By William S. Peterson, Professor of English, University of Maryland, College Park

A Guide to Samuel Johnson
A general introduction
By Jack Lynch

Irish Literature, Mythology, Folklore, and Drama
In addition to online texts also includes History, Language, and Periodicals.
By Anniina Jokinen

Island Ireland: Irish Literature
"The following hand-picked links will take you to resources on Irish writing of all kinds, Irish poetry, useful academic organisations and more."

The Literary Gothic
The Premier Webguide to Gothic & Horror Lit Written Prior to 1950
"...is a Web guide to all things concerned with literary Gothicism, which includes ghost stories, "classic" Gothic novels and Gothic fiction (1764-1820), and related pre- and post-Gothic and supernaturalist literature written prior to the mid-C20.
By Jack G. Voller, Associate Professor of English, Southern Illinois University

Literary History
"...seeks to collect critical or explanatory web writings about American and British literature that will be of value for graduate students, scholars, teachers, college students, high school students, and other intrepid readers of literature. We specialize in critical articles and we index only free articles. We currently index articles on 41 major nineteenth century British authors and 142 twentieth century British and American authors."
By Jan Pridmore

Online Literary Criticism Collection - (dead link)
"The IPL Online Literary Criticism Collection contains 4745 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality [includes English Literature] and literary period."
From the Internet Public Library

Penguin Classics
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Scottish Authors - (dead link)
"The Gateway to Scottish Authors is an HTML version of the Scottish Library Association publication "Discovering Scottish Writers"...It contains all of the biographies of 80 Scottish authors from the past included in the original publication, with appropriate hyperlinked cross-references

Scottish Writers
"Novelists, poets and dramatists who were born or lived in Scotland."
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University of Toronto English Library
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Title Information

Title Information

A Concise Companion to Middle English Literature

This collection of essays on Middle English literature examines contextual issues that are key to the understanding and interpretation of a distinctive period of writing. The essays are unified around the concept that Middle English literature is ‘different’ from the literature of other periods in particular ways, and that it is this difference that makes it especially fascinating for readers. The resource offers readers who are approaching Middle English literature for the first time the information that they need to understand a period that is sometimes perceived to be arcane; but the incorporation of new material and insights makes the Concise Companion essential reading also for specialists in the field. Information about the period is tied throughout to the analysis of texts.

The collection integrates exploration of Chaucer's writings with consideration of his Middle English predecessors, contemporaries and successors. Often isolated from other Middle English writers, Chaucer is examined in the context of the period that he both typifies and subverts.

Cite this title

Corrie, Marilyn (ed). A Concise Companion to Middle English Literature. Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Blackwell Reference Online.

The Sea and Medieval English Literature

The Sea and Medieval English Literature

As the first cultural history of the sea in medieval English literature, this book traces premodern myths of insularity from their Old English beginnings to Shakespeare's Tempest. Beginning with a discussion of biblical, classical and pre-Conquest treatments of the sea, it investigates how such works as the Anglo-Norman Voyage of St Brendan, the Tristan romances, the chronicles of Matthew Paris, King Horn, Patience, The Book of Margery Kempe and The Libelle of Englyshe Polycye shape insular ideologies of Englishness. Whether it is Britain's privileged place in the geography of salvation or the political fiction of the idyllic island fortress, medieval English writers' myths of the sea betray their anxieties about their own insular identity; their texts call on maritime motifs to define England geographically and culturally against the presence of the sea. New insights from a range of fields, including jurisprudence, theology, the history of cartography and anthropology, are used to provide fresh readings of a wide range of both insular and continental writings.

SEBASTIAN I. SOBECKI is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at McGill University.

BIC class: CSBB

STATUS: Available
Details updated on 09/10/2009
Contents

Introduction

1

Traditions

2

Deserts and Forests in the Ocean

3

Almost beyond the World

4

Realms in Abeyance

5

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

6

A Thousand Furlongs of Sea

7

Epilogue: The Tempest's Many Beginnings

8

Bibliography

9

Index

Reviews
Engaging and groundbreaking. [...] Ultimately this work traverses languages, genres, and historical periods, and - much like the sea itself - it opens up many trajectories for future exploration. SPECULUM
Sobecki's impressive range of languages is worthy of mention, as is his clear and eminently readable prose. [...] this book offers a valuable range of impressions in its readings of the sea in medieval English literature, as well as an excellent survey of the theme as a whole. MEDIUM ÆVUM
The author is original both in his approach to early English, Latin, and French texts and in his intellectual adventurousness. [...] This book hence reveals uncommon intellectual curiosity. One looks forward to Sobecki's future work. MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW


Labyrinth Library (Old English Literature )

Poetry

Beowulf and Judith (British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.15)

The Junius Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 11)

The Exeter Book (Exeter, Cathedral Chapter Library, MS 3501)

The Vercelli Book (Vercelli, Cathedral Library, CXVII)

The Paris Psalter (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, 8824):

Index as List or as Table

The Meters of Boethius (British Library, Cotton Otho A.6)

Other Poems (Minor Poems)

Index of Poems In Alphabetical Order by Editorial Titles

About These Electronic Editions

--------------------

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Laws of Alfred and Ine

Wulfstan Sermo Lupi ad Anglos

The Tribal Hidage (with map)

Anglo-Saxon Charters Homepage

An Eleventh Century Anglo-Saxon Glossary

--------------------Ruthwell Cross Inscriptions (Trial Edition in HTML 3.0, with runes):


--------------------

The DILS Project: A database of liturgical manuscripts owned or written in Anglo-Saxon England prior to 1100, compiled and maintained by Sarah Keefer, Trent U.

--------------------

*Reference Works

The index to The Complete Corpus of Old English in Machine Readable Form, from the Dictionary of Old English Project, University of Toronto. Texts available from DOE, Toronto.

Anglo Saxon Studies: A Select Bibliography, by C.P. Biggam, U of Glasgow

Anglo Saxon Plant Name Survey, by C.P. Biggam, U of Glasgow

Bibliography of Beowulf Criticism, 1979-94, by Robert Hasenfratz, U.Connecticut

The Battle of Maldon Bibliography,by Wendy E. J. Collier

Anglo-Saxonists from the 16th through the 20th Century: A Bibliography of Scholars and Scholarship, by Carl Berkhout, U. Arizona

Anglo-Saxon History: A Select Bibliography, 3rd. ed., by Simon Keynes, Trinity College, Cambridge U

Anonymous Old English Homilies: A Preliminary Bibliography of Source Studies, by Janet Bately, King's College London

Verb Movement in Old and Middle English: Dialect Variation and Language Contact, by Anthony Kroch and Ann Taylor, U of Pennsylvania

--------------------

*Labyrinth Library Main Directory

*Anglo-Saxon Culture Resources




English Literature, 1500-1900

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Middle English literature

Middle English literature

Middle English literature, English literature of the medieval period, c.1100 to c.1500. See also English literature English literature, literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form.
..... Click the link for more information. and Anglo-Saxon literature Anglo-Saxon literature, the literary writings in Old English (see English language ), composed between c.650 and c.1100.

. Background

The Norman conquest of England in 1066 traditionally signifies the beginning of 200 years of the domination of French in English letters. French cultural dominance, moreover, was general in Europe at this time. French language and culture replaced English in polite court society and had lasting effects on English culture. But the native tradition survived, although little 13th-century, and even less 12th-century, vernacular literature is extant, since most of it was transmitted orally. Anglo-Saxon fragmented into several dialects and gradually evolved into Middle English, which, despite an admixture of French, is unquestionably English. By the mid-14th cent., Middle English had become the literary as well as the spoken language of England.

The Early Period

Several poems in early Middle English are extant. The Orrmulum Orrmulum or Ormulum (both: ôrm`y
..... Click the link for more information. (c.1200), a verse translation of parts of the Gospels, is of linguistic and prosodic rather than literary interest. Of approximately the same date, The Owl and the Nightingale Owl and the Nightingale, The, Middle English poem written probably by Nicholas de Guildford of Dorsetshire about the beginning of the 13th cent. Written in 2,000 lines of octosyllabic couplets, it describes a debate between the sober owl and the merry nightingale as
..... Click the link for more information.
(see separate article) is the first example in English of the débat, a popular continental form; in the poem, the owl, strictly monastic and didactic, and the nightingale, a free and amorous secular spirit, charmingly debate the virtues of their respective ways of life.

The Thirteenth Century

Middle English prose of the 13th cent. continued in the tradition of Anglo-Saxon prose—homiletic, didactic, and directed toward ordinary people rather than polite society. The "Katherine Group" (c.1200), comprising three saints' lives, is typical. The Ancren Riwle Ancren Riwle (äng`krĕn rē`
..... Click the link for more information. (c.1200) is a manual for prospective anchoresses; it was very popular, and it greatly influenced the prose of the 13th and 14th cent. The fact that there was no French prose tradition was very important to the preservation of the English prose tradition.

In the 13th cent. the romance romance [O.Fr.,=something written in the popular language, i.e., a Romance language ]. The roman of the Middle Ages was a form of chivalric and romantic literature widely diffused throughout Europe from the 11th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , an important continental narrative verse form, was introduced in England. It drew from three rich sources of character and adventure: the legends of Charlemagne, the legends of ancient Greece and Rome, and the British legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Layamon Layamon (lā`əmən, –mŏn, lī`–), fl. c.1200, first prominent Middle English poet.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Brut Brut, Brute (both: br
..... Click the link for more information. , a late 13th-century metrical romance (a translation from the French), marks the first appearance of Arthurian matter in English (see Arthurian legend Arthurian legend, the mass of legend, popular in medieval lore, concerning King Arthur of Britain and his knights.

Medieval Sources



The battle of Mt. Badon—in which, according to the Annales Cambriae (c.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Original English romances based upon indigenous material include King Horn King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French.
..... Click the link for more information. and Havelok the Dane Havelok the Dane, English 13th-century metrical romance. It concerns a prince brought up as a scullion, who, after discovering his true identity, wins the kingdoms of Denmark and England.
..... Click the link for more information. , both 13th-century works that retain elements of the Anglo-Saxon heroic tradition.

However, French romances, notably the Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes or Chrestien de Troyes (both: krātyăN` də trwä), fl.
..... Click the link for more information. , were far more influential than their English counterparts. In England French romances popularized ideas of adventure and heroism quite contrary to those of Anglo-Saxon heroic literature and were representative of wholly different values and tastes. Ideals of courtly love courtly love, philosophy of love and code of lovemaking that flourished in France and England during the Middle Ages. Although its origins are obscure, it probably derived from the works of Ovid, various Middle Eastern ideas popular at the time, and the songs of the
..... Click the link for more information. , together with its elaborate manners and rituals, replaced those of the heroic code; adventure and feats of courage were pursued for the sake of the knight's lady rather than for the sake of the hero's honor or the glory of his tribal king.

Continental verse forms based on metrics and rhyme replaced the Anglo-Saxon alliterative line in Middle English poetry (with the important exception of the 14th-century alliterative revival). Many French literary forms also became popular, among them the fabliau fabliau, plural fabliaux (both: fäblēō`)
..... Click the link for more information. ; the exemplum, or moral tale; the animal fable; and the dream vision. The continental allegorical tradition, which derived from classical literature, is exemplified by the Roman de la Rose Roman de la Rose, Le (lə rōmäN` də lä rōz), French poem of 22,000 lines in eight-syllable couplets.
..... Click the link for more information. , which had a strong impact on English literature.

Medieval works of literature often center on a popular rhetorical figure, such as the ubi sunt, which remarks on the inevitability—and sadness—of change, loss, and death; and the cursor mundi, which harps on the vanity of human grandeur. A 15,000-line 13th-century English poem, the Cursor Mundi, retells human history (i.e., the medieval version—biblical plus classical story) from the point of view its title implies.

A number of 13th-century secular and religious Middle English lyrics are extant, including the exuberant Sumer Is Icumen In Sumer Is Icumen In (s m`ər ĭs ēk
..... Click the link for more information. , but like Middle English literature in general, the lyric lyric, in ancient Greece, a poem accompanied by a musical instrument, usually a lyre. Although the word is still often used to refer to the songlike quality in poetry, it is more generally used to refer to any short poem that expresses a personal emotion, be it a
..... Click the link for more information. reached its fullest flower during the second half of the 14th cent. Lyrics continued popular in the 15th cent., from which time the ballad ballad, in literature, short, narrative poem usually relating a single, dramatic event. Two forms of the ballad are often distinguished—the folk ballad, dating from about the 12th cent., and the literary ballad, dating from the late 18th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. also dates.

The Fourteenth Century

The poetry of the alliterative revival (see alliteration alliteration (əlĭt'ərā`shən), the repetition of the same starting sound in several words of a sentence.
..... Click the link for more information. ), the unexplained reemergence of the Anglo-Saxon verse form in the 14th cent., includes some of the best poetry in Middle English. The Christian allegory The Pearl Pearl, The, one of four Middle English alliterative poems, all contained in a manuscript of c.1400, composed in the West Midland dialect, almost certainly by the same anonymous author, who flourished c.1370–1390.
..... Click the link for more information.
(see separate article) is a poem of great intricacy and sensibility that is meaningful on several symbolic levels. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by the same anonymous author, is also of high literary sophistication, and its intelligence, vividness, and symbolic interest render it possibly the finest Arthurian poem in English. Other important alliterative poems are the moral allegory Piers Plowman, attributed to William Langland Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor orders he never became a priest.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the alliterative Morte Arthur, which, like nearly all English poetry until the mid-14th cent., was anonymous.

The works of Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer, Geoffrey (jĕf`rē chô`sər), c.
..... Click the link for more information. mark the brilliant culmination of Middle English literature. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are stories told each other by pilgrims—who comprise a very colorful cross section of 14th-century English society—on their way to the shrine at Canterbury. The tales are cast into many different verse forms and genres and collectively explore virtually every significant medieval theme. Chaucer's wise and humane work also illuminates the full scope of medieval thought. Overshadowed by Chaucer but of some note are the works of John Gower Gower, John (gou`ər, gôr), 1330?–1408, English poet.
..... Click the link for more information. .

The Fifteenth Century

The 15th cent. is not distinguished in English letters, due in part to the social dislocation caused by the prolonged Wars of the Roses. Of the many 15th-century imitators of Chaucer the best-known are John Lydgate Lydgate, John (lĭd`gāt), c.1370–c.1450, English poet, a monk of Bury St. Edmunds.
..... Click the link for more information. and Thomas Hoccleve Hoccleve or Occleve, Thomas (hŏk`lēv, ŏk`–), c.1368–c.
..... Click the link for more information. . Other poets of the time include Stephen Hawes Hawes, Stephen, c.1475–1530, English poet. His best-known works, the two allegories Example of Virtue (1504?) and Pastime of Pleasure (1505?), use typically medieval conventions, but they differ from medieval allegory in their humanist emphasis on
..... Click the link for more information. and Alexander Barclay Barclay, Alexander (bär`klē, –klā), 1475?–1552, Scottish clergyman and poet.
..... Click the link for more information. and the Scots poets William Dunbar Dunbar, William, c.1460–c.1520, Scottish poet. After attending the Univ. of St. Andrews he was attached for some time to the Franciscans, probably as a novice. By 1491 he seems to have been connected with the court of James IV as a poet and minor diplomat.
..... Click the link for more information. , Robert Henryson Henryson, Robert, c.1425–c.1506, Scottish poet. It is thought that he was a schoolmaster at Dunfermline Abbey. His principal poem is The Testament of Cresseid, which was written as a harshly moral epilogue to Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Gawin Douglas Douglas, Gawin or Gavin (gä`wĭn, găv`ĭn)
..... Click the link for more information. . The poetry of John Skelton Skelton, John, 1460–1529, English poet and humanist. Tutor to Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), he later (c.1502) became rector of Diss, Norfolk. In 1512 he began to call himself royal orator, a position that may have been conferred by Henry VIII requiring that
..... Click the link for more information. , which is mostly satiric, combines medieval and Renaissance elements.

William Caxton Caxton, William, c.1421–91, English printer, the first to print books in English. He served apprenticeship as a mercer and from 1463 to 1469 was at Bruges as governor of the Merchants Adventurers in the Low Countries, serving as a diplomat for the English king.
..... Click the link for more information. introduced printing to England in 1475 and in 1485 printed Sir Thomas Malory Malory, Sir Thomas (măl`ərē), d. 1471, English author of Morte d'Arthur.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Morte d'Arthur. This prose work, written in the twilight of chivalry chivalry (shĭv`əlrē)
..... Click the link for more information. , casts the Arthurian tales into coherent form and views them with an awareness that they represent a vanishing way of life. The miracle play miracle play or mystery play, form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th cent., reaching its height in the 15th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , a long cycle of short plays based upon biblical episodes, was popular throughout the Middle Ages in England. The morality play morality play, form of medieval drama that developed in the late 14th cent. and flourished through the 16th cent. The characters in the morality were personifications of good and evil usually involved in a struggle for a man's soul.
..... Click the link for more information. , an allegorical drama centering on the struggle for man's soul, originated in the 15th cent. The finest of the genre is Everyman Everyman, late-15th-century English morality play. It is the counterpart of the Dutch play Elckerlijk; which of these anonymous plays is the original has been the subject of controversy.

Bibliography

See J. W. Wells, Manual of the Writings in Middle English (1916–51); R. M. Wilson, Early Middle English Literature (3d ed. 1968); M. Schlauch, English Medieval Literature and Its Social Foundation (1956, repr. 1971); J. A. Burrow, Medieval Writers and Their Work (1982).

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