ANGLO NORMAN or MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (1100-1500)

Introduction: In the tenth century Anglo-Norman conquered a part of northern France, which is still called Normandy, and rapidly adopted French civilization and the French vernacular. The Normans, who were residing in Normandy (France) defeated the Anglo-Saxon King at the Battle of Hastings (1066) and conquered England. They brought with them law, culture the prestige of success, and above all the strong impulse to share in the great world’s work and to join in the moving currents of the world’s history.

Social Setup: The conquest affected a wholesome awakening of national life. The people were suddenly inspired by a new vision of a greater future. So rapidly did they adopt and improve the Roman civilization of the natives that, from a rude tribe of heathen Vikings, they had developed within a single country into the most polished and intellectual people. The will power and energy of the one, the eager curiosity and vivid imagination of the other. When these Norman-French people appeared in Anglo-Saxon England they brought with them three noteworthy things; 1) a lively Celtic disposition, 2) a vigorous and progressive Latin civilization, and 3) a Romance language for mankind.

Literary Features: The foreign types of literature introduced after the Norman Conquest. The French literature of the Norman period is interesting chiefly. English thought for centuries to come was largely fashioned in the manner of the French. Love, chivalry and religion all pervaded by the spirit of romance. In England this metrical system came in contact with the uneven lines, the strong accent and alliteration of the native songs. The poetry of the Anglo-Norman period has nothing in common the Anglo-Saxon poetry. The most obvious change in literary expression appears in the vehicle employed. In spite of the English language having been thrown into the background, some works were composed in it, though they echoed in the main the sentiments and tastes of the French writers, as French then was the supreme arbiter of European literary style. The most popular form of literature during the Middle English period was the romances. These romances are notable for their stories rather than their poetry. The romances were mostly borrowed from Latin and French sources. In the Middle English period Miracle plays became very popular, in these plays the growth and development of the Bible stories, scene by scene, carried to its logical conclusion. Another form of drama which flourished during the Middle Ages was the Morality plays, in these plays the uniform theme is the struggle between the powers of good and evil for the mastery of the soul of man.

Historical Event: The battle of Hasting (1066) between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman in which the king of Anglo-Saxon “Harold” was defeated by the King of Anglo-Norman “William”, became master of England. The completion changed the civilization of a whole nation. The Normans were the first to bring the culture and the practical ideas of Roman civilization home to the English people. Second, they forced upon England the national idea, that is, a strong, centralized government to replace the loose authority of a Saxon chief over his tribesmen. Third, they brought to England the wealth of a new vernacular and literature, and English gradually absorbed both. French became the language of the upper classes, of courts and schools and literature.

Writers:

1.    Chaucer (1340-1400): Chaucer was the real founder of English poetry and he is rightly called the “Father of English Poetry”. Chaucer’s poetry has been read and enjoyed continuously from his own day to this. His education as a poet was two-fold. Chaucer made a fresh beginning in English literature. Chaucer works fall into three periods. During the first period he imitated French models. The poems of the second period (1373-84) show the influence of Italian literature. And Chaucer’s third period (1384-90) may be called the English period because in it he threw off foreign influence and showed native originality. Chaucer’s importance in the development of English literature is very great because he removed poetry from the region of Metaphysics and Theology, and made it hold as “twere the mirror up to nature”. After Chaucer there was a decline in English poetry for about one hundred years.

The most famous and characteristics work of Chaucer is the Canterbury Tales, which is the collection of stories related by the pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales is a landmark in the history of English poetry.

2.    John Gower (1325-1408): Gower occupies an important place in the development of English poetry. Gower represents the English culmination of that courtly medieval poetry which had its rise in France two or three hundred years before. He was a great stylist and he proved that English might compete with the other languages which had most distinguished themselves in poetry. Though Gower was inferior to Chaucer. Gower, like Chaucer, performed the function of establishing the form of English as a thoroughly equipped medium of literature. Gower is mainly a narrative poet and his most important work is Confession Amantis, which is in the form of conversation between the poet and a divine interpreter.

3.    William Langland: One of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages was William Langland. In spite of its archaic style, it is a classical work in English literature. He represents the dissatisfaction of the lower and the more thinking classes of English society. Although the Langland is essentially a satiric poet, he has decided views on political and social questions. The feudal system in his ideal and he is intensely real.

·        Famous Work: A Vision of Piers the Plowman.

4.    John Wycliffe (1324-1384): Wycliffe, as a man, is by far the most powerful English figure of the fourteenth century. Though a university man and profound scholar, he sides with Langland. His great work which earned him his title of ‘father of English prose’, is the translation of the Bible. His translation of the Bible was slowly copied all over England. Because of his prose English was established in the homes of the common people.

ANGLO-SAXON (670-1100)

Introduction: The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the initial settlement of British history. It includes the recreation of an English Nation. The earliest phase of English Literature started with Anglo-Saxon literature of the Angles and Saxon (the ancestors of the English race) much before they occupied Britain, they lived along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark. They belonged to Germanic Tribes. The land which they occupied in Britain was called “Engle-land”. They first landed in Engle-land in the middle of the fifth century and by 670 A.D. they had occupied almost the whole of the country. These tribes were fearless, adventurous and brave. Like other nations they sang at their feasts about battle, gods and their ancestral heroes. It was in these songs of religion, wars and agriculture.

Social Setup: Anglo-Saxon community was basically the rural one, where primary all classes of society lived on the land and the top of the social system was the royal house. The main division in Anglo-Saxon was between slaves and free. Slavery was an important part of the Anglo-Saxon economy. These varied at different times and in different areas, but the most prominent ranks within free society were the king, the nobleman and the ordinary freeman. They were pagan and catholic but conversion to Christianity took place mainly during the seventh & eight centuries. Feasts and festivals were very popular among the pagans, and despite religious reforms of the Christian church. When the Germanic tribes migrated from the continent, they brought with them a well-developed legal system. The hundred courts were the lowest echelon of the judiciary system. As there were no jails or prison officers, there were only three options when passing sentence: fines, mutilation, or death. A men’s life was more than his work; his dream was ever greater than his achievement. The five slogans or principles of Anglo-Saxon’s society were;

1.    Love of personal freedom

2.    Responsiveness to nature

3.    Religion

4.    Love for womanhood

5.    Struggle for glory.

All these principles are reflected in their literature. They were full of emotions and aspirations, and loved music and songs. 

Literary Features: Old English is not uniform. It consists of various dialects, but literature needs to treat it as a language. Anglo-Saxon speeches were poor and ordinary. They were leading to the introduction of Latin literacy and to the founding of monasteries as centers of learning and culture. They also initiated a plan of educational reform which focused on the production of manuscript written in English rather than Latin. Legal documents written in Latin but boundary clauses written in Old English. Medical texts were written in both languages. About 30,000 lines of Old English poetry survive, representing a range of genres including elegies, heroic verse, love poetry, dream vision, narrative, religious poetry and riddles. A smaller amount of poetry survives in other sources, including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where some of the entries are in verse rather than prose. Their language is only a branch of the great Aryan or Indo-European family of languages. Modern English is a form of Anglo-Saxon literature.

Historical Events: In 731A.D. Bede completed his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. In 878 A.D. Alfred the Great is driven into the Somerset marshes, but then defeats the Danes at Edington. In 891 A.D. Earliest manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was written. In 924-39 A.D. Reign of Athelstan, generally acknowledged first King of England. In 960 A.D. Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. The Anglo-Saxon Kings, of whom Alfred the Great was the most prominent, ruled till 1066 A.D and defeated by the Anglo-Norman in the battle of Hasting. 

There are few famous writers of Anglo-Saxon Period. 

1. CAEDMON: He was the earliest Old English Christian poet whose name is known. His date of birth was unknown but he died in between 670-680 A.D. The greatest work attributed to Caedmon is the so-called Paraphrase, and his name is still associated with it. Though we have Bede’s assurance that Caedmon ‘transformed the whole course of Bible history into most delightful poetry’. According to Bede, Caedmon became the founder of school of Christian poetry and the he was the first to use the traditional metre diction for Christian religious poetry. His fragmentary hymn to the creation remains a symbol of the adaptation of the aristocratic-heroic Anglo-Saxon verse tradition to the expression of Christian themes. His story is known from Bede’s History of the English People, which tells how Caedmon, an illiterate herdsman, retired from company one night in shame because he could not comply with the demand made of each guest to sing. Then in a dream a stranger appeared commanding him to sing of “the beginning of things,” and the herdsman found himself uttering “verses which he had never heard.” When Caedmon awoke he related his dream to the farm bailiff under whom he worked and was conducted by him to the monastery at Streaneshalch (now called Whitby). The abbess St. Hilda believed that Caedmon was divinely inspired and, to test his powers, proposed that he should render into verse a portion of sacred history, which the monks explained. By the following morning he had fulfilled the task. At the request of the abbess he became an inmate of the monastery. Throughout the remainder of his life his more learned brethren expounded Scripture to him, and all that he heard he reproduced in vernacular poetry. All of his poetry was on sacred themes, and its unvarying aim was to turn men from sin to righteousness. In spite of all the poetic renderings that Caedmon supposedly made, however, it is only the original dream hymn of nine historically precious, but poetically uninspired, lines that can be attributed to him with confidence. The hymn—extant in 17 manuscripts, some in the poet’s Northumbrian dialect, and some in other Old English dialects—set the pattern for almost the whole art of Anglo-Saxon verse. 
2. ALDHELM (639-709): He was a Latin poet and scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Aldhelm of Malmesbury has been described as 'the first English man of letters'. He was the first Germanic author to compose extensively in Latin metrical verse, and his Latin works were amongst the most influential in Anglo-Saxon England. Aldhelm can also be considered the best-read of Anglo-Saxon poets, in both senses of the phrase: he read most and was most read. The figure and work of Aldhelm is used as an example of how Anglo-Saxon poets often occupied a luminal position between Latinate and Germanic culture. His surviving works include a small collection of letters on various topics, a long treatise on Latin verse composition. Aldhelm is perhaps best known for his prose style. His studies included Roman law, astronomy, mathematics, and difficulties of the calendar. Aldhelm was appointed in 675 A.D. to be first abbot of Malmesbury and later bishop of Sherborne. Aldhelm's innovations in Latin verse technique are emphasized, in particular his special debt to the specific techniques of Old English vernacular verse. Famouse work: Prose; De Laude Virginitatis, Poetry; Carmen de Virginitatis. 
3. BEDE (637-735): The Venerable Bede, as he is generally called, first great scholar and “the father of English learning”, wrote almost exclusively in Latin. His books and the stories of his gentle and heroic life from the history of literature. His works, over forty in number, covered the whole human knowledge in his day. In all strictly historical matters Bede is a model. His most important work for us is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, it is a fascinating history to read even now. His last work, the translation of the Gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon, having been unfortunately lost.
4. CYNEWULF: Cynewulf, the greatest poet of Anglo-Saxon. Cynewulf (late 8th or 9th century) was identified, not certainly, but probably, with a Cynewulf who was Bishop of Lindisfarne and lived in the middle of the eighth century. He was a wandering singer or poet who lived a gay and secular life. Finally, after a dream in which he had a vision of the Holy Rood, he changed his life, became a religious poet, sang of Christ, the apostles, and the saints. His work represents an advance in culture upon the more primitive Caedmonian poems.
5. ALFRED (849-901): Alfred played an important role in this literary movement. He surrounded himself with scholars and learned men. He began to translate the works which seemed to him most apt to civilize his people. In this way he became the father of English prose-writers. He translated Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the Angles. Much more important, and among the best of Alfred's works, is the version of Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiae.