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1. Chapter One The Anglo-Saxon
Period (450
——
1066)
1. Historical
background
The Celts
?
〉
the Brythons.
The Iron Age.
The ceremonies
of May Day and the cult of mistletoe.
From 55 BC to 407 AD
, the
Roman Empire, a slave society.
London
was founded.
Little influence on the
cultural life of the Celts,
Town with
names ending in “chester” or “caster”.
De Bello Gallico
by
Julius Caesar
and
Germania
by
Publius Cornelius
Tacitus
450 AD, the Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes.
“angul” means a
hook; “seax” means a short sw
ord.
Around 500 AD,
the Celtic
King Arthur
fought against
Cerdic, the
founder of the
kingdom of Wessex
. Camelot, King
Arthur’s capital.
Later 8th, the Danes, or the Vikings.
King Alfred the Great of Wessex
(849-899)
Harold, the last
Saxon King
?
〉
William the
Duke of Normandy
.
597,
Pope
Gregory
the
Great
sent
St.
Augustine
to
England
and
the
first
converted king was King Ethelbert of
Kent.
2. Northumbrian
School and Wessex
literature
——
two highlights
in the
development of the Anglo-Saxon
literature.
Monasteries and abbeys in
the kingdom of Northumbria.
Caedmon
in the 7th turned
the stories in the Bible into verse
form
——
Paraphrase
.
Inspired by God.
The Venerable
Bede
(673-735), wrote in Latin
The Ecclesiastical
History
of the English People
from Caesar to
731. It was Bede who told
about the
story of Caedmon.
The
reign of King Alfred (871-899)
First,
Latin
books
into
West
Saxon
dialect.
It
is
said
that
King
Alfred
translated the
history of Bede.
Second, the launching
of
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle
, from Caesar’s
conquest to
1154
.
Third, created a style of Anglo-Saxon
prose which was not obscure.
3. Anglo-Saxon poetry
The
earliest is
Widsith
and the
last is
Maldon
.
Beowulf
As early
as the 6th in oral form
Written down in
the 8th.
The manuscript preserved dates
back to the 10th and in Wessex dialect.
One datable fact in the poem is a raid
on the Franks by Gelac in 520.
3183
lines.
Danish King Hrothgar built a hall
called Heorot
.
Grendel for
12 years.
Beowulf, nephew to King
Hygelac of the Geats. With 14 companions.
Hrothgar's friend Aeschere killed by
Grendel's mother.
Killing Grendel’s
mother with a magic sword in the cave.
One of the 12 companions, Wiglaf,
helped Beowulf kill the dragon.
Physical strength demonstrates his high
spiritual qualities.
A mixture of
paganism and Christian elements.
Old English Poetry:
1. The
technical structure:
1)
Every
line
consists
of
two
clearly
separated
half
lines
between
which
is
a
caesura
.
The
two parts of the line are united by
alliteration
,
a
form of initial rhyme, which is the repetition of
the same sound or
sounds
at
the
beginning
of
two
or
more
words
that
are
next
to
or
close
to each other.
2)
Every
half line consists of two
feet
and each foot is made
up of an
accented syllable
and a varying number of unaccented
syllables
.
3)
Generally there are
3
alliterations per line
, two in the
first half
line and one on the first
foot of the second half line.
2.
The
scop
also
used
a
figurative
language
called
“
kenning
”,
a
metaphor
usually composed of two words, which
becomes the formula of a special
object: “helmet bearer” for
“warrior.”
3.
The
use of repetition and variation
. Same
idea expressed more than once by
synonyms.
PS:
第
4
頁第
2
段
第
3
行經
Word
自動更正提示以及維基百科確認，
“Ecclesiatical”為印刷錯誤，應
為“Ecclesiastical”。
2. Chapter Two The Norman
Period (1066-1350)
1.
Historical background
1066, the battle
of Hastings
The Normans, also
descendants of Scandinavian marauders, having
seized
a wide part of northern France.
Accelerated the feudalism in England.
Large tracts of land by the king,
barons, knights and the church.
A
peasant uprising in
1381
.
2. Middle
English
For 3 centuries after the
Norman conquest, two languages were used side
by side in England:
Latin
and French
.
Words and
expressions from Latin and French and Greek in the
14th.
Inflectional forms dropped and
grammar simplified.
3.
Religious literature
The issue of
personal salvation.
Moral and spiritual
responsibilities of individual rather than his
ethical and social responsibilities.
Conventional theme: homiletic
paraphrases of the Gospels
4. Romance and
the influence of French literature
Through French literature the
introduction of Italian literature.
Chief
breeding
ground
was
the
aristocratic
society
in
France
in
the
12th
and
early 13th and was introduced into England in the
second half of the
13th and the 14th.
In subject matters,
romance naturally falls under three categories.
1)
The
matter
of
France
:
the
exploits
of
Charlemagne
the
Great
and
Roland,
a national hero in the 8th,
Chanson de Roland
.
2) The matter of
Rome
: Alexander the Great
and the siege of Troy.
3) The matter of
Britain
:
the
Arthurian legend
, Sir Gawain,
Launcelot,
Merlin, the Holy Grail, the
death of King Arthur.
Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight
Written about 1375-1400.
About 2500 lines.
Four
“
fyttes
”.
Green Chapel
First
day,
a
deer;
second
day,
a
boar;
the
third
day
a
fox.
A
girdle
.
—〉
the Order of Garter
A true knight should not
only dedicate himself to the church but also
should
possess
the
virtues
of
great
courage,
of
fidelity
to
his
promise,
and of physical
chastity and purity.
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