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Literature Study Guide Literary Movement

ANGLO- SAXON OR OLD ENGLISH

PERIOD ( 450-1050)

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE English Literature

ENGLISH LITERATURE BEFORE CHAUCER (450-1340)

ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD (450-1050)

The Beginnings: English literature began far back with the beginnings of the
history of the English people on the continent of Europe. It began with songs
and stories of a time when the Teutonic ancestors of English people were living
on the borders of the North Sea. The Jutes, Angles and Saxons, the three tribes
of these ancestors, conquered Britain in the latter half of the fifth century, and
laid the foundation of the English nation. The early settlers were pagans. The
Irish missionaries in the Northumbria area began to Christianise the pagan
English tribes. Thus, pagan or secular and Christian or religious elements
commingled in English temperament from the very beginning.

The early English literature is called the Anglo-Saxon period (450-1050) or the
Old English period.

I Anglo-Saxon Poetry
Anglo-Saxon poetry represents the temperament and character of their
creators, who were splendid warriors, great lovers of nature and were also
capable of profound emotions. The great and hidden life of the Anglo-Saxons
finds expression in all their literature. Their poetry is permeated with the spirit of
adventure; love of the sea and plunging boats, battles, brave deeds, the glory of
warriors and the love of home. It is earnest and somber. It contains fatalism and
deep religious feeling.

William J. Long remarks: "Briefly, it is summed up in five great principles,—their

love of personal freedom, their responsiveness to nature, their religion, their

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reverence for womanhood, and their struggle for glory as a ruling motive in
every noble life.”

The important works of this period are listed below:

1. Beowulf. It is the first Old English epic. It recounts the great deeds and death
of Beowulf. It is written on continental Germanic themes. The Angels brought
the story to England in the form of short songs about the hero. It was rewritten
in its present form by a poet of the eighth century, who imparted a few
Christian applications to a pagan story. The extant text is written in West Saxon
dialect.
The story of Beowulf is full of episodes and digressions. It narrates the heroic
adventures and exploits of the protagonist, Beowulf, who rids the Danish king
Hrothgar of a terrible monster Greta Beowulf also killed Grendel's mother. He
feasted with Hrothgar and returned to his native land. He became the king of
the Geatas. He was a great and successful ruler. After a prosperous reign of
about forty years he slew a firedrake who robbed and ravaged his country. In
the fight Beowulf died of the dragon's fiery breath. The poem closes with the
description of his burial:

Sad in mind
They complained of the sorrow of their hearts, the
death of their liege lord.

Beowulf has an abiding social interest. It describes the manners and customs of
the forefathers of Englishmen before they came to England.

W. H. Hudson remarks: "Vivid pictures of life in war and peace among our
remote forefathers add greatly to the value of a fine old poem."

It is also conspicuous for the description of the fierce aspects of nature. It

contains vivid character-drawing of men and women. The character portrayal of
the hero, both in his youth and in his age, is superb. It is also remarkable for the
poignant note of pathos which lends dignity to the entire poem.

The language of the poem is characterized with forcefulness, directness,

simplicity, expressiveness and precision. As the earliest poetic masterpiece in
Old English, its place in the literary history of England is immortal.

In the words of Stop ford A. Brooke: "The whole poem, Pagan as it is, is English
to its very root. It is sacred to us, our Genesis, the book of our origin."

2. Widsith. It consists of about 150 lines of verse. It is an account of the

wanderings of Widsith, a supposed wanderer. It also recounts the places and
people the hero had visited.

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3. Waldera. It consists of about sixty-three lines, which narrate some of the

exploits of Walter of Aquitaine. Its language is noticeable for vigor and power.
4. Miscellaneous Poems. Three poetical fragments The Fight at Finnsburh, The
Battle of Brunaburh and The Battle of Maldon — have little literary importance.
They are important only historically.
5. The Exeter Book. It contains seven short elegies of abiding human interest.
They are Ruin, the Wanderer, the Seafarer, the Wife's Complaint, the Husband's
Complaint, Deor, Wulf and Eaduacer. Ruin is the mourning of a traveler over a
deserted city, and the Wanderer expands the mourning motive of Ruin over the
desolation of the whole world of man. It is an artistic whole. The Seafarer
describes "the dangers and the fascination of the sea, breathes the spirit which
filled the hearts of our forefathers while they sang and sailed, and is
extraordinarily modern in note." The Wife's Complaint and The Husband's
Complaint deal with love-passion. Wulf and Eaduacer is an early example of
dramatic monologue. Deor or Deor's Lament depicts the manly sorrow of a
minstrel. According to William J. Long, Deor "is much more poetic than Widsith,
and is the one perfect lyric of the Anglo-Saxon period." Such expressions as "His
sorrow passed away; so will mine" have catholicity of appeal and abiding
human interest.

Christianity and Old English Poetry

● The early Anglo-Saxon literature was pagan.

● It represents the poetry which the Anglo-Saxons probably brought with
them in the form of oral sagas.
● Literature was slowly developed out of this crude material on the English
soil.
● The early poetry was full of sea and war. It was pagan but it was not
irreligious. Anglo-Saxons were a religious people even as heathens. But
with the advent of Christianity a new spirit of ardent religious fervor
entered their life and literature.
● The note of fatalism in old poetry is modified by the faith that fate is the
will of a good God.
● The sorrow is relieved by an undercurrent of joy.
● The imaginative delight and the supernatural element do not disappear
but they find a refined expression in the legends of saints and visions of
angels.
● The ancient pagan faith still finds subdued expression in poetry, written
under the Christian influence. Christ is not only the Saviour, but the Hero
who goes forth against the dragon, like Beowulf wrestling with Grendel.
Stopford

A. Brooke rightly remarks: "The old poetry penetrated the new, but the spirit of
the new transformed that of the old."

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The latter poetry developed under the teachings of monks who had behind them
all the culture and the literary resources of the Latin language. The Christian
influence put an end to the frightful wars that had waged continually among the
various kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons. Northumbria became the seat of the
monks, who influenced Anglo-Saxon literature. It is called the Northumbrian
School. Caedmon and Cynewulf are the two distinguished poets of this school.

1. Caedmon. He is the first maker of English verse. He was a sensitive servant

employed by the monastery at Whitby in Yorkshire. He was an uneducated man
who was inspired to sing about "first created things."

The Holy Bible was read to him and he turned some pages into verse. The stories
in verse, known as Caedmon's Paraphrases were written about A. D. 670 The
three paraphrases of 'scripture which have come down in a manuscript of the
tenth century have been attributed to Caedmon. The first deals with the
creation and the fall; the second with the exodus from Egypt; and the third with
the history of Daniel. It is now believed that these poems, though ascribed to
Caedmon, are not entirely his own creation but of his imitators.

The interest of these poems does not lie in any paraphrase of the Scriptures, but
in those parts which have inventiveness and imaginative quality. William J. Long
writes about Caedmon's importance: "If Beowulf and fragments of our earliest
poetry were brought into England, then the hymn given above (from Caedmon's
Paraphrase) is the first verse of all native English song that has come down to
us, and Caedmon is the first poet to whom we can give a definite name and
date. The words were written about 665 A.D."

2. Cynewulf. Only very little is known about Cynewulf, the greatest of the
Anglo-Saxon poets. His signed poems include The Christ, Juliana, The Fates of
the Apostles, and Elene. It is conjectured that he wrote during the latter half of
the eighth century. There is a note of passion, of joy and confidence in his
poetry. The spirit of adventure pervades them. They are also noticeable for the
intensity of feeling, brilliance of conception, ardent religious tote, certainty of
execution and excellent descriptive power.

The unsigned poems, attributed to Cynewulf, are Andreas, The Phoenix, The
Dream of the Rood, The Descent into Hell, Guthlac, The Wanderer and some of
the Riddles. The Dream of the Rood is undoubtedly the finest of all Old English
religious poems.

3. Judith. It is one of the finest pieces of Anglo-Saxon religious poetry. Out of

twelve books only the last three are extant. The character of Judith, a Jewish
Velleda, is well drawn.

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The Harrowing of Hell, the Whale and the Panther, and some lyrical translations
of the Psalms in the Kentish and West Saxon dialects were also written in the
eighth century.

Characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

The development of Northumbrian learning and literature was obstructed by the

invasion of Danes. Towards the end of the eighth century the Danes swept down
English coasts and overwhelmed Northumbria. They recklessly destroyed
monasteries and schools, killed scholars and teachers and ravaged libraries. So
all true Northumbrian literature perished. Only some fragments survived. With
the conquest of Northumbria ends the poetic period of Anglo-Saxon literature.

The Anglo-Saxon poetry shows the following characteristics:

1. It is marked by parallelism and repetition.

2. It abounds in the use of the ordinary metaphorical phrases of Teutonic
poetry, as the whale's rood for the sea. Early poetry is conspicuous by the
absence of elaborate similes but later poets like Cynewulf invent them nicely.
3. It is full of fondness for the sea and the spirit of adventure.
4. In form it is radically different from the present mode of versification. In
place of modern "end rhyme" it employs "beginning rhyme" or alliteration, that
is, the regular and emphatic repetition of the same letter.
5. It has a great variety of compound words, especially adjectives. The poet
could express precisely a number of qualities belonging to his subject through
compound words.
6. The poetry, especially of heathen times, is concise and direct. The poetry,
dealing with war and sea-voyaging is diffuse, and wearied by constant
repetition.
7. The Anglo-Saxon poetry is remarkable for its width of range. The heroic
poetry persists throughout the period. Judith is a heroic saga. The Exodus is a
heroic narrative, freely invented in the Biblical story. Cynewulf's poems on the
life of Saint Guac and on the martyrdom of Saint Juliana are narrative poems.
The epic is represented by Beowulf which lacks the qualities of the classical epic,
but it has a vigor and majesty which fascinate the reader. Elegies, riddles,
didactic poetry were written during this period. Lyrics are represented by The
Wanderer and The Seafarer which have some of the expressive melancholy and
personal emotion associated with the lyric. Almost every form of poetry is
represented.
8. Poems on war and sea-voyaging were written during this period.
9. Poetry shows a remarkable development in technique.

Edward Albert remarks: "There is an easier flow to the later poetry in general, a
greater sureness in handling material, greater individuality of approach and

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feeling, less reliance on stock phrases, more subtle use of alliteration, and a
greater desire for stylistic effect."

10. The language of Anglo-Saxon literature is very different from that of today.
Its vocabulary is for the most part native. It is written in Northumbrian dialect.
Other dialects were Mercian, which was popular in Midlands; Kentish, which was
the language of the south-east; and West Saxon, which was used by Alfred. Due
to the political supremacy of Wessex, it became a "standard dialect and almost
all the extant texts are preserved in it."

Anglo-Saxon poetry began to be written towards the close of the seventh

century, and all its best work was done before the close of the eighth.

II Anglo-Saxon Prose
Bede: The venerable scholar and priest in the monastery at Jarrow wrote in
Latin the Ecclesiastical History of the English Race. It was King Alfred (A.D.
849-901), who drove back the Danes from England, began the writing of prose in
Wessex. He was the greatest and noblest Anglo-Saxon king. Anglo-Saxon poetry
flourished most in the north, prose developed later in the south.

1. King Alfred. He is the creator of English prose. Though Alfred is a translator,

he holds an admirable place as "the first to put the Verna cular to systematic
use." He rendered into English Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory, Orosius, The
History of the World, Bede's The Ecclesiastical History, Boethius' Consolation of
Philosophy and St. Augustine's Soliloquies. Alfred's prose style is for the most
part simple and straight­forward.

It was during Alfred's reign that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the greatest
monument of Old English prose, which had existed before Alfred, was
transformed into a national history under his guidance. It continued till 1154,
when it closed with the record of the death of King Stephen. Commenting on
Alfred's importance as a prose writer, Stopford A. Brooke writes: "At Winchester
the King took the English tongue and made it the tongue in which history,
philosophy, law, and religion spoke to the English people."

3. Aelfric. He was a churchman, who was known for his grammar. His extant
prose works include the Catholic Homilies, two series of sermons and The Lives
of Saints. It was written before 998. Aelfric's prose style is simple and vigorous,
natural, easy and alliterative. It is a befitting style for expressing complicated
thought into narrative form. His Colloquy is written in dialogue form.

3. Wulfstan. He was the Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York. His

Address to the English narrates the general demoralization caused by the

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invading Danes. It is written in an impassioned style. Some of his signed

homilies have survived. Sermo Lupi ad Anglos is his most famous creation which
is characterized by forceful and vigorous style. It is alliterative and ideas have
been frequently repeated.

Characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Prose

1. Much of the Anglo-Saxon prose consists of translations from Latin. The

influences of the originals are obvious. But it does not completely lack
originality.
2. The early prose, especially of the Chronicle and Alfred, is obscure, halting and
elliptical. It lacks the finer touches of rhythm and cadence. The prose of Aelfric
and Wulfstan shows a marked develop­ment. It is noticeable for ease, fluency
and vigor. The writers, it seems, have attained remarkable confidence in using
the language. The style also reflects the personality of the writer.
3. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle marks the beginning of historical writing. The
homilies of Aelfric and Wulfst an are the pioneers of religious prose and mark
"the beginning of the true line of development to the prose of The Authorized
Version.

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