LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS

1. Anglo-Saxon prose
Main work: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (9th cent). Greatest prose work of the O.E. period.

2. Anglo-Saxon poetry
Diction and style: orally + harp, by a scop. Repetitions, formulaic language, set expression =
better understandment.
Manuscripts: many O.E. manuscripts were lost during Viking invasions and raids.
a) The Beowulf MS
b) The Exeter Book - The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament
c) The Junius MS
d) The Vercelli MS
Alliterative verse: main ornamental device. Number of repeated consonant sounds distributed
regularly within the line. Pleasing effect to the ear + help to remember and memorise.
The metric structure: two half-lines (hemistichs) and a long pause (caesura). Two stressed
syllables in the first half-line, and at least one stressed syllable in the last one, which coincides with
the stressed consonant sound of the first one.
Kennings: two elements, united by a hyphen. Substitution of concrete nouns by poetic or
metaphorical abstract compounds.
There are two types of Anglo-Saxon poetry:
2.1. Pagan/Pre-Christian O.E poetry
Epic and elegy.
Epic: long narrative poems sung orally. Heroic deeds. + Myths, legends, folk tales and history.
Entertain and teach, publicise ideas. Solemn tone, elevated style. Topics: defence of lands. Beowulf,
Finn’s Episode, Widsith, The Battle of Maldon.
Elegy: sad, mourning. Topics: death, war, love, epitaphs, commemorations, melancholy,
suffering, heroic deeds too. Common element: personal and individual intimate expression of
suffering. The Wanderer, The Wife’s Lament.
2.1.1. Beowulf
- Author: anonymous
- Genre: epic + elegy
- Alliterative verse
- 8th - 10th century, England
- Originally written in Old English by a Christian scop in the Mercian dialect. Then transcribed
by two Christian monks into West-Saxon dialect.
- Kennings
- Oral formulaic language, set phrases
- Narrator: Christian omniscient scop. 3rd person
- Action: 5th - 6th cent. Real events.
- Tone: fighting, victories and celebrations + grieving for losses and futility of life.
- 3 parts:
- 1: Grendel’s domination. Beowulf’s fight and victory.
- 2: Grednel’s mother tries to avenge him. Beowulf’s victory.
- 3: Rage. Both die. Beowuld’s funeral.
- Characters:

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 - Beowulf: warrior, hero, heroic code, fame. Superhuman strength, courage. Germanic
heroic code (loyalty, courtesy, pride) // wise king, brave warrior.
- King Hrothgar: wise, military success and prosperity. Desperation. Father figure:
virtues of old age vs youthful impulsiveness.
- Grendel: demon. Miserable. Half-human, half-monster.
- Grendel’s mother: revenge, more dangerous.
- The dragon: guards a treasure. Death of both.
2.1.1.1. Motifs in Beowulf
- Oral tradition: hero’s identity and fame, history of a nation, lineage of kings.
- The mead-hall: community interaction, light, warmth, food, drink… reputations, protection.
- The German heroic code:
- Comitatus: relationship with a lord or a king (in exchange for protection and gifts)
- Wyrd: fate is determinative. Pessimism and awareness of the futility of life
- Lof: fame and glory = earthly immortality.
- Courage in battle.
- Revenge or wergild (compensation payment) if a relative / kinsman has been killed.
- Funerals to commemorate warriors who died fighting bravely.
- Christian elements: Old Testament, Cain and Abel, the Devil, Hell… Beowulf has been sent
by God = Messiah-like.
- Women’s roles:
- Mothers, wives and sisters: peace-weavers
- Queens: diplomacy
- Loyalty from the woman
- Historical events and fictional events:
- History: 6th century
- Real individuals and also some real battles are mentioned. Information.
- Legends: orally, later transcribed into writing.
2.1.2. The Battle of Maldon
- Anonymous heroic poem
- Leader (Birhtnoth) did not prove to be a good strategist. Overconfident.
- His men: brave and loyal to their lord.
- They lost their leader and were losing ground to the invaders, they still did their best to
encourage each other and vowed to die fighting.
- 325 lines, it’s incomplete.
- Social / political barriel: 1. Those who were prepared to accept the invasion / 2. Those who
opposed the Danish rule.
- Vikings: heathens, bounty seekers.
- Anglo-Saxons: faith in God.
- Christianity: thank God for having been granted such a day of glorious death in battle. Thank
God for his past good life and hope to be allowed in heaven.
- Glorification of the military ideals of the comitatus.
2.1.3. The Wanderer
- 111 lines.
- Soldier in search for a new lord. Sadness for the death of his old lord.
- Melancholic mood + wintry weather.
- Christian consolation.
- Two voices: old soldier + voice that comments on the narrator’s voice.

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 - Two parts: a) individual case; b) old soldiers’s loneliness (general and universal manner),
everything changes, fate is fixed, the soldier reaches wisdom and maturity through Christian
consolation.
- “Ubi sunt” motif
- Poem full of contrastive and recurrent images and vocabulary
- Hall vs hostile nature of the north
- Hall vs wall
- Youth vs old age
- Reality vs remembrances
- Images of the soldiers suffering
- Time of the poem: can’t express his feelings too freely. Control himself through pain
and suffering. Accept fate, in look for the heavenly Lord
2.1.4. The Wife’s Lament
- 53 lines.
- Sadness.
- Absence / abandonment.
- Physical and psychological exile.
- Pain and melancholy.
- Structure:
- Introduction; past, current sufferings.
- Her lord/husband: voyage.
- Separated. Loneliness.
- She has to suffer the husband’s hatred.
- Interpretations:
- Allegory: female speaker = Church, loss of her lord = Jesus Christ.
- Underground cell = awaiting for Christian resurrection.
- Riddle poem.
- Contradiction in the presentation of promises and the images of abandonment.
- Vindictive and angry curse.
- Kennings..
- Parallelism: harsh and gloomy nature / woman’s state of sadness and dispair.
2.2. Christian Old English poetry
8th cent onwards.
Germanic heroes and values were Christianised. Germanic cosmology was based on revenge,
feuds and achievement of immortality through glory and fame. Christianity was a religion of peace,
respect, forgiveness… Caedmon’s Hymn, The Dream of The Rood.
2.2.1. Caedmon’s Hymn
- First poet with a Christian mentality.
- Themes of interest:
- Oral piece. Communal singing.
- Written transcription: scribe or monk.
- Cultural conflict.
- Social differences. Church vs commoners.
- Poetic devices:
- Royal epithets. Germanic tradition.
- Comparison.
- Kennings.

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 - Metrics: nine lines of four stresses and a medial caesura. Two or three alliteration per
line.
2.2.2. The Dream of the Rood
- Anonymous.
- 10th.
- Two narrators: the poet and the Cross.
- Poet: sinner. Narrator and religious preacher.
- Cross: protagonist, explain its importance.
- Old pagan culture and new Christian values coexist. Imperfect bounding.
- Also exclusively Christian elements.
- Language: kennings, recurrent images and expressions - light, happiness, glory / other
expressions - darkness, night-time, sadness, death.

3. The Middle English Period

3.1. The Alliterative Revival
Alliteration was the main metrical resource in Anglo-Saxon poetry. In Middle English poetry,
especially those poems from the centre and north of England and Scotland, alliterative verse was used
again. Short-lived: 1350-1450.
3.2. William Langland
Piers Plowman seems to be autobiographical. Knowledge about Christian symbols, easily
understood by common people. No certainty of autobiographical nature, it is an allegory.
3.2.1. Piers Plowman
A dream vision described by the narrator, Will. Dreams were believed to describe a real event
or a truth in a disguised or symbolic form.
- Dangers of Meed.
- Christians only reach perfection when they attain knowledge, grace and charity.
- Popular and influencias.
- Three versions.
- No rhyme; alliterative verse - two stressed syllables in the first hemistich and one or
sometimes more stressed syllable(s) in the second one.
- THE PROLOGUE:
- Satirical description of English mediaeval society. Estate satire. Critic towards the
Church. The Lollards. True Church = humblest layers. Influence on the Peasants
Revolt (slogans and phrases).
- SOCIAL CRITICISM:
- Social groups are divided into innocent characters and guilty ones. Critical towards
gluttony, greed, lechery, lying, sloth, swearing
He blames the Church for the decadence and the low morality of English society as they do
not live according to Jesus Christ’s precepts. He directly talks about those greedy pardoners who sell
bulls.
He also talks about lawyers, who do not move a finger or open their mouths until money is on
the table.
Secular characters are criticised because of their sins. They are artisans and craftsmen in
general. Inefficiency or laziness or greed or gluttony. Burgesses, barons and servants are criticised
later.
3.3. Geoffrey Chaucer
Father of English literature. Knew several languages, knowledge of the classical world.
Soldier, diplomat, courtier, poet, scholar.

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 3.3.1. The Canterbury Tales
- Long poem: general prologue, twenty-two short stories, two unfinished ones. All in verse but
one in prose.
- Middle English, London dialect.
- Incomplete book.
- Estate satire.
- Different narrative genres: fabliau, the county romance, fairy tale, beast-fable, legend,
exemplum, lay, miracle, saint’s life, moral treatise, tragedy…
3.3.1.1. The General Prologue
- Elaborate language and syntactical complexity.
- Colloquial, everyday expressions - reality and credibility.
- Irony.
- Almost every layer of mediaeval society.
- Except for the Knight, the Squire, the Ploughman, the Parson and the Clerk, all the other
pilgrims seek to make money or climb the social ladder.
- Chaucer respects humility and fidelity.
- Ten characters have taken the holy orders. Corrupted
3.3.1.2. The Pilgrims
- Knight: top of the social scale. No irony, respected. Whole class. Virtuous - truth, honour,
freedom, courtesy. Politeness, modesty, piety. Active and honest Christian. Humble. Loyal.
- Squire: his son. Happiness, inexperience. Lover. Good son. Showy clothes. Sing, dance, play
instruments, make verses. Military and courtly skills. Modest and efficient.
- Yeoman: loyalty. Not important.
- The Prioress: satirical. Breaks ecclesiastical rules. Madame Eglentyne. Social ambition,
wants to be an aristocrat. Love conquers all. French learnt in London = less prestige.
Affectation.
- Monk: does not follow the rules of his religious community. He loves good food. Good
clothes. Pleasure. Disapproval of him as a religious man, but admirance as a vital man.
- The Friar: austin friar. He marries young women for free. Misuses confession, this behaviour
weakens the authority of the Church. Harp, singing. Well dressed. Huberd. Hypocrite, greedy,
snobbish, promiscuous.
- The Merchant: first one from the bourgeoisie. Respectable-looking. Business. He has lots of
debts and is very likely bankrupt. He does not know his name.
- The Clerk: model university candidate.Philosophy. Pay university and books.Work as a civil
servant or diplomat. Abstemious, philosopher, generous, respectful.
- The Sergeant of the Law: legal practices. Learned man knows law by heart. No man as busy
as him. Continuously buying land.
- The Franklin: landowner of free but not noble birth. One of the happiest. Loved food.
Generous. Likeable.
- Guildsmen: 5 of them. Same livery. Wealthy.
- The Cook: brought by the guildsmen. Alcoholic.
- The Shipman: not a good rider. Steals wine. Past of piracy. Shows no pity for his victims.
Skillful mariner.
- The Doctor of Physic: richly dressed. Medicine and surgery, astrology. Ate moderately.
Saved the gold he received during the plague.
- The Wife of Bath: comical. Deaf. Expert weaver. Five husbands. Sociable, self-confident.
Knew the devices of love-making.

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- The Parson: poor, humble origin. Ideal parish priest. Virtuous. Draw people to God through
good example. Followed the principles of Christ. Unreal character.
- The Plowman: his brother, and as virtuous. True and good worker. Paid his taxes regularly
and loved God first.
- The Summoner: children are scared of his face. Lecherous. Coarse appetite. Drunk shouting.
Corrupt behaviour. Unintelligent. He had all of the young people of the neighbourhood under
his thumb. Perfect symbol of the corruption of the Church.
- The Pardoner: the most corrupt of the pilgrims. Wishes to look attractive. Sells relics.
Immoral enrichment of the Church criticised.