Allusion

 

Allusion:

An illusion is a casual or indirect reference to something else such as another work of literature a historical event a biblical story or mythology. An Illusion is an act of deception or a false portrayal of reality. Make sure not to get them confused.

For an example of Allusion if an author writes Dante was a modern-day Romeo and the girls just fell for him. Because the author is referencing Romeo and how easily girls love him from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, this is an illusion.

Different types of Allusion:-

There are four main types of Allusions:

Literary Allusions reference another work of literature.

Historical Allusions reference an event in history. 

Classical Allusions reference Greek mythology.  

Biblical Allusions reference an event in the Bible.

Allusions provide context without having to give a lengthy description look at the example- He is a modern-day Romeo. If you know the backstory of Romeo you know how easily Juliet fell in love with him. So it's easier to use an Allusion than to explain Romeo's description.

Allusion

 

Allusion

Sometimes my dog is Dr. Jekyll. But other times he is  Mr. Hyde. Why does the man refer to a well-known character when describing his dog?

You remember the story of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, right?

Dr.Jekyll is kind and friendly. ...but sometimes he turns into Mr.Hyde, who is violent and evil. By referring to Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, the man can quickly illustrate his dog's personality. This is called allusion.

“An allusion is a reference to someone or something commonly known from literature, history, religion, or other areas of culture. It helps writers and speaker express ideas quickly and effectively”.

Alliteration

 

Alliteration

When the same sound is repeated at the beginning in a group of words it is called alliteration.

 

For example:-

All the amazing apples arrived at the airport. We can see that the initial sound of letter “a” is repeated in more than one word in this sentence. Therefore this is an example of Alliteration. Alliteration is a fun way of learning English make funny poems and descriptions using alliteration.

Let us look at some more examples of alliteration.

Dancing dogs to not dangle from dusty doors.

Carrots and cartoons can be carried in crazy cars.

Big brown bears buy bunches of blueberries.

Age of Chaucer- Hundred Years War

 

Hundred Years War :-

We need to take a look at the Hundred Years War which qualifies to be one of the major sources of heavy taxation, it also heavily drained the resources of England. This makes it important for us to understand the trajectory of this war which was spread over 116 years, a little more than 100 years though for convenience, historians have chosen to name it as a Hundred Years War.

 

Norman Conquest:

The origins of this contest with France; it dates back to 1066 AD, if you remember that was when the Norman Conquest happened.

 William the Conqueror:

The William the Conqueror who led the Norman Conquest against the English, against the Anglo-Saxons and won over them, he ended up ruling England and Normandy in France together. There was the island of England on one hand and Normandy in France on the other. So all the subsequent kings of England, they, all the successors continued to rule England and Normandy simultaneously and it was seen as quite a rightful claim as well.

Henry II:

Also, we notice that from the time of Henry II, this - a lot of territorial disputes which emerge and it also becomes a little difficult to control the land which is situated in a distance land, in a distant land. And around the same period, this difficulty in controlling the land leads to a lot of territorial disputes between England and France leading to a lot of hostile emotions as well. And if you remember, it is around the same period, in the 14th and 15th century that England also in England, the French also begins to lose its prominence and loses out to the English language. So a lot of factors contribute to this hostility and this becomes a triggering factor to contribute towards a war-like situation as well.

The Reign of Edward the III:

And what happens by the reign of Edward the III is quite significant, we find that by 1327, compared to the entire land of Normandy, there are only two provinces left in France under the control of England. This is a major source of concern as the source of revenue was also getting limited and also the English kings begin to take it as a matter of prestige, as a matter of honor. And around the same time we find that in France, another turn of events are happening. So in 1328 in France, King Charles IV, he dies and there is no heir and Edward III is the king of England during this period. And Edward III’s mother who is Isabella, Isabella happened to be Charles IV's sister. So Edward III’s mother, Isabella assumes that since Charles IV has died leaving no heir as a successor, they assume that there is a rightful claim for Edward III that we also should remember that he was only 15 years old then, yeah. So Edward III and his mother, they assume that there is a rightful claim for Edward III to the crown for France, so they lay a claim to the English king Edward III who happens to be the nephew of the deceased king, Charles IV. He lays a claim to the crown of France which is not taken very kindly by the French people because they had other plans in hand. And they also . . . there is this rule which prevails in France that one can become king only through their father’s line and not through their mother’s line. But in England, one can become king through either way, through the father's line or through the mother's line. So because of this, the French people are very unhappy with Edward III accessing the crown of France. And with this, a kind of dispute emerges and France in general was against this and they bring in a new king and the Hundred Years War, we find, it breaks out. And it was at this point of time that the Hundred Years War breaks out between England and France. And to be noted, this was not a single series of war happening, it was not a single war which happened between England and France; in fact, it was a series of wars, a series of battles which happened. And there was in the initial period, victory was mostly on the English side, but eventually it happens so that France wins over. And even the two provinces which were held by Britain, they lose out on those two provinces by 1453, by the end of the war. We shall not be getting into further details of the Hundred Years War, but some of the details we shall be taking a look at again when we engage with the 15th century because a war is spread over such a long time that it continued to inform the ways in which social, political history of Britain was formed. So coming back to our original point, due to the various things happening especially as the age was dominated by war, the general mood of 14th century, it was not very favorable for the common man. But in spite of that, we do find that Chaucer continues to write and he gets qualified as the Father of English literature itself. So this is how we sum up the challenging period of 13th and 14th century. There was famine, there was death, anarchy, tyranny, wars, heavy taxation and you name it and you have it. It was such a challenging period for Britain.

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session, thank you.

Age of Chaucer- Chaucer’s England

 

Chaucer’s England

We saw in the introductory session about how in the Middle English period after the Norman Conquest, England began to emerge as a distinct nation. There was an increased sense of nationalism, a sense of nationhood; they began to emerge more with native influences rather than with the foreign, Italian or French influences.

Standardization of English Language:

It was Chaucer’s language and King Alfred’s language, the East-Midland dialect which emerged as the Standard English which continued to be used even in the contemporary. And we also find that it was not merely English which was used in Chaucer’s England, the clergy continued to use Latin which was the language of ecclesiastical power and the courtiers continued to use French language as well. French for a very long-term, in fact continued to be the language of the royalty. And it was also used in some measures in law courts until a statute which came to be issued directed that English should completely replace the usage of French.

 

14th century was dominated by the Roman Catholic Christianity

The Middle English period, Chaucer’s England, especially 14th century was dominated by the Roman Catholic Christianity. The clergy enjoyed a lot of power and we also find a certain kind of revival happening within Christianity in England, a little bit of that we will be seeing in detail shortly.

Expansion of trade: And there is expansion of trade as Britain consolidates itself as a nation and also understands the possibility of expanding itself in terms of land, in terms of trade, so on and so forth. And during this period we also find that there is a renewed interest in the literature of classical antiquity, especially literature in Greek and Rome. And there is also this influence of humanism which is connected to the emergence of Renaissance. And we find that there is a free secular spirit, a spirit of enquiry which is beginning to emerge that also qualifies much of the writing and thought of the later periods in England.

Oxford emerged :

And it’s during this period that Oxford emerges as an intellectual centre and we do see John Wycliff’s major influence, major contribution in shaping Oxford into the intellectual centre that it is today. And it was only a little later by the 15th and 16th centuries that Cambridge emerges as a prominent centre as well. And this is the period which also witnessed a lot of changes in the university system. We find that the collegiate system which most of the Commonwealth nations although continue to follow, the foundations of this English college system was late in during the 14th century in Chaucer’s England, there were various reasons, various social political reasons that contribute to make England as one of the founding civilizations of modern period itself. So having lived during that period, Chaucer did enjoy a lot of these advantages and in his writings also we see a reflection of this refinement, this exposure, and this increased growth that England was getting used to.

But at the same time it is very important for us to note that Chaucer also lived in a century which was very eventful. Chaucer’s England was not all about political stability, was not all about the golden. The flowering period of English language and literature, it was very eventful in the political sense, in terms of other kinds of crisis, in terms of the common life people, so on and so forth.

England in the 14th and 15th century:

Now we will take a quick look at the turn of events during Chaucer’s England and how it adversely affected the progress of England in the 14th and 15th century.

Plague:

We find that England during that time, it was quite affected by plagues; mainly, we have a major plague which swept through most of Europe and Britain, it was Black Death. That was quite a tragic event to begin with and there was a continuous occurrence, in fact, Britain was under the attack of the Black Death 4 times almost consecutively and that had even wiped out half the population. The nation had to struggle a lot to deal with this crisis.

Rebellion:

There were also a lot of peasant rebellions because England was still under the feudal order and that had resulted in a lot of unrest and lot of difficulties for the peasants.

Corruption:

There was also massive corruption mainly within the Roman Catholic Church. In this context, it is useful to remember that there were lot of monasteries that and the other institutions at the Roman Catholic Church had established. And these were also breeding grounds for a lot of corruptive activities. The common man was quite upset by the many things which were happening about the luxurious life that most of the clergy were living. And the clerks who were employed within this institution were also contributing to the corruption in many different ways. And this was also affecting the people in another sense, in the sense that there was a heavy taxation which was imposed upon them. And the taxation was quite doubled by the effect of the wars that happened.

Wars:

One of the major wars that we will be taking a look at is the Hundred Years War. The war was fought with France for over 116 years though it comes to be known as the Hundred Years War. And there was prevalent anarchy because of all these things put together. There were massive deaths, rebellion, corruption, wars, heavy taxation, the common man was not living a life of luxury like the courtiers but he was bearing the brunt of all these events put together.

Social Contrast:

And in that sense, it was an age of glaring social contrast. As we would see, on the one hand there was a very lavish kind of pageantry going on and other hand, people lived in adverse poverty. There was robust Vigour and good health and lot of good things happening on the one hand. On the other hand, we had death, crippling diseases, so on and so forth.

Latin was a language of Church:

On the one hand, elegant literature such as Chaucer’s and many others had begun to flourish, which is seen as the beginning of English literature, but on the other hand, there was also widespread illiteracy. Here it is also important to note, there is some linguistic element here as well. England also had these languages such as Latin and French. As we mentioned, Latin was a language of Church, of clergy and French was the language of the courtiers. So there was very little attention - formal attention - paid to English language in the beginning.

Emergence of English as a Common Language:

But we do see that a lot of concerted effort went into making English language the medium of the common people and also, the Church also in certain ways, especially the activities of Reformation also paved to the emergence of English as a common language, the translations of Bible into the vernacular by John Wyclif. And more importantly, most of the leading writers of the period including Geoffrey Chaucer, he wrote in English making the language more, bringing the language closer to the common man as well. So coming back to our point, on the one hand, there was this emergence of elegant literature and on the other hand, there was widespread illiteracy of the common people. And also this brings this reminds us that literature and all the other reading material which was available during that period, the target audience was mainly the courtiers, and the nobles and the clergy and that was very little available for the common man as such. and also, fourthly on the one hand, there was this revival of religious faith which happened; it was also known as Reformation.

 

Social History :

A more detailed study of social history will take us into the specific details of this event which swept across Europe and Britain in the 14th and 15th century, which also laid a proper cultural foundation to the England which was set to begin on a golden period from the 16th century onwards. And on the other hand, there was widespread corruption in Church which was leading to a whole lot of hostility and lot of disgruntled feelings among the people, yeah. And as we mentioned, earlier the wars were contributing in a tremendous way to the general peace and general life of England in many ways.

Age of Chaucer:-

Age of Chaucer:-

In the first introductory series, we saw the development of English through ages and we also noticed what had been happening in the Anglo-Saxon period and the turn of events which led to the emergence of the Middle English period. We also saw that the Middle English period was quite eventful to begin with, the most noted name during this period was Chaucer so much so that even an age was named as Age of Chaucer.

 

Chaucer as a real starting point of English literature :

Many historians consider Chaucer as a real starting point of English literature. Chaucer led from 1340 to 1400. However, the entire century gets named after this massive figure, Geoffrey Chaucer. He was described as the very first national poets and he was also considered and continues to be as a father of English poetry. So when we look at the opening moments of English literature, it’s very important to understand the time period which Chaucer’s life and time covered in terms of social history and the political history of the period.

 

Life of Chaucer in terms of the social and political history:

So in that sense, we begin to see that Chaucer had the rare distinction of having lived under three monarchs. He was born in 1340 during the reign of Edward III. And it was during his lifetime that Richard II succeeded - that was in 1377. He also witnessed two major events, the Revolution of 1399 including the deposition of Richard II and also the foundation of the Lancastrian dynasty. And he dies in 1400, one year after the ascension of Henry IV. So this is a very brief introduction towards the life of Chaucer in terms of the social and political history.

 

Introducing Geoffrey Chaucer:

Geoffrey Chaucer, belonged to the Middle English period and was rightfully known as “The morning star of the Renaissance”.

He was born in London; he was born into a fairly well to do family. We know very little about his childhood, most of the details are not available. But however, we get to know that he was the son of a merchant vintner – a wine merchant - and he lived a fairly luxurious life. And the, historians do assume that he also enjoyed the advantages of liberal education and so much so that the contacts that he made at a very young age were quite significant to begin with.

So right at the age of 17, he had his first court appointment and he was a page to the wife of the Duke of Clarence, who was also Edward III’s son.

And we find that by 1359, he also leaves with the English army during one of their wars with France and he was even taken prisoner during that period, but we find that Edward III, he was too kind and generous towards Chaucer that he chose to ransom him with 16 pounds. 16 pounds was a huge sum in the14th century. If we look we compare it with the buying power of the 14th century, historians do calculate that a single pound was enough to sustain an ordinary man for about six months, half a year.

So 16 pounds was a huge sum of money and that money was paid to bring back Chaucer as ransom. So we can even understand the kind of influence and the kind of life that he led so much so that even the king did care to bring him back as a ransom.

He was married too, but we do not have too many details of his domestic life. Historians have not recorded it because many of the things are not available. And he also continued to be closely connected with the court and he was often sent on diplomatic missions to France, to Italy. So his exposure was also quite varied. He had a rather luxurious courtly life and he was sent as ambassadors to different parts of the country, different parts of the world as well. So he got to travel a lot; that exposure really made Chaucer into the man that he was. So rightfully he was the appropriate person to begin the story of English literature with. That he had the fine measure of good exposure. He had a way in which he could articulate everything into good writing and so his writings are considered as the beginning of English literature.

Ups and Downs in Chaucer’s life:

And there were ups and downs in Chaucer’s life. We have already seen how he was sent to Italy in diplomatic missions because he was considered as a fine ambassador to negotiate with the leaders of other provinces and other countries.

And he was very much influenced by the Italian culture and early Renaissance, as we know Renaissance had its early beginnings in the land of Italy. And some historians even feel that he may have met Petrarch and Boccaccio, the leading literary writers of the period.

And also he was the recipient of many royal favours and it’s said that he even sat in the Parliament as knight of the Shire of Kent.

 

Overthrown of the Lancastrian:

And there was brief time when his life went through a major crisis that was a period when the Lancastrian, the House of Lancastrians were overthrown from power. And we do see that, that point of time John of Gaunt who was a major patron of Chaucer, he was banished from court for a brief period and that time he, Chaucer fell into poverty and he saw very difficult times during that period as well. So he even thought that he might end his life in poverty as well but again the turn of events, thanks to the state of flux in which the political and social life of England was; again, we find the Lancastrians coming back to power with the accession of Henry IV who also happens to be one of John Gaunt’s sons.

And with that, we find that Chaucer gets a very generous grant of royal pension. And there is an assumption that perhaps he looked forward to a very comfortable life ahead. He even leased out a really big apartment in the centre of the nation, but we do find that life had other plans for him and he dies within a year of the accession of King Henry IV. So this is a very brief summary of Chaucer’s life and how his life was closely connected with the social and political turn of events.

And also one important note as far as English, the history of English literary is concerned; he was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey, a very prestigious place. And the place in which he’s buried is now known as Poets’ Corner and it’s also much favoured site for the tourist as well.

It is very important to see how Chaucer’s England was fashioned so that it influenced his writings and so much so that an entire period came to be known as the Age of Chaucer as well. So social historians also preferred to call this period as Chaucer's England because it continued to influence ways in which the writing of that period was produced. And also it influenced the ways in which English literature and the general English language was beginning to get fashioned.

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session, thank you.

Middle English Period  (Four major dialects & Englishness In England )

In continuation with the previous lecture, we begin looking at the Middle English period.

 

Let us look at the Four major dialects:

Coming back to some linguistic aspects, there were four major dialects during this time; south western it had emerged from the old English West Saxon, south eastern which emerged from the old English Kentish, East Midland and west midland and also Northern, so all of these dialects where in some form a continuation from the old English language from the old English dialects. We also note that the two dialects east midland and west midland, they had together emerged from the old English Mercian and in this context the east midland dialect assumes more importance because this was a one who became Chaucer’s language and since East Midland was spoken more in London and also it became the major literary vehicle of Chaucer East Midland dialect is a one from which contemporary English set has emerged as well. So this is also this 5th kind known as the northern dialect and we find that almost all of these dialects where quite different from one another it is said that even if they lived just 50 miles apart and if they spoke these different dialects they were not comprehensible to one another. So these dialects where almost like 5 different languages but and each writer was quite free to use which ever dialect that he or she preferred. And the spellings and the grammars differed on the individual kind of uses and it all depended on which spelling each author preferred to use.

In some form this is said to have got most standardized with Chaucer writing entirely in the east midland dialect and also giving it a sense of reputation and more acceptance because it was mostly spoken in the city of London.

In terms of dialectical differences, England begins to assert itself as a single national linguistic identity whose diversity does not affect in any way the evolution of language or the emergence of English into a single unit.

 

Towards more Englishness:

And towards the time of Chaucer we also find England moving towards more Englishness and this is a kind of definition and the classification which is stated on to define rest of the centuries as well.

 

And from this period, from the end of the 14th century and from the end of the 13th century onwards, we find England also seizing to be a recipient of foreign influences than Norman French influence had considerable got mitigated. England is more about native forces and the native influences, it is more organized as a nation, more conscious of her nationhood and also they had emerged to into a single racial cultural unity not taking into account the many things that differentiated them in terms of identities or in terms of linguistic and dialectical differences.

And also at this point of time we find that though in England continues to receive lot of influences from the neighboring countries and also from all kinds of cultural and linguistic imports from other languages, England begins to form her own kind of literature her own kind of religion begins to practice her own economics society and also develops their own methods of war. So that makes a nation quite distinguishable in many ways and we find the literature of the times beginning to reflect all of these elements in them.

 

Chaucer is the real starting point of English literature:

And with the advent of Chaucer which we will begin to notice in the next session, we also notice that these native influences are more pronounced, there is a more English kind of writing which begins to emerge with about which we can discuss more about without relating them with the other kind of influences. And this literary output and language of the Middle English times we find it getting more consolidated towards the end of the Middle English period and with the advent of Chaucer. And at this point it is very important to note that Anglo-Saxon language or the old English language is almost like a dead foreign language now. And we do not find language going back to the roots of Anglo-Saxon tongue from this time onwards the Norman French influence stays on, there are about 10,000 words borrowed words from French which becomes part of English language in many ways England acquires a new stature by the time Chaucer comes to the scene. So let us wind up this session by giving a brief prelude towards the next session which is going to be about the age of Chaucer, many historians feel that Chaucer is the real starting point of English literature and so much so that whatever we discuss in today’s lecture is completely overshadowed by the presence of Chaucer. And with the advent of Chaucer many later historians feel that he is the first of our really national poets, some consider him as the father of English poetry and he is generally considered as the opening moment of the English literature proper. So with this we come to an end to this today’s session and we have noted how the old English period and the Middle English period where quite important and significant in shaping the in laying the foundations of English literature and shaping how literature would be in the forthcoming centuries.

 

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session with the age of Chaucer, thank you.

Middle English period (14th century )

Middle English period (14th century ) 

In continuation with the previous lecture, we begin looking at the Middle English period.

 

Let us look at the time of Robert Mannyng of Brunne:

And the other notable figure is that of Robert Mannyng of Brunne he was also a monk as well as a chronicler and it is also said that he was perhaps part of the canon during the times that he lived. And there are two works of notable repute Handlyng Synne and Mannyng’s chronicle and Handlyng Synne is considered to be the first confessional manual in English literature. The nature of this confession could also be due to the religious tendencies that he had. And Mannyng’s Chronicle was yet another work based on history and again this was the story of England written in verse and it is said that it is extended through the reign of Edward the first. And some even feel that Mannyng’s chronicle was not very original that he had translated some myths of many old English text put together in that sense perhaps it is more less a compilation or a translation of old English text as well. And what makes Mannyng quite different from the others is that in his own works we find lot of biographical information about himself. and this is a quite surprising because many writers were not used to talking about themselves, we also noted that many writers did not even bother to sign with their own names after the work was completed. In that sense, Mannyng shows commendable insight and talking about himself his own life and his own surroundings so that you know it becomes a useful historical tract in the later times.

 

 

14th century

in the 14th century we find ourselves moving closer towards the life and work of Chaucer and this is that period which is known as the period of the alliterative revival. Alliterative revival as the term signifies it is resurgence of poetry with particular kinds of alliterations and rhymes built into it. And we do not find England going back from this period onwards; we do find that there is an increased interest and an increased attention being provided to poetry and other forms of literature. This is also the time when England prepares itself to produce greater classics, shows more attention and more interest in the other classics of Greek and Latin.

 

And the notable feature of this time is a presence of a particular anonymous poet who has come to be known as the Pearl poet or the Gawain poet based on a set of poems known as the pearl poems or the based on the major work known as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This is also the best known Arthurian tale from the Middle English times and pearl poet or the Gawain poet he is also said to be a contemporary of Chaucer, Gower and Langland about whom we will hear more about in the next session and this century was more important because a sense of literature or sense of national unity sense of national literature is getting emerged from this period onwards. How has it become possible for us to access these old English and Middle English text, perhaps one should be very thankful to this major figure Robert Cotton, and most of these works that we talk about whether it is an old English text like Beowulf or Middle English text like Gawain and the Green knight all these manuscripts has become accessible because they are present in this particular set known as Cotton Nero A.x and this was from a personal collection of this visionary figure known as Robert Bruce Cotton, he was a quite a successful and wealthy person who lived in the later 16th and earlier 17th century who should utmost interest as a collector of medieval text, he had a lot of interest in local history and he was also noted antiquarian of his times.

 

Robert Bruce Cotton

So we find him collecting most of the original old English and Middle English manuscripts which were available and he is also said to have credited to have preserved them so that they did not go extinct in any way. In fact, about his manuscripts historians feel that his collection outshone those of the crown, the church and the Inns of the court. This is very important because as we have noted earlier most of the manuscripts and most of the literary collection was available either with the court or with the church, the monasteries where in charge of it most of the times or it was with the Inns of the court which primarily comprise with the 4 institutions which together constitute the judiciary of those times.

 

So Robert Cotton is said to have had a collection which outshone all of these collections put together and one should be very thankful to Robert Cotton for showing this kind of a passion to preserve these extended text. And his grandson at a later point was quite kind enough to donate this entire set to the British library where it is still preserved. So in many sense we also begin to note that the Middle English and the old English period is important not just because of the efforts of the people who lived just during the time, but also because of the interest that posterity began to shown in their works and also because of the sense of national heritage which became all the more important in the later centuries.

 

So preserving an old English text or a Middle English text was not just about preserving literature, but it was also about preserving a heritage which had been handed out. So in that sense one remains internally grateful to many figures such as Robert Cotton who perhaps did not lived in the said age, but contributed to the age in many different ways than the one who were living in these ages could ever even begin to think of or comprehend.

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session thank you.

Middle English Period :13th Century

In continuation with the previous lecture, we begin looking at the Middle English period.

Oxford and Cambridge

Let us look at the time when Oxford and Cambridge begin to be founded and they also emerged as major centres of culture and language. Oxford was founded in 1167 and Cambridge in 1209, so we begin to notice that these cultural artifacts and these institutions of repute where begin to be founded even as early as Middle English period.

 

Let us now take a detail look at the various kinds of writings which were available during these centuries. We note that even when we take an entire century in hand, we have maybe a couple of works worthwhile to talk about.

Ormulum by Orm

So in that sense 12th century we have two major works Ormulum by Orm. And another anonymous work The Owl and the Nightingale.

The work Ormulum, it was more religious in nature it could be loosely translated as an interpretation of the bible, it was in that sense yet another attempt to bring bible and works of the bible closer to the common people. And this was also significant in a historical sense because it trace the history of the English from the Roman Conquest onwards. So in that sense this also through glimpses of the local life and the transitions from one ruler to the other. So historians continued to look at this work with a lot of interest.

And this was also the one of the first works one of the earliest works to use poetic meter and the other work “The Owl and the Nightingale” it was structured in a quite a narrative way. And it included arguments about various things of philosophical nature things that concern daily life and even about more profound things related to life in general.

So the arguments where structure in very courtly style and also it was more allegorical than many of the other works of that period, so apart from this two major works we do not have evidence for other kinds of literature that flourish during the time apart from the oral literature of those period.

 

13th century

And in 13th century we also noticed that the literary output begins to look a little more productive little more prolific compared to the previous century.

And Layamon’s Brut which is arguably written in 1205 is perhaps the most important work other than the later works that came after the period of Chaucer. And this work was not purely literary in nature, this was in fact the historiography of Britain in the form of poem and this also draws attention to the fact that even history could be written in verse during those times. because verse was easier for people to memorize, it also gave them a way to make oral transmission easier. So verse did not have a kind of limitations that now we talk about. because nowadays we know that predominantly any kind of historiography for it to be written in verse is quite an unthinkable feet. In that sense Layamon’s Brut could be considered as very significant work which could blend in together elements of history and elements of poetry together.

King Arthur

And this is also the work in which we find the first appearance of a King Arthur, we noted in one of the previous lectures that the legends of King Arthur is what made him more popular than the historical evidence of his own existence. So we also find that Layamon’s Brut tried to link older historical traditions with modern Englishness. So in that sense we find that the common people as well as in that sense we find that there is a lot we get to know about the old English period and about the culture of those times from Layamon’s Brut. And many historians talk about Layamon’s Brut as the first voice in Middle English especially in terms of language. because in this work we find that the use of English is less conscious it is more colloquial and there is more use of idioms and proverbs. So in this sense, a more familiarity of the language could be find from the from Layamon’s Brut onwards.

 

Wace’s Arthurian Chronicles:

And another significant work of this time is Wace’s Arthurian Chronicles, he may began to note that king Arthur of the old English times, he assumes supreme importance during this period because we find him getting resurrected from all the other kinds of Laymon’s of history. And the time we also find the popularization of Arthurian tales from not just from England but also from France. we find a lot of French Ballads and French folktales talking about King Arthur’s legends and many English writers also replicate that in their own writings in English.

King Horn and Havelok the Dane

And there were also these two romances of which there is historical evidence; King Horn and Havelok the Dane, the authors of which remain unknown.

Roman de la Rose

And the Roman de la Rose or The Romance of the rose is considered as a most influential imported text of Middle English period. This was written in French, this is said to have had a profound influence on writings in English and during the 13th century. It also has said to have laid the foundation for a particular kind of writings of romance to develop later in the 14th and 15th centuries as well.

 

 

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Another very important figure of the Middle English period is that of Geoffrey of Monmouth, he said to have lived around 1100’s; the exact dates are not yet known. And the most important and notable work of Geoffrey of Monmouth is that of The history of the kings of Britain. And though this work was highly popular and many historians even rely on this work for getting a glimpse of the past the cultural and social religious past, it is also said to be highly inaccurate. But what makes this work quite distinct as a fact that he is the one who popularized the legends of King Arthur.

So Geoffrey of Monmouth we recalled even in one of the earliest sessions that he is actually he lives through the legends recreated by Geoffrey of Monmouth. In fact many of the things, many of the anecdotes attributed to king Arthur is from the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth. And he is also the one who made Excalibur popular. Excalibur being the legendary sword of King Arthur who which is said to have had some magical powers as well. So there are lots of these stories about the Excalibur of King Arthur from the Middle English period onwards. And we know that Excalibur has come to signify a lot of things about the cultural heritage of England even in the contemporary.