Old English
The Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D.
Middle English
The language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.
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Old English
The Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D.
Middle English
The language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D.
Modern English
The English language as spoken between about 1450 and the modern day.
Why is Old English a dead language?
After the Norman conquest of 1066, it was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes.
Influence of Anglo-Saxon Religion and society on Old English
The conversion to Christianity had an enormous social and cultural impact on Anglo-Saxon England.
The remnants of Old English in Modern English
The forms of a few pronouns (such as I/me/mine, she/her, who/whom/whose) and in the possessive ending -'s,
The influence of Norman Conquest and French language on English
As a result of the Conquest, the influence of French on the English language was clear with many French words replacing English vocabulary.
Plot of Beowulf
It tells the story of the Scandinavian hero Beowulf, who gains fame as a young man by vanquishing the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother; later, as an aging king, he kills a dragon but dies soon after, honoured and lamented.
Beowulf
A hero who fights Grendel, Grendel's Mother and a fire breathing dragon; protagonist
Grendel
A demon descended from Cain, he preys on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Heorot
Hrothgar
The king of the Danes. he enjoys military success and prosperity until Grendel terrorizes his realm. A wise and aged ruler, he represents a different kind of leadership from that exhibited by the youthful warrior Beowulf. He is a father figure to Beowulf and a model for the kind of king that Beowulf becomes.
Wealthow
Hrothgar’s wife, the gracious queen of the Danes.
Unferth
A Danish warrior who is jealous of Beowulf, he is unable or unwilling to fight Grendel, thus proving himself inferior to Beowulf.
Wiglaf
A young kinsman and retainer of Beowulf who helps him in the fight against the dragon while all of the other warriors run away. He adheres to the heroic code better than Beowulf’s other retainers, thereby proving himself a suitable successor to Beowulf.
Hygd
Hygelac’s wife, the young, beautiful, and intelligent queen of the Geats.
Grendel's Mother
An unnamed swamp-hag, she seems to possess fewer human qualities than Grendel, although her terrorization of Heorot is explained by her desire for vengeance—a human motivation.
Hygelac
Beowulf’s uncle, king of the Geats, and husband of Hygd. He heartily welcomes Beowulf back from Denmark.
Plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The story describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who dares any knight to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day.
Explain the influence of courtly love and chivalry on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sir Gawain comes to conflict when he finds himself needing to balance the two by being honorable to chivalry as well as respectful to courtly love.
Gawain
nephew of Arthur; brave knight of the round table
Bercilak/Green Knight
Mystery man whose body, hair, and clothing were green when he issued a challenge to King Arthur's men regarding the ax; Allows Gawain to stay at his castle during his quest
Lady Bercilak
Tempts Gawain
Morgana
King Arthur's half-sister, daughter of Cornwall, evil sorceress
Arthur
The king of Camelot. Young and beardless, and his court is in its golden age. At the story’s end, he joins his nephew in wearing a green girdle on his arm, showing that Gawain’s trial has taught him about his own fallibility.
Guinevere
King Arthur's wife
The Canterbury Tales (The form of the book)
The majority of The Canterbury Tales is written in verse, meaning that poetic elements such as a particular rhythm and rhyme pattern are utilized. Chaucer wrote his verse with lines that contain ten syllables and often had rhyming pairs of lines called couplets.
Chaucer’s use of satire and humor
Chaucer's humor is refined. The purpose of humor in Chaucer's poem is not to hurt others, but just to illuminate and illustrate just what they are.
Compare the Prologue to the Tales
In the Prologue, every character is dexterously enlivened by humorous touches, and the pageant of merry pilgrims lives vividly in our memories.
Caesura
a strong pause within a line of verse
Kenning
a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning
Alliteration
The conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers"
Epic poem
A lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
Epic hero
The main character of an epic poem that tells the story of a grand quest in which they use their extraordinary or superhuman abilities to achieve great things.
Wyrd
A concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny
Thane
a man who held land granted by the king or by a military nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble
Churl
peasant
Thrall
a slave, servant or captive
Frame tale
A literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories.
Rhyme scheme
The pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song.
Chivalry
Code of conduct for knights during the Middle Ages: Loyalty, Faith, Gentleness, Honesty, and Bravery
Courtly Love
The rules, partially created by Andreas Capellanus, concerning how men and women of nobility should behave toward each other
Satire
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
Romance
court; woo