Lesson 5: Early Middle English (1100–1500)

What are the four stages of Middle English literature?

• 1100–1250 → primarily religious literature

• 1250–1350 → religious + secular literature

• 1350–1400 → revival of English literary tradition

• 1400–1500 → mostly derivative of stage 3

Which type of literature dominated between 1100–1250?

Primarily religious literature, because French dominated secular and elite writing after the Norman Conquest.

What changes in stage 2 (1250–1350)?

English literature becomes both religious and secular, including romances, lyric poetry, and chronicles.

Why is 1350–1400 important?

It marks the revival of English as a serious literary language.

Why is Geoffrey Chaucer so important?

He is called “the father of English literature,” wrote in London English, and helped standardize English.

Famous work ; The Canterbury Tales

What is the Alliterative Revival?

A return to Old English-style poetry using heavy alliteration and more native Germanic vocabulary.

eg Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Why was John Wycliffe’s Bible translation important?

It translated the Bible into English, helped standardize written English, and spread East Midlands forms.

Why was Wycliffe’s Bible controversial?

The Church disliked ordinary people reading the Bible without Church control.

What were mystery plays?

Religious plays performed on moving wagons (“pageants”) to teach Biblical stories to ordinary people.

Why is William Caxton important?

He brought the printing press to England and helped standardize English spelling.

Why did London become the standard dialect?

Because it was the political, economic, and cultural center of England.

Which dialect forms replaced older English pronouns?

Scandinavian forms like they, their, and them replaced older forms like hie, hire, and him.

What was the Chancery Standard?

A government writing standard that influenced spelling and formal written English.

Why is English spelling so chaotic today?

Printing fixed spelling before pronunciation finished changing during the Great Vowel Shift.

Why did long u become ou/ow?

To avoid confusing handwritten “uu” sequences.

What is open syllable lengthening?

Short vowels became long in open syllables (syllables ending in a vowel).

OE bacan → ME baken.

What is raising of long vowels?

Long vowels moved upward in pronunciation.

clǣne → clene.

What is monophthongization?

Old English diphthongs became single vowels in Middle English.

eald → old, weaorc → work.

What does it mean that English became more analytic?

It relied less on endings and more on word order, prepositions, and auxiliaries.

Which word order became standard in Middle English?

SVO (Subject–Verb–Object).

Why did SVO become more important?

Because case endings disappeared, so position showed grammatical function.

What is the Great Vowel Shift?

A major Early Modern English sound change where all long vowels were raised or diphthongized.

Why is the Great Vowel Shift important?

It explains why spelling and pronunciation no longer match.

What is the big historical shift from OE to ME?

English moved from a highly inflected Germanic language to a less inflected, more analytic language with much French vocabulary.