MB UNIUD

EPIC POETRY

Poetry is much of the surviving literature in the Middle Ages; the oldest one is Beowulf, a British narrative epic poem. It is probably from the 7^th century and it is written in Old English.

The poetry tells the noble, heroic actions and the dead of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf.

To aid memory in the poetry are used poetic devices, repetition of fixed phrases and the metre is based on a pattern of stressed and alliterated words.

There aren't many other poetry of Anglo- Saxons, moreover much of the poetry of the time was in Latin and only towards the end of the 14^th century the English language started to emerge.

ANGLO-NORMAN POETRY

In the Anglo-Norman period French and Latin were the dominant languages and there weren't English poetry until the 1200, moreover they remained primarily oral and anonymous.

Different form developed according to the place and the audience: the nobility preferred the French form of the romance, a long narrative poem telling the heroic adventures of noble knights including love stories.

An example of this form is the cycle of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which describes the heroic life and the dead of King Arthur and his knights.

The line began to develop side by side with the alliterative line and the number of syllables acquired more importance, complicated stanza forms from France changed the appearance of the poem on the page.