MB UNIUD

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERATURE

Main Literary Genres

• Ø Poetry
• Ø Prose (of no literary interests)
• Ø Fiction
• Ø Drama

Epic Poetry

• Ø The oldest surviving British poetry is a long narrative epic, called "Beowulf".
• Ø The manuscript dates from around 1000, but the poem in much older, probably from the 7^th century.
• Ø It was written in Old English.
• Ø The poem tells about the deeds of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero, who fights against a monster and a dragon.
• Ø The subject derives from the history of Germanic Tribes.
• Ø The verse is typical of oral poetry because it uses poetic devices to aid memory.

Anglo - Norman Poetry

• Ø In the Anglo - Norman period nothing of any literary interests was produced in English until about 1200, because Latin and French were the dominant languages.
• Ø Poetry was oral and anonymous.
• Ø "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" describes the heroic life of King Arthur and his knights and the search for the Holy Grail
• Ø the influence of French literature affected the poetic form.

Poetry in the Age of Chaucer

• Ø "Middle English" was a mixture of French and English language that by the end of the 14^th century people had been started to use it.
• Ø Poetry was no longer anonymous except in the case of poems which derived from oral tradition, like ballads.
• Ø "The Canterbury Tales" written by Geoffrey Chaucer probably from the 1387. It's a narrative - descriptive poem: it's a masterpiece of realistic description, skilful narration and humour. It tells about a group of 29 pilgrims who settled off a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• Ø Other important narrative poems: "Sir Gawain and the Green Knights" and "The Vision of Piers Plowman".

The Ballad

• Ø It developed from the age of Chaucer to 1500s.
• Ø It derived from the common people of England and Scotland.
• Ø Oral anonymous form.
• Ø Combination of verse, song and dance