MB UNIUD

»The most important literature of the Middle Ages is poetry.

»Prose was produced especially in the field of moral institution and exhortation.

»Other genre in prose were fiction and drama began to developed from church’s rituals.

Epic Poetry

»The oldest British poetry is Beowulf. The only manuscript dates from around 1000, but is certainly much older.

»It tells the story of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero, who have more adventure.

»The verse is typically of oral tradition: it use poetic devices, repletion and  its metre based on  a pattern of stressed and alliterated word.

»The quantity of Anglo-Saxons poetry which has survived besides Beowulf is relatively small.

»Moreover much of the poetry of the time was in Latin.

Anglo - Norman Poetry

»In the Anglo-Norman any of literary interest was produced in England because France and Latin were the dominant languages.

»The romance was preferred by the nobility. It was a long narrative poem telling about heroic adventure of knights and intricate love stories.

»The most important cycle of legend that was wrote in England. It tells about King Arthur and the knight of Round Table.

»French’s literature influenced the poetic form. The number of syllables acquired more important.