Textuality » 3A Interacting
Main literary genres were poetry , fiction and stories in verse. From the 12th century began to develop drama.
The oldest surviving British poetry is a long narrative epic, Beowulf, about 3200 lines. The only manuscript of Beowulf dates from around 1000, but is certainly much older. Beowulf was a Scandinavian hero.
In the Anglo-Norman period the nobility favoured the French form of the romance.
The most famous romances that flourished in Britain is the cycle of legend dealing with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
By the end of the 14th century French and English had amalgamated.
Poetry was no longer anonymous except in the case of those poetic works, like ballads.
The narrative-descriptive poem and the ballad were among the common people or derived from oral tradition. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is the most famous example of a narrative-descriptive poem in this period.
In the 12th century mystery and miracle plays were used by the Church to give a religious education.