ROMANCES
After the Norman conquest the main languages were French, which was spoken by the ruling class, and Latin, which was spoken by the literate class, while English was the language of the common people. The romances were the form of literature favoured by the nobility: they were anonymous long narrative poem that told story about heroic adventures, noble knights, love stories and all sorts of wonder. Also poetry developed in this period thanks to the French influences.
One of the most important romances on this literary movement is the "History of the kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth (written in Latin). The protagonists of the book is King Arthur and his knights. This book inspired Layamon, the writer of Brut, the first English epic poem which describes the history of England.
One of the most relevant author in this period is "Geoffrey Chaucer", a diplomat who decided to write his poem in English, the pagans' language. After he had travelled all over the world, he wrote "The Canterbury Tales", inspired by Italian writers like Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio. His work is made up of many stories, told by the characters and not directly by himself; besides they represents the different social classes in the Middle Ages.

 

BALLADS
Ballads were oral form of poetry used by the illiterate people. They are developed in four line stanzas rhyming ABCB, in order to be committed to memory. They told about love stories, supernatural and the battles between English and Scottish. They were accompanied by music.

 

DRAMA
Initially drama was the instrument used by the church to educate the illiterate people.
They were written in popular English. The Mistery Plays took place outside the churches and consisted of a number of stories which told about the Old and New Testament. The subjects were the biblical subjects. There were also the Morality Plays which told an allegorical tale with the aim of improving common people's religious and moral education.