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Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 1: The Anglo-Saxon Literature and the Norman French Period

Unit 1: The Anglo-Saxon Literature and Notes

the Norman French Period

CONTENTS

Objectives
Introduction
1.1 Extant Manuscripts
1.2 Old English Poetry
1.3 Old English Prose
1.4 The Norman French Period
1.4.1 Social Results of the Conquest
1.4.2 The Result for Poetry
1.4.3 The English Dialects
1.5 Summary
1.6 Keywords
1.7 Review Questions
1.8 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
Define extant manuscripts.
Describe old english poetry and old english prose.
Explain the norman french period.

Introduction

Old English literature (or Anglo-Saxon literature) encompasses literature written in Old English
(also called Anglo-Saxon) in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period from the 7th century to the
Norman Conquest of 1066. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons,
Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. In all there are about 400 surviving
manuscripts from the period, a significant corpus of both popular interest and specialist research.
Among the most important works of this period is the poem Beowulf, which has achieved national
epic status in England. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle otherwise proves significant to study of the
era, preserving a chronology of early English history, while the poem Cadmon’s Hymn from the
7th century survives as the oldest extant work of literature in English.
Anglo-Saxon literature has gone through different periods of research—in the 19th and early 20th
centuries the focus was on the Germanic roots of English, later the literary merits were emphasised,
and today the focus is upon paleography and the physical manuscripts themselves more generally:
scholars debate such issues as dating, place of origin, authorship, and the connections between
Anglo-Saxon culture and the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.
A large number of manuscripts remain from the Anglo-Saxon period, with most written during
the last 300 years, in both Latin and the vernacular. Old English literature began, in written form,
as a practical necessity in the aftermath of the Danish invasions – church officials were concerned
that because of the drop in Latin literacy no one could read their work. Likewise King Alfred the
Great (849–899), wanting to restore English culture, lamented the poor state of Latin education.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 1