Old English Prose:

• King Alfred – father of English prose [Ecclesiastical History of The English People]

• Aelfric [Lives of Saints]

• Wulfstan [The Sermon of the Wulf to the English]

Old English Prosody:

• Alliteration – repetition of initial consonants in a line

1. Old English – “Beowulf” “friendlness foundling, feeble”

2. Middle English – “The Vision of Piers Plowman” [Langland] “Working and wandering as the world demands”

3. Later poetry – “To Virgil” [Tennyson] “Landscape-lover, lord of language”

4. Tongue twisters – “She sells sea shells on a sea shore”

• Alliterative metre/verse - the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables, is a basic structural principle rather than an occasional embellishment.

1. Caesura - a pause within a poetic line that breaks the regularity of the metrical pattern. It is represented in scansion by the sign ‖. The caesura sometimes is used to emphasize the formal metrical construction of a line, but it more often introduces the cadence of natural speech patterns and habits of phrasing into the metrical scheme.

2. “So the lordly warriors // lived in gladness,

At ease and happy, // till a fiend from hell

Begah a series // of savage crimes.

They called him Grendel, // a demon grim…”

• Kennings –literary trope in the form of a compound that employs figurative language instead of a single noun like e.g. “bone-house” = body, “whale’s road” = sea, “battle light” = sword

• Formulás – stop phrases, in epic give formal, traditional character, e.g. “pay tribute”, “hard under helmet”

• Variation – paraphrase – restatement of the concept using different words, e.g. “The lord of the seamen gave swift reply,
  The prince of the Weders unlocked his word-hoard…” – This both refers to Beowulf

Old English Poetry:

Types of Anglo-Saxon verse:

• Heroic poetry

1. Beowulf

2. The Battle of Maldon – spoken by one of the warriors after death of the English commander. He says he will continue the fight even though his lord is dead. He is loyal, he wants to double his courage. At some point courage becomes desperate, it’s hoping against hope.

• Elegiac poetry

1. ´Deor´s Lament – everything passes away, Deor was replaced with another poet from his office. He laments the cruelty of fortune.

2. ‘The Ruin’ – devastation of a place, marvelous buildings are falling

3. ‘Wulf and Eadwacer’ – female voice speaking, intense romantic passion. Wife is separated from her husband

4. ‘The Wife’s Complaint’ – Family of husband took them apart, consolidation: husband may be also sad and miserable. Lady is speaking which is unusual for Anglo-Saxon literature.

5. ‘The Husband’s Message’ – Husband asks wife to join him in other land in spring. He is wealthy a lot

6. ‘The Wanderer’ – Lord died, life of wanderer has no more sense. Remedy lies in heaven.

7. ‘The Seafarer’ – sailor, passion for the sea but loneliness. Dialogue – one fascinated, other criticizing sea.

• Religious poetry

1. ‘Caedmon’s Hymn’ – paraphrasing the Bible. Hymn to God.

2. ‘Cynewulf: ‘Christ’ and the Lives of the Saints’ – mystical contemplation

3. ‘The Dream of the Rood’ – dream vision, describes crucification, Christ presented In a heroic way, speech ends with the extortion to each soul. Prosopopeia – Cross speaks.

• Miscellaneous

1. ‘A book worm’

The Poets of the Alliterative Revival – 13^th century

• The Gawain Poet [also known as The Pearl poet]

1. ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ - In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his beard and skin. The "Green Knight" offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts, and beheads him in one blow, only to have the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. The story of Gawain's struggle to meet the appointment and his adventures along the way demonstrate the spirit of chivalry and loyalty

• ‘bob and wheel’ – metrical device. Bob is short line, usually consisting of even 2 syllables followed by wheel - longer lines with internal rhyme. Usually occurs at the end of stanza.

2. ‘Pearl’ - The poem may be divided into three parts: an introduction, a dialog between the two main characters in which the Pearl instructs the narrator, and a description of the New Jerusalem with the narrator's awakening.

3. ‘Purity’ - Theme of purity, faithfulness, and God's punishment of one person (such as Adam), cities (such as Sodom and Gomorrah except for Lot and his daughters), and the whole world (except for Noah and his family and the animals he chose).

4. ‘Patience’ - The narrator/homilist begins by praising patience, setting it among eight virtues (which he calls blessings). The remainder of the work utilizes the story of Jonah as an exemplum which illustrates and justifies the admonition to accept the will of God patiently. Jonah, although written centuries prior to the poet's time, is an exemplary model of impatience, yet God still shows his loving mercy toward him.

• William Langland

1. ‘The Vision of Piers Plowman’ - The poem concerns the narrator's intense quest for the true Christian life, from the perspective of medieval Catholicism. This quest entails a series of dream-visions and an examination into the lives of three allegorical characters.

The background and characteristics of Middle English Literature

• The Development of the Lyric

1. The Secular Lyric – Lyrics which are with a very large range of topics. Mostly sung by minstrels. It’s less than religious lyrics as far as it also contains of love lyrics, political and social poems, satirical poems, e.g. “Lenten ys come with loue to toune…” [Spring has arrived, with love..]

Original Text	Translation
Lenten ys come with loue to toune, With blosmen ant with briddes roune, That al this blisse bryngeth. Dayeseyes in this dales, Notes suete of nyhtegales, Vch foul song singeth.	Spring has arrived, with love, With flowers, and with birdsong, Bringing all this joy. Daisies in the valleys, The sweet notes of nightingales, Every bird sings a song.

2. The Religious Lyric – Lyrics which offer wide range of themes vary from such prayers to Complaints of Christ and the Virgin, from the Passion of Christ to the Five Joys of Mary, from translations of Latin hymns to rhymed sermons and poems on the fear of death. A great part of religious lyrics form the lovesongs to the Virgin, that often are written in the tradition of courtly love lyrics. A great part of the religious poetry we know today is anonymous, but we sometimes know the names of authors, or at least owners of notebooks. E.g. is “I syng of a mayden” - the text celebrating the Annunciation of Mary and also referring to The Old Testament.

• The Development of the Ballad

1. ‘Lord Randall’

2. ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’

3. ‘The Unquiet Grave’

4. ‘Sir Patrick Spens’ – the fragment is on Xerox copy. The opening lines do refer to the king who is specifically located in Dunfermline where historically there was a royal residence. The name "Patrick Spens" has no historical record, and, like many of the heroes of such ballads, is probably an invention. The story as told in the ballad has multiple versions, but they all follow the same basic plot. The King of Scotland has called for the greatest sailor in the land to command a ship for a royal errand. The name "Sir Patrick Spens" is mentioned by a courtier, and the king despatches a letter. Sir Patrick, though honoured to receive a royal commission, is dismayed at being put to sea in the dead of winter, clearly realising this voyage could well be his last. Versions differ somewhat at this point. Some indicate that a storm sank the ship in the initial crossing, thus ending the ballad at this point, while many have Sir Patrick safely reaching Norway.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) – the Father of English Poetry

Chronology of works:

1. Before 1372 the first part of ‘The romaunt of the Rose’ [powieść o róży]

2. 1368-72 ‘The Book of the Duchess’

3. 1378-83 ‘The House of Fame’

4. 1380-2 ‘The Parliament of Fowls’

5. 1382-6 ‘Troilus and Criseyde’

6. 1387 ‘The Legend of Good Women’

7. 1388-1400 ‘The Canterbury Tales’

8. a, b, c, i d są to przykłady dream visions

Why is Geoffrey Chaucer called the father of English Poetry?

His extensive use of English vernacular from his time that used in his stories, particularly in The Canterbury Tales. By any sensible assessment, Chaucer is among the greatest of world poets -- by turns funny, solemn, deeply religious, and ribald. He is among the most technically varied and accomplished of English poets -- meaning that it is possible to learn a great deal about poetry from relatively short passages of his text. He is preeminently the master of the greatest neglected genre in our literature -- narrative verse, poems that tell stories.

The Canterbury Tales as the greatest poetic achievement of the age.

• The Canterbury Tales as a frame narrative – pilgrimage is a frame

• The General Proglogue and the tradition of medieval estates satire

Character	Description	Text fragment
The Knight	Ideal warrior, participated in real campaigns	‘He was a very perfect noble knight’
The Squire [giernek]		‘His raiment shone as if he were a mead Broidered with flowers fresh and white and red’
The Prioress [przeorysz]	She perfectly imitates court lady, she knows perfectly courtly habits	‘Ever to use the ways of court she tried, And sought to keep her manners dignified, That all folk should be reverent of her’
The Monk	Typical hunting monk. He spent less time in order than on hunting	‘Greyhounds he has as swift as birds in flight; To gallop with the hounds and hunt the hare He made his joy and no expense would spare.’
The Friar [brat zakonny]	Typical friar, but described with a specific name “Hubert”. He had a lot of income and still he was begging for more	‘So pleasant was his In principio, That he would have a farthing ere he went; His profits more than paid him back his rent!’
The Wife of Bath		‘She’d been respectable throughout her life, With five churched husbands bringing joy and strife, Not counting other company in youth; But thereof there’s no need to speak, in truth.’
The Clerk of Oxford [student z Oksfordu]	He was very thin, he spent most of his money on books than on something to eat	‘The thought of moral virtue filled his speech And he would gladly learn, and gladly teach’
The Parson [proboszcz]	First he does a thing, then gives an example by behavior, and then he speaks about it	‘This noble example to his sheep he gave, First following the word before he taught it, And it was from the gospel he had caught it.’
The Miller [młynarz]	Described as a thief	‘A thumb of gold (…)’

The Genres of The Canterbury Tales:

1. Chivalric romances [romansy rycerskie]: “The Knight’s Tales”

2. Fabliaux: “The Miller’s Tale”

3. Animal fables: “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”

4. Exempla: “The Pardoner’s Tale”

5. Saints lives: “The Second Nun’s Tale”

6. A fairy tale: “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”

7. A tragedy: “The Monk’s Tale”

8. A Breton lay: “The Franklin’s Tale”

9. A moral treatise in prose: “The Parson’s Tale”

Tales	Short descriptions
The Knight’s Tale	The story introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas.
The Miler’s Tale	It is a vulgar, ribald, and satirical fabliau, The Miller's Tale has religious commentary that may be a response to the corruption of the Catholic Church in 14th century Europe.
The Nun’s Priests Tale	It is a beast fable. This tale is in many ways a return to the ground, a return to basics. We start with a poor widow, and a dusty yard. the tale keeps emphasizing anality and bottoms - in Chaunticleer’s two examples of dreams-coming-true, a dung cart and a breaking ship’s “bottom” are the hinge of the story, and Pertelote’s advice to Chaunticleer is to take some “laxatyf” to clear out his humours
The Pardoner’s Tale	The story is about three drunken men who wanted to find and kill Death. They searched it at Oak tree, but they found gold and forgot about quest. In the morning they took straw’s and the youngest took the smallest and eventually was sent to buy some food and wine. The other two made a plot to kill the young one, but the young also put poison into wine and food. They killed the young man, and died because of poisoned food and wine. All of them met Death.
The Second Nun’s Tale	Told by a nun concerned only with spiritual matters, this tale tells the story of Saint Cecilia. Like many of the tales told by the pilgrims, The Second Nun's tale incorporates elements from Dante.
The Wife of Bath’s Tale	One of King Arthur’s knights rapes a woman, which is punishable by death. With the help of other knights king decides to let queen do with him whatever she wants, and so queen sends him to search what women wants. On his way he meets old hag to whom he promise to do whatever she wants and she goes with him and tells what women really want (sovereignty over their husbands) and knight has to marry old woman. While night in marriage bed he complains about his fate, but woman gave choice to him whether he wants to have ugly, but faithful wife or beautiful and unfaithful. In the end they live together happily till the end of their days.
The Monk’s Tale	The form of tragedy depicted in The Monk's Tale is "the medieval idea that the protagonist is victim rather than hero, raised up and then cast down by the workings of Fortune." The text, despite the Monk's insistence upon a strict, homogeneous definition of tragedy, presents as equally tragic tales that diverge in content, tone, and form massively. Chaucer may be undermining the Monk's literary dogma and overly-strict generic classifications.
The Franklin’s Tale	It focuses on issues of providence, truth, generosity and gentillesse in human relationships.
The Parson’s Tale	The subject of the parson's "tale" (or rather, treatise) is penitence. It may thus be taken as containing inferential criticism of the behavior and character of humanity detectible in all the other pilgrims, knight included. Chaucer himself claims to be swayed by the plea for penitence, since he follows the Parson's Tale with a Retraction (the conceit which appears to have been the intended close to the entire cycle) in which he personally asks forgiveness for any offenses he may have caused

The rise and development of medieval romance

1. The development of chivalric romance [in Middle Ages – Honour, Chivalry, and Courtly love]

1. Chansons de geste [songs of dees – pieśni o czynach] – e.g. Chanson de Roland

2. Marie de France’s lais – First known French woman poet in 12th century. She wrote a number of lais – short lyric or narrative poems, mostly about Arthurian legends.

3. Chrétien de Troyes’ chivalric romances: Erec and Enide, Cligés, Yvain, Lancelot and Perceval. He was the first who wrote romances. He wrote 5 in French. Mostly he describes men’s inner life. Compared to modern novels. Presents dialogue’s, monologue’s discussing inner feelings.

4. Early English romances: King Horn (1225), Floris and Blancheflour (13^th century), Havelok the Dane (1300), Bevis of Hampton, Guy the Warwick, Sir Orfeo – rule of the marriage is to promote social order, leads to unification of the nation

5. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – the “Beheading Game”, the “Temptation Story”, “The Exchange of Winnings” [historia tego co zielony rycerz przyniósł: siekierę I wiązkę ostrokrzewu]

6. Chaucer’s romances: “The Knight’s Tale”,T roilus and Criseyde”

7. Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur – he wrote it in prison as he was criminal. Written in 21 books, very wide combination of Arthurian legends issued in England by William Caxton in 1485

2. The Classification of medieval romance according to subject matter:

1. “The matter of France”: stories about Charlemagne and his knights

2. “The matter of Rome”: stories about Thebes, Aeneas, Troy and Alexander

3. “The matter of Britain”: Arthurian romances [first written in French]

Romance is the story of a knight on the quest. They had to fulfill some challenge. Elements of magic fantasy, dragons, curses to be broken.
Courtly love – new conception of romantic love originally from France. Love is a kind of service, like that of a slave to his master, but who is not forced to it. Knight is devoted to his lady, does everything for her. Often it was unfulfilled love. Courtly love idealized a woman. Lady is kind, educated, full of mercy but passive. She can’t show her feelings. Lover dedicates himself completely to her service. She can have one in charge.
In medieval marriage woman didn’t have right to decide. In courtly love a woman has power over a man. Love stimulates courage. Love makes knight a better person and it was a warship [?] of a lady. Ideal love was celebrated in romances.
In chansons de geste love is not important that much. Heroism is more important.
Romantic knight serves:
- King
- God
- Lady of his heart
3 aspects of chivalry:
- in relation to one’s countryman – showing mercy
- in relation to God – being faithful, taking part in crusades
- in relation to women – obeying the rules of courtly love.

Annotation to 1e: Sir Gawain becomes saved, he is not fault and he shouldn’t judge himself so strict. Work is finished with quotation: “Shame on him who thinks evil on it” – this is the motto of The Order of the Garter. One of the knights [or kings] was dancing with a “lady-in-waiting” [celowo dałem takie tłmaczenie z uwagi na brak możliwości odczytania słowa. Niestety w słowniku nie ma słowa dworzanka, jest tylko dworzanin – courtier – więc użyłem tu słowa szlachcianka], she lost her garter. He picked it up and said she shouldn’t be ashamed of it. We are all humans.

Medieval Drama in England

	Liturgical Drama	Mystery Plays (Cycles)	Morality Plays (Individual)	Miracle Plays (Saint’s Plays)
Date	10-14^th centuries	14-16^th centuries	14-16^th centuries	10-16^th centuries
Main characteristics	Originating in the church Drama built into the mass Set to music Written in Latin Includes tropes – decorations / ornaments	Performed by local trade guilds [cech] on around Corpus Christi Day [Boże Ciało] Composed in cycles (up to 48 plays or pageants [in English] Composed in the vernacular [żargon]	composed individually usually about 1000-3000 lines Origins in sermon literature Composed in the vernacular [żargon]	originated in the church in the 10^th century left the church by the 13^th century and were performed at public festivals Contained fictional and factual components
Extant specimens	“Visit to the Spulchre” [empty grave] with “Whom do you seek?” – prototype of drama, performed in Church	The York Cycle (48 episodes) The Chester Cycle (25 episodes) The Convetry Cycle (42 episodes) The Towneley Cycle by the Wakefield Master (32 episodes), e.g. “The Second Sheperd’s Play” [druga pastorałka o urodzeniu Chrystusa]	“The Pride of Life” (1400) “The Castle of Perseverance” [wytrwałość] (1425) “Wisdom” (1460) “Mankind” (1475) “Everyman” (1500)	“Miracles de Notre Dame” [of our Lady] – 42 plays “Play of St. Nicholas” by Jean Bodel English specimens: “Conversion of Saint Paul” and “Mary Magdalene”
Thematic concern	The visit of 3 Marys to empty Christ tomb	Biblical events from creation to Dooms’ Day	Dramatized allegory of Christian’s spiritual journey through life, based on battle between good and evil for the possession of human soul (psychomachy)	lives of saints, martyrs emphasis on conversion from sin to grace and intervention of saints in the lives of people
Characters	3 Marys, angles guarding the tomb	Mary, Joseph, Noah	Personifications of abstract ideas: Death, Confession	The Virgin Mary, St. Nicholas, St. Paul
Staging	Church	City streets, pageant wagons,	Place-and-scaffold staging	Pageant wagons, town squares