BEOWULF

- Author is unknown

- Composition is dated between 8^th and 11^th century

- Action set in Scandinavia

- Beowulf is a great hero who comes to the mead hall in Heorot that has been under attack by a monster called Grendel. Beowulf slays him and he defeats also monster’s mother. After his victory he comes back to Sweden and later becomes a king. After a 50 years he defeats a dragon but is mortally wounded and dies. His attendants bury him and make him a burial mound.

-  themes and subject matter are rooted in Germanic heroic poetry, recited and cultivated by Old English poets called scops

- Beowulf wanted to be famous, he wanted to last forever in history

THE WANDERER

• An Old English poem in an anthology known as The Exeter Book

• Manuscript dated from the late 10^th century

• Author unknown

• Wanderer is a survivor, he lost his lord and comrades, it was not his choice to be on the sea

• Wyrd – fate, sth that is unexpected, spooky and frightening (both)

• Wanderer is looking for a new land, new lord/patron and people

• He wants his life to be as it was before his exile

• He struggles during his journey, he doesn’t like it, he’s trying to find comfort, he’s gregarious

THE SEAFARER (Exeter Book 10^th century)

• Existentialism, meaning of human existence (concerns also wanderer)

• Weather in this poem is very bad, it’s raging and rough, it’s raining and extremely cold, frosty ( concerns also wanderer )

• Sea is a symbol of exile, of being cast away, sth unknown, loneliness (concerns also wanderer )

• Seafarer wants to be on the see, he enjoys it, he wants to feel alive, he wants to explore

• He does not see himself living an easy life on the land

• Wisdom text, this poem tries to teach us sth

• Sailing is life for Seafarer, he thinks that a life has to be tough to obtain salvation, he treats see as a path that leads to paradise

DREAM OF THE ROOD (10th century, Vercelli Book)

• Author unknown

• Recorded on a stone cross and in a manuscript found in Italy

• Christ is presented as a hero similar to pagan heroes and warriors

• Cross is covered in blood, changes shapes

• Christ approaches the cross quickly, he’s proud and he is not scared, he climbs the cross himself

• Christ – young warrior

• He takes his clothes off, he’s admired by all people, a lot of them are watching him

• Christ is presented like this because of the influence of the Nordic culture that values strong Gods such as Odin, Thor or Loki who were powerful and heroic

• Cross and Christ becomes one, Cross suffers as well

• Author is having a dream in which he speaks to a cross and cross tells him a story about Christ being crucified

LAUSTIC

• Medieval Briton Lay by Marie de France

• Laustic means rossignol

• One of the poems from collection called “Lais of the Marie de France”

• Written in Anglo-Norman dialect of Old French

• Marie brings attention to repressed women voice in patriarchal society

• Chivalric romance references

• Bird as a symbol of secret love

• References to the tale of Philomela from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”; broken body of nightingale which signifies the end of communication between lovers is symbolic of the cutting out of Philomela’s tongue

• Hidden love between a women and a lord from a castle beside, they don’t see each other, rossignol is a symbol of their love but eventually it is being discovered and killed by women’s husband

• Blood on the white shirt as a symbol of impurity

• Dead body of a bird which is put into the casket will eventually rot which may suggest that chivalric romance/love is nothing valuable; immoral

LAYAMON’S BRUT (12th /13^th century, Layamon)

• Narrates the history of Britain, first historiography written in English since Anglo-Saxon chronicles

• Named after Brutus who was a mythical founder of Britain

• Based on “Roman de Brut” by Wace

• Poem covers an English history from the very beginning, mostly focused on Arthurian legend

• Lawman was a priest, we don’t know many details about him

• Introduction of chivalric culture, idea of holy war and the image of Christ as a perfect knight

• Chanson de geste – songs about deeds

• Kingdom of England as a second Troy

• Re-birth of the myths about origins

• Arthurian myth – idea of a perfect knight and king, leader, glorious man

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (Geoffrey Chaucer, 14^th century)

• Middle English romance

• Chaucer “Pearl Poet”

• Mixture of the old and new English

• Highlights the importance of honour and chivalry

• King Arthur presented as an immature boy who still is not a fully-grown man, childlike

• Moral and religious text

• Envelope structure

• Gawain is put into a test in which he will have to show his abilities and honour, he plays “beheading game” with Green knight- he wants to check if Arthur’s warriors are that glorious as it’s heard

• Obedience towards chivalric code and courtly love

• Sir Gawain considers that he failed because he kept a girdle from a lady because of fear of death

PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES (Geoffrey Chaucer, 14^th century)

• Consolidation of English society

• First poem that includes people from all 3 social spheres (oratores, bellatores, laboratores )

• New focus on social realism, lower class characters in the centre of interest

• Text had a great influence on contemporary English

• Idea of carnivalesque (reversal of values and hierarchies)

• Frame narrative

• Bunch of pilgrimages gather together in South England tavern ( Tabard Inn ), they want to go to Canterbury

• Narrator decides to join them and describe some of the characters

• It’s April – nature arouses, time for pilgrimages

• Author identifies them by their occupation

• Discrepancies between their jobs and actions

• Author is a little bit ironic in his descriptions