English Literature. William J. Long
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Christianity have upon Anglo-Saxon literature? Can you quote any passages from Cædmon to show that Anglo-Saxon character was not changed but given a new direction? If you have read Milton's Paradise Lost, what resemblances are there between that poem and Cædmon's Paraphrase?
10. What are the Cynewulf poems? Describe any that you have read. How do they compare in spirit and in expression with Beowulf? with Cædmon? Read The Phoenix (which is a translation from the Latin) in Brooke's History of Early English Literature, or in Gollancz's Exeter Book, or in Cook's Translations from Old English Poetry, and tell what elements you find to show that the poem is not of Anglo-Saxon origin. Compare the views of nature in Beowulf and in the Cynewulf poems.
11. Describe the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. What is its value in our language, literature, and history? Give an account of Alfred's life and of his work for literature. How does Anglo-Saxon prose compare in interest with the poetry?
| CHRONOLOGY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HISTORY | LITERATURE | ||
| 449(?). | Landing of Hengist and | ||
| Horsa in Britain | |||
| 477. | Landing of South Saxons | ||
| 547. | Angles settle Northumbria | 547. | Gildas's History |
| 597. | Landing of Augustine and his | ||
| monks. Conversion of Kent | |||
| 617. | Eadwine, king of Northumbria | ||
| 635–665. | Coming of St. Aidan. | ||
| Conversion of Northumbria | 664. | Cædmon at Whitby | |
| 673–735. | Bede | ||
| 750 | (cir.). Cynewulf | ||
| poems | |||
| 867. | Danes conquer Northumbria | ||
| 871. | Alfred, king of Wessex | 860. | Anglo-Saxon Chronicle begun |
| 878. | Defeat of Danes. Peace of | ||
| Wedmore | |||
| 901. | Death of Alfred | 991. | Last known poem of the |
| Anglo-Saxon | |||
| period, The Battle of | |||
| Maldon, otherwise called | |||
| Byrhtnoth's Death | |||
| 1013–1042. | Danish period | ||
| 1016. | Cnut, king | ||
| 1042. | Edward the Confessor. Saxon | ||
| period restored | |||
| 1049. | Westminster Abbey begun | ||
| 1066. | Harold, last of Saxon kings. | ||
| Norman Conquest |
CHAPTER III
THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD (1066–1350)
I. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
The Normans. The name Norman, which is a softened form of Northman, tells its own story. The men who bore the name came originally from Scandinavia,--bands of big, blond, fearless men cruising after plunder and adventure in their Viking ships, and bringing terror wherever they appeared. It was these same "Children of Woden" who, under the Danes' raven flag, had blotted out Northumbrian civilization in the ninth century. Later the same race of men came plundering along the French coast and conquered the whole northern country; but here the results were altogether different. Instead of blotting out a superior civilization, as the Danes had done, they promptly abandoned their own. Their name of Normandy still clings to the new home; but all else that was Norse disappeared as the conquerors intermarried with the native Franks and accepted French ideals and spoke the French language. So rapidly did they adopt and improve the Roman civilization of the natives that, from a rude tribe of heathen Vikings, they had developed within a single century into the most polished and intellectual people in all Europe. The union of Norse and French (i.e. Roman-Gallic) blood had here produced a race having the best qualities of both,--the will power and energy of the one, the eager curiosity and vivid imagination of the other. When these Norman-French people appeared in Anglo-Saxon England they brought with them three noteworthy things: a lively Celtic disposition, a vigorous and progressive Latin civilization, and a Romance language. [42] We are to think of the conquerors, therefore, as they thought and spoke of themselves in the Domesday Book and all their contemporary literature, not as Normans but as Franci, that is, Frenchmen.
The Conquest. At the battle of Hastings (1066) the power of Harold, last of the Saxon kings, was broken, and William, duke of Normandy, became master of England. Of the completion of that stupendous Conquest which began at Hastings, and which changed the civilization of a whole nation, this is not the place to speak. We simply point out three great results of the Conquest which have a direct bearing on our literature. First, notwithstanding Cæsar's legions and Augustine's monks, the Normans were the first to bring the culture and the practical ideals of Roman civilization home to the English people; and this at a critical time, when England had produced her best, and her own literature and civilization had already begun to decay. Second, they forced upon England the national idea, that is, a strong, centralized government to replace the loose authority of a Saxon chief over his tribesmen. And the world's history shows that without a great nationality a great literature is impossible. Third, they brought to England the wealth of a new language and literature, and our English gradually absorbed both. For three centuries after Hastings French was the language of the upper classes, of courts and schools and literature; yet so tenaciously did the common people cling to their own strong speech that in the end English absorbed almost the whole body of French words and became the language of the land. It was the welding of Saxon and French into one speech that produced the wealth of our modern English.
Illustration: LEIF ERICSON'S VESSEL LEIF ERICSON'S VESSEL
Naturally such momentous changes