Three Major Phase of Ancient English Poetry   

       1. Ancient English Poetry 5th BC-12th BC 

       2. Pre-modern Poetry   12th BC-15th BC 

       3. Modern Poetry 15th BC-now 

Ancient English Poetry 5th BC-12th BC

--The Anglo-Saxon Period  

       Angles and Saxons were different tribes of Teutons, who were ancestors of English dwelling in Denmark and in the lands extending southward along the Northsea 

--The Anglo-Norman Period 

       In the year 1066, the Normans headed by William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxons. The Normans were originally a hardy race of sea rovers. They conquered Northern France and adopted the French language. Literature in this period falls into two divisions:    

       Pagan: oral sagas brought by Anglo-Saxons  

       Christian: writings developed under teaching of the monks   

       -Normans influence on English culture  

       1. the bringing of Roman civilization

       2. the growth of nationality, i.e. a strong centralized government

       3. the new language and literature    

FEATURES   

Features of Anglo-Saxon Period

oSubject matters are dominantly monotone

oStrong musical effect and rhythms

oAlliteration

oMetonymy

Features of Anglo-Norman Period

Subject matter

o matter of France

o matter of Greece and Rome

o matter of Britain tales having for   their heroes Arthur and his knights of the round table, legendary civil heroes

o matter of religion, pilgrimage

oAlliteration and rhymes

oCombination of English and French

oCoexistence of grand French style and plain English style

Major Works  

Ancient English Poetry

--Beowulf (The Song of Beowulf) 

  1. written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature 

 2. 3182 lines and two parts with an interpolation between the two. 

 3. Beowulf defeated Grendal, a monster half-human, and his mother for the honor of King Danes.

Prelude of Beowulf 

oPrelude.

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls.

--Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 

    1. Series of Arthurian romances, Chief of which are those of Gawain, Launcelot, Merlin, and the death of Arthur.

     2. 4 cantos / alliteration   

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gawain/section1.html  

Historical Prologue of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight   

The siege and assault having ceased at Troy
as its blazing battlements blackened to ash,
the man who had planned and plotted that treason
had trial enough for the truest traitor!
Then Aeneas the prince and his honored line
plundered provinces and held in their power
nearly all the wealth of the western isles.

--The Canterbury Tales 

       Geoffrey Chaucer’s masterpiece. A mimic of Boccasccio’s Decameron, the prologue of which is a splendid realistic portrayal. He planed about 32 tales but only 24 were actually written.

--Popular Ballads 

       Anonymous narrative songs that have been preserved by oral transmission. A common form of ballad stanza is made up of four iambic lines, with a riming pattern of abab or abcb. 

Robinhood and Pedlar   

There chanced to be a Pedlar bold,
A Pedlar bold there chanced to be;
He put his pack all on his back,
And so merrily trudged over the lea.

By chance he met two troublesome men,
Two troublesome men they chanced to be,
The one of them was bold Robin Hood,
And the other was little John so free.

O Pedlar, Pedlar, what is in thy pack?
Come speedily and tell to me.
I've several suits of the gay green silks,
And silken bowstrings by two or three.

If you have several suits of the gay green silk,
And silken bowstrings two or three
Then, by my body, cries little John,
One half of your pack shall belong to me.