THE
OLD ENGLISH PERIOD…….
BRITAIN
AND THE ROMANS..
Of prehistoric
man in Britain our knowledge is inevitably meager. We do not know ,however that
over a period of thousands of years before the christianera there were several
migrations into the country . but by the time of Julius Caesar it seems clear
that the peoples of Britain were predominantly celtic ,or,at least
celtic-speaking country.their speech belongedto the brytonic branch of
celtic,of which welsh is a modern representative . the people lived in tribal
units in Britain.
In 4 A.D the emperor Claudius took up the long
abandoned project and inaugurate a campaign that gradually absorbed Britain as
far north as the highlands of Scotland into the roman empire.
Around the middle
of the fifth century there was an important change in the nature of the
Germanic raids .since the Germanic
settled in Britain and the instituted a policy settlement .its beginning of
this new policy that was long remembered in Britain as the coming of the
Saxons.
Long before the
invasion of Britain the Germanic tribes had learned from the classical world.on
the basis of classical models they had develoved a system of letters of their
own,the-called runes. Runes were used for inscriptions on stone ,but not generally
for writing down poems and stories. It is well known fact that,without the use
of writing there can exist artistic creations in language.
Other old English literature , for example beowulf
and finsnsburg fragment and the tittle remains waldere , supplements the heroic
material of widsith. A companion piece to widsith , in that is compact of
heroic-age story and about a scop. Is deor.. it seems to be a later poem and is
particulary interesting because its use of a refrain ‘’that evil passed
away,this will pass too. The mistrial deor represents him self as a scop who
one knew the favor of a gracious lord,but who now has been forced to yeld his
place to rival bard. Heorrenda .deor is a skillfulland moving poem ,it represents
the very best elements in the Germanic conceft ofm fortitude.
Beowulf is the
earliest and the greatestepic in the English literature. It contains the story
of king of the danes . the plot of the poem is simple and falls into two parts
. in the first part it is told hold how hrotgar, king of the danes ,had
built a magnificent mead – hall which he
called heorot . the sound of rejoicing there angered the monster ,grendel
,which inhibited a nearby fenland . for tweleve years ,night after night
,grendel visited heorot and killed several warriors.nes of plight of the danes
reached the land of hygelac, king ot the geats (in the soutren part of swedan )
Beowulf ,his nephew ,a youg man of great strength resolved to win the fame by
conquering the monster . at heorot he grappled with the bloodthirsty visitant and
wonded him mortally . on the following night there were great rejoicing in
hothgars court but when the feast was over and the warriors had retired ,
grandels mother came to seek revenge. She carried off aeschere to sinister pool
in which the monster lived ,plinged in , and finally emerged victorius from an
underwater stuggle to the death . after being suitably praised and rewarded by
the danes , Beowulf returned to his home , related his adventures and was
accorded the honors due him.
Beowlf is ,
beyond its value as a sourse of information on early history , folklore ,
philology, archeology and social customs ,a poem , a creation of the human
imagination . it containts several
memorable passages . there is , foe example real vigor in the in the
picture of the heroes voyage from geatland to hrothgar ill fated land.
That
was the king’s last hour of victory by his own
Greet
deeds ,the last of his wordly work
But
the wound which the earth – dragon had given him
Began
to burn and swell,presently he found that
poison
,deadly venom ,was surging on his breast
the
sorrowing soldier then laid the glorious prince
their
dear lord ,in the middle .then on the hill the
war-man
began to light the greatest of funeral fires
wood - smoke rose black aboves the flames .the
noisy
fire
.mixed with sorrowful cries.
The old language
cannot be read now except by those who have made a special study of it .the
poem of Beowulf gives an interesting picture of life in those old days.it tells
us of pierce and brave of the speeches of the leader and the suffering of his
men.
The poem gives a
fairly full account of the life of the ancestor before they came to Britain .
for early morning when the warriors gathred in the hall , till the hour when
they sank asleep ,each with his armor and weapon at hand .it was their custom
to be always read to fight , whether at home or in the field . we learn that
they were seafaring people ,that they believed their lived were ordained by
fate.
The two great
poets are Caedmon and Cynewulf.
Cynewulf (
pronounced )is one of twelve angelo – saxon poets known by named today,and one
of four whose work survives today,he is famous for his religious composition ,
and regarded as one of the pre-eminent figures of old English Christian poetry
. postery knows of his name by means of runic signatures that are inter woven
into the four poems which comprise his scholastically recognized corpus.
Unlike his
literary predecessor ,caedmond , whose biography is solely derived from bede’s
ecclesiastical history , Cynewulf life is a veritable mystery to
scholars.furthermore ,the ‘’fact” that have been gleaned from literature of
Cynewulf “somewhat reverse “ what we know of caedmon’s own writing .the four
signed poems of cynewulf are vast in they collectively comprise several
thousands lines of .thus ,while scholars have little insight into Cynewulf
life,they can analyse the poets verse to its deepest roots. Uncovering a stock
of evidence that can shed light onto the poets being. Despite new discoveries
,Cynewulf remains “the shadow of a name “
The age of Alfred
Literature Alfred
the great (preface to his translation of Gregory’s pastoral care. alfred great(848
or 849 – October 26,899 ),king of wessex
from 871 to 899,was responsible for turning back the dannish invasion of wessex
and for promoting a revival of education ,scholarship ,law and administration .
his translation onto old English of theological and philosophical works are
sometimes said to have laid the foundations of
English prose.
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