A History of English Literature
Chapter I: literature of the middle ages
A. ANGLO- Saxon period (5th - 10th centuries)
During the first five centuries of our era and long before that, Britain was inhabited by a people called Kelts, who lived in tribes.
Britain’s history is considered to begin in the 5th century, when it was invaded from the Continent by the fighting tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. At the very end of the 5th century they settled in Britain and began to call themselves English (after the principal tribe of settlers, called English).
Although we know very little of this period from literature some poems have nevertheless reached us. In those early days songs called epics were created in many countries. The epics tell about the most remarkable events of a people’s history and the deeds of one or more heroic personages.
The Song of Beowulf
The first masterpiece of English literature, the epic poem The Song of Beowulf, describes the historical past of the land from which the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came. They brought the subject over from the Continent when they invaded Britain, and it was made into a poem somewhere about the 7th century.
The story of Beowulf tells of the time when kings Hrothgar ruled the Danes. Hrothgar built a great house for himself and his man. It has a large hall with flat stones in the centre. All the men slept in this hall. There was a great feast when the hall was built. During the feast the songs from the hall were heard by a monster that lived at the bottom of a lonely lake. The gay songs irritated him. When all Hrothgar’s men were asleep, Grendel, the monster, appeared. He seized thirty of the sleeping men, carried them away and ate them. Night after night the man disappeared one after another, until Hrothgar had lost nearly all of them.
One day the men that guarded the coast saw a ship approaching the shores of Denmark from Norway. A young Viking was on board, tall and strong as a young oak-tree. It was Beowulf, who had heard of Grendel and
A. ANGLO- Saxon period (5th - 10th centuries)
During the first five centuries of our era and long before that, Britain was inhabited by a people called Kelts, who lived in tribes.
Britain’s history is considered to begin in the 5th century, when it was invaded from the Continent by the fighting tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes. At the very end of the 5th century they settled in Britain and began to call themselves English (after the principal tribe of settlers, called English).
Although we know very little of this period from literature some poems have nevertheless reached us. In those early days songs called epics were created in many countries. The epics tell about the most remarkable events of a people’s history and the deeds of one or more heroic personages.
The Song of Beowulf
The first masterpiece of English literature, the epic poem The Song of Beowulf, describes the historical past of the land from which the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came. They brought the subject over from the Continent when they invaded Britain, and it was made into a poem somewhere about the 7th century.
The story of Beowulf tells of the time when kings Hrothgar ruled the Danes. Hrothgar built a great house for himself and his man. It has a large hall with flat stones in the centre. All the men slept in this hall. There was a great feast when the hall was built. During the feast the songs from the hall were heard by a monster that lived at the bottom of a lonely lake. The gay songs irritated him. When all Hrothgar’s men were asleep, Grendel, the monster, appeared. He seized thirty of the sleeping men, carried them away and ate them. Night after night the man disappeared one after another, until Hrothgar had lost nearly all of them.
One day the men that guarded the coast saw a ship approaching the shores of Denmark from Norway. A young Viking was on board, tall and strong as a young oak-tree. It was Beowulf, who had heard of Grendel and