Medieval English Literature PDF

Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 1 Ecoem Formacion — Curso 2023/2024 LA LITERATURA MED...

Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 1 Ecoem Formacion — Curso 2023/2024 LA LITERATURA MEDIEVAL DE TRANSMISION ORAL: LA LEYENDA ARTURICA. G. CHAUCER: LOS CUENTOS DE CANTERBURY. IGST43 A. READER 1. INTRODUCTION. E, ORAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. 2.1. Definition. 2.2. Characteristics of Oral Medieval Literature. 2.2.1. Main techniques. 2.2.2. Different types of oral literature. 3. THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. 3.1. The Historical Background. 3.2. | The Arthurian Legend in Literature. | 3.2.1. Representative Arthurian romances snd legends. 3.2.2. Main characters and themes in the Arthurian legend. 4. GEOFFREY CHAUCER: THE CANTERBURY TALES. 4.1. Chaucer's Life (1343-1400). — 4.2. Chaucer's Initial Works. 4.3. The Canterbury Tales. 4.3.1: Themes. 4.3.2. Language. 5. DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION. 6. | CONCLUSION. B. REFERENCES 7. LEGISLATIVE REFERENCES. 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 9 WEBLIOGRAPHY. C. SUMMARY / CONCEPT MAP 10. SAMPLE SUMMARY. 11. CONCEPT MAP. ey © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma “/Cencip puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, CoP\ we grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 2 ORAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. G. CHAUCER: THE CANTERBURY TALES. 1. INTRODUCTION. This topic deals with the medieval period in English Literature, which extends from the end of the 7th century to the end of the 15th century. Historians used to divide this period into two parts, calling the earlier centuries the Dark Ages in order to distinguish them from the later centuries, when European culture reached one of the splendorous heights of its history. Although the Dark Ages were only relatively “dark”, it is true that the English Middle Ages in- cluded two different periods of literary history, the Anglo-Saxon and the Middle English, divided from each other by the Norman Conquest in 1066. The literary materials the Anglo-Saxons brought with them existed only in their memo- ries, for the making of written records was something they learned only when they were con- verted into Christianity. The Celtic inhabitants whose land they were seizing were Christians, but for 150 years after the Anglo-Saxon invasion Christianity was maintained in remote regions where they failed to penetrate. Thus only churchmen produced written literature, The Ecclesías- tical History of the English People by Bede being a prime example. o ae >” There was a clear coexistence between both written and oral literature. The former was produced to appear on books whereas the latter was intendedto reach the audi- ence by means of a singer or a recital performer. ™ a a 2. ORAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURE; 2.1. DEFINITION. In some cultures nearly everyone can carry on these traditions, but some men and women are much more skilful than others and are listened to with greater pleasure. Whatever the nature of these tradition bearers, the continued existence of an item of oral literature depends upon memory. As it is passed on from one person to another, it suffers changes from forgetting or from conscious additions or substitutions; in any case, the item changes continual- ly. Those who are involved in producing and reproducing oral literature are called bards and minstrels and songmakers. They often use special techniques of singing or of telling tales to the accompaniment of a harp or other musical instrument. In the course of time in various places special poetic forms have been perfected and passed on from bard to bard. Cooperative labour or marching is helped by rhythmic songs, and many aspects of social life give rise to various kinds of dance. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] & “enon Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Ar copa  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pág. 3 A great many of the special forms of literature now in manuscripts and books are paralleled in traditional oral literature, where history, drama, law, sermons, and exhortations of all kinds are found, as well as analogues of novels, stories, and lyric poems. 2.2. CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. 2.2.1. MAIN TECHNIQUES. Since in essence all folk literature is oral and subject to its survival in the human mind, it is full of devices to aid memory. Perhaps most common of all is mere repetition. Especially in folktales and epics it is common to hear the same episode repeated with little or no verbal change. As the hero encounters his successive adversaries the description changes only enough to indicate the increasing terror of the enemy, always leading to a climax and usually to the hero's success. These long repeated passages often enable the teller of tales or the singer of an epic to extend his performance as much as he desires. a Aside from repetition of entire episodes, folk literature of all kinds is filled with formula- Ic expressions. It may be the beginning or the ending of a folktale —“once upon a time” or “married and lived happily ever after” or sometimes quite meaningless expressions— or stand- ard epithets attached to certain persons or places. These formulas are so characteristic of oral literature that an abundance of such commonplaces seems. to be a guarantee of authentic oral origins even of a great epic.. These formulas are matters not only of words but of structure. The storyteller or singer has at his disposal a large variety of conventional motifs and episodes and may use them freely. How appropriately they are made a part of his composition depends on his skill, but his listeners are not likely to be very critical so long as he keeps them interested. Indeed it is re- markable that in spite of this apparent freedom of improvisation so many rather well-articulated plots have lived for centuries retaining all their essential features. It is this combination of a basic narrative type witha freedom of treatment within traditional limits that makes it possible to identify hundreds of versions of ne same tale or song as they appear over long stretches of time and space. A Though much of. narrative folk literature is frankly fictional and filled with unrealistic events, the successful storyteller or epic singer gives his story credibility by the use of realistic details. Often these are merely homely touches linking the never-never land of the tale or song to everyday life or emotions. For the unlettered listeners such realistic details may allow a stretching of the imagination to embrace a larger world. Often these details are given only to ensure that willing suspension of disbelief characteristic of all fiction, but sometimes a realistic touch, even in the midst of weak motivation and violence, may give nobility to a mediocre tale or song. 2.2.2. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ORAL LITERATURE. As it has been mentioned in the definition of oral literature, the main types include epics, ballads, poems which can be sung, and romances. Traditional epics involve myths and legends of nationhood. Like later romances, they are full of heroic exploits of their characters and often embedded in supernatural and mystic atmosphere. They reflect the way of life and ideals of the Germanic warrior. Beowulf is the most famous and the longest surviving epic in Old English, written c. 1000 in the West Saxon dialect, although it must have been composed as part of oral tradition two centuries earlier. It is set in Scandinavia and it describes the great deeds of the heroic warrior Beowulf. Epics also deal with the theme of love, like ballads and romances. Oy (el Yá © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] 2 Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma ay Y puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, a nd CoPt pe 9 grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 4 Ballads are characterised by poorer imagery than epics. Their story is told through dia- logue and action, with sudden transitions from point to point in the narrative (called “leaping and lingering”). Other features of ballads include abrupt beginnings, stock epithets, refrains and incremental repetition, the latter being very suitable for singing. The ending was generally un- happy, in contrast with the simple, positive assertions of the song lyrics. It is difficult to put dates to most ballads, since they were collected for publication centuries after they first ap- peared in the oral tradition. Some scholars date the earliest ballads to the thirteenth century; others trace them back to the fifteenth century. Whatever the case, this is the beginning of a popular tradition of song, story, and ballad, which will run through every century. The so-called ballad metre was used and it was a quatrain of alternate four or three stress lines, rhymed abcb (iambic). The written versions of traditional ballads indicate that they often drew their themes from community life, local and national history (although heroes did not have to repre- sent the nation, like in epics), legend and folklore. Robin Hood, for example, an outlaw hero of English folklore, made his appearance in traditional ballads before entering other types of literature. i Poetry of that time was mostly of religious character and the identified Saxon poets or write include Caedmon and Cynewulf, who were Christian scribes. Few people could read outside the monasteries and cathedrals and the oral origin of much of this Anglo-Saxon poetry must be assumed, and likewise when we consider the use of ‘formulae’ adapted from the allit- erative verse that appears in these poems. Evidence for the oral originsof Anglo-Saxon poetry is provided by Bede (673-735) in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, where he tells the story of Caedmon, and how he was inspired by the Virgin in the composition of a poem when his turn came to play with the harp in a feast. the One type of poetry of the time was elegiac poetry: expressing fatalistic philosophy of a civilisation which does not believe in heavenly rewards and clearly sees the transient nature of pleasure ina hostile world. Examplesof this poetry/are: 7he Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Ruin, Resignation, The Wife's Lament.’Someof its features: use of an 'ic' narrator, the theme of a brilliant past and present desolation, and the theme of exile from the 'meadhall' where order and security reside. E : That this poetry was intended for oral transmission created the need for a series of sty- listic resources which can be found in these Anglo-Saxon poems and that were used to help the audience follow the story. Some of these stylistic resources which reflect the oral transmission of these poems are: 1... Word selection: the constant use of well-known elements, easily recognised by the audience, but at the same time poetic. This poetic intention develops in the Use of 'kenning' and 'heiti' (two well-known words were linked to create an image “ and refer to something else, for example: sundwudu = water-wood = ship, or swanrade = road of the swan = sea) (In a 'kenning' this relation is clearer, whereas in the 'heiti' the relation between the two elements is a bit more elabo- rated, not so direct). 2. Variation: repeating the same idea with different expressions, each introducing a slightly different semantic change/variation. For example, in a poem, Christ is referred to as ‘Christ, king in the heavens, true son of God, Saviour of Souls. These variations imposed a slower rhythm on the narration of the events, which was necessary in an oral recitation of the poem, as well as at the same time al- lowing the poet to introduce his personal contribution to what usually was in me- dieval literature the repetition of old poems and themes. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 5 3. Use of the accent and alliteration: alternative use of stressed and unstressed syllables. Each line in Anglo-Saxon poetry is made of two hemistichs separated by a strong caesura, each of them containing two accented syllables; one or both of the accented syllables in the first hemistich must alliterate with one or both accented syllables of the second hemistich. A consonant can alliterate with itself, not matter which vowel or consonant follows it. Such formal complexity in an oral literature is explained (by authors such as R.F. Law- rence in 7he Formulaic Theory and its Application to English Alliterative Poetry) as the result of the efforts of a series of poets: each bard would refine formally and would complete thematical- ly old themes inherited from former generations. Enrique Bernárdez (in £/ lenguaje de la poesía anglosajona) considers these metrical patterns the reflection of stress patterns of the spoken language, and the vocabulary is the usual colloquial language to which 'kennings' and ‘heiti' would have been added. He goes on to say that the presence of traditional formulae does not necessarily indicate the oral composition of those poems, since they may have been used by an author writing the poem, but that we can consider that way of composing the poems as clearly related to the recitation of the poem and with their ultimate origins in a purely oral compesttion. With the arrival of the Normans in 1066 the production of usara with Aolo- Saxon poetry comes to an end, and a series of changes is found in the society and literature produced in England. At about the same time (around 1100) we witness the movement of the Church from ¡ts monastic phase into a scholastic phase, coincident with the creation of new institutions for study like the universities (Bologna, 1088, Oxford, 1167, Cambridge, 1229, Pa- lencia, 1208). In the upper classes, the Anglo-Norman families ruling in England in the 12th ¢ see in their households chaplains and clerks‘mingled with noblemen and their ladies, as habits of literacy spread out into lay society. Thus, during the reign of Henry I (son of William the Conqueror) we find for the first time the need to produce written works in the language of the lay groups. There is a change from a more archaic, primitive society (which is linked to the pro- duction of oral literature) to a more advanced, refined society, which will lead to the appear- ance of town schools and patronage (many. "literati' leave the monasteries to come into lay so- ciety, and will be asked to write works for, and in the courts). Among the French infillences, in literary terms, was a new genre of oral tradition: the romance, which included a new subject matter for minstrels, singers and poets. The warrior hero began to'settle down, his territories now rather more secure, and to think of other things. He hung up his sword, took up a musical instrument, and began to sing of love. Until the Nor- man Conquest, there is hardly any love poetry in English literature. The new love theme comes from Provence in the south-east of France, where poets known as troubadours gave voice to the concept of love. Love was an almost religious passion, and the greatest love was unfulfilled. This is the beginning of the concept of ideal courtly love, chaste but passionate, which will give rise to a huge amount and variety of lyric poetry over the centuries. The romance has certain typical features: it generally concerns knights and involves a large amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous adventures; it makes liberal use of the improbable, often of the supernatural; it is often--though not always--involved with romantic love; characterization is standardized, so that heroes, heroines, and wicked stewards could easily move from one romance to another without causing any disturbance in the narra- tive; the plots generally consist of a great number of events, and the same event is apt to occur several times within the same romance; and the style is apt to be easy and colloquial. A romantic notion of fidelity, with its feminine imagery - such as the rose, from Le Ro- man de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose), possibly the most influential imported text of the Early Middle English period - establishes a code of behaviour: courtly love sets a value on % © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] S Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma “enc puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. % copia Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 6 chastity, and establishes a subordinate role for women. The rose symbolises the lady's love; the god of love is seen inside a walled garden, with the harsh realities of life, and the masculine world outside. From this image, a whole allegorical and philosophical concept of love developed, although it would be mistaken to see Le Roman as a treatise on chaste love: it is full of sexuali- ty, a multi-faceted examination of the nature of love in all its forms from the idealised to the earthy. Scholars divide the subject matter of romances into three groups called “The Matter of Britain” (the Arthurian legend), “The Matter of France” (exploits of Charlemagne) and “The Matter of Rome” (classical tales). The following paragraphs will present the phenomenon of the Arthurian legend in the English literature as an example of romance. 3. THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. Most authors assume nowadays that due to the existence of different written. records which mention King Arthur and details about him, he must have existed at some time. What is not clear is the amount of truth in the variety of sources which mention him. The historicisa- tion of non-historical/mythical personages -- often through association with some important event of the past -- is not in any way an unusual occurrence in medieval times. Some examples of this are Hengest and Horsa, who were Kentish totemic horse-gods historicised by the 8th- century with an important role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain or Merlin (Welsh Myrddin), who was an eponymous founder-figure derived from the place-name Caer-fyrddin and historicised with the deeds of one Lailoken. One can clearly distinguish, how- ever, between Arthur's appearance in sister orcs of the period and in romances. 3.1. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. The main known source of historical or pseudo- -historical origins of King Arthur is a se- quence of works, which hundreds of years after the supposed Arthur's exploits included him among other historical fi ites and Events 4 Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100- 1155) wrote his Historia Regum Britanniae (1135- 38), in order to offer a historic treatise on the island, from its founder Brutus until King Arthur's successor in the 7" c. His book is a mixture of material from previous books and the product of his own free invention, together with a large element of legendary lore. Gilda's De Excidio et conquestu Britanniae (6 c), Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (ended in 731), Nennius's Historia Brittonum (9" c.) are the source for Geoffrey of Monmouth's work. The char- acters of Merlin and Uther Pendragon appeared in book IV. He claimed that his source was an old Celtic document. The book was originally written in Latin. Wace was a Norman poet who wrote in French under the direct patronage of the court (in the second half of 12th century). He converted Geoffrey's dignified prose narrative Roman into a lively and vigorous story Roman de Brut, while making interesting additions to his source. The Round Table is mentioned three times as if it were familiar to the audience, and the exploits of King Arthur occupy a prominent place. Later he undertook a similar account of the Dukes of Normandy in his Roman de Rou. Layamon was a humble priest living in Worcestershire. He turned Wace's Roman de Brut into English and also made some interesting additions. His book was entitled Bruf (1205) and was written in alliterative unrhymed verse. It included the story of the creation of the Round Table. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es— [email protected] Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 7 Layamon dealt with legendary materials which he thought of as history. Nevertheless his treatment moves towards the genre known as romance. 3.2. THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND IN LITERATURE. The full literary development of the story will occur in France: The existence of a common Celtic civilization between Wales, Ireland and the Armorican Peninsula (Brittany) in the continent will explain the appearance of the Brittany matter of the stories about Arthur. It seems probable that the writers from the north of France would have approximated to the Celt- ic world through its oral tradition. Evidence supporting this view are: on the one hand, the ex- istence of Welsh tales sung by 'filids' and bards in Ireland and Wales where Arthur and the knights of the Round Table appear, and on the other hand the fact that Thomas d'Angleterre mentions in his 7ristan having heard the stories to some Celtic minstrels in the Armorican Pen- insula. Chrétien de Troyes will create in the 12" c. fiction (novels) through the telling of Ar- thur's story. Some of these novels are: Erec et Enide, Lancelot le Chevaliera la charrette, Yvain le chevalier au lion, Perceval ou le Roman du Graal, this last story being, the fi rst. time that the matter of Brittany and that of the Holy Grail are linked. Le | The Vulgate Cycle (first time the stories are told in vernacular prose) will be written in the 13" c. and its composition is related to Henry II's court. It was finished around 1245, and it included: Lancelot's Book, Queste du Saint Graal, Le Morte de Roi Artu, to which the History of the Holy Grail and Merlin's history were added. Tristan's story (coming from Celtic tradition) will be incorporated into the Arthurian universe in the 1328 c3t00. The process after Layamon's Brutin Britain: te English Arthurian novel did not appear until the 14" c., Just as there are translations (for.example of Merlin from the Vulgate), there are a series of works, some of which mix sources from the French romances with Irish and the Arthurian world is Te Morte Darthur, by Sir Thomas Malory. It is the last great Arthurian novel and it compiles all the stories and themes: Lancelot and Guinevere, the Knights of the Round Table, Tristan and Isolde, the quest of the Holy Grail. Arthur's: modern popularity owes much to his re-emergence during the Victorian Age at the hands of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. His huge poetic elegy entitled “Idylls of the King” led to a resurgence in interest in this early monarch, as reflected in much of the pre-Rapheelite art of the time. The fascination is still going strong today. It's present in films, graded readers and constant re-editing of the legend in different formats. 3.2.1. REPRESENTATIVE ARTHURIAN ROMANCES AND LEGENDS. o Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. Its author must have been a cultivated man who knew the court since the de- scriptions of the court life in the romance are so accurate that such a knowledge could only be explained by his being in direct contact with the court. If we con- sider the vocabulary used in this romance we find many words from Old Norse, many words of Scandinavian influence, which makes us suppose that the author was someone from the north-west of the Midlands. ES © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] 0 G Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos, Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma g puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, senile grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 8 The main elements of the argument are: the Challenge and the Beheading Game (a theme which appears in an Irish saga from the 8" c.), the Temptation and The Exchange of Winnings. It is inspired by Perceval by Chrétien de Troyes, though it introduces new epi- sodes like the hunting and the mode of completely arming a knight. There are some aspects in its composition which link this work with the oral tra- dition: > The use of synonyms, in the same way as variation was used in Anglo- Saxon poetry. > Syntax: use of simple connectors, or none at all (a characteristic of oral literature, since syntactic simplicity was needed to help in the recitation of the poem). > The use of sounds to contribute to the tone of the scenes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a story full of symbolism, where the journey in search for the Green Chapel has to be understood as a rite of passage or tran- sition, the Green Knight himself as the negative side of human beings, the wild man, who lives in a Green Chapel which is presented as the world of the un- known, of death, i.e. it is the entrance to the next world. The journey northwards is a journey to the masculine, to darkness and cold, to the opposite of the courtly life Gawain had to leave in order to fight against this mysterious knight who in- terrupted the feast (happiness) in Arthur's court (the symbol of order and peace). Even the pentagon in the coat of arms is a symbol in the Middle Ages: a symbol of perfection, of integrity, sinceit reflects the magic involved in number 5, which refers to the five senses of men and the five fingers in a hand (both: perfection created by God), Christ's five wounds, and chivalry's five virtues (gen- erosity, loyalty, freedom, courtesy, devotion). This work has to be understood in the context of the Alliterative Revival to which it belongs. Such a movement brought about the composition of several poems in the West Midlands and the North-west of England. These poems seem to be the last we havein English of the great oral tradition of Northern European allitera- tive poetry, oral in the sense that they could have been originally composed and remembered and recited without the intermediary of writing and reading. The poem must be read aloud to enable the masterly rhythm to come into play. It is clearly a midwinter festival poem. The seasonal theme is the poem's under- lying, pervasive theme. The Green Knight, whose head is chopped off at his own request and who is yet as miraculously or magically alive as ever, bears an un- mistakable relation to the Green Man -the Jack in the Green or the Wild Man of the village festivals of England and Europe. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is of course a Christian poem. But it is Christian rather as some of the medieval Christmas carols are, as Christmas itself is; Chris- tian in harmony with pre-Christian nature belief and ritual. a Le Morte Darthur (also Le Morte d'Arthur). Published by Caxton in 1485, though it had been finished by Sir Thomas Malory around 1469. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 9 It was soon successful and this compilation of the Arthurian cycle is responsible for the popularity King Arthur and his Knights have had in the English-speaking world. Malory dispensed with everything he considered superfluous (for example, moral commentaries and theological digressions), in order to make the narration light- er, paying more attention to the dialogues and to the action (to violence, ges- tures and details, which bring a kind of 'realism' to the story) than to the devel- opment of the individuality of the characters. Thus, Malory's work does not ex- press such an extreme moral idealism as his French models. Malory does not believe in some of the high themes of the courtly romance. He does not believe in courtly love, does not appreciate love rhetoric, nor the psy- chological refinement of those times. He is neither interested in the theological background of the quest of the Holy Grail, nor in the symbolism of the previous works. His attention is focused on the action, on the dramatic character of the events narrated, on the liveliness of the dialogues, on the precise narration. He summarises and is centred on the most significant details. : Malory did not present a unified version of the Arthurian cycle, but a handful of novels, eight in number, with their own independent titles. Different interpreta- tions are offered to whether Malory intended a unified version or not. Malory's originality resides in his style, more dramatically intense and clearer as the narration develops. He imposes his own view of the knightly world. Chivalry has a basic social function: to restore order and justice in a world altered by bru- tality and chaos. The knights here are more like military leaders who follow their king's orders. Malory took pleasure in the description of the combats and gave less importance to the wonders and prodigies which filled the story. 3.2.2. MAIN CHARACTERS AND THEMES IN THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. iL. Merlin, magician, seer, and teacher at the court of King Vortigern and later at the courtof King Arthur. He was a bard and culture hero in early Celtic folklore. “In Arthurian legend he is famous as a magician and as the counselor of King Arthur. In Tennyson's Idylls of the King Merlin is imprisoned eternally in an old oak tree by the treacherous Vivien (or Nimue), when he reveals the secrets of his knowledge to her. 2. Lady of the Lake, a misty, supernatural figure endowed with magic powers, who gave the sword Excalibur to King Arthur. She inhabited a castle in an underwater kingdom. According to one legend she kidnapped the infant Launcelot and brought him to her castle where he lived until manhood. 3. Avalon, in Celtic mythology, the blissful otherworld of the dead. In medieval romance it was the island to which the mortally wounded King Arthur was taken, and from which it was expected he would someday return. Avalon is often identified with Glastonbury in Somerset, England. 4. Guinevere, wife of King Arthur. Her illicit and tragic love for Sir Launcelot, which foreshadowed the downfall of Arthur's kingdom, ends with her retirement to a convent. She also figures in several early romances and Celtic legends. Ye, © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] £ Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma & puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, $ rabación magnética, almacenamiento de información yy sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Copih Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 10 5. Sir Launcelot, bravest and most celebrated knight at the court of King Arthur. He was kidnapped as an infant by the mysterious Lady of the Lake, from whom he received his education and took his title, Launcelot of the Lake. As a young man he went to the court of King Arthur, where he was knighted and became one of the most feared warriors in all Christendom. Launcelot was the lover of Guinevere, his sovereign's queen. He was also loved by Elaine (the daughter of King Pelles), by whom he was the father of Sir Galahad, and by Elaine, the Lily Maid of Astolat, who died for love of him. Launcelot's name sometimes appears as Lancelot. Round Table, the table at which King Arthur and his knights held court. It was allegedly fashioned at the behest of Arthur to prevent quarrels among the knights over precedence. According to one version it was given to Arthur as a wedding gift by his father-in-law. The Holy Grail, a copper cup or platter used by Jesus at the Last Supper, represents an otherworldly power that even Arthur's knights are incapable of achieving. To find the Grail requires, in addition to knightly prowess, a purity of mind and soul that seems almost contradictory to the ideals of chivalry. The Holy Grail, therefore, symbolizes all that Arthur has not achieved. This revelation that Arthur’s England is far from a state of asics also marks the beginning of the end of his reign. E. a The Excalibur: The Name “Excalibur” was first used for King Arthur's sword by the French Romancers. It was not the famous “Sword in the Stone” (which broke in battle), but a second sword acquired by the King through the intercession of his druidic advisor, Merddyn (Merlin). Worried that Arthur would fall in battle, Merlin took the King to a magical lake where a mysterious hand thrust itself up from the water, holding aloft a magnificent sword. It was the Lady of the Lake offering Arthur a magic unbreakable blade, fashioned by an Avalonian elf smith, along with a scabbard which would protect him as long as he wore it. Towards the end of his reign, during the troubled times of Medrod's rebellion, Excalibur was stolen by Arthur's wicked half-sister, Morgan le Fay. Though it..was recovered, the scabbard was lost forever. Thus Arthur was “mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. The King then instructed Bedwyr (or Girflet) to return Excalibur to the lake from whence it came. However, when questioned about the circumstances of its return, Bedwyr claimed to have seen nothing unusual. Arthur therefore knew that Bedwyr had kept Excalibur for - himself and sent him back to the Lake once more. Hurling the sword into the ~ misty waters this time, Bedwyr saw the mystic hand appear to catch Excalibur and draw it beneath the rippling waters for the last time. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pág. 11 4. GEOFFREY CHAUCER: THE CANTERBURY TALES. 4.1. CHAUCER'S LIFE (1343-1400). As will have been noticed, literary tradition in Britain was greatly influenced by French authors and much court poetry was written in Anglo-Norman and Latin in the Middle Ages. Therefore, Geoffrey Chaucer's work is recognised as a crucial contribution to English literature because his confidence in the English language encouraged his followers and imitators also to write in English and speeded the transition from French as the language of literature (=the cre- ator of English versification). In the late medieval period in England, there existed a large and increasingly important middle class that was constantly infiltrating the aristocracy, and it was into this middle class that Chaucer was born. He was the son of a well-to-do wine merchant, and probably spent his boyhood in the down-to-earth atmosphere of London's Vintry, the wine-merchandising area. In his early teens he was sent to serve as a page in one of the great aristocratic house- holds of England, that of Lionel of Antwerp, a son of the reigning monarch, Edward ITI. Chaucer spent the rest of his life in close association with the ruling nobility of the kingdom. 4.2. CHAUCER'S INITIAL WORKS. Chaucers first work, The Book of the Duchess, is a dream-poem on the death in 1368 of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, the wife of John of Gaunt (third son of King Edward III). It is a poem of consolation, modelled on French examples. The simplicity and directness of the emotion, and the handling of dialogue, show Chaucer's Capacity to bring language, situa- tion, and emotion together effectively: The House of Fame (cf 1374-85) is another dream-poem, this time influenced by Dan- te. It is the first time that Dante's epic of a journey to Paradise, Purgatory, and Hell - 7he Dj- vine Comedy (c. 1310-20) - is echoed’in English. Here Chaucer becomes a participant in his own writing. He is the ingenuous poet who visits the Latin poet Ovid's “house of fame” to learn about love. He brings together aspects of love which will become the frequent subject matter of poets throughout the ages. Cupid and Venus, passion and desire, innocence and knowledge, are all invoked, using the new verse form of the rhyme-royal stanza. The subject of love is taken up again in Chaucer's two greatest poems before 7he Can- terbury Tales: Troilus and Criseyde and The Legend of Good Women. The first takes the Italian writer Boccaccio as its source. It brings together the classical Trojan War story, the Ital- ian poetic version of that story, and the sixth-century philosophical work of Boethius, 7he Con- solation of Philosophy. Like Layamon, Chaucer consciously uses other writer's books, and delib- erately give himself the role of intermediary, relating, revising and refining old stories. If Chaucer had never gone on to write 7he Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde would remain as one of the outstanding poems in European literature of the mediaeval period. It has even been called “the first modern novel”. Although this is an exaggeration, it serves to remind us of Chaucer's considerable descriptive capacity both in terms of character and scene. Chaucer uses, as part of his authorial technique, the reader's ability to recognise and identify with what is being described. O, (e, >A © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma 2 Y a puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. hd mt?  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 12 The theme of the joys and pain of love becomes more and more important through Chaucer's writing. In 7he Legend of Good Women, for example, he makes us aware that Cri- seyde, who is the symbol of inconstancy, has followed the wishes of men, and attempts to re- dress the balance in women's favour. It is interesting that the views of a female audience are considered, although the stories of women who died for love are not necessarily standard ro- mantic fare. Incidentally, this is the first English poem to use heroic couplets, as it describes some of the famous classical women who sacrificed themselves for love (Dido for Aeneas, Cleo- patra for Anthony...) 4.3. THE CANTERBURY TALES. All Chaucer's earlier writing can be seen to lead to his masterpiece, The Canterbury Ta- les. He probably began writing it around 1387 and the work was uncompleted at his death in 1400. The idea of using a series of linked stories appears in The Legend of Good Women, but the greatest innovation is to use the “here and now”: the London area and English society of the time. Originally, 120 tales were planned, with each of thirty pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury telling two tales on the way there and two on the way back. Rather less than a quarter of the project was realised, but the whole range of genres, styles, and subjects which history and tradition, England and Europe offered Chaucer were exploitedin these tales. 4.3.1. THEMES. The general prologue sets out the circumstances which bring 30 pilgrims together at the Tabard Inn at Southwark before they set off for Canterbury to pray at the tomb of the martyr St. Thomas a Becket. At the inn, each of them tells a story, andwe can see a whole range of genres, styles and subjects which history and tradition, England and Europe offered to Chaucer. Canterbury and South bring warktogether the religious and the secular. Canterbury Ca- thedral was the site of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas a Becket in 1170 during the reign of Henry II. As such, it became a shrine, the object of pilgrimage in a British sense, reflecting the duty of pilgrimage to Jerusalem which was the inspiration for the Crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. o The knight, the miller, the wife of Bath, the prioress, the cleric, and others are all identi- fied by their occupation or marital status, but the narrator's descriptions of them as individuals - and their tales and the telling of them - not only bring out individual differences and character- istics, but invite the reader to recognise and identify the pilgrims as stereotypical characters. Chaucer himself (or his narratorial persona) prefers not to take sides and does not overtly judge the characters he presents, but he allows the reader a new degree of interpreta- tive freedom, based on the recognition of an ironic gap between how the characters see them- selves and how others see them. This is new to English literature. Chaucer's poem was written late in the fourteenth century, in the late Middle Ages or early Renaissance, depending on how one wishes to consider the time. And a few things about the social conditions of the period are clear from the picture of society he gives us there. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 13 First, the Church is still clearly a major part of society. About one third of the pilgrims going to Canterbury are church officials, and the entire group is celebrating spring by taking part in a traditional Christian ritual, the pilgrimage to an important holy shrine. In doing so they are giving public testimony to things that are valued in their society and their lives. Secondly, while none of the pilgrims comes from the top classes of society, the aristoc- racy, many of them are quite rich and sophisticated. In examining them, we are, for the most part, looking at members of the middle-class (although the concept of class did not exist at the time). Some of them have money, a few have travelled extensively. They know about good clothes and books and food. Some ordinary folk have horses. What we would call the trade and service industries are well represented by people who would not be out of place in a Nanaimo mall. And yet we are reminded, too, that the traditional roles of the Middle Ages have not yet disappeared. Finally, there is a sense of rising individualism among them. While the ideals of the dedi- cation to a traditional Christian communal society are still clearly there, it is equally evident that for many of these pilgrims, including the Church officials, the sense of a communal duty is be- ing eroded by a personal desire for money and the fine things money can buy. In fact, there is a strong sense throughout 7he Canterbury Tales that this money is somehow a threat to some- thing older and more valuable. | All of these details suggest a society in transition..We are not here dealing with the vi- sion of the Middle Ages of a few hundred years before, a time when books were very scarce, travelling.much more difficult, and money (and the good things it purchases) in much shorter supply. It.is clear even from the General Prologue that we are not dealing with simple agricul- tural folk, piously obedient to their church, and without any knowledge of the world beyond the next village or of some of the fi ner consumer: ‘items which make life more comfortable and fun. Chaucer, incidentally, lived ‘fom the invention Vat printing and the widespread diffusion of classical literature into: Northern Europe. Thus, although he was well read in French and Ital- ian literature and drew heavily upon certain Continental works and traditions, he did not have access to Greek literature. When he wrote about Troilus and Cressida and the Trojan War, he was drawing on medieval traditions of this famous story, without direct knowledge about Greek versions in Homer or the fragy Alans. So there isa et deal going on in the seemingly simple framework of 7he Canterbury Tales. It absorbs literary, historical, religious, social, and moral concerns, and transcends them all. It gives a wide-ranging view of the late fourteenth-century world and its people. The specif- ic people and places described become emblems of their period and the text becomes an image of its time. The tales may tell of noble deeds in days gone by, like 7he Wife of Bath's Tale which talks of “the old days of the King Arthur”; or they may be popular stories —‘churls= tales”- which tend to be told by the tradesmen. These -deriving from a French tradition of fab/iaux, or comic tales- allow for descriptions of everyday life, rather than romanticised tales of the past. They also give Chaucer the opportunity to have his characters speak of areas outside London: Oxford (the miller): Cambridge (the reeve); Yorkshire (the summoner). This is the beginning of a provincial voice in London-based literature. There are also holy tales of “morality and holiness”, as told by the prioress, the second nun, and the other religious figures. The host, Harry Bailey, is in charge of this early package tour, and it is he who keeps harmony among the diverse characters, classes and professions, and who, incidentally, underlines the need for drink to keep the group from dissension. ik © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] 9 Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma Ueenca puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, Cori grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 14 Critics are still divided over to what extent Chaucer treats his characters seriously or ironically. One recent trend suggested that Chaucer's irony permits the reader to see the knight, “a very perfect gentle knight”, not as the true model of courtly perfection (as these words sug- gest) but as a mercenary soldier who will fight for anyone who pays him. This reading has the knight always on the losing side, making him an out-of-date hero figure, ill at ease in the mod- ern world. However, the knight is more traditionally viewed as a genuine “gentle knight”. What- ever the case, his tale is an old-fashioned philosophical story of rivalry in love, set in classical Greece. A similar gentle irony may surround the nun, a prioress, Madame Eglantyne. She is a sensual woman, one who enjoys the pleasures of the senses. Hanging from the bracelet around her wrist, there is not a cross (as the reader might expect) but a “brooch” with an ambiguous motto. Love of Christ and sensual love are brought together in one very vivacious female char- acter. Her tale is a fairly traditional, uncritical story of murder and religion, which is surprisingly open in its conclusions. | The Miller's Tale is an old-fashioned fable, a story of deception in love, in ‘almost com- plete contrast to 7he Knight's Tale, and full of earthy humour. As the lover Absalom kisses: Ali- son on quite opposite end of her anatomy to where he expected, the: whole idea of illicit love is suddenly made comic. = 7 The wife of Bath gives a staunch defence of having had five husbands, and her tale, set at the time of King Arthur, opens up the question of what women really “most desire” - again a challenge to courtly values. The friar is described not as a holy fi igure, bul as Swanton ale merry”. He tells a teasing tale about an extortionate religious. fi igure, a summoner, who is carried off to Hell by the devil. The summoner then answers this with a comic oe of a greedy friar, again using low humour to mock religious attitudes. da This gentle mocking of hercic cdurtiy values reveals that Chaucer's intention is more than just to describe the world in which he lived. Although himself conservative, he examines, and wants the reader to see, the changes that society is undergoing. There is a sense of shift- ing emphasis as older values are questioned and new values affirmed. Throughout the 7ales there is also a joyful sense of humour, of enjoyment of sensual pleasures, and of popular, earthy fun. Serious and comic intentions go hand in hand, and give a new vision of a fast de- veloping and richly textured world. Above all, individual self-interest is more important than social, shared interests. Many of the characters are seen to be set in their ways. They are old- fashioned and unwilling to change. But, again, Chaucer does not judge - it is the reader who must enjoy, evaluate, and decide. 4.3.2. LANGUAGE. Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anony- mous short works using it before him. And the arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhym- ing couplets was first seen in his 7he Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. His early influence as a satirist is also important, with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, ap- parently making its first appearance in 7he Reeves Tale. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos, Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 15 The poetry of Chaucer, along with other writers of the era, is credited with helping to standardise the London Dialect of the Middle English language; a combination of Kentish and Midlands dialect. This is probably overstated: the influence of the court, chancery and bureau- cracy —of which Chaucer was a part— remains a more probable influence on the development of Standard English. Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chaucer's poems owing to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. This change in the pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, makes the reading of Chaucer difficult for the modern audience. The status of the final -e in Chaucer's verse is uncertain: it seems likely that during the period of Chaucer's writing the final -e was dropping out of colloquial Eng- lish and that its use was somewhat irregular. Chaucer's versification suggests that the final -e is sometimes to be vocalised, and sometimes to be silent; however, this remains a point on which there is disagreement. Apart from the irregular spelling, much of the vocabulary is recognisable to the modern reader. Chaucer is also recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as the first au- thor to use many common English words in his writings. These words were probably frequently used in the language at the time but Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, is the earliest manuscript source. Acceptable, alkali, altercation, amble, angrily, annex, anno yance, approach- ing, arbitration, armless, army, arrogant, arsenic, arc, artillery and aspect are just some Of those from the first letter of the alphabet. ee : 5. DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION. From all the issues dealt with throughout this topic, the Arthurian Legend is probably the most interesting one to study with our secondary and Baccalaureate students, as the legend is well known by most of them thanks to TV series, comics, etc. We must take advantage of this in order to encourage them to read and improve their knowledge of English. The stories about Merlin, king Arthur and The Round Table are available in many readers and adapted to the dif- ferent levels. We must not forget that reading comprehension is a very important skill that the students must achieve. [Curricular links to specific competences and basic knowledge in the Orders will be included as soon as they are published]. 6. CONCLUSION. Chaucer's world in 7he Canterbury Tales brings together, for the first time, a diversity of characters, social levels, attitudes, and ways of life. The tales themselves make use of a similar- ly wide range of forms and styles, which show the diversity of cultural influences which the au- thor had at his disposal. Literature, with Chaucer, has taken on a new role: as well as affirming a developing language, it is a mirror of its times - but a mirror which opens up a range of issues and questions, instead of providing simple, easy answers. It is from Chaucer that later writers began to trace the history of English poetry, begin- ning with George Puttenham's 7he Arte of English Poesie, published in 1589. This account, two hundred years after Chaucer was writing 7he Canterbury Tales, finds “little or nothing worth commendation” in poetry before Chaucer. However, it must be remembered how many manu- scripts were destroyed in the Reformation of the 1530 and how few copies of any earlier writing remained extant. 0%, © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] S “enc $ Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, CoPt hx grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pág. 16 REFERENCES Pa LEGISLATIVE REFERENCES. Decree 102/2023, of May 9, which establishes the organization and the curricu- lum of the stage of Compulsory Secondary Education in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia. Decree 103/2023, of May 9, which establishes the organization and the curricu- lum of the stage of Baccalaureate in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia. Order of May 30, 2023, which develops the curriculum of the Compulsory Sec- ondary Education in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia, regulates certain as- pects of attention to diversity and individual differences, and establishes regula- tions for evaluation of the learning process and the transit process between the different educational stages. Order of May 30, 2023, which develops the curriculum of the Bac laureate stage in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia, regulates certain aspects of atten- tion to diversity and individual differences, and establishes regulations for evalua- tion of the learning process. BIBLIOGRAPHY. ANDREW SANDERS. 1996. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. G. C. THORNLEY AND GWYNETH ROBERTS. 1284. An Outline of English Litera- Ure, jj gifs, See Y RONALD CARTER AND JOHN MCRAE. 1998. The Routledge History of Literature in English. ie BAUGH, A. 1959. A History of the English language London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. US CAWLEY, A.C. (Ed) 1958, Chavicers Canterbury Tales. London: Dent & Sons. FORD, B. (Ed.) 1954. 7he Pelican Guide to English Literature: The age of Chau- cer. Harmondsworth: Penguin. SAMPSON, G. 1970. 7he Concise Cambridge History of English Literature. Cam- bridge: C.U.P.. ~ “ABRAMS, M.H., ed. (1979) Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th ed. Amis, Kingsley, ed. The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse (Oxford, 1978). - WEBLIOGRAPHY. The Literary Encyclopaedia/Glossary. http://www. litencyc.com An electronic/online version of Le Morte Darthur. http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MaliMor. html Links to Chaucer sites. http://geoffreychaucer.org/links/ Encyclopaedia Britannica about Chaucer. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9108409/Geoffrey-Chaucer © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] ES $ Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma Uca puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. % copia O  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 17 10. SAMPLE SUMMARY. 1. INTRODUCTION. The present topic deals with the medieval period, which is dated in English history be- tween the years 700 and 1480. It was the time which was marked by a transition from the Old English period in the development of the English language to the Middle English, at around 1066 (the Norman invasion). It was also at that time that traditional literary types, epic and ballad began to appear in writing, together with a new oral form called romance. Both the oral tradition and the written versions coexisted during the period and the characteristics of the former will occupy the first part of this presentation. Then we will focus on the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 2. ORAL MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. Oral literature is a product of illiterate or semiliterate societies. It is usually sung or chanted (often to musical accompaniment) and it precedes written poetry: The stories which are the base of different literary forms of this period are told (or sung) again and. again with all _ Sorts of variations. All traditional narratives, therefore, may be said to.be the product of multiple authorship. Epic and ballad have their roots in the oral culture and, together with romance and short poems, formed the body of the oral tradition in the Middle Ages. Poetry of that time was mostly of religious character and the identified poets include Caedmon and Cynewulf. Tradition- al epics involve myths and legends of nationhood. Like later romances, they are full of heroic exploits of their characters and often embedded: in supernatural and mystic atmosphere. Beo- wulf was the most famous and the longest surviving epicin Old English, written c. 1000 in the West Saxon dialect. It is set in Scandinavia and it describes the great deeds of the heroic warri- or Beowulf. Epics also deal with the theme of love, like ballads and romances. Ballads, however, are characterised by poorer imagery. Their story is told through dialogue and action, with sud- den transitions from point to point in the narrative (called “leaping and lingering”). Other fea- tures of ballads inc abrupt lud beginning e s, stock epithets, refrains and incremental repetition, the latter being very suitable for singing. The so-called ballad metre was used and it was a quatrain of alternate four or three stress lines, rhymed abcb (iambic). The written versions of traditional ballads indicate that they often drew their themes from community life, local and national history (although heroes did not have to represent the nation, like in epics), legend and folklore. Robin Hood, for example, an outlaw hero of English folklore, made his appearanc e in traditional ballads before entering other types of literature. - Romance¡is another example of oral traditional forms in the English literature. It origi- nated in France and was brought by minstrels, singers and poets to England. At the same time, written versions of romances appeared as well. Its existence can be explained by the need for entertainment in the medieval society. Romance characteristically describes a sophisticated courtly world of chivalry, distinct from the heroic epic, which concentrates on war. Typical sto- ries concern knightly quests, tournaments, magic, and contests with monsters for the sake of a heroine who is the focus for courtly love. Scholars divide the subject matter of romances into three groups called “The Matter of Britain” (the Arthurian legend), “The Matter of France” (ex- ploits of Charlemagne) and “The Matter of Rome” (classical tales). The following paragraphs will present the phenomenon of the Arthurian legend in the English literature as an example of ro- mance. Qy © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] y) Esta publicacion se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni s la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, S grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, Y copia sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 18 3. THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND. The development of the Arthurian legend followed two parallel tracks, which undoubted- ly influenced each other. One of them was that of historical or pseudo-historical works, which tried to give credibility to King Arthur's existence. At the same time, and drawing from the same Celtic sources, a body of folk tales and later romances grew over the centuries in France, Brit- ain, and all over the medieval Europe. According to indirect and direct mentions, which appeared in different sources before and during the early medieval period, King Arthur was a British commander of Roman descent, successfully repelling Saxon invaders and establishing himself as the great legendary hero of Englishmen. This image was reinforced by three major historical works of the time, which ap- peared in the 12 century. First, Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain consolidated the dispersed information into an image of a great medieval monarch and a leader of a group of mounted knights. His story was written in Latin. The Jersey writer.Wace in his Roman de Brut translated Geoffrey's History into French, expanding the story with the elements typical for romance and he also first mentioned the theme of the Round Table; a great military brotherhood of 12 knights. Another pseudo-historical author, the English. pe Am in his Brut provided a free and expanded adaptation of Wace in English. As it has been said, the appearance of the above mentioned works in the 12" century was preceded, accompanied and followed by the presence of the legendary king in Celtic (Welsh) oral tradition and romances. After an undoubtedly long period of mainly oral tradition, the earliest writer of Arthurian romance, and one of the greatest was the French Chrétien de Troyes, in the last quarter of the 12% century. He introduced many permanent features in the ever-changing story, according to the principles of the new and fashionable genre of romance: Lancelot and his love for King Arthur's wife. Guinevere, for instance, exemplify the element of courtly love, so typical for medieval romances. Courtly love is based on the idea that human is an ennobling experience. The lover adores his lady in spite of the fact that she is the wife of another man. She becomes the idealised object of his veneration. Indeed, he proves his honour by his total devotion; he fights his battles and pursues the high ideals of chivalric behaviour for her sake, reflecting a parallel to the feudal service of a knight to his liege lord. The same author also introduced the characters of Gawain (King Arthur’s nephew) as a model of prowess and courtesy, and of Perceval and the quest for the mysterious “graal”. Typically for romances, all this was accompanied by a large dose of improbability, extravagance and the mythic in the course of events. After Chrétien de Troyes, numerous authors continued the tradition for an- other three centuries. One of. the most remarkable versions is the anonymous “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”.*In this story, Sir Gawain can fully show his chivalric qualities, so admired in the world of romances-- courage, honour, courtesy and being good to the poor and helpless-- when he has to search for the Green Knight in order to resolve the contest started by this mysterious figure. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the best of the surviving English romances, charac- terised by passages of beautiful poetry (alliterative verse), moments of gentle comedy and keenly observed psychology. In the 15% century Sir Thomas Malory distilled all the preceding sources of Arthurian legend and culminated the tradition with Le Morte Darthur (also known as Le Morte dArthur). It was the last and greatest attempt to consolidate all the Arthurian material into a unified cycle. Oy (e > d. © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, están reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma é S puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. cop» Sl  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pag. 19 4. GEOFFREY CHAUCER: THE CANTERBURY TALES. As it will have been noticed, literary tradition in Britain was greatly influenced by French authors and much court poetry was written in Anglo-Norman and Latin in the Middle Ages. Therefore, Geoffrey Chaucer's work is recognised as a crucial contribution to English literature because his confidence in the English language encouraged his followers and imitators also to write in English and speeded the transition from French as the language of literature (=the cre- ator of English versification). The son of a wealthy merchant, Chaucer spent his life in close association with the rul- ing nobility of the kingdom. His occupations included diplomatic missions, parliamentary work and administrative work for the king. He was recognised as a great poet during his lifetime. Chaucer's initial works include “The Book of Duchess”, “The House of Fame”, “Troilus and Criseyde” and “The Legend of Good Women”. The first of these shows the. influence of French poets while the rest are characterised by exploring classical instances from. Italian works, like that of the story of Troilus and Criseyde. 7he Canterbury Tales, on the other hand, E built on a framework which he invented — a pilgrimage. 4.1. THE CANTERBURY TALES. It is an unfinished collection of tales told in the course of a pilgrimage to Beckett's shrine at Canterbury. A General Prologue briefly describes the 30 pilgrims and introduces the frame- work: each pilgrim is to tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back, the teller of the best winning a free supper. There follow 24 tales, including two told by Chaucer himself. The work is remarkable from both the point of view of literary analysis and simply as a piece of writing which makes a ey gabe reading, As far as the literary anales IS ‘concerned ¡pers underline the excellent integration of framework and tales, whic) shows |ina np per of ways: The. Epica: of genres ond ecttings for each tale. The type of narration used in each case. The method of characterisation and imagery. ‘Versif cation and language. | Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since Poured the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anonymous short works using it before him. The arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhyming couplets was first seen in his The Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. His early influence as a satirist is also important, with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, apparently making its first appearance in The Reeve's Tale. The poetry of Chaucer, along with other writers of the era, is credited with helping to standardise the London Dialect of the Middle English language; a combination of Kentish and Midlands dialect. This is probably overstated: the influence of the court, chancery and bureau- cracy— of which Chaucer was a part —remains a more probable influence on the development of Standard English. Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chau- cer's poems owing to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. This change in the pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, makes the reading of Chau- Oy, (e 19) © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es— [email protected] L 2 Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma 2 Ls puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, =~ copia grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM.  Inglés (Secundaria), Tema 43 (BOE 1993) Pág. 20 cer difficult for the modern audience. The status of the final -e in Chaucer's verse is uncertain: it seems likely that during the period of Chaucer's writing the final -e was dropping out of collo- quial English and that its use was somewhat irregular. Chaucer's versification suggests that the final -e is sometimes to be vocalised, and sometimes to be silent; however, this remains a point on which there is disagreement. Apart from the irregular spelling, much of the vocabulary is recognisable to the modern reader. Chaucer is also recorded in the Oxford English Dictio- nary as the first author to use many common English words in his writings. These words were probably frequently used in the language at the time but Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, is the earliest manuscript source. Acceptable, alkali, altercation, amble, angrily, annex, annoyance, approaching, arbitration, armless, army, arrogant, arsenic, arc, artillery and aspect are just some of those from the first letter of the alphabet. = DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION. From all the issues dealt with throughout this topic, the Arthurian Legend is probably the most interesting one to study with our secondary and Baccalaureate students, as the legend is well known by most of them thanks to TV series, comics, etc. We must take advantage of this in order to encourage them to read and improve their knowledge of English. The stories about Merlin, king Arthur and The Round Table are available in many readers and adapted to the dif- ferent levels. We must not forget that reading comprehension is a very important skill that the students must achieve. [Curricular links to specific competences and eae knowledge in the Orders will be included as soon as they are published]. 6. CONCLUSION. The Medieval period in the history of English literature includes a big change from oral tradition to the establishment of written works (in manuscripts). As the example of Arthurian legend shows, both genres influence each other. On the other hand, Chaucer gave an example of how a remarkable author is capable of establishing a norm for his or her followers both in the use of his native tongue as well as the development of literary quality. Future authors had a good example in 7he Canterbury Tales Aa Oy © Ecoem, S.A. — 954 652 321 — 954 652 106 — www.ecoem.es — [email protected] $ Urea É Esta publicación se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por procedimiento electrónico o mecánico alguno, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética, almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito de ECOEM. Y copió  Intro.: the historical period: in history and E) TO p I C 4 3 I) Concl.: the relevance for FLT literature o ORAL LITERATURE e -DIDACTIC : : E AND CHAUCER TRANSPOSITION a MEDIEVAL ORAL { CHAUCER LITERATURE THE ARTHURIAN Y \ | LEGEND Definition Characteritics | Historical a o > The K. Arthur ~ Canterbury Background In Medieval / Tales