Week 1 Old English Period/Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf PDF

🌷 Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf Before the Old English period Celtic (a large group of europians) speakers arrived in England in about 900bce They were primarily(baslangicta) two tribes:...

🌷 Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf Before the Old English period Celtic (a large group of europians) speakers arrived in England in about 900bce They were primarily(baslangicta) two tribes: the Brythons inhabited what is now Britain the Gaels settled in present day Irland Both of them spoke languages from Celtic family, which is far different from Germanic languages like English They lived closely tied clans and were farmers and hunters for the most part iron age culture leaders were often Druids, who were priests The Druids preserved the people’s myths and legends by reciting long heroic poems The Romans - 55bce-407ce Romans invade England They ruled for some 300 y they established roads and towns they brought christianist to the island When Italy was under attack, roman troops were called home. The last troops left in 407 and the stage was set for Anglos, Saxons and Judes. Old English Period The Anglo-Saxons = 449-1066 They were able to over take the Britons by simply rowing up English rivers They were in three groups: Angles Saxons Jutes Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 1  Then some Britons went to edges of the island- Cornwall and Wales. Others went to Ireland and then later Scotland. And this movement proved to preserve the Celtic languages of Cornish, Welsh and Irish and Scottish Gaelic. All of which are spoken today. Map of Britain in 802. By this date, historians today rarely distinguish between Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The Danish- Viking Invasions (9th and 12th) English King Alfred the Great was able to resist the first invasions. The Vikings ended up practicing hit-and-run raids, but their influence was not large They were only want to steal golds and precious things, so they were plundering (yağmalamak) churches. So they were not about to take over England they came from Denmark, Southern Norway, Southern Sweden with ships Anglo Saxon Hierarchy king was on the top of the piramid he was expected to be generous to his loyal subjects Thane: (in Anglo-Saxon England) a man who held land granted by the king or by a military nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble. Thanes claimed kinship to founder of tries. They were expected to be loyal Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 2  The Mead Hall Large wooden structures where the king lived, held paries, etc. Major social center of anglo-saxon culture. place of drunkenness, fun, music The Anglo-Saxons’ Religion They came to Britain with their own pagan beliefs had firm belief in fate they worshiped to ancient Germanic gods like Tui the god of war and the sky, Woden the chief of the gods, Fria the Woden’s wife and goddess of the home. etc. their names are still in the day names: tui teusday, Fria: friday, Woden: wednesday Christianity had been introduced by the ROmans, and the Celts were converted Irish monks helped establish a strong Christian hold on the island Scots were converted easily, and many monasteries were built in Scotland In 597 Roman cleric St Augustine arrives and was able to convert King Ethelbert of Kent; this led to the kingdon being converted. Then the church had major influence, it promoted eace and that helped unite the English people. Church also brought education and a written literature. Monks often worked as scribes, recording and duplicating written work by hand. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 3  Venerable Bede - 673 to 735 he was mostly known as the father of English history He wrote A History of the English Church and People - the clearest account of early Anglosaxon times. monks tasfiri Anglo-Saxon Literature Spread by scops who recited long epic poems. These poems were either heroic or literary the verses were easy to memorize in that time people were preliterate people Anglo-Saxon Poetry Caesuras - pause in a line Alliteration joins the 2 parts of the line (songs singing slitghtly from the stars) Kennings - metaphorical phrases - while reading their poetry; *do not stop at the end of the line, just stop at the punctuation mark. *the end of the line has to do with beat of the line; it has nothing to do with the meaning of the line The Norman Conquest (Viking kökenli bir halk) - 1066 to 1154 King Edward dies in 1066 and this opened the way for Norman king to conquest there and be the king 1. İstila Nedenleri: İstilanın temel nedenleri arasında İngiltere tahtı için yapılan rekabet, İngiltere kralının ölümü sonrası tahtın kimin hakkı olduğu konusundaki anlaşmazlıklar ve Norman Dükü William'ın İngiltere tahtını talep etmesi bulunmaktadır. 2. İstilanın Lideri: Norman İstilası'nın lideri, William the Conqueror (William Fetheden) olarak bilinir. William, Normandiya Dükalığı'nı yönetiyordu ve İngiltere tahtını talep etti. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 4  3. Savaşlar: Norman İstilası, 1066 yılında İngiltere'deki üç önemli savaşla tanımlanır. Bu savaşlar şunlardır: Stamford Köprüsü Muharebesi (25 Eylül 1066): Vikingler ile İngilizler arasında yapılan bu savaşta Vikingler galip geldi. Hastings Muharebesi (14 Ekim 1066): Bu çarpışma, İngiltere tahtı için William ve İngiliz Kralı Harold Godwinson arasında yapıldı. William zafer kazandı ve İngiltere Kralı oldu. York Muharebesi (1069-1070): Normanlar, İngiltere'nin farklı bölgelerinde İngiliz direnişiyle karşılaştılar ve bu süreçte bir dizi çatışma yaşandı. 4. Sonuçları: Norman İstilası, İngiltere'nin Norman kontrolü altına girmesine yol açtı. Bu istila, İngiliz toplumunda ve siyasi yapısında köklü değişikliklere neden oldu. İngiliz aristokrasisi Normanlar tarafından değiştirildi ve İngiliz feodal sistemi Norman etkisi altında yeniden şekillendi. 5. Feodalizm ve Orta Çağ İngiltere: Norman İstilası, İngiltere'de feodal bir düzenin kurulmasına neden oldu. Bu dönem, Orta Çağ İngiltere'sinin başlangıcı olarak kabul edilir ve İngiliz kültürüne Norman etkisi ekledi. 6. William the Conqueror'ın Saltanatı: William, İngiltere Kralı olarak taç giydi ve William I (William the Conqueror) olarak anıldı. Onun saltanatı, İngiliz tarihinde önemli bir dönemi temsil eder. Norman İstilası, İngiltere tarihindeki önemli bir kilometre taşıdır ve İngiliz toplumunu ve siyasi yapısını kalıcı bir şekilde etkilemiştir. 1- William the Conqueror 1066'dan 1087’a 2- oğlu I. William (William Rufus) 1100'e kadar 3- William'ın diğer oğlu II. Henry (Henry Beauclerc) 1135 yılına kadar Norman hükümeti ve kontrolü, 1154 yılında II. Henry'nin ölümünün ardından Plantagenet Hanedanı'nın başlamasıyla sona erdi. Plantagenet Hanedanı, İngiltere tahtında Norman kontrolünü devraldı ve İngiltere'nin tarihinde yeni bir dönem başladı. 🌱 These notes are from the lecture. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 5  Jutes’lar diğerleri kadar dominant değil, diğerleri ise savaşçı bir toplum, bu nedenle Jutes’lar diğerlerin içinde kaynıyorlar. Bu savaşçı Anglo ve Saxon’lar sürekli Celt’lerle ve oradaki Romalılarla savaş halindeler. Dolayısıyla Celt toplumu savaştan kaçmak için Scotland’ın dağlık bölgelerine gidiyorlar. 410’dan sonra Roma çekiliyor. Meydan Angle ve Saxonlara kalıyor. Göçlerin sonucunda Beowulf var bu edebiyatta. From the first to the 5th century, England was a province of the Roman Empire and was named Britannia after its Celtic-speaking inhabitants, the Britons. The Britons adapted themselves to Roman civilization, of which the ruins survived to impress the poet of The Wanderer, who refers to them as the ancient works of giants. The withdrawel of the Roman legions during the 5th century, in Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 6  a vain attempt to protect Rome itself from the thread of Germanic conquest, left the island vulnerable to seafaring Germanic invaders. These belonged primarily to three related tribes, the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes. The name English derives from the Angles, and the names of the countries Essex, Sussex and Wessex refer to the territories occupied by the East, South, and West Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon occupation was no sudden conquest but extended over decades of fighting against the native Britons. The latter were, finally, largely confined to the mountainous region of Wales, where the modern form of their language is spoken alongside English to this day. The Britons had become christians in the 4th century after the conversion of Emperor Constantine along with most of the rest of the Roman Empire, but for about 150 years after the beggining of the invasion, christianity was maintained only in the remooter regions where the as yet pagan anglo- saxons failed to penetrate. In the year 597, however, a Benedictine monk (afterward st Augustine of Canterbury) was sent by Pope Gregory as a missionary to King Ethelbert of Kent, the most southerly of the kingdoms into which England was then divided, and about the same time missionaries from Irland began to preach christianity in the north. Whithin 75 years the island was once more predominantly christian. Before christianity there had been no books. The impact of christianity on literacy is evient from the fact that the first extended written specimen of the Old English *(anglo-saxon) language is a code of laws promulgates by Ethelbert, the first English christian king. The first literature in English goes back to the period between about AD410 and 1066. thee are Anglo-Saxon times and are known as the early medieval period. In 410 the Romans left Britain, and in 1066 the Norman Conquest began the late medieval period of history. It was a time of wars and invasion - Britain was invaded by many peoples from Europe: angles, saxons, jutes, vikings, and finally Normans. These invasions left many traces in the form of castles and towns as well as in culture and language. The languages known as Old English is the language of the first literature in English. But it was a long time before it was actually written down: the first stories and poems were spoken, and we do not know exactly when these stories were first told. There were two cultures through the Anglo-Saxon period: The christian culture, which had arrived in England in 597 with Saint Augustine, and the heroic culture, of leaders and heroes who defended their lands against invaders. The Norman Conquest at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was the last successful invasion of Britain. The Normans took power, and William the Conqueror became King of England. William tried to bring peace to the country after many centuries of wars and invasions but did not always succeed. The Normans brought with them many French influences, and the French language began to mix with Old English into a more modern language. Scandinavian influences were also strong and Latin was still the language of the Church, so there were many influences on the English language and culture. Out of these influences, a new national identity began to develop. Parts of France remained British until as late as 1558; Wales was part of the Kingdom of England from 1282. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 7  Scotland was the main enemy for another three hundred years, and many wars against the Scots were fought in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The first parliament was in 1265, and English became the language of national law in 1362. The Magna Carta of 1215 reduced the power of the king, giving more power and property rights to the aristocrats. The city of London became the capital of the country, and the local southern dialect of English became the main spoken form of English, although local dialects remained strong, as they still do today. Trade with Europe became more important. A new class of traders and merchants grew up, as trade between nations replaced war. Old English The language of the earliest English literature came from many different places. The literature itself and its subjects were influenced by different countries, and by different places, peoples and cultures, but the question of what is English about English literature is still a big question today, as more and more writers use the English language. The subjects of the first literature are subjects which are familiar even now: war, religion, personal sadness and happiness. It was the Christian monks in the monasteries who first wrote down the words of the early literature - they were the only people who could read and write, and for many centuries they guarded culture and learning. But only a few fragments remain of all the writing that the monks kept. They reflect the two cultures, of Christianity and of heroic actions, with the occasional personal voice coming through. Most of the texts from this period are anonymous, but one or two names are attached to texts. The very first fragment is called 'Caedmon's Hymn'. There is a legend that Caedmon was a shepherd in Northumbria, in the far north of England, and the voice of God came to him, so his 'Hymn' is the first song of praise in English literature. Of course, the monks at nearby Whitby soon heard of this poetic shepherd, and in about 670, Caedmon entered their monastery, and this short poem entered history: Nu we sculon herigan heofonrices Weard, Meotodes meahte ond his modgepanc Now we must praise of heaven's kingdom the Keeper Of the Lord the power and his wisdom Two features of most Old English poetry are immediately clear: the gap in the middle of each line, called the caesura, which modern editors use to show the rhythm of the verse, and the alliteration (the letter 'h' in the first line. Both of these influences the sound of the poem, reminding us that the poetry was spoken long before it was written down. Another name from the early medieval period is Deor, but we know nothing about him. We do not know the author of the poem Deor's Lament but the narrator, Deor, is a writer and singer of songs Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 8  who has no job, and he thinks of other unfortunate men, returning always the refrain: Paes ofereode; Pisses swa maeg Of that there was an end; so there may be of this. This is not only a poem about a man who is searching for work, but one of the first texts to talk of the passing of time, and of personal suffering. Deor's Lament is probably from the beginning of the 8th century, many years after Caedmon. Another important name from these centuries is Cynewulf, and he brings together the other two names. He may also have come from Northumbria, and two of the texts he wrote are found in a book called Exeter Book, and a similar book written in England but kept in Vercelli in Italy, the Vercelli Book, are among the few examples which remain of the work of monks in persevering texts from the Dark Ages. Cynwwulf's four poems are all religious in tone, and celebrate the lives of saints and other similar topics. Beowulf and Long Poems Several poems are preserved in the Exeter Book. The other personal but anonymous poems are: The Wanderer and The Seafarer (sailor]. These are elegiac poems - the speaker is always alone, and his memory becomes very important. They are memories of old legends, old battles and old heroes. Although we know very little about the period, we do find ideas and themes which are common in all literature, and memories are a major part of the writing. The Wanderer The lament of The Wanderer is an excellent example of the elegiac mood so common in Anglo- Saxon poetry. Such poems look back to a time when oral poets performed heroic songs in the meter preserved, practiced, and recorded in original works by their Christian descendants. As is true of most Anglo-Saxon elegiac laments, both the language and the structure of The Wanderer are difficult. At the beginning, the speaker (whom the poet identifies as an "earth- treader") voices hope of finding comfort after his many tribulations. After the poet's interruption, the Wanderer continues to speak- to himself- of his long search for a new home, describing how he must keep his thoughts locked within him while he makes that search. But these thoughts form the most vivid and moving part of his soliloquy how, floating on the sea, dazed with sorrow and fatigue, he imagines that he sees his old companions, and how, as he wakens to reality, they vanish on the water like seabirds. göç eden tribelar denizi aşıp geliyor, bu yüzden bu eserlerde sea figürü beklenen bir olay. The Seafarer The Seafarer is an ancient Anglo-Saxon poem in which the elderly seafarer reminisces about his life spent sailing on the open ocean. He describes the hardships of life on the sea, the beauty of Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 9  nature, and the glory of god. The speaker describes the often dreary and lonely life of a seafarer. He contrasts this with the relatively easy life of land dwellers. Season changes and the seafarer's tone changes from one of loneliness to adventure. He loves sailing, and despite the hardships, he enjoys his life. The sea imagery recedes, and the seafarer speaks entirely of God, Heaven, and the soul. The Dream of the Rood Among the anonymous religious texts which remain, the best know is The Dream of the Rood. The word rood means cross in Old English. This poem is found not only in the Vercelli Book, but also on a standing stone in Ruthwell in southern Scotland. The poem is also important for two reasons: it is the first of a kind of poem which became very popular in later literature, the dream-vision; and The Dream of the Rood shows a great range of words to describe the cross of Christ, and a range of images which later poems developed. The Dream of the Rood is considered the finest of a large number of religious poems in Anglo- Saxon. Neither the author nor its date of composition is known. It appears in a late 10th century manuscript located in Vercelli in northern Italy, a manuscript made up of Old English religious poems and sermons. The poem may antedate its manuscript, because some passages from the Rood's speech were carved, with some variations, in runes on a stone cross at some time after its construction early in the 8th century; this is the famous Ruthwell Cross, preserved near Dumfries in southern Scotland. The precise relation of the poem to this cross is, however, uncertain. The experience of the Rood, often called "tree" in the poem- its humiliation at the hands of those who cut it down and made it into an instrument of punishment for criminals and its humility when the young hero Christ mounts it has a suggestive relevance to the condition of the Dreamer. His isolation and melancholy is typical of exile figures in Anglo- Saxon poetry. For the Rood, however, glory has replaced torment, and at the end, the Dreamer's description of Christ's entry into heaven with the souls he has liberated from Hades reflects the Dreamer's response to the hope that has been brought to him. Christ and the Rood both act in keeping with, and yet diametrically opposed to, a code of heroic action: Christ is both heroic in mounting and passive in suffering on the Rood, while the Rood is loyal to its lord, yet must participate in his death. BEOWULF It is now widely believed that Beowulf is the work of a single poet who was a Christian and that his poem reflects well-established Christian tradition. The conversion of the Germanic settlers in England had been largely completed during the 7th century. The Danish king Hrothgar's poet sings a song about the Creation (lines 87- 98) reminiscent of Cadmon's Hymn. The monster Grendel is said to be a descendant of Cain. There are allusions to God's judgment and to fate but none to pagan deities. References to the New Testament are notably absent, but Hrothgar and Beowulf often speak of God as though their religion is monotheistic. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 10  Beowulf is written in rich and powerful language, full of new words, new tones and new rhythms, and with many images of light, colour and action. It is possible that Beowulf may be the lone survivor of a genre of Old English long epics, but it must have been a remarkable and difficult work even in its own day. The poet was reviving the heroic language, style, and pagan world of ancient Germanic oral poetry, a world that was already remote for his contemporaries and that is stranger to the modern reader, in many respects, than the epic world of Homer and Virgil. With the help of Beowulf itself, a few shorter heroic poems in Old English, and later poetry and prose in Old Saxon, Old Icelandic, and Middle High German, we can only conjecture what Germanic oral epic must have been like when performed by the Germanic scop, or bard. The Beowulf poet himself imagines such oral performances by having King Hrothgar's court poet recite a heroic lay at a feast celebrating Beowulf's defeat of Grendel. Many of the words and formulaic expressions in Beowulf can be found in other Old English poems, but there are also an extraordinary number of what linguists call hapax legomena that is, words recorded only once in a language. The poet may have found them elsewhere, but the high incidence of such words suggests that he was an original wordsmith in his own right. Plot / Topic Beowulf, which is abo ut 3000 lines, is a story about a brave young man from southern Sweden. Beowulf goes to help Hrothgar, The King of Danes, who cannot defend himself or his people against a terrible monster called Grendel. Although Hrothgar and Beowulf are portrayed as morally upright and enlightened pagans, they fully espouse and frequently affirm the values of Germanic heroic poetry. In the poetry depicting this this warrior society, the most important of human relationships was that which existed between the warrior- the thane and his lord, a relationship based less on subordination of one man's will to another's than on mutual trust and respect. When a warrior vowed loyalty to his lord, he became not so much his servant as his voluntary companion, one who would take pride in defending him and fighting in his wars. In return, the lord was expected to take care of his thanes and to reward them richly for their valor; a good king, one like Hrothgar or Beowulf, is referred to by such poetic epithets as "ringgiver" and as the "helmet" and "shield" of his people. One night Beowulf attacks Grendel and pulls off the arm of the monster. Grendel returns to the lake where he lives, but dies there. Beowulf is then attacked by the mother of Grendel and Beowulf follows her to the bottom of the lake and kills her, too. Fifty years later, Beowulf has to defend his own people against a dragon which breathes fire. Although he kills the dragon, Beowulf himself is injured in the fight and dies. The poem has a sad ending, but the poem is a statement of heroic values and Beowulf dies as a hero. Here Wiglaf reminds Beowulf of his greatest days: Leofa Biowulf, last eall tela, Swa ou on geoguofeore geara gecwaede, Paet ou alaete be ou lifigendum Dom gedreosan Beloved Beowulf, keep well the vow that you swore Long ago in the days of your youth, not to allow your Glory to diminish as long as you lived. Week 1 I Old English Period / Anglo Saxon Period & Beowulf 11  When Beowulf dies, Wiglaf has to continue the example for the next generation. Beowulf story is part myth, part history, but the hero is remembered as the man who can win battles and give safety to his people over a long period of time. Questions of the passing of time through the generations, and of what is means to be a human being, are central themes of the story. 🌱 Beawulf’un önemli olmasının sebebi, o döneme ait sosyal yaşamdan bilgiler de vermesidir, kadının toplumdaki yeri gibi. Ayrıca ingiliz edebiyatının ilk kahramanıdır. The Venerable Bede (the title by which he is known to posterity) became a novice at the age of seven and spent the rest of his life at the neighbouring monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Although he may never have travelled beyond the boundaries of his native district of Northumbria, he achieved an international reputation as one of the greatest scholars of his age. Writing in Latin, the learned language of the era, Bede produced many theological works as well as books on science and rhetoric, but his most pop u lar and enduring work is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People (completed 731). The History tells about the Anglo-Saxon conquest and the vicissitudes of the petty kingdoms that comprised Anglo-Saxon England; Bede's main theme, however, is the spread of Christianity and the growth of the English church. The latter were the great events leading up to Bede's own time, and he regarded them as the unfolding of God's providence. The History is, therefore, also a moral work and a hagiography that is, it contains many stories of saints and miracles meant to testify to the grace and glory of God. The story we reprint preserves what is probably the earliest extant Old English poem (composed sometime between 658 and 680) and the only biographical information, outside of what is said in the poems themselves, about any Old English poet. Caedmon Bede tells how Caedmon, an illiterate cowherd employed by the monastery of Whitby, miraculously received the gift of song, entered the monastery, and became the founder of a school of Christian poetry. Cadmon was clearly an oral- formulaic poet, one who created his work by combining and varying formulas units of verse developed in a tradition transmitted by one generation of singers to another. In this respect he resembles the singers of the Homeric poems and oral-formulaic poets recorded in the twentieth century, especially in the Balkan countries. Although Bede tells us that Cadmon had never learned the art of song, we may suspect that he concealed his skill from his fellow workmen and from the monks because he was ashamed of knowing "vain and idle" songs, the kind Bede says Caedmon never composed. Cadmon's inspiration and the true miracle, then, was to apply the meter and language of such songs, presumably including pagan heroic verse, to Christian themes. 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