Chaucer NET Paper 2 PDF

Chaucer NET Paper 2  Pre-Chaucerian Age - The Age of Chaucer - The Post-Chaucer Period - Pre - chaucerian age Pre chaucerian literature can be divided into two main parts: 1) Anglo-Saxon and 2) Anglo Norman Anglo Saxon's literature: 1. Till the 5th...

Chaucer NET Paper 2  Pre-Chaucerian Age - The Age of Chaucer - The Post-Chaucer Period - Pre - chaucerian age Pre chaucerian literature can be divided into two main parts: 1) Anglo-Saxon and 2) Anglo Norman Anglo Saxon's literature: 1. Till the 5th century Briton and Celtic were settled in Britain and they were Christianised by the Romans. 2. Engle land (germanie) settled in Northumbria and Maric. Saxons (Scandinavian and icelanders) and Jutes Invaded the south-east part of Britain. 3. Their tales and inspiration marked the spirit of paganism. Their tales relates the contest between savage men and god warfare. 4. Most influential poem of that age is Beowulf. It is 6000 lines long and truly represents the pagan spirit of that age. 5. in prose - Aldhem’s Book of Riddles and Bede wrote many treaties among those, most valuable work was Ecclesiestical History of England. Alchine also wrote treaties, letters, and few poems. 6. Anglo Saxon chronicle is a collection of early English history. 7. Caedmon's hymn (7th century) is one of the oldest surviving text in English. 8. There are 400 surviving manuscripts, 189 of them are considered major. 9. There were a major location: Winchester, Exeter, Worcester, Abingdon, Durham & 2 Canterbury houses- Christ church & St. Augustine. Anglo Norman literature: - - 1. Anglo Norman era starts with French conquest of Britain in 1066. 2. For nearly three hundred years the amalgamation of Normans and enslaved Saxon's with the fusion of their language was in progress. Resulting the creation of English. 3. Anglo Norman literature can be divided into three categories: A. The Latin writings of monks and historians. B. Norman French C. Semi Saxon The Latin writings: - Walter Map/Mape wrote stories of King Arthur, De Nugis Curialium. - Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote History of Briton (preserving the tales of King Arthur) Ralph Higden wrote 24 miracle plays titled as Chester Plays - - and wrote polychronicon in 7 books. - Norman French: Wace wrote Brut d’Angleterre - a versified history of Britons. - - Semi Saxon: Layamon wrote the Brutes (superior translation & enlargement of Wace’s poem. - Orm or Ormin wrote Ormulam. - Romances in poetry by Nichoas of Guildford. -  Literary Features : 1. Most of the poems of this period have pagan features. 2. All poems have anonymous writer. We only get the name- Caedmon. The name of another poet is known - Cynewulf, because he signed his poem in runic letters at the end of four poems. 3. Much of the prose and some of the poetry is translated from Latin. 4. Whatever portion of old English poetry has survived, survived through manuscript. There are four manuscripts: a) the Beowulf - British museum, dated - 1000 b) the Junius - Bodleian library, Oxford. First printed by lord Arundel in 1655 c) the Exeter book - chapter library of Exeter cathedral donated by bishop Leofric in 1050. Containing two signed poems of Cynewulf. d) the Vercelli book - cathedral library at vercelli near Milan, containing too signed poems of Cynewulf including Elene and Andreas and the dream of the road. Language: There were four main dialects - 1. Northumbrian ~ the first to produce literature. 2. Mercian ~ the language of Midlands. 3. Kentish ~ language of South East. 4. West Saxon ~ the language of Alfred. Due to political supremacy of Wessex it was a standard and all the extant text was preserved in it.  Old English poetry: Old English poetry is of two types: the heroic Germanic pre-christian & the Christians. The four manuscripts ( Julius, Exeter, vermicelli & nowell codex) represent old English poetry. The first accepted theory about the Old English poetry's Rule was given by Eduard Sievers (1885), in which he pointed out five distinct alliterative pattern. These are based upon -1) accent 2) alliteration 3) the quantity of vowels. 4) patterns of syllabic accentuation. → Beowulf Theme: Continental Germnic Origin: The poem is suggestive of Pagan but the extant version is Christianised. The dialect of the text is West Saxon though there are clear evidence that it was Written in some Anglian dialect, though whether Mercian or Northumbrian is unclear.