Old English literature/Anglo-Saxon literature Key Points

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Important Key Points in Old English literature/Anglo-Saxon literature, that will help every Aspirants/Academicians of English Literature.

      Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature which is the starting point of English Literature is the literature written in Old English, in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. What makes the literature of Anglo Saxon different from that of other periods is that Old English verse style, has artistic maturity and unity. It also uses excessive alliteration and kennings and also internal rhymes.

"Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses literature written in Old English, in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Cædmon's Hymn", composed in the 7th century, according to Bede, is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English. Poetry written in the mid-12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English; for example, The Soul's Address to the Body (c. 1150–1175) found in Worcester Cathedral Library MS F. 174 contains only one word of possible Latinate origin, while also maintaining a corrupt alliterative meter and Old English grammar and syntax, albeit in a degenerative state (hence, early scholars of Old English termed this late form as "Semi-Saxon"). The Peterborough Chronicle can also be considered a late-period text, continuing into the 12th century. The strict adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th century work – as is evident in the works cited above – and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature.

The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history.

In descending order of quantity, Old English literature consists of: sermons and saints' lives; biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works on grammar, medicine, geography; and poetry. In all there are over 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered "major".

Besides Old English literature, Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works."

Above mentioned passages taken from  Old English Literature page of  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

      The Anglo-Saxons were prominent in the early Middle Ages that stretched almost from the first century and lasted up to the Renaissance around the 14th century. Genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles were seen in the works from old English period. Beowulf, is one of the very famous work belonging to this period, it even has achieved national epic status in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of early English history and gives a vivid image of the history of English. The poem Cædmon's Hymn from the 7th century is one of the oldest surviving written texts in English, which is also quite important piece of literature.

                Other great works of Old English poetry include The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood.

43-410: Roman Period

43-420: Roman invasion and occupation of Britain

410: Last Romans leave Britain, recalled to Rome by barbarian invasions

450-1066: Old English Period

Ca. 450: Anglo Saxons invade and conquer the Britons

597: St. Augustine arrives in Kent, beginning conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity

871-899: Reign of King Alfred “the Great,” who quelled Viking invaders, established power over other kings in England, and promoted books and learning.

    Vercelli Book: a mix of poetry and prose
    Junius Manuscript (Caedmon manuscript): an illustrated poetic anthology
    Nowell Codex: also a mix of poetry and prose
    Exeter Book: also a poetic anthology

        Famous writers

• Bede, also known as Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable, was an English Benedictine monk at the monastery of St. Peter and its companion monastery of St. Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.
• Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. A Northumbrian who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch during the abbacy of St. Hilda, he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century historian Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet.
• Cynewulf is one of twelve Old English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today. He presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th centuries.
• Alfred the Great (848/9 – 26 October 899) was king of the West Saxons from 871 to c. 886 and king of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. His father died when he was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him.

Old English poetry & prose

        Almost all Old English poets are anonymous and their poems fall under the heroic Germanic and the Christian style. 

Beowulf 

    Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating pertains to the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025.

        Watch Beowulf Summary

            

Beowulf, heroic poem, the highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European vernacular epic.

Two poetic figures commonly found in Old English poetry are the Kenning and Litotes

Old English poetry was an oral craft that was performed by a scop and accompanied by a harp.

Cædmon, Aldhelm, and Cynewulf are few knwn poets from old English, many other works are without authors name.

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People

        The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by the Venerable Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between the pre-Schism Roman Rite and Celtic Christianity.

Cædmon's Hymn

                Cædmon's "Hymn" is a short Old English poem originally composed by Cædmon, a supposedly illiterate cow-herder who was, according to Bede, able to sing in honour of God the Creator, using words that he had never heard before.

    Humbly now we honour      heaven-kingdom's Guardian,

the Measurer's might       and his mind-plans,

the goals of the Glory-Father.     First he, the Everlasting Lord,

established      earth's fearful foundations.

Then he, the First Scop,      hoisted heaven as a roof

for the sons of men:      Holy Creator,

mankind's great Maker!      Then he, the Ever-Living Lord,

afterwards made men middle-earth:      Master Almighty!

 Nowell Codex

        

        The Nowell Codex is the second of two manuscripts comprising the bound volume Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, one of the four major Anglo-Saxon poetic manuscripts. It is most famous as the manuscript containing the unique copy of the epic poem Beowulf.

The "Finnesburg Fragment" (also "Finnsburh Fragment") is a portion of an Old English heroic poem about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The surviving text is tantalisingly brief and allusive, but comparison with other references in Old English poetry, notably Beowulf (c. 1000 AD), suggests that it deals with a conflict between Danes and Frisians in Migration-Age Frisia (400 to 800 AD).

"Waldere" or "Waldhere" is the conventional title given to two Old English fragments, of around 32 and 31 lines, from a lost epic poem, discovered in 1860 by E. C. Werlauff, Librarian, in the Danish Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is still preserved.

"Widsith" (Old English: Widsið), also known as The Traveller's Song, is an Old English poem of 143 lines. The poem survives only in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing approximately one-sixth of all surviving Old English poetry.

"Deor" (or "The Lament of Deor") is an Old English poem found on folio 100r–100v of the late-10th-century collection[1] the Exeter Book. The poem consists of the lament of the scop Deor, who lends his name to the poem, which was given no formal title; modern scholars do not actually believe Deor to be the author of this poem.

The Exeter Book, Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, also known as the Codex Exoniensis, is a tenth-century book or codex which is an anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices, along with the Vercelli Book, Nowell Codex and the Cædmon manuscript or MS Junius 11.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great.

"The Battle of Maldon" is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which an Anglo-Saxon army failed to repulse a Viking raid. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant; both the beginning and the ending are lost.

"The Ruin" is an elegy in Old English, written by an unknown author probably in the 8th or 9th century, and published in the 10th century in the Exeter Book, a large collection of poems and riddles.

The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century. It counts 115 lines of alliterative verse. As is often the case in Anglo-Saxon verse, the composer and compiler are anonymous, and within the manuscript the poem is untitled.

The Seafarer is an Old English poem giving a first-person account of a man alone on the sea. The poem consists of 124 lines, followed by the single word "Amen" and is recorded only at folios 81 verso - 83 recto of the tenth-century Exeter Book, one of the four surviving manuscripts of Old English poetry.

"Wulf and Eadwacer" is an Old English poem of famously difficult interpretation. It has been variously characterised, as an elegy, as a riddle, and as a song or ballad with refrain.

"The Wife's Lament" or "The Wife's Complaint" is an Old English poem of 53 lines found on folio 115 of the Exeter Book and generally treated as an elegy in the manner of the German frauenlied, or women's song. The poem has been relatively well-preserved and requires few if any emendations to enable an initial reading.

"The Husband's Message" is an anonymous Old English poem, 53 lines long and found only on folio 123 of the Exeter Book.

The Old English Boethius is an Old English translation/adaptation of the sixth-century Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, dating from between c. 880 and 950.

"The Phoenix" is an anonymous Old English poem. It is composed of 677 lines and is for the most part a translation and adaptation of the Latin poem De Ave Phoenice attributed to Lactantius.

Some short poems derive from the Latin bestiary tradition. Some examples include The Panther, The Whale and The Partridge

The Anglo-Saxon riddles are especially interesting.

The Vercelli Book and Exeter Book contain four long narrative poems of saints' lives, or hagiography. In Vercelli are Andreas and Elene and in Exeter are Guthlac and Juliana.

There are a number of partial Old English Bible translations and paraphrases surviving.

The Exeter Book contains a series of poems entitled Christ, sectioned into Christ I, Christ II and Christ III.

The Dream of the Rood is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. Rood is from the Old English word rōd 'pole', or more specifically 'crucifix'.

The "Nine Herbs Charm" is an Old English charm recorded in the tenth-century CE Anglo-Saxon medical compilation known as Lacnunga, which survives on in the manuscript London, British Library, Harley 585. The charm involves the preparation of nine plants.

The Old English rune poem, dated to the 8th or 9th century, has stanzas on 29 Anglo-Saxon runes. It stands alongside younger rune poems from Scandinavia, which record the names of the 16 Younger Futhark runes.

Liber Regulae Pastoralis or Regula Pastoralis is a treatise on the responsibilities of the clergy written by Pope Gregory I around the year 590, shortly after his papal inauguration. It became one of the most influential works on the topic ever written.

The Sermo Lupi ad Anglos is the title given to a homily composed in England between 1010-1016 by Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, who commonly styled himself Lupus, or 'wolf' after the first element in his name [wulf-stan = 'wolf-stone']. Though the title is Latin, the work itself is written in Old English.

A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches.

The oldest collections of church sermons is the Blickling homilies, found in a 10th-century manuscript.