| Show THE PRE NOR PRE NORMAN IAN LITERATURE TURE i AT the time that the Romans compelled compelled com com- by the incursions of the into into- Italy withdrew their forces from England and took them home to protect their own country there was little in England that could properly be classed as literature that is there was little that had any continuity The Celts and Britons tri tribes es still remaining upon the island had been servants or at least renters since their subjugation by the Romans with of course coure but little opportunity opportunity opportunity for the cultivation of literary ele ele ments They were were naturally vigorous full of life and romantic impulses b but t they had been prevented from exercising exercising exercising ing those qualities on account of their dependent condition consequently it was only occasionally that a strain of poetry came to light They had no bards whose songs entertained the people ot of the time and were handed down to toy 71 y 7 g generations no chronicle pre pre- r served or a history of that early period indeed nearly all we know of 01 them we 1 S have obtained from some late historian At first the Celts and Britons occupied the greater part of England Scotland and Wales but after the departure of the Romans they were forced back into the mountains and finally into the inaccessible in inaccessible in- in j acc accessible fastnesses of Wales and northern north north- 1 ern Scotland Their persecutors were hostile whom the peaceful I tribes of south-eastern south England hired to come over from the continent and protect protect protect pro pro- them against the more ferocious tribes of the north The three Teutonic Teutonic Teutonic Teu Teu- tonic tribes and the Angles the Saxons and th the Jutes utes were a people very different in almost every respect from the ones they had conquered Their home had been in the low damp foggy regions regions' of Holland Belgium and northern north north- ern Germany and they had partaken of the same atmosphere becoming sluggish sluggish sluggish slug slug- gish indolent and very superstitious Like the Greeks they believed that the various phenomena of nature were controlled controlled controlled con con- trolled by separate gods and that these were gigantic beings ruling not with j gentleness and love but with the destructive destructive de de- j I tornado the engulfing earthquake earthquake earthquake earth earth- J quake or the mighty waves of the j sea Of course those gods and goddesses god god- 1 i desses who control the milder phenomena phenomena phenomena mena as the spring the harvest joy I and happiness were not regarded as being as merciless and terrible as the t others but even they were thought to I 1 possess more than human size and J strength Living in constant fear that 1 the wrath of the gods would be poured 1 out upon them for their wrong actions Ithe j I the tried continually to do things that would win the favor of their deities as the earliest bards were called went to the royal courts and sang dirges in praise of Woden Thor or some other god or chanted poems recounting the dangerous adventures adventures adventures tures of some hero with a monster indeed nearly all of the so called literature literature literature litera litera- ture of that period was gloomy and full of awe dealing in many cases with the horrors of death There are at least two poems that were popular during the heathen age and that have taken their places in the literature as legends The first of these is the story of a by that name who having sung at a large number of royal courts returned home ne laden with valuable gifts which he had received for his services This poem departs somewhat from the general tone characteristic of the time in that there is nothing gloomy about it for only the bright side of the poets poet's life is spoken of The second legend is Beowulf The exact time at which this poem was composed composed composed com com- posed is not known but it is supposed to have had its origin on the continent about the beginning of the seventh cen cen- tury The unpleasant features spoken of above are plainly shown in this poem A certain king has a splendid splendid splendid did palace in which h he sits surrounded by numerous servants and entertained by that chance to visit him Grendel a great monster living in a cave becomes vexed at the music coming from the palace and determines to kill the inmates Accordingly he enters the halls at night and slays a number of servants striking terror to King Heroth Heroth- gar who immediately abandons the palace After twelve years the king of the Goths offers to restore the royal property to and kill the demon He comes to the palace meets Grendel and engages in a mighty struggle struggle struggle gle overpowering him and causing him to flee for his life Then Grendel's mother determined upon avenging the injury of her son carries away one of Beowulf's servants The powerful Goth enraged by the deed follows her to her herca ca cave ve in a lake of fire and slays her Peace reigns at the palace of for forty years At the expiration of that time Beowulf engages in another combat with a demon and and though victorious again is mortally wounded Here Beowulf stands out plainly the central figure of the poem unflinching in courage courage courage cour cour- age gigantic in size and superhuman in strength About the beginning of the seventh century a new factor entered into the development of English literature Christianity Christianity Christianity Chris Chris- which had been spreading gradually y over Europe reached England England England Eng Eng- land bringing with it a phase of life entirely foreign to the St. St Augustine and Adrian returning from Rome established churches in England for the purpose of teaching the people that there is but one God and that He rules not by flood and fire but by l love ve and kindness Literature took tooka a new start Bards and poets were no longer satisfied with tales of desperate combats but sang and wrote of a divine Creator Schools of religion were established established established for the purpose of teaching the people the new gospel The first great poet of this new enlightened enlightened enlightened en en- lightened era was Caedmon a Being unable to sing the war songs in inthe inthe inthe the courts as he was expected he is said to have become very melancholy and while pondering over his sad lot was visited by a stranger who told him to sing of a creation and a divine Creator He did this and a new light seemed to dawn upon him Immediately he began to change portions of the Bible into verse and it was not long until he had produced an original poem the Paraphrase Paraphrase Para phrase This was very religious in nature dealing with such subjects as the Fall of Man the Flood and the Salvation Up to the beginning of the eighth century all the poetry was in the Anglo- Anglo Saxon language j for while some Latin was left by the Romans with th the Celts it went with the latter to the mountains and had very little effect upon the Teutonic Teutonic Teutonic Teu Teu- tonic language When the Greek and Roman Monks came cam to England bringing bringing bringing bring bring- ing the messa message e of Christianity Greek and Roman languages and customs came also and Latin began to be taught in inthe inthe inthe the schools and studied in the monas monas- teries The higher class of people or that class where writings made up most of the literature of the time used the Latin language entirely while the peasants peasants peasants peas peas- ants held to the Anglo This condition of affairs made it impossible for the English speaking people to read the literature a as it was being formed j hence they remained ignorant and the distance separating the two classes became more and more apparent With the re-establishment re of Latin in the country there came a new element element element ele ele- ment into the literature It was the element of prose One of the most important important important im im- early prose works is the Ecclesiastical Ecclesiastical Ecclesiastical Eccle History of The English People by Adam Bede a monk teacher and profound scholar The hi tory was written originally in Latin but it was soon translated into English taking its place as a part of the literature of that language Besides being the first prose ever written by an English author it is the most complete source of knowledge concerning the early Celts and Anglo- Anglo Saxons that we have today The next most important figure in the development of the literature is Alfred the Great To him is due the credit of bringing the peasantry to a higher plane of f intelligence within reach of some of the prose and poetry that was being written in the English language When he ascended the throne he saw that a great work was within his grasp The heathen Danes were making invasions into northern and eastern England destroying everything of a religious nature that was in their path He knew r that this must be the stopped or whole people would drift back into heathenism He knew also that few people above the Humber and almost none below it could even read their own language and he was very that such a state of affairs should not exist At first he marched at the head of an army into the advance advance advance ad ad- Northumberland d and checked vance of the Danes then he went to work establishing schools for the benefit of those who could not read offering himself willingly as a teacher U Unsatisfied fied with the work already began he translated Bedes Bede's Ecclesiastical History of The English People and Pope Gregorys Gregory's Pastoral Care into English The movement begun by Alfred progressed progressed progressed pro pro- gressed without much interruption until the conquest of ot William of Normandy when a new king came upon the throne and new elements were introduced into the th e language Cedric r |
