THE ENGLISH LITERATURE THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD 428-1100 автор: Манько В.А., учитель англійської мови Будянського технологічного ліцею Харківської районнох ради Харківської області

Periods of English Literature: 428-1100- Old English Period 1100-1485- Middle English Period 1485-1660- Renaissance Period 1660-1798- Neoclassic Period 1798-1870- Romantic Period 1870-1914- Realistic Period 1914-1965- Modern or Modernist Period 1965- Post Modernist or Contemporary Period

English literature consists of poetry, prose, and drama, written in the English language by authors in England, Scotland and Wales since 1707. English literature is also one of the oldest national literatures in the Western world. English authors wrote important literary works as early as A.D.700 s.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE OLD ENGLISH POETRY Alliteration (words that begin with the same sound); Kennings (elaborate descriptive phrases); Internal rhyme (word within a line rhymes with a word ar the end of the line).

CAEDMON The first English poet; Lived during the 600s; “Hymn”- his only surviving work- a nine-line poem that praises God.

CYNEWULF the leading Northumbrian poet; the main theme- lives and hardships of saints; religious poems “The fates of the Apostles”, “Elene”, “Jiliana”.

BEOWULF- literally “bee wolf” i.e. “bee hunter”, a kenning for “bear” heroic epic poem; author – an anonymous anglo-saxon poet; consists of 3182 alliterative long lines; written in west Saxon dialect; it is survives in the single manuscript known as the Nowell Codex; manuscript measures 195X130 mm; dated between 8 th and the early 11 th centuries.

A general summary A brave young man, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, who has been attacking the resident warriors of the mead hall of Hroðgar (the king of the Danes), Grendel's mother, and an unnamed dragon. After the first two victories, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and becomes king of the Geats. The last fight takes place fifty years later. In this final battle, Beowulf is fatally wounded. After his death, his retinue buries him in a tumulus in Geatland

The character of Beowulf is a combination of features of a nephew of the king of Jutes and of various mythical heroes

The characters of villains who are opposed to Beowulf are: the fire-drake or dragon , the cannibal – ogre Grendel and his mother- a water-witch. The dragon The water-witch Grendel

The tone of the poem is dark, melancholy and austere The tone of the poem is dark, melancholy and austere. In simple, direct and majestic verse an exciting story of adventure and heroism is told.

OLD ENGLISH PROSE most prose was written in Latin until the late 800s; “Ecclasiastical History of the English Nation” written by monk venerable Bede – the first history of the English people and a valuable source of information about English life from the late 500s to 731; during 990s a monk Aelfrik wrote a series of homilies (short moral essays); from about 892 to 1154 a number of authors contributed to the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”- a record of current events in England.

ВИКОРИСТАНІ ДЖЕРЕЛА: 1. Гордєєва Н.М. Англійська література: Навч. посібник для шкіл з поглибл. вивч. англ. мови. --- К. : Равлик, 1998. ---286 с. 2. R. M. Liuzza - Old English Literature: Critical Essays. Малюнки та зображення: ru.wikipedia.org›wiki/Английская_литература www.twirpx.com

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