The earliest phase of English literature started with Anglo-Saxon literature of the Angles and Saxone (the ancestors of the English race) much before they occupied Britain English was the common name and tongue of those tribes Before they occupied Britain they lived along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, and therefore the land which they occupied was called Engle land. These tribes were fearless, adventurous and brave, and through the later years of Roman occupation of England, they kept British coast in terror. Like other nations they sang at their feasts about battles, gods and their ancestral heroes, and a few of their chiefs were also bards. It was in these songs of faith, wars and agriculture that English poetry began within the ancient Engle-land while Britain was still a Roman province.
Though much of this Anglo-Saxon poetry is lost, there are still some fragments left. For example, Widsith describes continental courts visited in imagination by a far-wandering poet; Waldhere tells how Walter of Aquitaine withstood a hos of foes in the passes of the Vosges; the luxurious fragment called The Fight at Finnesburg deals with an equivalent favourite theme of battle against fearful odds; and Complaint of Deor describes the frustration of a devotee. The most important poem of this era is Beowulf. It is a tale of adventures of Beowulf, the hero, who may be a champion and slayer of monsters, the incidents in it are like could also be found in hundreds of other stories, but what makes it really interesting and different from later romances, is that it's filled with all kinds of references and allusions to great events, to the fortunes of kings and nations. There is thus an historical background.
After the Anglo-Saxons embraced Christianity, the poets took up religious themes as the subject matter of their poetry. In fact, a serious portion of Anglo-Saxon poetry is religious. The two important religious poets of the Anglo-Saxon period were Caedmon and Cynewulf. Caedmon sang serial the entire story of the fate of man, from the Creation and therefore the before the Fall to the Redemption and the Judgment Day, and within this massive framework, the Scripture history. Cynewulf's most vital poem is that the Crist, a metrical narrative of leading events of Christ's ministry upon earth, including his return to judgment which is treated with much grandeur.
Anglo-Saxon poetry is markedly different from the poetry of subsequent period - Middle English or Anglo-Norman period - for it deals with the traditions of an older world and expresses another temperament and way of living; it breathes the influence of the wind and storm. It is the poetry of a stern and passionate people, concerned with the primal things of life, moody, melancholy and fierce, yet with great capacity for endurance and fidelity.
"The Anglo-Saxon period was also marked by the start of English prose. Through the Chronicles, which probably began in King Alfred's time, and through Alfred's translations from the Latin a common available prose was established, which had all sorts of possibilities in it. In fact, unlike poetry, there was no break in prose of Anglo-Saxon period and therefore the Middle English period, and even the later prose in England was continuation of Anglo-Saxon prose. The tendency of the Anglo-Saxon prose is towards observance of the principles of ordinary speech, that's why, though one has got to make a substantial effort so as to read verse of the Anglo-Saxons, it's comparatively easy to know. The great success of Anglo-Saxon prose is in religious instructions and the two great pioneers of English prose were Alfred the Great, the glorious king of Wessex, who translated a number Latin Chronicles in English, and Aelfric, a priest, who wrote sermons in a sort of poetic prose.
The Angles and Saxons first landed in England within the middle of the fifth century, and by 670 A.D. they had occupied almost the entire of the country. Unlike the Romans who came as conquerors, these tribes settled in England and made her their permanent home. They became, therefore, the ancestors of English race. The Anglo-Saxon kings, of whom Alfred the good was the foremost prominent, ruled till 1066, when Harold, the last of Saxon kings, was defeated at the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror of Normandy, France. The Anglo- Saxon or Old English Period in English literature, therefore, extends roughly from 670 A.D. to 1100 A.D.
As it has been made clear within the First a part of this book that the literature of any country in any period is that the reflection of the life lived by the people of that country therein particular period, we discover that this is applicable to the literature of this era. The Angles and Saxons combined in themselves opposing traits of character - savagery and sentiment, rough living and deep feeling, splendid courage and deep melancholy resulting from brooding about the unanswered problem of death. Thus, they lived an upscale external also as internal life, and it's especially the latter which is that the basis of their rich literature. To these brave and fearless fighters, love of untarnished glory, and happy domestic life and virtues, made great appeal. They followed in their life five great principles -- love of private freedom, responsiveness to nature, religion, love for womanhood, and struggle for glory. All these principles are reflected in their literature. They were filled with emotions and aspirations and loved music and songs. Thus, we read in Beowulf.
Music and song where the heroes sat -
The glee - wood rang, a song uprose
When Hrothgar's scop gave the hall good cheer.
The Anglo-Saxon language is merely a branch of the good Aryan or Indo-European family of languages. It has an equivalent root word for father and mother, for God and man, for the common needs and therefore the common relations of life, as we discover in Sanskrit, Iranian, Greek and Latin. And it's this old vigorous Anglo-Saxon language which forms the idea of recent English.
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