Lecture 2 Middle English Literature. Pre-Renaissance Period 213

Lecture 2 Middle English Literature. The Renaissance

Lecture 2 Middle English Literature. Pre-Renaissance Period

213 22.02.2022

Questions for revision:

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  1. What can you tell about Britons and their language? 2. When was Britain conquered by Rome and what was its result? 3. Why did Angles, Saxons and Jutes fight with one another? 4. What can you tell about “scribes”? 5. Why is the Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf” called the foundation stone of all British poetry?
  
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  6. Name the main heroes of the poem “Beowulf”. 7. Characterize Beowulf.
  

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  8. Why did Wiglaf put the blame for Beowulf’s death on cowardly earls? 9. What is the merit of the poem? 10. Does the poem “Beowulf” remind you of any Russian or Uzbek epic poems?
  
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  11. What places became the centres of learning in England in the 7th-11th centuries? 12. What was the main plot of the literary works of that time?
  

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  13. What can you tell about the literary activity of Caedman? 14. What are Cynewulf’s works notable for? 15. Who was the greatest writer of the 7-8th centuries in England? 16. What was the most important work written by Bede? 17. What was Alfred the Great famous for? 18. What did the literature of the early Middle Ages and the church teach?
  

Middle English Literature (1100-1485)

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  The Literature of the Norman Period (12th-13th centuries)
  
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  1066 – Norman invasion, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.
  
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  Battle of Hastings, Anglo-Saxon king Harold gets killed.
  
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  The Norman dialect of the French language was brought to England, but Anglo-Saxon dialect was not suppressed.
  
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  During the following 200 years communication went on in three languages: 1) Latin at the monasteries, 2) Norman-French at court and official institutions, 3) Anglo-Saxon among the common people.