Middle English Literature Flashcards
1
Q
Timeline
A
- 1066 - 1485 (beginning of the Tudor reign)
- 1066: Battle of Hastings;
William, Duke of Normandy, crowned King of England
Domesday Book (1086) - Magna Carta Libertatum (1215)
Parliament (1257) - Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)
- Wars of the Roses (House of Lancaster vs. House of York)
2
Q
Social and Cultural Changes
A
- Feudalism
- Growth of the population
- Education: Cathedral schools; University of Oxford (1096); University of Cambridge (1209)
- Crises of the 14th century: Famine, Black Death; Peasants‘ Revolt 1381
3
Q
King Arthur and the knights of the round table
A
- English source: Geoffrey of Monmouth. The History of the Kings
of Britain; c. 1136 - Chrétien de Troyes → pushed and invented the literary genre of the Arthurian romances
4
Q
Middle English poems
A
- William Langland: Piers Plowman → dream vision; critical account of society and church
- John Gower: Confessio Amantis: long poem, takes the form of a confession
5
Q
Medieval Drama - Mystery Play
A
- religious plays → display the entire biblical history from the creation to the second coming of Christ;
- performed by guilds during festival days on moving carts with each scene
6
Q
Medieval Drama - Morality Plays
A
- every man figure that is lured by all kind of vices into temptation
-→ fight within the soul
7
Q
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
A
- written in the last decade of the 14th century
- nothing is known about the author → called Gawain poet/pearl poet
- poem is situated at the end of the classic romance tradition
- green gigantic knight not the only enemy → loneliness and the cold almost impossible to take
- emergence of first forms of realism, where the harsh reality of the readers is mirrored and not stylised into a nostalgic look at the world of chivalry and feudalism
8
Q
Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
A
- written between 1387 and Chaucer’s death in 1400
- contain 24 tales
- narrative framework →
- Story of this framework → all characters are on a pilgrimage, on their way to Canterbury → meet by chance in a tavern and decide to make a story telling contest
- characters represent all different classes and occupations of the society → representation of the social structure of England at its time
9
Q
Literary Context
A
New subjects: love, fidelity, and chastity;
New genres: the romance (Stories about knights)
