Old English

Question 1

years overall

Answer 1

ab 650-1100

Question 2

Kinds of literature

Answer 2

Poetry, prose, riddles, chronicles, maxims (short statements of general truth), wisdom epigrams (brief, memorable, sometimes unexpected satirical statements)

Question 3

overall themes

Answer 3

pagan conventions (nature & soul concepts, many gods, belief in supernatural forces) and Christian values and conventions.

Question 4

kinds of poetry

Answer 4

heroic Germanic pre-Christian + Christian.
Battle poems ‘Battle of Brunanburh’
Heroic poetry - Germanic, heroic past, warriors, courage, loyalty, self-sacrifice, Pagan+Christian values. ‘Beowulf’, ‘Waldere’
Elegies/Elegical poetry/Wisdom poetry - related to heroic tales, themes. Ups and downs of life, personal feelings of authors. Exeter Book poems, ‘The ruin’, ‘The wanderer’

Question 5

Beowulf

Answer 5

ab. 700-750
epic poem, v.important text, the highest achievement of Old E.l
probably of oral origin
influenced fantasy
themes: heroic code, loyalty, good vs evil, death
Grandel - evil, dragon - greed

Question 6

The Dream of the Rood

Answer 6

early 8th century
oldest of dream poetry
Christian (salvation, afterlife) + Pagan (tree as an object of worship) themes

Kenning - in Old Norse/English poetry. Compound expression in figurative speech language instead of concrete single word. (the house of a bone=body)

Question 6

Poetry features

Answer 6

alliterative verse - most distinguishing feature; use of alliteration as the principal ornamental device to help indicate the metrical structure
(repetition of sounds, generally consonants)

accentual verse (same number of stressed syllables)

caesura (pause in line)

metaphor

litotes ( the use of a negative statement in order to emphasize a positive meaning, for example “a not inconsiderable amount of money (= a considerable amount of money))

Question 7

Poets p.1

Answer 7

12 are known by name.
Caedmon (657-684) - ‘Father of A-S/OE poetry”. first English poet whose name is known. Learned to compose one night in a dream in which an angel told him to “sing God’s praise”, illiterate before. Wrote religious poetry ab. creation, judgement, afterlife, translated the Bible.
“Caedmon’s Hymn” - only surviving work, one of the oldest surviving written texts. Nine-line alliterative vernacular praise poem to God.

Question 8

Poets p.2

Answer 8

Cynewulf (early 9th c.) ‘Fates of the Apostles’ ‘Elene’, “Christ II’, ‘Juliana’. Christian poetry, poems he signed in runic signatures.

Alfred The Great (848-899) - probably an author of some of the introductions to translations of metrical psalms.

Bede 731 “The Father of English History”. Monk, teacher, scholar. Wrote scientific, historical, theological works.
“Ecclesiastical History of the English people’, a history of the Christian Churches in England and of England in general. An important reference on Anglo-Saxon history.

Question 8

Poets p.2

Answer 8

Cynewulf (early 9th c.) ‘Fates of the Apostles’ ‘Elene’, “Christ II’, ‘Juliana’. Christian poetry, poems he signed in runic signatures.

Alfred The Great (848-899) - probably an author of some of the introductions to translations of metrical psalms.

Bede 731 “The Father of English History”. Monk, teacher, scholar. Wrote scientific, historical, theological works.
“Ecclesiastical History of the English people’, a history of the Christian Churches in England and of England in general. An important reference on Anglo-Saxon history.

Question 9

Prose

Answer 9

homilies (religious/moral lectures), saints’ lives, biblical translations from Latin, religious texts.
Alfred the Great - “Anglo-Saxon chronicle’ collection of historical records, late 9th c.
Aelfric ‘Homilies’ ‘Lives of saints’