Old English Literature

Anglo-Saxon Period
th th
5 -10 Centuries
The Plan:
1.Introduction
2.Beowulf

Bibliography: O.V. Tumbina Lectures on English

Literature 5th-20th centuries, St. Petersburgh. 2003
 1.Introduction
In the 5th century Angles, Saxons and Jutes came
from the continent to invade Britain . The
newcomers were warlike and illiterate. They
mixed with the native population and united
into one nation that was called the English.
The English were the pagans, and they had no
written language.
Thus all the stories of ancient people had to be
memorised. They had only spoken form of the
Old English language, from which the two related
languages , English and Scottish, were derived.
The main theme of the stories was the
adventures of the brave men . Very often such
tales were composed in verse, but without
rhyme. They were called epics.
The first English epic narrative poem is called
Beowulf and belongs to the 7th century . The
author is unknown and the action is not set in
England. It is a typical pagan story with a monster
and a hero.
 2.Beowulf
This epic is about a daring young man, Beowulf
by name, a hero of the Geats (one of the
Scandinavian tribes ), who came to Denmark
in order to help King Hrothgar. The king and
his men suffered a lot from a terrible monster
Grendel who came at night and killed some
of Hrothgars men. Beowulf was brave and
willing to help. He attacked Grendel and killed
him. But that was not the end of their
sufferings, because Grendels mother came to
the Kings castle to take revenge.
 Being the king he had to defend his people and
his country against another terrible creature , a
fire- breathing animal. Although Beowulf killed
it, the animal hurt him in the fight.
As a result Beowulf was badly wounded and died.
His funeral is emotionally described in the
manuscript which dates from about the 10th
century. This is a contemporary version made by
Breeden.
It is important to mention that sorrowful
events revealed in Beowulf are much more
interesting than the happy ones.
There is no rhyme, but there is rhythm in the
epic.
Rhythm is reached by alliteration (when two or
more words start with the same sound):
haeleth hiofende hlaford
wigend weccam wudu-rec.

Besides alliteration the epic is decorated with

metaphors (discriptive words):
the war-men(the soldiers)
the dear lord (the king).
Beowulf is rather long, it contains 3000 lines.