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The Medieval Poetry Lecture No: 26 By: Prof. Sunita 1 Subject: ENGLISH Class: B.A. Part 1 English Hons., Paper-1, Group B Topic: The Medieval Poetry Lecture No: 26 By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English Women’s College Samastipur L.N.M.U., Darbhanga Email: [email protected] Website: www.sunitasinha.com Mob No: 9934917117 “THE MEDIEVAL POETRY” INTRODUCTION: • With regard to the poetry of the Medieval epoch, it can be said that the literature created in those times is the guideline for the modern world. Understanding that the people living so long ago practically did not differ from the population of the modern world and had the same and sometimes even deeper perception of the beauty and the nature is something that each of us should learn. • Poems during the medieval era were religious in nature and written by clerics. They were used mostly in church and other religious events. Medieval poems were mainly read by minstrels. • According to scholars, literature in the Middle Ages was international rather than local. 2 • Medieval poetry was divided by lines of class and audience rather than language although, Latin was the language of the church and education. Medieval poetry in itself was very diverse. • The poetry of the medieval times can tell more than the history books taken altogether. It shows not only the facts of the Medieval Epoch, but also the way people saw the world, the way they shaped their relationship to the others, to the world and to the events that took place. CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIEVAL POETRY • It is located in Europe. • It begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends at the beginning of the Renaissance. • It has three stages: The High Middle Ages, The Flat Middle Ages and The Late Middle Ages. • Many of the works of medieval literature are by unknown authors. • The themes of the texts had moral, ethical and didactic contents of Christianity that were supervised by the church. • It developed stories of chivalry to promote Christian values. • Religious texts are part of medieval literature. • It developed lyrical and epic genres by strengthening the use of verse. • The 11th and 12th centuries where also the time when epics, satires, tales, and other forms of poetry became very popular as a form of entertainment and were sung by bards across the land. • The medieval writers were super into allegory. Some of the most popular works of the period were very long and involved allegories, in fact. The 3 French had The Romance of the Rose. The Italians had Dante's Divine Comedy. And the English had William Langland's Piers Plowman. • There was antifeminism poetry such as Chaucer's Wife of Bath stands out for many readers as the most memorable character in his Canterbury Tales… and perhaps even in all of medieval English literature. • The emergence of the romantic poetry was an important aspect of Medieval poetry too. One of the first poems to take a romantic turn was "the Song of Roland” - an epic about the nephew of Charlemagne. • A major style of medieval poetry of the time was the epic style, which was most popular during the 11th-12th century IMPORTANT POETS OF MEDIEVAL AGE There were several well-known authors and poets throughout the medieval period. Here are some of them: Beowulf [Anonymous Poet] • Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important works of Old English literature. • The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating pertains to the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. • The anonymous poet is referred to by scholars as the "Beowulf poet". • The story is set in Scandinavia in the 6th century. • Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. • After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and becomes king of the Geats. 4 • Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory. Caedmon (657–680) • Caedmon was known to be the only Anglo-Saxon poet who was primarily known for his ability to write vernacular verses. • He was also the first known English poet who wrote The Dream of the Holy Rood. • The earliest poem in English whose author is known is Caedmon’s Hymn (7th century CE) which is a simple hymn praising God composed by an illiterate shepherd who heard it sung to him in a vision. Venerable Bede (673-735) • Venerable Bede was also known as St. Bede, was widely acknowledged as the greatest Anglo-Saxon scholar of all time. • St. Bede wrote the Ecclesiastical History of England. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s –1400) • Widely acclaimed as the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry.” • "The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales" has long been recognized as one of the greatest masterpieces of English literature, certainly the finest and most influential work of fiction from the Middle Ages. • For most literary historians, English literature begins well before Chaucer's greatest poem, but this particular work marks the start of the tradition which is still readily accessible in the original language to the diligent reader, even though Chaucer's Middle English requires the constant help of a glossary. • Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde. 5 • He is seen as crucial in legitimizing the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still French and Latin. Margery Kempe (1373 – 1438) • Margery Kempe was a Christian mystic and was known to be the first who wrote autobiographies in English. John Gower (1330 –1408) • John Gower was one of the famous medieval poets and a great friend of William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer, best known for Mirour de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, which were written in French, Latin and English. Francesco Petrarch (1304 –1374) • Francesco Petrarch was an Italian scholar and poet during the Renaissance period. He was also a humanist and known as the “Father of Humanism". Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321) • Dante was a philosopher, scholar and poet. He wrote the famous “The Divine Comedy" which made a great impact on both theology and literature especially during the medieval period. William Langland (1332 – 1386) • William Langland was a 14th century English poet who is most famous for his epic tale of The Vision of Piers Plowman, a long poem written in unrhymed, alliterative verse. • Critics have compared this work favourably with the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer who was alive at about the same time. The main problem with this piece of work though is the very size of it – some 47 separate manuscripts. Some have suggested that not all of it was written by Langland. • Indeed, a lot of what is “known” about Langland comes directly from his Piers the Plowman work as scholars have suggested that it is an autobiographical piece of work. 6 • Unfortunately, much of what is written might not be strictly true. Rather than recording factual accounts of a life the piece may have been of a largely fanciful, fictitious nature. The full title of it was, in fact, The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. • There was something called a tradition of “false confession” found in literature written during the middle ages in England and other parts of medieval Europe. What is found there though is interesting in parts, with descriptions of the life of a man called “Will” with details of life’s trials and tribulations, and descriptions of his wife. • There are many religious references which allude, in some ways, to Langland’s tenuous links with the priesthood. • It seems that he was not afraid to satirize religion which could, of course, have been a dangerous path to take at that time. Perhaps the fact that he favored neither one side or another of the main religions saved him there – he could not be accused by any of the factions of being against them, and them alone. • Plowman was split into three different sections, or “dream visions” as they have become known. It was written in “Middle English” and is, as such, difficult to follow. Boccaccio (1313 – 1375) • Boccaccio was the Italian correspondent of Francesco Petrarch. He was a writer, poet and humanist during the Italian Renaissance, and was famous for writing “The Decameron" and “On Famous Women". Raphael Holinshed (1529 – 1580) • Raphael Holinshed was a famous English chronicler. He was famous as the Medieval Author of Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. According to historians, he was the one major source of some Shakespearean plays. 7 CONCLUSION • Medieval Poetry was very diverse as there are several influences, not only limited to language. • Medieval Poems, especially in creative medieval literature, flourished more in vernacular language as these were the easiest to understand for medieval people. • These were medieval poems written in native language as opposed to scholarly languages. • However, the most common theme or genre for medieval poetry was bravery, gallantry and heroic deeds written in various formats. *** By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English Women’s College Samastipur L.N.M.U., Darbhanga Email: [email protected] Website: www.sunitasinha.com Mob No:9934917117 .
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