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Essay type Question:- Topic:-Old English period 1. Write a short essay on Old English prose with particular reference to Alfred and Aelfric. 2.Name the major elegiac poems of Old English period. Discuss any two of these poems as representative of the age. 3. Give a critical description of Old English heroic poetry. 4. Assess the contribution of Caedmon and Cynewulf to Old English Christian poetry. 5. Briefly describe Old English Elegiac poetry. 6. Give a critical survey of Old English Christian poetry. 7. Consider ''Beowulf'' as an epic. 8.What role did the bards play in Anglo-Saxon literature? Answer with suitable references. 9. Do you agree with the view that ''Beowulf'' presents an interesting though very incomplete picture of the life of the upper , warrior class among the northern Germanic tribes. Give reasons for your answer. Specimen Answer Q. Briefly describe Old English Elegiac poetry. Ans:- Although Anglo-Saxon poetry is full of the Teutonic love of battle, boastfulness, pride and glory and blood thirstiness, but there are some poems which are marked by different from the Anglo-Saxon war poetry by virtue of their lyrical tendency and elegiac mood. An elegy means a poem of morning or song of lamentation. We find then in origin both in Greek literature and in Latin. However, term elegy was at first appeared to all kinds of poetry written in a particular metre, called me elegiac metre. The subject of an elegy as such could then be anything tragic, comic, serious, sad or sentimental. But the subsequently the scope of elegy become confined and the name was applied to the specific kind of poem of moaning or the song of lamentation. An elegy is now supposed to have these features: - Reflective, pensiveness and subjectivity. Anglo Saxon has either a heroic theme or of lyrical learning. But among these lyrical poems the exception is “Widsith”. (i) Widsith: It is preserved in ‘The Exter book’. ’Widsith’ means ‘The far goer’ or ‘ far traveller’. It is a poem of 143 lines divided into three Parts – (A) A prologue – first few lines. (B) A speech by Widsith – next 125 lines. (C)En Epilogue – last few lines. It is the autobiography of an interment minstrel who recounts the story of his long travels through the Germanic world. During his tour he visited different tribal chiefs, lords, kings and princes and received rich presents, some of them are well known to History as Ecermanie, kings of Goths, Attila king of Hauns, Albion king of the Lombard, Theodoric, king of Franks and ever the reference of Hrothgovr and Hrothwulf. It is a valuable source of social and historical documents of primitive life. “What strikes us most forcibly is its catholicity, praise, is meted out imperative to Huns, Goths, Burgandiano, Franks, Danes, Swedes, and Angles, Wends, Saxon and Many others.” Of the Angles – Saxon elegies, the specific mention may be made of “the Ruined or Ruined Burg, the wife’s complaint, The Husband Massages, Deor’s Lament, the wanderer and the Seafarer.” The Ruin or Ruined Burg: - In the concept of the elegiac Note – “The Ruin of the Ruin Burg” appears most outstanding, the unknown poet & “the Ruin” laments impulsiveness over the sad decay of this cities of Bath, for the loss of its pomp and splendour, crowd and noise, attraction and business, “the elegy ends with a plaintive note of reflection on the unkindness of fate to that which once was so grand and prosperous. The Wife’s Complaint: - It is a kind of monologue. It is an elegy in which the young wife manors for her unjust separation from her beloved husband. The poem is impulsive and pensive. A personal note rings throughout the poem, and the warmth of passion is warbling in the poet’s feelings and expression. The Husband’s Message: - In “the Husband massage” the poet describes the massage of the husband engraved on wooden tablets, which is forwarded to the husband engraved on a wooden tablet, which is forwarded to the beloved women like – “The wife’s complaints’. This poem too bears an unpretentious and sincere feeling and a worm passion. These two poems are regarded as the earliest instances of the English love poetry. Deor’s lament :- In Doer’s Lament we have another picture of the Saxon scope or minstrel, but not in glad wandering but in mainly sorrow. It is an elegy of 42 lines. Once Deor was the favour of a lord but his position have been supplanted by a dismissal. It is lyrical in form and may be called the first English lyric. It is much poetry then ‘Widsith’ and in a perfect lyric of the Anglo – Saxon period. The Wandered: - It is an elegy of 115 Lines by an unknown Anglo Saxon poet. It is the Lamentation of a young man for his dead master. The wanderer travels in a ship alone and friendless, seeking a home for peace and protection under a new lord. In the sleep he dreams the happiness of his former day’s but after awaking he finds nothing but grew waves and feeling now which adds to his distress. Finally he draws the conclusion that miseries are the common of men. The poem ends with a conventional Christian sentimental that good is the man who never loses his faith on God. The Seafarer: - It is a poem of some hundred lines. It is different to surmise whether the poem is a monologue of a seaman or a dialogue between two Sailors – one old and another young. It seems to be in two distinct parts – the first part – the heard ship of ocean life but the subtle call of the sea is more alluring. The second part allegorically represents that the troubles of the sea are the troubles of earthly life and the call of the ocean is the call in the soul to go to its true some with God. The sombre and violent pictures it gives of northern seas in which sufferings from cold mingles with the pains of water and wind. Wulf and Edwacer :- ‘’ Wulf and Edwacer’’ is another monologue expresses a romantic yearning of a woman for her out-lawed lover. Edwacer may be her husband. In the conclusion, it may be said that Anglo-axon poetry bears the lyrical and elegiac tendency and moods, not of much quality demands literary status. Middle English period 1.Bring out the chief characteristics of the Middle English romance with special reference to the Arthurian cycle. 2. Trace the origin and development of English drama up-to the period of the Morality plays. 3. Write a short note on the contribution of William Langland with particular reference to '' Piers Plowman''. 4. Write a brief note on the Middle English Alliterative Revival. 5. Discuss Chaucer's contribution to English poetry. 6. Write a brief note on the development of drama in the middle English period. 7. Write an essay on Middle English religious poetry. 8. Trace the development of Middle English metrical romances. 9. Comment on the role of the Scottish Chaucerians with particular reference to any two. 10.Write a brief note on the development of prose writing during the Middle English period. Specimen Answer Q. Discuss William Langland as a major poet of the age of Chaucer. Or Contribution of Langland to the development of English Poetry. Ans:- Among the contemporaries of Chaucer the pride of place is given to John Gower, William Langland and John Barbour of Scotland. In the sphere of poetry these poets left behind a rich harvest of literature and their contribution to English poetry is quite substantial. William Langland (1332-1400) and Piers Plowman: William Langland or Langly is one of the early writers with whom modern research has dealt adversely. All we know about him appears on the manuscripts of his poem, or is based upon the remarks he makes regarding himself in the course of the poem. He was born probably near Malvern in 1332 where he was educated at the Benedictine School. He was a minor clerk with connection in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire. The name of William Langland has a celebrity in the English language for his singular work—The Book of Piers the Plowman. In the English literature of the 14th century, Langland’s Piers the Plowman stands out as the most renowned work, save(except) Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Whereas the latter is a social chronicle with engaging tales, Piers Plowman is an impressive allegory, more deeply concerned with religious, ethical, social and economic problems of the time. Like The Canterbury Tales , Piers Plowman has a Prologue that has the typical dream convention of medieval literature. This describes how the author falls sleep on a May morning on the Malvern Hills and has a vision of a fair field, fun of folk from different ranks and occupations. This Prologue , as in Chaucer’s Prologue , records a picture of the English society of the 14th century. Social scenes rather than social types are more conspicuous (evident) in Langland’s Prologue . The frame work of the poem is allegorical. Piers the Plowman or the Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman is available in several versions. The chief forms of this poem are A-Text, B-Text and C-Text. Of these the first version was written about 1362 and contains the vision about Piers Plowman and the vision of Do-well, Do-better and Do-best. The second version or B-Text was written about 1377 and includes the fable of the rats and the cat. The C-Text has few hundred lines more than the B-Text.
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