● pt2400-01 British Lit.pdf ● pt2400-02 British Lit ● pt2400-03 British Lit ● pt2400-04 British Lit ● 2400 Back Matter ● 2400 Front matter.pdf ❍ Classics of British Literature ❍ John Sutherland, Ph.D. ❍ PUBLISHED BY: ❍ THE TEACHING COMPANY ❍ 4151 Lafayette Center Drive, Suite 100 ❍ Chantilly, Virginia 20151-1232 ❍ 1-800-TEACH-12 ❍ Fax—703-378-3819 ❍ Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2008 Classics of British Literature Scope: This course could as properly be titled A History of British Literature, in that it is sequential and essentially “historical”—historical, that is, in two senses. It follows the trajectory of literary achievement from earliest to latest times in a progressive line, and its basic presupposition is that literature cannot be (and should not be) examined outside the historical circumstances in which it came into being. Of course, great literature is timeless. That is one of the main connotations of the word classic. Shakespeare, for example, is “for all ages.” But it is vital, while appreciating that universal, transcendent, and classic quality of literature, to appreciate, as fully as one can, the conditions that gave birth to these works of literature, to reinsert them, that is, back into history. This is one of the principal aims of this “historical” course. Literature, as an object of study, is dependent on texts—vehicles that give the literary work permanence. We can understand oral literature, the pre-textual literary universe, only insofar as it has been preserved through time and ultimately inscribed. English literature (a deceptively simple term) begins with the transcription (three centuries or so after its composition) of the great Anglo-Germanic epic Beowulf. This magnificent poem (authorless, from our perspective) exemplifies one of the foundational principles of this course: namely, that we can find “classic” quality at any point along the 1,300-year arc from Beowulf to the present day. The dawn of British literature is obstructed by Anglo-Saxon—the early English dialect in which Beowulf is written. Nonetheless, enough of the essence of the work comes through in translation for us to appreciate it. There is no such obstruction with the true father of English literature (it will, alas, be some centuries before a mother appears), Geoffrey Chaucer. With Chaucer, a keynote is struck: the idea that great literature is supremely enjoyable, indeed, laugh-out-loud enjoyable, even after half a millennium. But how, given the cultural, social, and national turbulence of the 14th century could such a masterwork as The Canterbury Tales happen? To ask the question and investigate the issue is to enrich still further one’s appreciation of the work. Edmund Spenser, it is fair to say, could never have written his great chauvinistic epic The Faerie Queene did he not have Chaucer on which to build. Likewise, Shakespeare could not have created the plays that are commonly regarded as the highest ever achievement of British literature did he not have Chaucer, Spenser, the early “Miracle” street drama, and above all, Christopher Marlowe from which to work. Classic literature will always strike us as unique, but it has its roots in earlier literature, and it responds, livingly, to the world around it. Shakespeare’s drama, for example, is as much a product of London, the London stage, and the extraordinary florescence of the English language as it is the sole creation of a glover’s son in the provincial town of Stratford. The early modern period, a period in which England (an insignificant, small, cold island off mainland Europe) was establishing itself as a world power, saw the birth (or renaissance) of a world-significant literature. The creators of this literature fondly believed that it could rival the achievements of ancient Rome and Greece and excel the current achievements of Italy and France. Jewels in the English Renaissance literary crown feature the King James Bible (to this day, the most read work of English literature); the work of the so-called Metaphysical poets, who raised wit to hitherto unscaled heights; and Milton’s supreme religious epic, justifying the “ways of God to men,” Paradise Lost. For this poem, Milton created a diction that is both idiosyncratic and artistically necessary. Paradise Lost exemplifies another basic tenet of the course, that we must labor (pleasurable labor that is) to read these works on their own terms. Lecture One Anglo-Saxon Roots—Pessimism and Comradeship Scope: We begin this course with a brief look at some of the ideas embodied in the phrase “English literature.” Of course, literature existed long before England did and before printing. The texts we will read in this lecture largely come from a tradition of oral poetry. We’ll look at the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry, specifically, alliteration, half-lines, and a pattern of four stresses per line, as we read Caedmon’s Hymn, The Seafarer, and portions of Beowulf. This poetry also gives us some idea of the overriding mood of Anglo-Saxon oral literature, a worldview of tough pessimism tempered by the virtues of comradeship. We close with an in- depth look at Beowulf, the foundational text of English literature and a text that we modern readers can enjoy and connect with, centuries after it was written. Outline I. The phrase “English literature” is so familiar that we rarely feel impelled to unpack it. But if we pause to consider what we mean by English literature, it’s anything but simple. A. Of course, literature existed before England. Literature also existed in the form of oral epics, elegies, and ballads before these things were printed in books. B. English literature is not the same thing as literature in English. American literature, for example, is not simply English literature written and published in the United States. C. In 2005, the listeners of the BBC radio program Today voted William Shakespeare the greatest Briton who had ever lived. It was believed that he most embodied the soul of Britain. 1. Linguists have said that a language is a dialect with an army behind it, and one might adapt that quip by defining literature as writing with a national state behind it. More importantly, literature is embedded in the nation, as the heart is embedded in the body. 2. In the wide-ranging remarks found in these lectures, it is not merely the words on the page that we shall be considering, but the United Kingdom itself in its most revealing aspect, its inner self, its soul. D. In The Poetics, Aristotle, our first great literary critic, makes the claim that literature is truer than history. History, the chronicle of events that actually happened, is shackled to the accidental and incidental. Literature, however, can penetrate to the heart of the human condition. It can generalize. It can extract the truth. II. Our course will begin with the first milestones on the long, winding path of English literature—primarily the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf but also some other works of poetry. A. Karl Marx wondered how a society as primitive as Periclean Athens could produce literature as sophisticated as Oedipus Rex. 1. Marx offered by way of explanation his law of uneven development. Primitive, preindustrial communities can produce perfect works of art, as perfect as anything we can produce. 2. Most people coming to Beowulf experience a similar reaction. We wonder how such a complex and, in its own terms, perfect work of literary art could be produced by a primitive tribal community. B. Much ancient English literature has been lost or exists only in fragments, but we can recover some aspects of how it was put together. 1. The greatest work of the early period of English literature was the creation of minstrels or scops. 2. Early literature was sung, recited, or spoken, not written or printed. 3. Oral literature is fragile, and it presumes a different author-audience relationship. It is literature of the ear as much as the eye. 4. Typically, oral literature is a communal, not a private, experience. C. The first text on which the structure of English literature rests—Beowulf—dates from around the 6th century, during the Dark Age that fell after the exodus of the Romans from the British Isles. This period was too chaotic for literature, which requires a certain stability. 1. The Romans left, however, one monument behind them, the Latin language, used by the one beacon of light and learning in these dark times, the church. The church was tolerant, although not entirely sympathetic, to pagan literature. 2. During this same time, England was under invasion by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Vikings. These newcomers brought with them a tribal, oral literature. 3. Of course, the Christian missionaries who came to England brought with them the Bible, and inevitably, long-rooted pagan traditions collided with Christian orthodoxies. 4. The result was a kind of clash of civilizations that would energize and cross-fertilize language and literature up until 1066, when the Normans came to England. III. The church was the foundational institution in these early centuries, based on monasteries and abbeys. A. These communities encompassed farms, schools, and vineyards and were supported by taxes or tithes. Within their walls, monasteries were sites of higher learning. Above all, these communities were, until the bureaucratic Normans came in the 11th century, the nation’s chroniclers. B. The institutional language of the church was Latin; nonetheless, the primal text in English literature, Caedmon’s Hymn, is in the vernacular. C. The Venerable Bede (672/73–735), a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter in the 8th century, tells us about Caedmon in his Ecclesiastical History. 1. Caedmon was an Anglo-Saxon herdsman, working in the fields around the monastery at Whitby.