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3rd Year
Medieval and Renaissance
Literature
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Introducing English Literature
• When did "English Literature" begin?
• The very concept of English literature: a construction ofliterary history, a concept that has changed over tie!
• aedon#s Hymn, the earliest English poe to survive
as a te$t, belongs to the latter part of the %th century!• The orality play, Everyman, is dated "after &'()" and
probably belongs to early &*th century!
• +or the iddle -ges . no central oveent or event
such as the English /eforation, the ivil War, or the/estoration to organi0e a historical approach to theperiod!
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Introducing English Literature
• The literary culture of the iddle -ges 1as farore international than national2
• It 1as divided ore by lines of class and
audience than by language!• Latin 1as the language of the hurch and of
learning!• -fter the &&th century, +rench becae the
doinant language of secular European literaryculture!
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Early English Literature Thees
• articular attention is given in edieval literature toreligious orders and to the ascetic ideals!
• When a te$t is geared to1ard a particular class ofpeople, it is said to be 1ritten ad status, Latin for "to the
estate!"• The "+irst Estate" 1as the hurch! The "4econd Estate"
1as the 5obility!The "Third Estate" 1as the easantry!• The &6th century 7enedictine on8 -elfric gives the
theory of three estates 9 clergy, nobles, and
cooners 9 1or8ing haroniously together!• These "estates" are defined priarily by 1hat one does
as 1ell as by the social class one is born into;!• Woen 1ere also categori0ed according to three
specifically "feinine estates": virgin, 1ife and 1ido1!
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The -rthurian ycle
• The -rthurian cycle trace ho1 +rench 1riters in the &< th and &3th centuries transfored the legendary histories of7ritain into "roance!=
• The 1or8s of hr>tien de Troyes focus on the
adventures of individual 8nights of the /ound Table andho1 those adventures ipinge upon the cult of chivalry!
• In roance the adventurous uest is often entangled1ith personal fulfillent of love for a lady 9 achievingher love, protecting her honor!
• In the &3th century, clerics turned the sagas of -rthur andhis 8nights 9 especially 4ir Lancelot 9 into ienselylong prose roances!
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onclusions
• haucer and his conteporaries are heirs toclassical and edieval cultures that had beenevolving for any centuries!
•
There is a tendency to thin8 of the iddle -gesas a single culture in 1hich architecture, art,usic, and liturgy @oin in agnificente$pressions of a unified faith!
•
This vie1 overloo8s the diversity of edievalcultures and the social, political, religious,econoic, and technological changes that too8place over this vastly long period!