English literature of the 14th, 15th century (0)

Literature of the 14th century
The highpoint of medieval literature, the best writer of late medieval lived then.
William Langland 1332 -1376 – the last important poet of alliterative verse . His masterpiece “The Vision of Piers Ploughman“ – how important working hard is, the labour of peasants is the base of the welfare of the people. A passionate protest against social injustice. A time when peasants were slowly rising against their feudal lords. Descriptions of different social classes . Religious mysticism. Two great principles: 1) all men are equal before God; 2) honest labour is dignified. It is a dream allegory. A young maiden named Youth , Greed is an old witch .
The greatest writer of this period and the whole of medieval times – Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?- 1400 ):

• The father of English poetry
  
• The creator of English versification
  
• The first poet to use various metres
  
• Laid the foundation of the new literary English language
  
• Wrote in Middle English
  
• An active man of affairs, who belonged to the middle class
  
• Spoke Latin , French , Italian – the important languages of the time
  
• Worked as a diplomat for a time
  
• Translated works into English (from Latin, French, Italian)
  
• Favourite of the royal court
  
• At the time of his death was regarded as a great poet and was buried in Westminster
  
• As a writer he was very prolific
  
• His early works show a strong influence of French and Italian poets, especially the great Italian Renaissance geniuses – Boccaccio , Dante, Petrarch
  
• His masterpiece – “The Canterbury Tales“:
  
  • He imitates what Boccaccio does in Decameron . Introduces frame story/ narrative . A springtime pilgrimage to Canterbury cathedral (which contained the important relics of St Thomas à Becket). Pilgrims would gather in groups because it was easier to protect themselves. The protagonists gather at an inn and wait for others . GC chooses people from the three major classes of the society: feudal – the Knight , the Squire (a smaller landowner), the Yeoman (farmer), the Miller , the Ploughman etc; ecclesiastical – the Parson (a priest in charge of the parish), the Summoner (an official in a church court), the Monk , the Prioress (a lady at the head of a religious group of women), the Pardoner (sells indulgencies), the Student ( studies theology); urban – the Physician, the Lawyer , the Merchant , the Shipman (sailor), the Cook , the Wife of Bath (a widow from Bath), the Innkeeper. At first, each pilgrim was to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back ; the innkeeper would give a good meal and a night at the inn to the best storyteller. Altogether 144 stories, GC only managed to write 24 before his death. It is studied as a faithful reflection of 14th century life in England . GC was amused by his own characters and rarely criticises them sharply; shows a very deep understanding of human motivation. His comments reveal his profound understanding of the social problem of his day.
    
  • The Prologue – paints the setting of the story. Introduces each character (30). GC himself functions as the narrator . He tries to be objective and tries to keep a distance from the characters. The descriptions are very vivid and economic . He pays attention to the pilgrims’ clothes. E.g. the Knight – has come back from some war, is high-minded, gentle-humoured and tries to live according to the ideals of courtly love, although he doesn’t understand that this code of behaviour is slowly disappearing. The Squire is his young son who has curly hair, is high-spirited and wears a white-sleeved gown embroidered with red flowers who also thinks he is a typical courtly lover . Most of the clerics are ridiculed. E.g. the Monk doesn’t pray , he hunts. He is fat, doesn’t fast a lot, rides a good horse and is richly dressed. He is still presented in good nature. The Parson is poor but is rich of holy thought and work . The Student rides an extremely lean horse, is poor, dresses threadbare – his clothes are shabby – because he spends all his money on books. He represents the spirit of learning. The Shipman represents many of his countrymen, other sailors, including pirates , who were making a name for England as a powerful maritime nation .
    
  • They each tell a story suitable for their class, different genres. The Knight – a romance, the Miller – a fabliau, the Prioress – a religious legend. Each story has its own prologue and epilogue. There are numerous interruptions, characterised by the pilgrims’ own actions . The whole tales are a broad panorama of human nature including everything that is noble and base (the opposite of noble).
    
• GC was in a transitional stage into the Renaissance. There is humanity and humanism in his works and it is why he has sympathy for people.
  
• GC decided to break free from Italian and French literature. His vocabulary is very informal , easy, he doesn’t use alliteration and his verse is musical. He uses lines of 10 syllables with 5 stresses each. His lines run in rhyming couplets.
  
• GC was a forerunner of the Renaissance.
  

Literature of the 15th century

• The barren century
  
• Ethnic groups in England had become a more or less unified nation
  
• Beginning of the English nation, no longer Saxon or French Norman, or Celtic
  
• An earlier consciousness of nationality than elsewhere in Europe
  
• The Hundred Years War 1337 -1453
  
• When the external war was lost , there was the internal war: War of the Roses – 1455-1485; York (white) vs Lancaster (red). 1485, Henry Tudor united both families and ended the civil war, he became Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch . The end of the Middle Ages.
  
• Chivalry was changing . Major technological advancement – gunpowder. Knights and their armour became useless. No need for enormous castles.
  
• The previously rigid set of classes were not so rigid anymore. E.g. a poor man with a gun was a match for a knight with a sword .
  
• Thomas Mallory “Morte D’ Arthur ”. In prose, very simple, vivid, the last great representative of medieval romances. Even as he was writing it, the whole idea of chivalry was losing its status .
  
• William Caxton – the first printer in England. One of his earlier prints was of “Morte D’Arthur”
  
• The genre of the ballad became very popular and very well developed . A ballad is a song that tells a story, usually they were accompanied by music. They usually consist of four lines called a quatrain. Features of a ballad:
  
  • The beginning is often sudden
    
  • The language is simple
    
  • The story is told through dialogue and action
    
  • The theme is usually fairly tragic, although there are some comic ballads as well
    
  • There is usually a refrain
    
  • A ballad usually deals with a single episode
    
  • There is little setting
    
  • There is a strong dramatic element
    
  • The narrator is impersonal
    
  • Fairly trite or stock similes and metaphors are used (e.g. blood red wine , a milk white horse)
    
  • A lot of parallelism is used as well as mystical numbers such as 3 and 7
    
  • The author is usually unknown
    
• The subject matter:
  
  • Everyday life of common people
    
  • Local history
    
  • Legend and folklore
    
  • Most common motifs: disappointed love, jealousy, revenge, sudden disaster, adventure , war and death, the supernatural
    
• The most famous group of ballads – the Robin Hood cycle . He is said to have been a yeoman but his real life is overshadowed by the ballads. Characters:
  
  • Friar Tuck
    
  • Little John
    
  • Maid Marian
    
  • The Sheriff of Nottingham – feudal authorities
    
  • Guy Gisborne
    
  • King Richard I AKA Richard the Lionheart
    
  • Prince John
    
• The cycle represents the growing tensions between the farmers and the feudal lords.
  
• Other ballads:
  
  • Historical ballads - “ Chevy Chase” A rivalry between an English and a Scottish family
    
  • Love ballads – “ Childe Waters” Celebrates the eternal love of Ellen for Childe Waters who doesn’t love her and treats her cruelly. In the end he falls in love with her and marries her.
    
  • Ballads of domestic tragedy – “The Two Sisters ” The older sister drowns her younger sister, because the older sister’s sweetheart paid too much attention to the younger sister. “The Cruel Brother ” A brother stabs his sister on her wedding day, because she didn’t ask his permission to marry .
    
  • Ballads of humour – “Get Up and Bar the Door ” A husband and wife are too lazy to lock the door and whoever speaks first has to get up and do it.
    
  • Ballads of the supernatural – ghosts, witches , fairies etc. “Thomas Rymer” Thomas’ love for a fairy who takes him to Elfland.
    
• Medieval drama – began in the Middle Ages, is deeply rooted in folklore (pagan rites). Four stages of development. The earliest drama began as liturgical (a kind of sermon in church) drama.
  
• Miracle plays or miracles, were performed by guilds of artisans in town squares. There were several cycles of miracle plays (around 50). They all had some kind of religious component, the lives of saints or stories of the Bible .
  
• Morality plays were the beginning of secular (non-religious) drama. Mostly allegorical characters, a lot of moralising, the struggle of good and evil etc. The plot is closer to everyday lives.
  
• Interludes – comic episodes, close to farce and fabliau. These mocked religion.