The beginnings of English literature

English has been the medium of many languages: USA, the literature of many former dominions of British Empire. The history of every literature of these colonies has passed several stages. At first it was colonial tradition dependent on models & language of British Literature, & then an independent literature exploiting its native, original themes & being original not only in themes but in manner with the language of it’s own.

The literature of the former dominions & colonies, though it’s written in English does not belong to the stock of the English literature. Though English has been the medium for many Indian writers 7 for the writers who had practiced English literature in colonies, English literature is not of those who had lived on the British Isles. Irish, Scots & Welsh have a lack of literature of their own (Show, Joice, Wilde – Irish, Burns – Scottish, Thomas – Welsh).

Many writers have used English as the medium of their legends; especially the stories about King Arthur have inspired English authors. It’s not unjust to accept as English literature everything that was written in that speech within the British Isles. In spite of differences in culture all those nations have common background & their historic development shows that they are very close relatives.

The power of English to absorb alien characteristics & qualities & yet to remain itself is perhaps the strongest characteristic of English language & literature. Linguistically in the choice of themes the English are great borrowers, but these debts have strengthened rather than weakened national genius. The writers of British Isles have accepted freely all the best that the continent offered. But the peculiarities of their national achievement in no time bcos English has always been alleged to the national customs & a genius can gain much in contact with the achievement of other countries.

R. Burns claimed to be an exclusively Scottish writer, but the facts deny it. He is read as in English poetry as in the poetry of his won country. It was English literature that gave him inspiration. In fact he really wrote some poems with the trace of Scottish influence. He created language of his own: if he used one language he wouldn’t create such an effect.

Anglo-Saxon period

BC100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

C

A 43 Roman Occupation 410/449 Anglo-saxon period 1066

E

S Norman conquest

A

R

King

Arthur

I Danish invasion

N

V

A

S 597 Christianity

I

O

N Beowulf (?)

Alfred

Bede The Great

Caedmon (?)

Many histories of English literature begin with Chaucer (1400) & these histories describe Chaucer as the father of English literature & at a modest reckoning these mere 7 centuries of English literature before Chaucer & indeed as many centuries have been after him. Why did not Beowulf produce impression upon the literature critics & a population of Great Britain is very much reluctant to read the great epic – language creates difficulty, but there are many translations. English literature showed a great interest for an individual, & if we start to analyze the pilgrims of Chaucer’s “Canterbury tales” – all of them show probably the 1^st psychological monologue in English literature. This was the 1^st study of individual’s mind. The same interest of an individual has led to the great popularity of the novel in Great Britain. The novel as a genre started in 18^th century &become very popular among the English. The English were always interested in the characters & in spite of the fact that every individual writer has his own manner, the characters of every work were very prominent. In a way we can consider English literature popular because it represents national character.

The tribes that came in England in 5^th century brought no literature, but it does not mean absence of writing, as they used runes. The use of these signs appears to be greatly restricted, it did not extend beyond the proverbs or magic formulas (upon sword), or ornaments. Still they have songs, legends – unwritten – they were preserved in memories of minstrels. One of the oldest songs we possess is the song of Widsith.

Every line is divided into 2 parts by a graphical gap. The 1^st part is usually supplied with the most important information, the 2^nd is meant to comment upon it. The song represents string of names, lands, people, & the form does not reflect the language. Still we do not know the music & this might be the most important element, as it is in libretto or opera, where words are rather primitive, if you hear them without music.

E.g. Widsith spoke unlocked the words

He of all men of the tribes over earth

We should consider the issue concerning a certain kind of division that may become helpful when one starts discussing literature. In many books of literary criticism English literature is divided into several periods:

ü The Medieval period (11-15^th centuries)

ü The period of the Renaissance (2^nd part of 16^th c.)

ü

ü The period of Reformation (the rest of 17^th c)

ü The epoch of Enlightenment (18^th c)

ü Romanticism 19^th

ü Realism century

ü 20^th century – lots of trends

As to the 20^th century we cannot be certain about the periods, because the critics have not provided necessary data to divide the century into periods. Every European country has its own trends.

The division of literature into periods is less or more settles & we can rely upon any book of literary criticism, but the issue of attributing this or that book to English literature is not so clear & in many cases it’s debatable. The case is that not all books written in English belong to English literature.