The dawn of English literature and "Beowulf"
In the 4th century A.D. the Germanic tribes who lived in the northern and central parts of Europe began to conquer Britain. The newcomers were war-like and illiterate. Our knowledge of this period is based on the literary work of the English monk named Bede, who lived 3 hundred years later. The Jutes settled mainly in Kent and along the South coast. The Saxons settled mainly in the central part and to the west. The Angles settled in the center, in the west and to the north. The Anglo-Saxon migrations gave the larger part of Britain its new name "the land of the Angles"or "England" or "Anglia". Also they brought a lot of words connected with agriculture, such as "earth", "wool", "oxe", "work", "laughter", "night", "day", "morning". The Germanic tribes gave names to the days of the week: Tuescoe, god of darkness, - Tuesday; Woden, god of war, - Wednesday; Thor, the thunderer, - Thursday; Freia, the godness of prosperity, - Friday. The Germanic tribes mixed in the course of centuries with the Celts, who ventured to stay under them.
And soon Britain became devided into 7 kingdoms, which spoke 4 different dialects, by the 9th century they were united undeer one king, who was Egbuert, king of Wessex, who was called Rex Anglorum. So, the dialect of Wessex became so-to-say the state language.
The amount of Anglo-Saxon words in modern English is great, but its influence upon English was not only in words, but also in sounding. The language was harsh, hard and rough. The words had a lot of consenent clasters, the old English language had a very special vigour and flavour.
"Beowulf" is the greatest and the oldest epic poem. It is of great value, because it mirrors the spirit of the past and bares witness to the age. The poem reflects the old heroic spirit and it portrays a great panorama of the old English society: their fights, the exchanges of gifts, their way of life. The poem had a profound philosophical meaning. The poem convase the idea that to ignore future is at best folly, at worst wickedness. The main idea of the poem is that the course of life can not be predicted for sure in our uncertain world. And though the past or the future is wisdom, the true real understanding of the future and our life is not easy to achieve. One can hope onlyto meet the unforseen with dignity and resolution. 'Beowulf" is the foundation stone of all the British poetry. It is one of the earliest and the grandest monuments of the germanic literature. It was composed about the 1st century AD, but written down much later. Written in the old English language, the poem is based on the Scandinavian sagas. The poem contains 3 main stories: Beowulf's fight with Grendel; Beowulf's fight with Grendel's moher; Beowulf's fight with the dragon. Some scolars believed that the munks, writing down the poem, coloured it not only by folklore traditions but by christian too. So, poem is set in the days go by. And it carries a serious message that men can't predict their future and fate even goes as it must. So it is a fine example of old English verse. Anglo-Saxon verse had no rhyme and no regular number of syllables in the line, but it was necessary that each line should have 3 stressed syllables usually beginning with the same consonant. So this sound effect is called "alliteration". Eg: "starting syllables sounding similar". So, the line consists of 2 halfs bound together by alliteration and separated by a pause. Alliteration always falls on stressed syllables. It gives the poetry rhythm and head rhyme.
The story of Beowulf tells us about a great hero Beowulf who was a nephew of the King of the Geates. It is said in the poem that "Of heroes than living
He was stoutest and strongest, sturdy and noble.
He 30 men's grapple had in his hand, the hero in battle.
Beowulf heard of a misfortune which fell upon the king of the Danes named Hrofgar and came to help him. Hrofgar had built a large palace, a gold roughed hole. The palace was called Heorot, "stag hole", but nearby there lived a sea-monster, "the grim and greedy Grendel". Grendel hated laughter and sounds of music, so he rushed into the hole, seized 30 men and devoured them. And no sword could even hurt the monster, because no weapon could kill Grendel. In a fears fight did Beowulf manage to tear off Grendel's arm. And the monster, mortally wounded, retreated to his Dan, but the next night Grendel's mother, a water witch came to avenge her son's death. And Beowulf followed her and plunged into the water full of hissing serpents. He overcomes Grendel's mother at the bottom of a lake and after that he becomes the king of his own country. In the 3rd part of the poem he had to fight with a dragon and was deadly wounded. The poem closes with an account of his funeral rites. Nothing in old epic English literature can be compared with , it has the size and dignity of a classical epic.
