1. 
Write notes on a)
The Seafarer b) Deor’s Lament c) The Dream of the Rood d) The Sermo
Lupi ad Anglos e) The Battle of Brunanburh f) Widsith g)
The Norman conquest of England h)
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle i) Note of melancholy in A.S. (Anglo Saxon) poetry j) Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight 
a)
The Seafarer: The Seafarer is
a poem of some hundred lines. It is different to surmise whether the poem is a
monologue of a seaman or a dialogue between two Sailors – one old and another
young. It seems to be in two distinct parts – the first part – the hardship of
ocean life but the subtle call of the sea is more alluring. The
second part allegorically represents that the troubles of the sea are the
troubles of earthly life and the call of the ocean is the call in the soul to
go to its true some with God. The somber and violent pictures it gives of
northern seas in which sufferings from cold mingle with the pains of water and
wind is most artistic.
b)
b) Deor’s Lament: In Doer’s Lament we
have another picture of the Saxon minstrel, but not in glad wandering
but mainly in sorrow. It is an elegy of 42 lines. Once Deor was the favour
of a lord. But his position has been supplanted by a dismissal. It is lyrical
in form and may be called the first English lyric. It is much poetry than Widsith and
in a perfect lyric of the Anglo – Saxon period.
c)
The Dream of the Rood: The Dream of
the Rood, Old English lyric, the
earliest dream poem and one of the finest religious poems in
the English language, once, but no longer, attributed
to Caedmon or Cynewulf. In a dream the unknown poet beholds a
beautiful tree—the rood, or cross, on which Christ died. The rood tells
him its own story. Forced to be the instrument of the saviour’s death, it
describes how it suffered the nail wounds, spear shafts, and insults along with
Christ to fulfill God’s will. Once blood-stained and horrible, it is now the
resplendent sign of mankind’s redemption. The poem was originally known only in
fragmentary form from some 8th-century runic inscriptions on the Ruthwell
Cross, now standing in the parish church of Ruthwell, now Dumfries
District, Dumfries and Galloway Region, Scot. The complete version
became known with the discovery of the 10th-century Vercelli Book in
northern Italy in 1822.
d)
The Sermo Lupi ad Anglos ('The Sermon of the Wolf
to the English') is the title given to a homily composed
in England between
1010-1016 by Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York (died 1023), who commonly
styled himself Lupus, or 'wolf' after the first element in his name [wulf-stan =
'wolf-stone']. Though the title is Latin, the work itself is written
in Old English. The Sermo Lupiis Wulfstan's most well-known work.
In it, he blames a lack of moral discipline amongst his
fellow English as the source of God's anger against the English,
which has taken the shape of thirty years of Viking raids against
England. Wulfstan exhorts the English to behave in a manner more pleasing to
God, and specifically to live according to the laws of the Church and of the
king. The Sermo Lupi is noted for its rhetorical achievements, and
is considered to represent the height of Wulfstan's skill as
a homilist and rhetor. The text of the Sermo
Lupi has been critically
edited many times, most recently by Dorothy Bethurum. The work contains one of
several mentions of Old English wælcyrian, a term cognate to
the Old Norse valkyrjur—valkyries.
e)
The Battle of Brunanburh: The Battle
of Brunanburh,
Brunanburh also spelled Brunnanburh, Old English poem of 73 lines included in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 937. It relates the victory
of the Saxon king Athelstan over the allied Norse, Scots, and
Strathclyde Briton invaders under the leadership of Olaf Guthfrithson,
king of Dublin and claimant to the throne of York. The poem is probably a
panegyric composed for Athelstan to celebrate his victory. It counts the dead
kings and earls on the battlefield and pictures the Norsemen slinking back to
Dublin in their ships while their dead sons are being devoured by ravens and
wolves. The poem claims that this was the greatest battle ever fought in
England.
f)
Widsith: Widsith, Modern English Far Traveler,
Old English poem, probably from the 7th century, that is preserved in the
Exeter Book, a 10th-century collection of Old English poetry. “Widsith” is
an idealized self-portrait of a scop (minstrel) of the Germanic
heroic age who wandered widely and was welcomed in many mead halls, where he
entertained the great of many kingdoms. Because the heroic figures the minstrel
claims to have visited range from the 4th to the 6th century, the poem is
obviously a fictitious account; nevertheless, it is an ingenious compendium of
the important figures in Germanic hero legend and a remarkable record of the scop’s role in early
Germanic society. See also Exeter
Book.
g)
The Norman conquest of England:
The Norman conquest of England was
the invasion of the Kingdom of England by William the
Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of
Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. It is an
important watershed event in English history for a number of reasons. The
conquest linked England more closely with Continental Europe through the
introduction of a Norman aristocracy, thereby
lessening Scandinavian influence. It created one of the most powerful
monarchies in Europe and engendered a sophisticated governmental system. The
conquest changed the English language and culture, and set the stage for
rivalry with France, which would continue intermittently until the
nineteenth century. It remains the last successful military conquest of
England.
h) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals that have been compiled at
various English monasteries. They all go back to a set of annals that was
probably compiled at the court of king Alfred of Wessex in about 890 and the
annals were continued until 1154. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is known today in
nine different versions that differ considerably from each other. The Chronicle
begins with a brief account of the tribes living in England and then goes on to
describe the history of the British Isles from the time of Julius Caesar and
on. It pays particular attention to describing the genealogy of the kings and
is therefore a tool to legitimise king Alfred’s right to the throne. Down to
890 the chronicle is based on historical works, older annals, works in praise
of princes, and saga literature. From about 892 the annals consist of short
notes and descriptions of events and records of deaths that have taken place in
the course of the preceding year, sometimes combined with more circumstantial
accounts of political and military events. As the years pass by, the various
versions of the chronicle become more and more independent, until they come to
an end in the 11th or the 12th century.
i) Note of melancholy in
A.S. (Anglo Saxon) poetry: One important feature of Anglo-Saxon poetry is the
note of melancholy or elegiac sadness. There is a whole group of Anglo-Saxon
lyric poems which can be grouped neither under ‘heroic’ or under ‘religious’
subtitles. These poems are elegiac in the note and generally known as laments
of individual people. “The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, “The Wife’s Lament” is
notable among the poems. In these poems hardship and sorrow in association with
the theme of exile from the subject of personal lyrical laments. In fact, a
note of sadness pervades the whole body of Anglo-Saxon literature. Even heroic
poetry life Beowulf is not free from the elegiac tone. Beowulf is
not free from the elegiac tone. Beowulf, the indomitable
hero who wrenches victory from the clutches of the dragons and monstrous, also
suffers from pessimism from the start to the end.Elegiac tone or note of
sadness is present in many other heroic poems like “The Battle of Malden” and
“The Ruin.” But the first expression of this motif is found in the body of
shorter lyrical poems, the speaker is an exile or wander. They contrast their
present state of misery, with an earlier happier life and in most of them, the
feeling of the speaker evokes references to external natural surrounding and
phenomena. As a result, nature plays a significant role in Anglo-Saxon elegiac
poetry.
j) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight (Middle English: Sir Gawayn and þe Grene
Knyȝt) is a late 14th-century Middle English chivalric romance. It is
one of the best known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two
types of folklore motifs, the beheading game and the exchange of winnings.
Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, each of which ends in a
rhyming bob and wheel, it draws on Welsh, Irish, and English
stories, as well as the French chivalric tradition. It is an
important example of a chivalric romance, which typically involves a hero
who goes on a quest which tests his prowess, and it remains popular to this day
in modern English renderings from J. R. R. Tolkien, Simon Armitage,
and others, as well as through film and stage adaptations.It describes how
Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, accepts a
challenge from a mysterious "Green Knight" who challenges any knight
to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a
day. Gawain accepts and beheads him with his blow, at which the Green Knight
stands up, picks up his head, and reminds Gawain of the appointed time. In his
struggles to keep his bargain, Gawain
demonstrates chivalry and loyalty until his honour is
called into question by a test involving Lady Bertilak, the lady of the
Green Knight's castle.The poem survives in a single manuscript, the Cotton
Nero A.x., which also includes three religious narrative poems: Pearl, Purity and Patience.
All are thought to have been written by the same unknown author, dubbed the
"Pearl Poet" or "Gawain Poet", since all four are written
in a North West Midland dialect of Middle English.
2.
How did Norman Conquest
influence the English language?
In 1066, the Normans invaded England. It was
an event that was to transform the English language forever. For over 300 years
French was the language of power, spoken by royalty, aristocrats and
high-powered officials - some of whom could not speak English at all. During
this time, thousands of French words entered the English language. Look at the
list of words below. Some of the words come from Old English (or Anglo-Saxon).
Others come from Norman French.
·
Animals: Cow, beef, hen, pork, sheep, ox, veal.
- Armoury
and architecture: Arrow, bow, armour, battle, castle, tower, shield,
spear, war, army.
- Class:
Queen, king, sovereign, duke, baron, knight, earl, count, serf, servant,
worker.
- Jobs:
Weaver, banker, tailor, shepherd, carpenter, shepherd, baker, mason,
draper.
- Clothes:
Coat, hat, stockings, blouse, jacket, shoes, socks, bonnet, trousers,
collar
- Society
and work: Tax, crop, far, rent, property, parliament, state, plough,
lease, reap.
3. Comment on the contributions of John Mandeville and Sir
Thomas Malory in the development of English prose.
Sir John Mandeville: Sir
John Mandeville, (flourished 14th century), purported author of a
collection of travelers’ tales from around the world, The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Knight, generally
known as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.
The tales are selections from the narratives of genuine travelers, embellished
with Mandeville’s additions and described as his own adventures.
The
actual author of the tales remains as uncertain as the existence of the English
knight Sir John Mandeville himself. The book originated in French about 1356–57
and was soon translated into many languages, an English version appearing about
1375. The narrator Mandeville identifies himself as a knight of St. Albans.
Incapacitated by arthritic gout, he has undertaken to stave off boredom by
writing of his travels, which began on Michaelmas Day (September 29) 1322, and
from which he returned in 1356. The 14th-century chronicler Jean
d’Outremeuse of Liege claimed that he knew the book’s true author, a local
physician named Jean de Bourgogne, and scholars afterward speculated that
d’Outremeuse himself wrote the book. Modern historical research debunked the
d’Outremeuse tradition but has yielded few more positive conclusions, and the
actual author of the Travels remains
unknown..................................................
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