The dawn of English literature

Literature is closely connected with the life and history of the people. In order to understand English literature it is necessary to know the history of the country.

In the 4^th century B. C. England was called Britain. One of the tribes who lived there was named the Britons. They belonged to the Celtic race and spoke Celtic. There are still some traces of this language found in the English of today. Most of all we find them in geographical names. Another Celtic tribe Gaels lived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Their descendants still live there and use some words of Celtic origin, such as Loch Lomond (lake). The life of the ancient Britons was very primitive. They believed that different gods lived in the darkest parts of the woods. Some plants as mistletoe and the oak-tree were considered to be sacred. Ancient Britons planted corn, lived upon fish and the flesh of their cattle, made coarse cloth for their clothes and were good warriors. They also built many temples and altars, fragments of which can still be seen in Great Britain. The Britons had a strange and cruel religion- the religion of the Druids. They sacrificed human beings and often burnt men and their animals together with them.

“Beowulf” is the most important poem of the Anglo-Saxon period. Though the Angles brought “Beowulf” with them to England, it has nothing to do with it. The epic is not even about the Anglo- Saxons, but about the Scandinavians when they lived on the continent in the 3d or 4^th century.

The story of Beowulf was written down in the 10^th century by an unknown author, and the manuscripts are now kept in the British Museum. Its social interest lies in the vivid description of the life of that period, of the manners and customs of the people at that time, of the relations among the members of the society and in the portrayal of their towns, ships and feasts.

The most popular ballads were those about Robin Hood. The art of printing did not stop the development of folk songs and ballads. They continued to appear till the 18^th century when they were collected and printed. The common people of England expressed their feelings in popular ballads.

“The Robin Hood ballads” is the most important folk song in Great Britain England’s favorite hero, Robin Hood is partly legendary, partly historical character. The old ballads about famous outlaw say that he lived in about the second half of the 12^th century, in the times of Henry II and his son Richard the Lion-Heart. Society in those days was mainly divided into lords and peasants. Since the battle of Hastings (1066) the Saxons had been oppressed by the Normans. In those days many of the big castles belonged to barons who ill-treated the people, stole children, and took away the cattle. If the country folk resisted, they were either killed by the barons or driven away, and their homes were destroyed. They had no choice but to go out in bands and hide in the woods; then they were declared “outlaws”. Robin Hood is a brave outlaw.

Another magnificent ballad of the English literature is “King Arthur and the knights of the round table” written by Malory Morte d’Arthur. The greatest prose work of the 15^th century was completed in 1470 by a man who styles himself Sir Thomas Malory, Knight. We know nothing of the author’s life; but he has left a monument a great prose epic of the deeds of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. From the various French legends concerning King Arthur, Malory selected his materials and fashioned them into the completest Arthuriad that we possess. While his work cannot be called original, he displayed rare artistic power in arranging, abridging, and selecting the various parts from different French works. Malory’s prose is remarkably simple and direct.