HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY MID -TERM TEST ON ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (No 2) Subject Code: EN16 I Answer the following questions: (50 points ) What three languages were spoken in England in the 11th - 13th centuries, and whom were they spoken by? Mention some reasons Three main languages spoken in England in the 11th - 13th centuries: Middle English (Anglo-Saxon), Anglo-Norman (or French) and Latin - Middle English: the vernacular spoken and written in England from about 1100 to 1500 This was the descendant of the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language and the ancestor of Modern English It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by AngloNorman (a relative of French) as the language of the upper classes but the lower classes still used Anglo-Saxon The 11th - 13th centuries saw two periods of Middle English First was Eearly Middle English, from about 1100 to about 1250, during which the Old English system of writing was still in use Then was the Central Middle English period from 1250 to about 1400 Middle English borrowed words from French and Latin - Anglo-Norman: the main reason that Anglo-Norman had emerged as a distinct dialect of French was the Norman Conquest in 1066 established a French-speaking aristocracy in English It was spoken in the law courts, schools, and universities and, in due course, in at least some sections of the gentry and the growing bourgeoisie AngloNorman was, to a large extent, the spoken language of the higher social strata in medieval England - French: Most of the French vocabulary in English entered the language after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, when Old French, specifically the Old Norman dialect, became the language of the new Anglo-Norman court, the government, and the elites William's followers became a new Norman ruling class and imposed their language on the upper echelons of society with Anglo-Saxon dialects supplanted by Norman in the royal court and elites That period lasted for several centuries until the aftermath of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) What is a romance, a fabliaux, a bestiaria? In what language were they written? a Fabliau Fabliau is defined as a short narrative in verse, between 300 and 400 lines long, its content often comic or satiric It is a short metrical tale made popular in medieval France by the jongleurs, or professional storytellers between c 1150 and 1400 They are generally characterized by vivid detail and realistic observation and were usually comic, coarse, and often cynical, sexual and scatological obscenity, and by a set of contrary attitudes—contrary to the church and to the nobility Fabliaux were written in French, and about 150 fabliaux are extant Many of them are based on elementary jokes or puns—such as one called Estula, which can either be a person’s name or mean “Are you there?” - or on wry situations, such as one tale in which a man is rescued from drowning but has his eye put out by the boat hook that saves him The majority of fabliaux are erotic, and the merriment provoked often depends on situations and adventures that are sometimes obscene Recurring characters include the cuckold and his wife, the lover, and the naughty priest The theme of guile is often treated, frequently to show the deceiver deceived b Romance In the strictest academic terms, a romance is a narrative genre in literature that involves a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest During the AngloNorman period feudal culture was at its height Tales in verse and lyrical poems appeared praising the bravery and gallantry of noble knights, their heroic deeds and chivalrous attitude towards ladies At first, romances were all in Norman-French, and many of the stories came from old French sources, the language of which was a Romanic dialect, and this was why these works were called "romances" They came from France with the Norman conquerors Then, a number of romances were based on Celtic legends, especially those about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table The heroes of these romances, unlike the characters of Church literature, were human beings who loved, hated and suffered c Bestiaria A bestiary (from bestiarum vocabulum) is a compendium of beasts Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages consisting of a collection of stories, each based on a description of certain qualities of an animal, plant, or even stone The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God and that every living thing had its own special meaning A number of manuscripts of medieval bestiaria are derived from the Geek Physiologus, it was translated into Latin, and then into Anglo-Saxon before 1000 In the 11th century an otherwise unknown Thetbaldus made a metrical Latin version of 13 sections of the Physiologus This was translated, with alterations, in the only surviving Middle English Bestiary, dating from the 13th century Bestiary was also popular in France in the 13th century II Comments (50 points ) Write what you know about the life and works of Geoffrey Chaucer - The founder of English realism Geoffrey Chaucer, (born c 1342/43, London, England - died October 25, 1400, London) He has been known as the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and “the father of English literature” His most well-known work: The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English He also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as courtier, diplomat, and civil servant In that career he was trusted and aided by three successive kings— Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV However, he has been remembered mostly by his avocation—the writing of poetry Perhaps, the characteristics in his works varied in subject matter, genre, tone, and style He also concerned the complexities of the human pursuit of a sensible existence From his writings, Chaucer emerges as a poet of love, both earthly and divine, whose presentations range from lustful cuckoldry to spiritual union with God Chaucer’s great literary accomplishment of the 1390s was The Canterbury Tales Chaucer did not complete the full plan for his book: the return journey from Canterbury is not included, and some of the pilgrims not tell stories The work is nevertheless sufficiently complete to be considered a unified book rather than a collection of unfinished fragments The Canterbury Tales is considered Chaucer's masterpiece and is among the most important works of medieval literature for many reasons It brought poetic power and entertainment value Besides, notably its depiction of the different social classes of the 14th century CE as well as clothing worn, pastimes enjoyed, and language/expressions used The work is so detailed and the characters so vividly rendered that many scholars contend it was based on an actual pilgrimage Chaucer took c 1387 CE This seems unlikely, however, as Chaucer held a full-time position from the king as clerk of the king’s works lasted only from July 1389 to June 1391 and any travels would have been noted in court records Whatever its state of completion, The Canterbury Tales has been entertaining and fascinating audiences since it was written Chaucer is sometimes considered the source of the English vernacular tradition and he had enormous influence in the development of the English language Before Chaucer, Middle English was dominated by French in literature, especially in poetry More than any of Chaucer's other works, the Tales validated the use of Middle English in vernacular writing as it brought the characters and their stories to life With his work, Chaucer proved that literature written in English could be as beautiful, enjoyable, complex, and profound as literature written in French, which was a supposedly more complex language Also, he introduced rhyme royal into English when he chose to focus on rhyme royal, which was unusual for an English language poet of that time The arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhyming couplets, first seen in his The Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English It was believed that the poetry of Chaucer, along with other writers of the era, is credited with helping to standardise the London Dialect of the Middle English language from a combination of the Kentish and Midlands dialects Although this was overstated, he was a part of the influence, along with the court, chancery and bureaucracy His work then indirectly contributed to the creation of English language dictionaries when people realised that understanding Chaucer’s writings was onerous Many of Chaucer’s works had earned him fame and influence in the literature of his time However, The Canterbury Tales, which has been widely read and translated until today, would make Chaucer immortal as the author of one of the greatest works in English and grant him the honorable epithet of Father of English Literature