1 / 11

MIDDLE ENGLISH

MIDDLE ENGLISH. 1100 - 1500 AD. Onward to Middle English (1100-1500). A Major New Subject A Major New Genre Key Dates / Events / Trends The “Triumph of English” (ca. 1350-1400). Big New Literary Subject . male - female relations esp. “courtly love” as part of noble life

waneta
Download Presentation

MIDDLE ENGLISH

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. MIDDLE ENGLISH 1100 - 1500 AD

  2. Onward to Middle English (1100-1500) • A Major New Subject • A Major New Genre • Key Dates / Events / Trends • The “Triumph of English” (ca. 1350-1400)

  3. Big New Literary Subject • male - female relations • esp. “courtly love” as part of noble life • literature of elite/ruling class mainly (as in OE) • old subjects remain too • negative male - female interactions another aspect • other new subjects too

  4. Major New Literary Form • “from epic to romance” • epic: definition • romance: definition • many older forms remain too • dream vision, history, saints’ lives, sermons....

  5. Dates / Events / Trends: Skeleton History II • variety and force of cultural models • events: • Political • Social • Literary/Linguistic • P/S/L forces interact, lead to “triumph of English” (culture, language, literature...) • other models still have lots of influence

  6. Pearl : Formal Aspects • Genre -- Dream Vision (definition) • Poet • anonymous, northwest Midlands dialect • learned in both theology and court life • Verse Form • alliteration + rhyme (definitions) (English origin + French origin)

  7. Formal Aspects, cont’d. • Alliterative Revival -- definition • very complex rhyme scheme: • 12-line stanzas rhyming abab abab bcbc • 5- (and one 6-) stanza sections linked by c-rhymes • c-rhyme words repeated in line 1 of next stanza (“concatenation”) • Numerological Elements: 5, 12, 101, 1212…. • return to beginning = perfection

  8. Pearl : Content and Structure Analysis as Guide to Meaning • Sections: • Heart/Emotion (Section I) • Eye/Sight (II-IV) • Ear/Mind/Word (V-XVI) • Eye/Sight (XVII-XIX) • Heart/Emotion (XX)

  9. Frame and Vision Sections • I: Grief in the Garden Grove • II-IV: Vision of Land of Marvels • bejeweled landscape, daughter as jewel • cf. jewel/jeweler metaphor (V) -- “pearl of great price” in Bible (Matt. 13:44-46) • (V-XVI) • XVII-XIX: Vision of New Jerusalem • XX: Rapid re-entry to earthly life

  10. Lessons from the Pearl-Maiden • Sections V-XVI • seeing vs. believing • arrogance • communal courtesy of Heaven vs. power hierarchies of Earth • class, gender, age, experience • finite (“zero-sum”) vs. infinite thinking • earthly materialism vs. “heavenly commerce” • Need to recognize higher planes of reality!!

  11. Esthetic Unity of Poem • partly from structural patterning • numbers, symmetries, internal linkings, sheer complexity • partly from repetition and interlinking of (emotional powerful) imagery • organic & food images, precious jewel/metal images, commercial & social metaphors • related to repeated & interrelated themes: • innocence, mercy, grace, courtesy, redemption

More Related