Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English
Old English Literature
Gopa B. Caesar:
The Anglo-Saxons brought their Germanic language with them and adopted very little of the Celtic language spoken by the British inhabitants, except for place names.
The language was at first almost introduced from the other languages, but the conversion to the Christianity in the seventeenth century brought in some Latin words to describe the new ideas. For exp: church, monk, school
Gopa B. Caesar:
-This language differs greatly in vocabulary and syntax from the rudimentary attempts of the prose writers.
-In such a society ,the poet is the keeper of the traditions which hold the cynn(kin) together .
-The king is the keeper of the treasure which is the Cynn’s only possession and defense.
-In some cases, in such a society the poet are the historian and priest, and his songs have ritual significance.
Gopa B. Caesar:
-The written records of it are so different from the language of the earliest prose-writers. The cynn people few common interests.
-The poetic vocabulary of old English was rich and varied, but come from the language of the ordinary life.
-The Anglo-Saxon language had the power of making new words to express new thought .
Gopa B. Caesar:
-Literacy was mainly restricted to the servants of the church and so, it is natural that the bulk of old English literature deals with religious sources and mostly drawn from Latin sources.
-The manuscripts were costly, a durable material made from the prepared skins of domestic animals.
Gopa B. Caesar:
-A relatively small amount of old English secular verse has survived in manuscripts which proves that the interest of the Anglo –Saxon monks and nuns were not
isolated from those of laypeople.
-The subject matter of this verse is sometimes of great antiquity, concerning legendary or historical figures that lived before the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England.
-The tribes is ruled by a chieftain who is called the king.
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