Origins of English literature

The origins of English literature

In the period between the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the 5th century and the Norman Conquest in 1066, literary production played a key role in the affirmation of an English identity and contributed to the emergence of vernacular writing in English at a time in which most European countries were still writing in Latin.
The language spoken by the inhabitants of the British island was a Germanic dialect that we will refer to as Old English. Because few people were literate, Anglo-Saxon culture was mostly oral: stories were told by travelling storytellers called scops] who entertained audiences with tales of adventures and heroic deeds. For this same reason, with very few exceptions, most Old English literature was anonymous.

Importance of Christian Monks

If England had not been Christianised, most Old English literature would have been lost. In the centuries between the Anglo-Saxon invasions and the Norman Conquest, literacy was almost entirely relegated to monasteries. It was the Christian monks who recorded and preserved the early works of English literature. What survives of Old English literature today is a corpus of about 30,000 lines of poetry in four manuscript collections, some collections of laws, historical works, and translations from Greek and Latin into English.

Characteristics of Old English Literature

Old English literature weaves together two radically different cultural strands: the Germanic one, with its martial view of society and its emphasis on heroic legend, and the Christian one, introduced by Christian missionaries beginning with the sixth century. Old English literature displays a startling mixture of pagan and Christian values and world-views. It is not always easy to separate them: literary works of pagan origin are frequently imbued with Christian sentiment, while literary works that treat Christian themes may display, here and there, traces of Germanic culture.

The scop

The scop was an Anglo-Saxon poet who entertained early Germanic kings and soldiers by reciting poetry, often accompanied by a harp or similar instrument. The word, scop, comes from the Old English word saieppan which means ‘to create, form or shape'.
A scop could travel and move from one village to another or hold a permanent post in a king's court or mead-hall. He performed during celebrations, feasts, after important battles or at the end of a war. He would sing songs depicting important events (battles, invasions, victories or defeats) or celebrate the deeds, hardships and glory of important figures in history.
Scops played a vital role in Anglo-Saxon society and participated actively as commentators and observers of events. A scop would compose his own works, and often his personality and experience would filter into his storytelling, giving histories and legends a personal, nuanced interpretation.
In other words, scops were not just entertainers, or promoters of warriors' or kings' reputations. In many ways, they were the actual guardians of a community, a sort of ‘vocal conscience' who helped to preserve the history of the Germanic people for later generations and contributed to the construction of collective identity and shared memory.