Concetti Chiave
- Old English literature spans from the 5th century to the Norman conquest in 1066, featuring epic poetry, chronicles, and religious texts.
- Two main types of Old English poetry exist: heroic pre-Christian and Christian, often performed orally by scops.
- Key formal elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry include stress, alliteration, and the use of caesura to divide lines.
- Riddles in Anglo-Saxon literature serve as linguistic games, typically presented in the first person.
- Old English prose emerged during King Alfred's reign, with significant translations from Latin, and persisted post-Norman conquest.
Indice
Origini e generi della letteratura anglosassone
Old English literature was written in Anglo-Saxon (old English) from the second half of 5th century to time of the Norman conquest in 1066. It includes different genres: epic poetry, chronicles, riddles, translation of Bible from Latin, stories about the lives of saints and sermons. The most important are the epic poem Beowulf, the Angle-Saxon Chronicle and poem Caedmon’s Hymn from 7th century. There are two types of Old English poetry: the heroic pre-Christian and Christian.
Caratteristiche della poesia anglosassone
Old English poetry was oral and anonymous. The poets were called scop, he entertained the noblemen in halls (often accompanied by a harp). They are important to shape a common cultural identity. The poetry is divided into two complementary modes: epic and elegiac.
originally the Anglo-Saxon poetry was oral and based on memorization (from mouth to mouth) until in the 11th century it was written by the church clerks who fixed its form.
the most important formal aspects of Anglo-Saxon poetry were stress and alliteration, that is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound. Each line was divided into two halves by a break or caesura and had 4 stresses.
One peculiarity of Anglo-Saxon literature is the riddle, a linguistic guessing game. They are generally in the first person.
Prosa e sopravvivenza della letteratura anglosassone
old English prose first appeared from the 9th century to 12th century. Prose was written in Latin before the reign of King Alfred, who decided to translate many books from Latin into Old English. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle was probably started in the time of king Alfred. Old English literature survived the Norman conquest of 1066 to 14th century, but when the monasteries were destroyed (during Reformation), the manuscripts were sent to the antiquarians and scholars.
Domande da interrogazione
- Quali sono i generi principali della letteratura anglosassone?
- Quali sono le caratteristiche formali della poesia anglosassone?
- Come è sopravvissuta la letteratura anglosassone dopo la conquista normanna?
La letteratura anglosassone comprende vari generi, tra cui la poesia epica, cronache, indovinelli, traduzioni della Bibbia dal latino, storie sulla vita dei santi e sermoni. I più importanti sono il poema epico Beowulf, la Cronaca anglosassone e il poema Caedmon’s Hymn del VII secolo.
La poesia anglosassone era orale e anonima, caratterizzata da stress e allitterazione, con ogni verso diviso in due metà da una cesura e contenente quattro accenti. Era spesso accompagnata da un'arpa e recitata dai poeti chiamati scop.
La letteratura anglosassone è sopravvissuta fino al XIV secolo, nonostante la conquista normanna del 1066. Tuttavia, con la distruzione dei monasteri durante la Riforma, i manoscritti furono inviati agli antiquari e studiosi.
Accedi a tutti gli appunti
Tutor AI: studia meglio e in meno tempo
