HI READERS ! WELCOME TO A NEW SECTION OF THE BLOG , “HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE” LET US KNOW THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘OLD ENGLISH‘ OR ‘ANGLO- SAXON PERIOD‘ AND TRIBES.
- THE OLDEST KNOWN TRIBES IN NORTHERN EUROPE WERE ‘ CELTS ‘ OR ‘GALES‘ WHO USED TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGES ‘CELTIC’ OR ‘GAELIC’. THESE CELTS WERE A COLLECTION OF INDO-EUROPIAN PEOPLE WHO WERE NATIVE OF WESTERN EURASIA. EURASIA MEANS A LARGE CONTINENT COMPRISING OF EUROPE AND ASIA.
- IN DUE COURSE OF TIME, THESE TRIBES WERE REPLACED BY ROMANS IN 1st CENTURY WHO RULED UPTO 450 A.D.
- DURING THE REIGN OF ROMANS, LATIN BECAME OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
- LETTERS A TO Z (ALPHABETS) CAME FROM LATIN LANGUAGE. THAT IS WHY IT IS KNOWN AS ROMAN SCRIPT TILL DATE.
- IN ABOUT 450 A.D THE ROMAN WARRIORS WERE ATTACKED BY GERMANIC TRIBES (ALSO CALLED AS TEUTONIC TRIBES)
- THESE TRIBES HAD ARRIVED FROM SOUTH -EAST OF RUSSIA.
- THESE GERMANIC TRIBES WERE THREE IN ALL —- ANGLES, SAXONS AND JUTES.
- THE ANGLO- SAXON TRIBES WERE ALSO KNOWN BY THE NAME OF TEUTONIC TRIBES. THESE TRIBES STARTED RESIDING IN ROMAN PROVINCE OF BRITANNIA WHICH IS NOW KNOWN AS ‘BRITAIN’ OR ‘GREAT BRITAIN’.
- THESE TRIBES USED TO SPEAK THEIR OWN DIALECTS OF GERMAN LANGUAGE.
- ANGLO- SAXON TRIBES WERE MAINLY WARRIORS.
- THEY WERE FOND OF SINGING. EVERY CHIEFTAIN HAD A BARD OR SCOP (SINGER) AND GLEEMEN (POET) WHO SANG ABOUT WAR DEEDS , NATURE, RELIGION AND WOMEN FOLK.
- THEY WORSHIPPED PAGAN GODS. PAGANISM OR HEATHENISM IS A CLASS OF RELIGION ASSOCIATED WITH NATURE WORSHIP.
- FOLLOWING ARE THE TYPES AND NATURE OF POETRIES WRITTEN BY THEM.
- PERSONAL AND ELEGIAC—-eg POEMS LIKE WIDSITH, DOER’S LAMENT, THE WANDERER OR THE SEAFARER
- WAR SONGS——- eg THE FIGHT AT FINNSBURGH, THE BATTLE OF BRUNAUBURH
- THE RIDDLESTHE EPIC POEMS— eg BEOWULF , WALDHERE
- 5. ALLITERATIVE POEMS WERE USED , RHYME IS RARELY USED. THERE
- THERE WAS PREVALENCE OF USE OF COMPOUND WORDS IN POETRIES LIKE DEATH-REED(meaning TOMB),
- THERE WAS BLENDING OF BOTH PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS IN THE POEMS OF THIS PERIOD…….
