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main to the gradually developing characteristics of the product, quel literary . The precise delimitation of what may narrowly be called " English " literature, i.e. in the English See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language, is perhaps impossible, and separate articles are devoted to See also:

AMERICAN

American literature (q.v.), and to the See also:

VERNACULAR (Lat. verna, dim. vernaculus, a slave horn in his master's house)

vernacular literatures of See also:

Scotland (see SCOTLAND; and See also:

CELT: Literature), See also:

Ireland (see CELT: Literature), and See also:

WALES (Cymru, Gwalia, Cambria)

Wales (see CELT: Literature); see also See also:

CANADA

CANADA: Literature . Reference may also be made to such See also:

general articles on particular forms as NOVEL; See also:

ROMANCE

ROMANCE; See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

VERSE, &C . I . EARLIEST TIMES TO CHAUCER English literature, in the etymological sense of the word, had, so far as we know, no existence until See also:

Christian times . There is no See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence either that the See also:

HEATHEN

heathen English had adopted the See also:

ROMAN

Roman See also:

ALPHABET (see also WRITING)

alphabet, or that they had learned to employ their native monumental script (the See also:

RUNES, RUNIC LANGUAGE AND INSCRIPTIONS

runes) on materials suitable for the See also:

writing of continuous compositions of considerable length . It is, however, certain that in the pre-literary period at least one See also:

SPECIES

species of poetic See also:

art had, attained a high degree of development, and that an extensive See also:

BODY

body of See also:

POETRY

poetry was handed down—not, indeed, with See also:

ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute fixity of form or substance—from See also:

GENERATION (from Lat. generare, to beget, procreate; genus, stock, race)

generation to generation . This unwritten poetry was the work of minstrels who found their audiences in the halls of See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings and nobles . Its themes were the exploits of heroes belonging to the royal houses of Germanic See also:

EUROPE

Europe, with which its listeners claimed kinship .

Its See also:

METRE ((terpuc?, sc. rFxvf, from Gr. Or poi', measure)

metre was the alliterative See also:

long See also:

LINE

line, the lax See also:

RHYTHM (Greek pvBµds, from bap, to flow)

rhythm of which shows that it was intended, not to be sung to See also:

REGULAR

regular melodies, but to be recited—probably with some. See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of instrumental See also:

ACCOMPANIMENT (i.e. that which " accompanies ")

accompaniment . Of its beauty and See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power we may See also:

JUDGE (Lat. judex, Fr. juge)

judge from the best passages in See also:

BEOWULF

Beowulf (q.v.); for there can be little doubt that this poem gained nothing and lost See also:

RANCH

ranch in the See also:

PROCESS

process of literary redaction . The See also:

CONVERSION (Lat. conversio, from convertere, to turn or ,change)

conversion of the See also:

PEOPLE

people to See also:

CHRISTIANITY

Christianity necessarily involved the decline of the minstrelsy that celebrated the glories of heathen times . Yet the descendants of See also:

WODEN

Woden, even when they were devout Christians, would not easily lose all interest in the achievements of their kindred of former days . Chaucer's knowledge of " the See also:

SONG

song of See also:

Wade " is one See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof among others that even so See also:

LATE

late as the l4th century the deeds of Germanic heroes had not ceased to be recited in See also:

MINSTREL

minstrel verse . The paucity of the extant remains of Old English heroic poetry is no See also:

ARGUMENT

argument to the contrary . The wonder is that any of it has survived at all . We may well believe that the professional reciter would, as a See also:

RULE

rule, be jealous of any See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt to commit to writing the poems which he had received by tradition or had himself composed . The See also:

clergy, to whom we owe the writing and the preservation of the Old English See also:

MSS., would only in rare instances be keenly interested in See also:

SECULAR (Lat. saecularis, of or belonging to an age or generation, saeculum)

secular poetry . We possess, in fact, portions of four narrative poems, treating of heroic See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend—Beowulf, Widsith, Finnesburh and Waldere . The second of these has no poetical merit, but great archaeological interest: It is an enumeration of the famous kings known to See also:

German tradition, put into the mouth of a minstrel (named Widsith, " far-travelled "), who claims to have been at many of their courts and to have been rewarded by them for his song . The See also:

list includes See also:

HISTORICAL

historical persons such as See also:

ERMANARIC (fl. 350-376)

Ermanaric and See also:

ALBOIN (d. 572 or 573)

Alboin, who really lived centuries apart, but (with the usual See also:

CHRONOLOGICAL

chronological vagueness of tradition) are treated as contemporaries .

The extant fragment of Finnesburh (5o lines) is a brilliant See also:

BATTLE

battle piece, belonging to a See also:

story of which another See also:

PART

part is introduced episodically in Beowulf . Waldere, of which we have two fragments (together 68 lines) is concerned with Frankish and Burgundian traditions based on events of the 5th century; the See also:

hero is the " See also:

WALTHARIUS

Waltharius " of Ekkehart's famous Latin epic . The English poem may possibly be rather a literary See also:

composition than a genuine example of minstrel poetry, but the portions that have survived are hardly inferior to the best passages of Beowulf . It may reasonably be assumed that the same minstrels who entertained the English kings and nobles with the See also:

RECITAL (from Lat. recitare, to read out, particularly of a public document)

recital of See also:

ancient heroic traditions would also celebrate in verse the See also:

MARTIAL (MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS)

martial deeds of their own patrons and their immediate. ancestors . Probably there may have existed an abundance of poetry commemorative of events in the See also:

CONQUEST

conquest of See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain and the struggle with the Danes . Two examples only have survived, both belonging to the loth century: The Battle of Brunanburh, which has been greatly over-praised by critics who were unaware that its striking phrases and compounds are See also:

mere traditional echoes; and the Battle of See also:

MALDEN

Malden, the work of a truly great poet, of which unhappily only a fragment has been preserved . One of the marvels of See also:

HISTORY

history is the rapidity and thoroughness with which Christian See also:

CIVILIZATION

civilization was adopted by the English . See also:

Augustine landed in 597; See also:

FORTY

forty years later was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born an English-See also:

man, See also:

ALDHELM (c. 640-709)

Aldhelm, who in the See also:

JUDGMENT

judgment of his contemporaries throughout the Christian See also:

WORLD

world was the most accomplished See also:

SCHOLAR, SCHOLARSHIP

scholar and the finest Latin writer of his See also:

time . In the next generation England produced in See also:

Bede (Bwda) a man who in solidity and variety of knowledge,. and in literary power, had for centuries no See also:

RIVAL

rival in Europe . Aldhelm and Bede are known to us only from their Latin writings, though the former is recorded to have written vernacular poetry of great merit . The extant Old English literature is almost entirely Christian, for the poems that belong to an earlier period have been expurgated and interpolated in a Christian sense . From the writings that have survived, it would seem as if men strove to forget that England had ever been heathen .

The four deities whose names are attached to the days of the See also:

WEEK (from A.S. wicu, Germanic *wikon, probably=change, turn)

week are hardly mentioned at all . The names Thunor and Tiw are sometimes used to translate the Latin See also:

JUPITER

Jupiter and See also:

Mars; Woden has his See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place (but not as a See also:

god) in the genealogies of the kings, and his name occurs once in a magical poem, but that is all . Bede, as a historian, is obliged to tell the story of the conversion; but the only native divinities he mentions are the goddesses Hreth and Eostre, and all welearn about them'is that they gave their names to frrethemonath (See also:

March) and See also:

EASTER

Easter . That superstitious practices of heathen origin long survived among the people is shown by the acts of See also:

church See also:

COUNCILS

councils and by a few poems of a magical nature that have been preserved; but, so far as can be discovered, the definite See also:

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship of the ancient gods quickly died out . English heathenism perished' without leaving a See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record . The Old English religious poetry was written, probably without exception, in the See also:

CLOISTER (Lat. claustrum; Fr. cloitre; Ital. chiostro; Span. claustro; Ger. Kloster)

cloister, and by men who were See also:

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

familiar with the See also:

Bible and with Latin devotional literature . Setting aside the wonderful See also:

DREAM (from a root dreug, connected with Germ. trugen, to deceive)

Dream of the See also:

ROOD (O.E. rod, a stick, another form of " rod, O.E. rodd, possibly cognate with Lat. rudis, a staff)

Rood, it gives little evidence of high poetic See also:

GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius, though much of it is marked by a degree of culture and refinement that we should hardly have expected . Its material and thought are mainly derived from Latin See also:

SOURCES

sources; its expression is imitated from the native heroic poetry . Considering that a great deal of Latin verse was written by English-men in the 7th and succeeding centuries, and that in one or two poems the line is actually composed of an English and a Latin hemistich rhyming together, it seems See also:

STRANGE, SIR ROBERT (1721-1792)

strange that the Latin See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence on Old English versification should have been so small . The alliterative long line is throughout the only metre employed, and although the See also:

LAWS

laws of See also:

ALLITERATION (from Lat. ad, to, and littera, letter)

alliteration and rhythm were less rigorously obeyed in the later than in the earlier poetry, there is no trace of approximation to the structure of Latin verse . It is true that, owing to See also:

IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate)

imitation of the Latin See also:

HYMNS

hymns of the church, See also:

RHYME

rhyme came gradually to be more and more frequently used as an See also:

ORNAMENT (Lat. ornare, to adorn)

ornament of Old English verse; but it remained an ornament only, and never became an essential feature . The only poem in which rhyme is employed throughout is one in which sense is so completely sacrificed to See also:

sound that a See also:

TRANSLATION

translation would hardly be possible .

It was not only in metrical respects that the Old English religious poetry remained faithful to its native See also:

MODELS

models . The imagery and the diction are mainly those of the old heroic poetry, and in some of the poems See also:

Christ and the See also:

SAINTS, BATTLE OF THE

saints are presented, often very incongruously, under the aspect of Germanic warriors . Nearly all the religious poetry that has any considerable religious value seems to have been written in See also:

NORTHUMBRIA (regnum Northanhymbrorum)

Northumbria during the 8th century . The remarkably vigorous poem of See also:

JUDITH, THE BOOK OF

Judith, however, is certainly much later; and the See also:

Exodus, though See also:

early, seems to be of See also:

SOUTHERN

southern origin . For a detailed See also:

account of the Old English sacred poetry, the reader is referred to the articles on C2E1MON and CYNEwurr, to one or other of whom nearly every one of the poems, except those of obviously late date, has at some time been attributed . The See also:

RIDDLES (A.S. raedan, to interpret)

Riddles (q.v.) of the See also:

Exeter See also:

BOOK

Book resemble the religious poetry in being the work of scholars, but they See also:

bear much more decidedly the impress of the native English See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character . Some of them See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank among the most See also:

ARTISTIC

artistic and pleasing productions of Old English poetry . The Exeter Book contains also several pieces of a gnomic character, conveying proverbial instruction in morality and worldly See also:

WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom . Their morality is Christian, but it is not unlikely that some of the See also:

wise sayings they contain may have come down by tradition from heathen times . The very curious See also:

DIALOGUE

Dialogue of See also:

Solomon and See also:

Saturn may be regarded as belonging to the same class . The most See also:

ORIGINAL

original and interesting portion of the Old English literary poetry is the See also:

GROUP

group of dramatic monologues—The Banished Wife's Complaint, The See also:

HUSBAND

Husband's See also:

MESSAGE (a word occurring in slightly different forms in several languages, e.g. Fr. message, Span. mensaje, Ital. messagio; adapted from the Low Lat. missaticum, from mittere)

Message, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Deor and Wulf and Eadwacer . The date of these compositions is uncertain, though their occurrence in the Exeter Book shows that they cannot be later than the loth century .

That they are all of one period is at least unlikely, but they are all marked by the same See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar See also:

TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone of pathos . The monodramatic form renders it difficult to obtain a clear See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of the situation of the supposed speakers . It is not improbable that most of these poems may relate to incidents of heroic legend, with which the original readers were presumed to be acquainted . This, however, can be definitely affirmed only in the See also:

case of the two See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short pieces—Deor and Wulf and Eadwacerwhich have something of a lyric character, being the only examples in Old English of strophic structure and the use of the refrain . Wulf and Eadwacer, indeed, exhibits a still further development in the same direction, the monotony of the long line metre being varied by the See also:

ADMISSION

admission of short lines formed by the suppression of the second hemistich . The highly See also:

DEVELOPED

developed art displayed in this remarkable poem gives See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason for believing that the existing remains of Old English poetry very inadequately represent its extent and variety . While the origins of English poetry go back to heathen times, English See also:

PROSE

prose may be said to have had its effective beginning in the reign of See also:

ALFRED

Alfred . It is of course true that vernacular prose of some kind was written much earlier . The English laws of tEthelberht of See also:

Kent, though it is perhaps unlikely that they were written down, as is commonly supposed, in the lifetime of Augustine (died A.D . 604), or even in that of the See also:

king (d . 616), were well known to Bede; and even in the 12th-century transcript that has come down to us, their crude and elliptical See also:

style gives evidence of their high antiquity . Later kings of Kent and of Wessex followed the example of See also:

PUBLISHING

publishing their laws in the native See also:

TONGUE (O. Eng. lunge)

tongue .

Bede is known to have translated the beginning of the See also:

GOSPEL (O. Eng. godspel, i.e. good news, a translation of Lat. bona annuntiatio, or evangelium, Gr. evayyeXwv; cf. Goth. iu spillon, " to announce good news," Ulfilas' translation of the Greek, from iu, that which is good, and spellon to announce)

gospel of See also:

John (down to vi . 9) . The early part of the Anglo-Saxon See also:

CHRONICLE (from Gr. Xpovos, time)

Chronicle (q.v.) is probably founded partly on prose See also:

ANNALS (Annales, from annus, a year)

annals of pre-Alfredian date . But although the amount of English prose written between the beginning of the 7th and the middle of the 9th century may have been consider-able, Latin continued to be regarded as the appropriate vehicle for See also:

WORKS

works of any literary pretension . If the English clergy had retained the scholarship which they possessed in the days of Aldhelm and Bede, the creation of a vernacular prose literature would probably have been longer delayed; for while Alfred certainly was not indifferent to the need of the laity for instruction, the evil that he was chiefly concerned to combat was the See also:

IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

ignorance of their spiritual guides . Of the works translated by him and the scholars whom he employed, St See also:

Gregory's See also:

PASTORAL (from Lat. pastor, a shepherd)

Pastoral Care and his Dialogues (the latter rendered by See also:

Bishop Werferth) are expressly addressed to the priesthood; if the other See also:

TRANSLATIONS

translations were intended for a wider circle of readers, they are all (not excepting the secular History of See also:

OROSIUS, PAULUS (fl. 415)

Orosius) essentially religious in purpose and spirit . In the interesting See also:

PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to the Pastoral Care, in the important accounts of See also:

NORTHERN

Northern lands and peoples inserted in the Orosius, and in the See also:

FREE

free rendering and amplification of the See also:

CONSOLATION (Fr. consolation, Lat. consolatio, from consolari, to assuage, comfort, console)

Consolation of Boethius and of the Soliloquies of Augustine, Alfred appears as an original writer . Other fruits of his activity are his Laws (preceded by a collection of those of his 7th-century predecessor, See also:

Ine of Wessex), and the beginnings of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: The Old English prose after Alfred is entirely of derical author-See also:

SHIP

ship; even the Laws, so far as their literary form is concerned, are hardly to be regarded as an exception . Apart from the Chronicle (see ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE), the bulk of this literature consists of translations from Latin and of homilies and saints' lives, the substance of which is derived from sources mostly accessible to us in their original form; it has therefore for us little importance except from the philological point of view . This remark may be applied, in the main, even to the writings of lElfric, notwithstanding the great interest which attaches to his brilliant achievement in the development of the capacities of the native language for literary expression . The translation of the gospels, though executed in A lfric's time (about moo), is by other hands . The sermons of his younger contemporary, See also:

ARCHBISHOP (Lat. archiepiscopus, from Gr. apxceatorcoros)

Archbishop See also:

Wulfstan, are marked by earnestness and eloquence, and contain some passages of historical value .

From the early years of the 11th century we possess an encyclopaedic See also:

MANUAL

manual of the See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science of the time—See also:

CHRONOLOGY (Gr. xpovo?oyfa, computation of time, xp6vos)

chronology, See also:

ASTRONOMY (from Gr. &arpov, a star, and v ,usiv, to classify or arrange)

astronomy, See also:

ARITHMETIC (Gr. apeOµ7run7, sc. TEXVn, the art of counting, from (ipLBµos, number)

arithmetic, metre, See also:

RHETORIC (Gr. psroperctj TEXvq, the art of the orator)

rhetoric and See also:

ethics—by the See also:

monk Byrhtferth, a See also:

PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil of See also:

ABBE (Serbo-Croatian Rai))

Abbe of See also:

Fleury . It is a compilation, but executed with intelligence . The numerous works on See also:

MEDICINE

medicine, the properties of herbs, and the like, are in the main composed of selections from Latin See also:

TREATISES

treatises; so far as they are original, they illustrate the history of superstition rather than that of science . It is interesting to observe that they contain one or two formulas of incantations in Irish . Two famous works of fiction, the romance of See also:

APOLLONIUS

Apollonius of See also:

TYRE (Phoen. and Hebr. =" rock," Assyr. S'urru, Egypt. Dara, Early Lat. Sarra)

Tyre and the See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

Letter of See also:

Alexander, which in their Latin form had IX . 20much influence on the later literature of Europe, were Englished in thellth century with considerable skill . To the same period belongs the, curious See also:

TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

tract on The Wonders of the See also:

East . In these works, and. some See also:

minor productions of the time, we see that the minds of Englishmen were beginning to find interest in other than religious subjects . The crowding of the English monasteries by foreigners, which was one of the results of the See also:

Norman Conquest, brought about a rapid See also:

ARREST (Fr. arrester, arreeter, to stop or stay)

arrest of the development of the vernacular literature . It was not long before the boys trained in the monastic See also:

SCHOOLS

schools ceased to learn to read and write their native tongue, and learned instead to read and write See also:

French . The effects of this See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change are visible in the rapid alteration of the literary language . The artificial tradition of grammatical correctness lost its hold; the archaic literary vocabulary See also:

fell into disuse; and those who wrote English at all wrote as they spoke, using more and more an extemporized phonetic spelling based largely on French analogies .

The 12th century is a brilliant period in the history of Anglo-Latin literature, and many works of merit were written in French (see ANGLO-NORMAN) . But vernacular literature is scanty and of little originality . The See also:

PETERBOROUGH

Peterborough Chronicle, it is true, was continued till 1154, and its later portions, while markedly exemplifying the changes in the language, contain some really admirable writing . But it is substantially correct to say that from this point until the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of Chaucer vernacular prose served no other purpose than that of popular religious edification . For See also:

LIGHT

light on the intellectual See also:

LIFE

life of the nation during this period we must look mainly to the works written in Latin . The homilies of the 12th century are partly modernized transcripts from See also:

IELFRIC

iElfric and other older writers, partly translations from French and Latin; the See also:

REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder is. mostly See also:

COMMONPLACE

commonplace in substance and clumsy in expression . At the beginning of the 13th century the Ancren Riwle (q.v.), a book of counsel for nuns, shows true literary genius, and is singularly interesting in its substance and spirit; but notwithstanding the author's remark-able mastery of English expression, his culture was evidently French rather than English . Some minor religious prose works of the same period are not without merit . But these examples had no literary following . In the early 14th century the writings of See also:

Richard Rolle and his school attained great popularity . The profound influence which they exercised on later religious thought, and on the development of prose style, has seldom been adequately recognized . The A yenbite of Inwyt (see See also:

MICHEL, See also:

DAN), a wretchedly unintelligent translation (finished in 1340) from See also:

Frere Lorens's See also:

SOMME

Somme See also:

des vices et des vertus, is valuable to the student of language, but otherwise worthless .

The break in the continuity of literary tradition, induced by the Conquest, was no less See also:

COMPLETE

complete with regard to poetry than with regard to prose . The poetry of the 13th and the latter part of the 12th century was uninfluenced by the written works of Old English poets, whose archaic diction had to a great extent become unintelligible . But there is no ground to suppose that the See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession of popular singers and reciters was ever interrupted . In the See also:

north-See also:

west, indeed, the old recitative metre seems to have survived in oral tradition, with little more alteration than was rendered necessary by the changes in the language, until the middle of the 14th century, when it was again adopted by literary versifiers . In the See also:

south this metre had greatly degenerated in strictness before the Conquest, but, with gradually increasing laxity in the laws of alliteration and rhythm, it continued long in use . It is commonly believed, with great See also:

INTRINSIC (through Fr. intrinsique, from Lat. intrinsecus, inwardly; inter, within, secus, following, from root of sequi, to follow)

intrinsic See also:

PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

probability but with scanty actual evidence, that in the Old English period there existed, beside the alliterative long line, other forms of verse adapted not for recitation but for sing See also:

ing, used in popular lyrics and See also:

BALLADS

ballads that were deemed too trivial for written record . The influence of native popular poetic tradition, whether in the form of recited or of sung verse, is clearly discernible in the earliest Middle English poems that have been preserved . But the authors of these poems were familiar with Latin, and probably spoke French as easily as their See also:

MOTHER

mother tongue; and there was no longer any literary See also:

convention to restrain them from adopting See also:

FOREIGN

foreign metrical forms . The II artless verses of the See also:

HERMIT

hermit Godric, who died in 1170, exhibit in their metre the combined influence of native rhythm and of that of Latin hymnology . The See also:

PROVERBS, BOOK OF (Heb. Mishle Slzelomoh, " Proverbs of Solomon," abridged by the later Jews to Mishle; Septuagint, irapotpiai or II. EaX.; Lat. Vulg. Parabolae sal. and Liber proverbiorum)

Proverbs of Alfred, written about 1200, is (like the later Proverbs of Hendyng) in style and substance a gnomic poem of the ancient Germanic type, containing See also:

MAXIMS, LEGAL

maxims some of which may be of immemorial antiquity; and its rhythm is mainly of native origin . On the other See also:

hand, the See also:

SOLEMN (Lat. sollemnis, sollemnis, less correctly solennis, yearly, annual; from sollus = totus, whole, entire, Gr. Mos., and annus, year)

solemn and touching meditation known as the Moral See also:

ODE (Gr. uiSri, from aei&ew, to sing)

Ode, which is somewhat earlier in date, is in a metre derived from contemporary Latin verse—a line of seven accents, broken by a See also:

CAESURA (Lat. for " cutting," Gr. row))

caesura, and with feminine end-rhymes . In the Ormulum (see See also:

ORM, or ORMIN

ORM) this metre (known as the septenarius) appears without rhyme, and with a syllabic regularity previously without example in English verse, the line (or distich, as it may be called with almost equal propriety) having invariably fifteen syllables .

In various modified forms, the septenarius was a favourite measure throughout the Middle English period . In the poetry of the 13th century the influence of French models is conspicuous . The many devotional lyrics, some of which, as the Luve Ron of See also:

Thomas of See also:

Hales, have great beauty, show this influence not only in their varied metrical form, but also in their peculiar mystical tenderness and fervour . The Story of See also:

Genesis and Exodus, the substance of which is taken from the Bible and Latin commentators, derives its metre chiefly from French . Its poetical merit is very small . The secular poetry also received a new impulse from See also:

France . The brilliant and sprightly dialogue of the See also:

OWL (O. Eng. Ule, Swed. Uggla, Ger. Eule—all allied to Lat. Ulula, and evidently of imitative origin)

Owl and See also:

Nightingale, which can hardly be dated later than about 1230, is a " contention " of the type familiar in French and Provencal literature . The " Gallic " type of See also:

HUMOUR (Latin humor)

humour may be seen in various other writings of this period, notably in the See also:

LAND

Land of See also:

COCKAIGNE (COCKAYNE), LAND OF (O. Fr. Coquaigne, mod. Fr. cocagne, " abundance," from Ital. Cocagna; " as we say ` Lubberland,' the epicure's or glutton's home, the land of all delights, so taken in mockerie ": Florio)

Cockaigne, a vivacious See also:

SATIRE (Lat. satira, satura; see below)

satire on monastic self-See also:

INDULGENCE (Lat. indulgentia, indulgere, to grant, concede)

indulgence; and in the See also:

FABLIAU

fabliau of See also:

Dame Siviz, a story of Eastern origin, told with almost Chaucerian skill . Predominantly, though not exclusively French in metrical structure, are the charming love poems collected in a MS . (Harl . 2253) written about 1320 in See also:

HEREFORDSHIRE

Herefordshire, some of which (edited in T . See also:

Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry) find a place in See also:

MODERN

modern popular anthologies .

It is noteworthy that they are accompanied by some French lyrics very similar in style . The same MS. contains, besides some religious poetry, a number of See also:

POLITICAL

political songs of the time of See also:

EDWARD

Edward II . They are not quite the earliest examples of their kind; in the time of the Barons' See also:

War the popular cause had had its singers in English as well as in French . Later, the victories of Edward III. down to the taking of Guisnes in 1352, were celebrated by the Yorkshireman Laurence See also:

MINOT, LAURENCE (fl. 1333—1352)

Minot in alliterative verse with strophic arrangement and rhyme . At the very beginning of the 13th century a new species of composition, the metrical chronicle, was introduced into English literature . The huge work of See also:

LAYAMON

Layamon, a history (mainly legendary) of Britain from the time of the mythical See also:

BRUTUS (originally an adjective meaning " heavy," "stupid," kindred with Gr. aap(s, cf. Eng. " brute," " brutal")

Brutus till after the See also:

MISSION

mission of Augustine, is a free rendering of the Norman-French See also:

BRUT, BRUTE

Brut of See also:

WACE, HENRY (1836– )

Wace, with extensive additions from traditional sources . Its metre seems to be a degenerate survival of the Old English alliterative line, gradually modified in the course of the work by assimilation to the regular syllabic measure of the French original . Unquestionable evidence of the knowledge of the poem on the part of later writers is scarce, but distinct echoes of its diction appear in the chronicle ascribed to See also:

Robert of See also:

Gloucester, written in rhymed septenary See also:

MEASURES

measures about 1300 . This work, founded in its earlier part on the Latin historians of the 1 zth century, is an See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent historical source of some value for the events of the writer's own times . The succession of versified histories of England was continued by Thomas See also:

BEK, ANTONY (d. 1311)

Bek of See also:

CASTLEFORD

Castleford in See also:

YORKSHIRE

Yorkshire (whose work still awaits an editor), and by Robert See also:

MANNYNG, ROBERT (ROBERT of BRUNNE) (c. 1264–1340 ?)

Mannyng of Brunne (See also:

Bourne, See also:

LINCOLNSHIRE

Lincolnshire) . Mannyng's chronicle, finished in 1338; is a translation, in its earlier part from Wace's Brut, and in its later part from an Anglo-French chronicle (still extant) written by See also:

Peter See also:

LANGTOFT, PETER (d. c. 1307)

Langtoft, See also:

CANON

canon of See also:

BRIDLINGTON

Bridlington . Not far from the See also:

YEAR

year 1300 (for the most part probably earlier rather than later) a vast See also:

mass of hagiological and homiletic verse was produced in See also:

DIVERS

divers parts of England .

To Gloucester belongsan extensive See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of Lives of Saints, metrically and linguistically closely resembling Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, and perhaps wholly or in part of the same authorship . A similar collection was written in the north of England, as well as a large body of homilies showing considerable poetic skill, and abounding in exempla or illustrative stories . Of exempla several prose collections had already been made in Anglo-French, and See also:

William of Wadington's poem See also:

Manuel des padres; which contains a great number of them, was translated in 1303 by Robert Mannyng already mentioned, with some enlargement of the anecdotic See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element, and frequent omissions of didactic passages . The great rhyming chronicle of Scripture history entitled See also:

Cursor Mundi (q.v.) was written in the north about this time . It was extensively read and transcribed, and exercised a powerful influence on later writers down to the end of the 14th century . The remaining homiletic verse of this period is too abundant to be referred to in detail; it will be enough to mention the sermons of William of See also:

SHOREHAM

Shoreham, written in strophic form, but showing little either of metrical skill or poetic feeling . To the next generation belongs the Pricke of See also:

Conscience by Richard Rolle, the influence of which was not less powerful than that of the author's prose writings . Romantic poetry, which in French had been extensively cultivated, both on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent and in England from the early years of the 12th century, did not assume a vernacular form till about 1250 . In the next See also:

HUNDRED

hundred years its development was marvellously rapid . Of the vast mass of metrical romances produced during this period no detailed account need here be at-tempted (see ROMANCE, and articles, &c. referred to; ARTHURIAN ROMANCE) . Native English traditions form the basis of -King See also:

Horn, See also:

GUY, THOMAS (1644–1724)

Guy of See also:

Warwick, Bevis of Hamtoun and Havelok, though the stories were first put into literary form by Anglo-Norman poets . The popularity of these See also:

home-grown tales (with which maybe classed the wildly fictitious Goer de See also:

Lion) was soon rivalled by that of importations from France .

The English rendering of See also: