ФАКУЛЬТЕТ СЛАВЯНСКОЙ ФИЛОЛОГИИ

THE SONG OF BEOWULF

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The first masterpiece of English literature, the epic poem The Song of Beowulf, describes the historical past of the land from which the Angles, Saxons and Jutes came. They brought the subject over from the Continent when they invaded Britain, and it was made into a poem in about the 7th century.

The story of Beowulf tells of the time when king Hrothgar ruled the Danes. Hrothgar built a great house for himself and his men. It had a large hall with flat stones in the centre. All the men slept in this hall. There was a great feast when the hall was built. During the feast the songs from the hall were heard by a monster that lived at the bottom of a lonely lake. The gay songs irritated him. When all Hrothgar's men were asleep, Grendel, the monster, appeared. He seized thirty of the sleeping men, carried them away and ate them. Night after night the men disappeared one after another, until Hrothgar had lost nearly all of them.

One day the men that guarded the coast saw a ship approaching the shores of Denmark from Norway. A young Viking was on board, tall and strong as a young oak-tree. It was Beowulf, who had heard of Grendel and his doings. He had come to help Hrothgar to kill the monster. He was received with great joy by Hrothgar, who gave a feast in his honour. When the men lay down to sleep after the feast, Grendel appeared in the dark hall. He seized Beowulf and a great struggle began. In this struggle the monster lost his arm, but ran away. Again there was singing and joy in the hall the next night. But late at night a still more terrible monster, a Water Witch, appeared. She was Grendel's mother who had come to kill Beowulf but she did not find him and disappeared, carrying away one of the best of Hrothgar's men. The next day Beowulf went after her and found her at the bottom of the lake, where she lived with her son. He saw the dead body of Grendel. With an old sword of the giants that he found there Beowulf killed the Water Witch and cut off Grendel's head. Carrying the head he came back to the men who were waiting for him. Later, he returned to his own people with rich presents from Hrothgar.

The second part of the poem tells of Beowulf s deeds when he was king of Norway. A fiery dragon was destroying his country. Beowulf found the dragon's cave and a lot of treasures in it.

Beowulf saved his country – he killed the dragon but the monster wounded him with its fiery breath. Beowulf died and his people buried him on a high cliff by the sea-shore. Over his grave his men raised a mound and rode around it, singing a song of mourning.

Thus, the epic The Song of Beowulf, tells of some events from a people's history, sings the heroic deeds of a man, his courage and his desire for justice, his love for his people and self-sacrifice for the sake of his country.

The poem is a classic example of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It has no rhyme, but each line has alliteration, which is a repetition, at close intervals, of the same consonant in words or syllables.

Another interesting feature of the poem is the use of picture names that show the subject in a new light. The unknown poet calls the sea a "sail-road" or "salt streams", the musical instruments – "joy-wood", "glee-wood", etc. These descriptive words, together with the noun, are called double metaphors.

ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD (11^th – 13^th centuries)

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In the year 1066, in the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon king's army was defeated by William, Duke of Normandy, who became King of England. A strong feudal monarchy was established in the country. The ruling classes consisted of the Norman nobility and the clergy. The power of the Catholic Church had become very great. Most of the English people became serfs.

The Normans came from the north-west of France. They brought with them the culture of their country and the French language. Thus, three languages were spoken in England. The language of the nobility was French, the churchmen used Latin, and the common people spoke Anglo-Saxon.

The three social classes of the country had their own literature. Very popular with the Normans were romances — tales in verse praising the bravery and nobleness of knights. They were sung by minstrels to the accompaniment of a lute. Many romances were based on Celtic legends, especially on those about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur was a half-legendary Celtic king who probably lived in the 6th century, had been brought up by magician Merlin who later helped him in all his deeds. He had his seat in the town of Camelot. In his castle there was a Round Table at which one hundred knights could be seated at a time. One seat was always reserved for the bravest knight. King Arthur was married to Guinevere.

Later, in the 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory wrote the book Morte d'Arthur (Death of Arthur) based entirely on these and other romances. One of the best known among them is Tristram and Isoud (Tristan and Isolde). Tristram was the son of King Meliodas and Elisabeth, the sister of King Mark of Cornwall. After the death of his parents he was brought up at the court of King Mark. Later the king sent him to Ireland to seek for him the hand of the young princess Isoud of the Golden Hair. Before their departure the Queen of Ireland gave her daughter's maid a love-potion which was to be given to Isoud and King Mark on their wedding-night and was to bind them in eternal love. By mistake the love-potion was drunk by Tristram and Isoud who were then hound in endless passion though Isoud was to marry King Mark. Tristram had to leave his uncle's court and, while fighting in France, he married another woman, Isoud of the White Hands. He was heavily wounded in a battle and, while he lay on his deathbed, he sent for his beloved. It was agreed that if Isoud of the Golden Hair was on the ship when it returned, a white flag would be raised, if not, a black one. The flag was white, but Tristram's wife told him it was black, which hastened Tristram's death. When Isoud of the Golden Hair came to his deathbed she died too.

In later centuries this touching story of tragic love inspired a great number of poets, writers and composers, the German composer Richard Wagner among them.

The literature of the Church was scholastic, moralistic, and it supported the feudal system. The books written in Latin by monks taught the common people that their sufferings on earth would be rewarded in heaven.

The Anglo-Saxons composed their own popular poetry. The main genres were the fabliaux – funny stories about townspeople, and the bestiaries – stories in which the characters were animals.

POPULAR BALLADS

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The 15th century is known in English literature as the century of folklore. Many songs, called ballads, were composed then by the common people of the country. The ballads were songs in verses of four lines, called quatrains; the second and fourth lines of the verse rhymed. Among them there were historical and legendary ballads. Some were humorous and others were lyrical.

A favourite legendary hero of the English people is Robin Hood. Some historians say that there really was such a person as Robin Hood, but that is not certain.

Here is a legend of how Robin Hood became an outlaw.

In the 12th century only the King of England could hunt in certain forests in England. If anybody killed a deer there, he was put to death. The men who guarded those forests were the King's foresters and the Head Forester was a very important person.

The beautiful Sherwood Forest was near the town of Nottingham. The Head Forester there had a little son, Robin; the boy was born in the town of Locksley and learned to draw the how and shoot an arrow when he was quite small. Later, Robin became a better archer than all his young friends.

His father had several enemies, among them the Sheriff of Nottingham. When Robin was nineteen, his father was unjustly thrown into prison by the Sheriff. His mother died of grief and his father died soon after.

Robin loved the life of the forest and he wanted to become one of the King's foresters. But he had a quarrel with the Head Forester, who had got his father's place. During the quarrel Robin killed the Head Forester. He had to hide, because the Sheriff of Nottingham was looking for him and had offered a large sum of money for his head. Robin hid in Sherwood Forest, which he knew well. At that time it was called the Greenwood. There were many yeomen already there. They were hiding from the Norman nobles, the rich tradesmen, the monks and the bishops. They were all outlaws. They all wore green clothes, to hide better in the Greenwood. Some of them knew Robin well. The outlaws had no chief and said to Robin: "In Nottingham there is a contest of archers. The archer who wins will get the golden arrow and will crown the prettiest girl of the country as queen of the day. If you win the arrow, you will be our chief.

Robin disguised himself as an old beggar and covered his head and most of his face with a hood, so as not to be recognized. He won the golden arrow, the Sheriff gave it to him and asked him, who he was. "I am Rob the Stroller, my lord Sheriff, he answered. He then took the arrow and went straight to the place where Maid Marian was sitting. They had known each other since childhood and Rob loved her very much. He gave her the golden arrow and made her queen of the day. Maid Marian smiled at him and said: "My thanks to you, Rob in the Hood", for she had recognized him. When Rob came back to the Greenwood the outlaws already knew about his victory; from that day they called him Robin Hood and made him their chief. He had many friends there. There was even a fat monk, Friar Tuck by name, among his merry men. He had run away from his bishop and was now an outlaw, too. Later on a fine young fellow, Allan-a-Dale by name, met Robin Hood in the forest and also joined the outlaws.

Robin Hood helped Allan to find his betrothed. A very old and very rich Norman knight had taken her away from young Allan, because he wanted to marry her himself. That very day Robin Hood went to the church, introduced himself as a musician, and said that he would play when the bride and bridegroom came.

Robin Hood's men came into the Church and seized the old knight's archers and the bride's angry brother. Robin asked the bride whom she wanted to marry. She smiled at Allan-a-Dale and gave him her hand. But the bishop was very angry and refused to marry them. So Robin Hood called Friar Tuck, who was with the outlaws, and told him to marry the young people which he did.

Popular ballads show Robin Hood as a tireless enemy of the Norman oppressors, of the Church and tradesmen. They sing about his courage, his readiness to help the poor and the needy. They tell about the love of the poor people for their legendary hero, and their deep gratitude to him.

These melodious ballads were sung from generation to generation, in the 18th century they were collected and printed for the first time. Thus they became part of the wealth of English literature.

LITERATURE OF THE RENAISSANCE (16^th – 17^th centuries)

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In the 15th -16th centuries capitalist relations began to develop in Europe. The former townspeople became the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie fought against feudalism because it held back the development of capitalism.

The decay of feudalism and the development of capitalist relations was followed by a great rise in the cultural life of Europe. The epoch was characterized by a thirst for knowledge and discoveries, by a powerful development of individuality.

It was then that great geographical discoveries by Columbus, Magellan and other explorers were made, as well as astronomical discoveries by Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo. The invention and use of the printing press by Guttenberg (1399-1468) in Germany, Caxton (1422-1491) in England, Skaryna (1490-1541) in Belarus, Fyodorov (1510-1583) in Russia contributed to the development of culture in all European countries.

There was a revival of interest in the ancient culture of Greece and Rome ("Renaissance" is the French for "re-birth"). On the basis of both ancient culture and the most progressive elements of the culture of the Middle Ages the fine arts, literature and science of the Renaissance began to develop. The culture of the Renaissance was, in fact, the first stage of bourgeois culture.

The progressive ideology of the Renaissance was humanism. Human life, the happiness of people and belief in man's abilities became the main subjects in fine arts and literature. The works of humanists proclaimed equality of people regardless of their social origin, race and religion. The development of a new social order presented great possibilities for man's creative powers. That is why the humanist outlook was marked with bright optimism, with belief in man's great abilities and his high mission. People with a progressive outlook contributed to the development of the world's art, culture and science. The Renaissance produced such great men as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Petrarch and Durer, Cervantes and Shakespeare.

In the 16th century capitalism began to develop in England, as well as in other European countries. However, it had some peculiarities. Wool production became the leading manufacture in England. Landowners drove thousands of peasants off their lands, turning these lands into pastures. There was no work for the peasants and many of them became homeless beggars. Lust for riches was typical of the new class of the bourgeoisie. The most progressive people of the country could not help seeing the growing power of money, and the injustice it caused. English humanists dreamed of social changes that would do away with the vices of society and establish equality among people. English humanism was directed against the ignorance and oppression of the feudal lords, against the greed and self-interest of the bourgeoisie.

These ideas were best expressed by the first English humanist Thomas More (1478-1535) in his book Utopia. Utopia, which is the Greek for "nowhere", is a story about an imaginary island where all people are equal and free. Private property here has been replaced by public ownership. Physical labour is combined with intellectual work. There is no money on the island, because all the people work and get equal pay for their labour. Utopia had a great influence on the development of humanist ideas in England as well as in the whole of Europe.

More's Utopia marked the first period of English humanist literature. The second period which lasted from the middle of the 16th century up to the beginning of the 17th century saw the nourishing of the English drama. The theatre became a favourite amusement of people, especially in towns. The theatres performed the plays written by the English dramatists of the time. Among the playwrights of the period were John Lyly, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and others. The most outstanding dramatist of the time and of all times was William Shakespeare.