Literature Blogs

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of Anglo-Saxons. It was in all probability inspired by Alfred, who himself may well have dictated some of the entries, more particularly those dealing with his own campaigns. It is extant in several manuscripts the most important being the A or Parker and the E or laud MSS. To the year 915 much of the material is common to most of the manuscripts through the relations of each an individual one of the others presents serious difficulties. Local events and miscellaneous items are introduced into the various versions and they also show clearly varying points of view in their attitude to events. They all end at different dates, the latest being 1154. The literary quality of the early part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is poor. The Annalist of 775, for  example, had a very interesting  story of inter-tribal rivalry the story of Cynewulf and Osric of Deira (7th century AD) but ...

 Old English Prose   King Alfred:   Though there were some prose writings of an official nature before  the time Alfred, there can be little objection to the claim frequently made for him, that he is the 'father of English prose'. As he himself tells us in the preface to the Pastoral Care, he began his series of translations due to the lamentable state of English learning, largely the result of the depredations of the Danes. Even the knowledge of Latin was declining, so the king, in order to encourage learning among the clergy, translated some popular books into his own tongue. These works are his contribution to our literature. Sometimes he translated word for word, at others more freely but those passages which have the greatest value both for an understanding of the character of the king and also for their literary qualities are originals freely introduced by way of explanation or expansion. The five important translations are the Pastoral Care of Pope Gre...

The first fragment of literature is known as Caedmon's Hymn. It dates from the late seventh century (around 670). The Story goes that Caedmon was a lay worker on the estate of the monastery of Whitby, in Northumbria. His hymn is, therefore, the first song of praise in English culture, and the first Christian religious poem in English, Although many Latin hymns were known at the time. It was preserved by monks of Whitby, and it is not certain whether the few lines which have survived through the ages are the complete hymn or not. Christian monks and nuns were, in effect, the guardians of culture, as they were virtually the only people who could read and write before the fourteenth century. It is interesting therefore the most of the native English culture they preserved is not in Latin, the language of the church, but in old English, the language of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Christian monks and nuns were, in effect, the guardians of culture, as they were virtually the only peop...