Medieval English Literature
Reading Strategy
It is helpful to understand the historical context of a work, the time in which it
was created. Anglo-Saxon England, for example, was a collection of warring
kingdoms, not a single nation. In this uncertain situation, people gave loyalty to a
lord in return for his protection. Also, men dominated society, and women relied
on men for protection. Use a diagram to identify how the loss of a home and a
protector, whether lord or husband, affects the characters and settings in these
poems.
Literary Analysis
A lyric poem expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker. Anglo-Saxon
lyrics, composed for easy memorization and recitation, contain the following
elements:
•Lines with regular rhythms, usually with four strong beats
•Caesuras, pauses for breath in the middle of lines
•Kennings, two-word poetic renamings, like “whales’ home” for the sea
•Assonance, repeated vowel sounds in unrhymed, stressed syllables
•Alliteration, repeated initial consonant sounds in stressed syllables
Literary Analysis
An epic is a long narrative poem, sometimes developed orally, that celebrates
heroic deeds and legendary events. Epics, like Homer’s Iliad from ancient Greece,
are among the earliest forms of literature. They often reveal the cultural and
religious values of the peoples who created and retold them. Common features of
such epics include the following:
•a story told in a serious manner, with elevated language
•a hero battling forces that threaten the world’s order
Most epics celebrate the exploits of a legendary hero, a larger-than-life character.
Beowulf’s boastful self-confidence, his feats of strength, and his victories in battle
make him a classic legendary hero. Because he upholds the values of his culture—
loyalty, bravery, honor—he can teach modern readers a great deal about the
Anglo-Saxon view of the world.
Reading Strategy
When you do not understand a long, involved sentence you are reading, repair your
comprehension by questioning. For example, you may have trouble understanding
the eighteen-line sentence at the start of Chaucer’s Prologue. To analyze the
sentence, ask the questions when, who, where, what, why, and how to identify
essential information.
Literary Analysis
As you read the Prologue, look for these forms of characterization—techniques
of revealing character:
•Direct characterization presents direct statements about a character, like
Chaucer’s statement that the Knight “followed chivalry . . .”
•Indirect characterization uses actions, thoughts, dialogue, and description
to reveal a character’s personality. By saying the Knight Is “not gaily
dressed,” Chaucer suggests that he is not vain.
Each character in the selection represents a different segment of society in
Chaucer’s time. By noting the virtues and faults of each, Chaucer provides social
commentary, writing that offers insight into society, its values, and its customs.
As you read, determine what Chaucer’s characters suggest about his views of
English society and of life.
Reading Strategy
If you cannot fully understand a passage at first, you can repair your
comprehension by rereading it and the surrounding passages. Rereading can help
you clarify characters’ identities, the sequence or causes of events, and puzzling
language.
Literary Analysis
Allegories are narratives that have both literal and deeper, symbolic meanings.
This form appears in many types of work, including poetry, novels, plays, and
short stories. “The Pardoner’s Tale” is a kind of allegory called an exemplum, Latin
for “example.” The tale is an exemplum against the sin of greed, and the Pardoner
uses the tale to illustrate the point of one of his sermons, “Love of money is the
root of all evil.”
To teach its lesson effectively, an allegory must be easily understood and
remembered by the listeners. For this reason, an allegory may use certain basic
storytelling patterns, or archetypal narrative elements, found in folk literature
around the world. These elements include the following:
•Characters, events, and other things that come in threes
•A test of characters’ morality
•A mysterious guide who helps point the way
•A just ending that rewards good or punishes evil
With such elements, the basic story in this tale survived retellings as it traveled
from ancient India to Europe. As you read, note the archetypal elements that make
the allegory and its moral clear and memorable.
Think Aloud
Let's say I don't quite understand what the Pardoner is getting at in these
lines. In line 335 he seems to be saying that he has a ledger, and that if he
writes a person's name in the ledger they will go to Heaven. A ledger is a
book that businesses use to keep track of money. He might be implying
that getting into Heaven is like a business transaction. In lines 337-339, the
Pardoner says he will absolve the people who make an offering. I think
absolve means the same thing as pardon. So he will pardon people who
make an offering, that is, who give him payment. I might paraphrase these
lines this way: If you give me payment, I'll pardon you so you can go to
Heaven.
Reading Strategy
You may encounter unfamiliar words while reading. If so, repair your
comprehension by checking context clues—words and phrases in the surrounding
passage that shed light on the meaning of a word. Common context clues are
synonyms, antonyms, and examples that clarify a word’s meaning.
Literary Analysis
A frame is a story that brackets—or frames—another story or group of stories. In
The Canterbury Tales, for example, the frame is the characters’ pilgrimage to
Canterbury Cathedral described in the Prologue. Within the frame are the tales told
by the characters on their journey. Here are some ways in which the frame and the
individual tales interact:
•Individual tales reflect the description of the storytellers’ personalities and
lives that you find in the frame narrative.
•A tale may itself contain a frame narrative and an inner tale. “The Wife of
Bath’s Tale” has such a structure.
•The setting of the frame narrative, the time and place of its action, may not
match the settings of individual tales. For example, the events in the
Prologue occur around Chaucer’s time, but the Wife of Bath sets her frame
story much earlier, during the reign of King Arthur.
Reading Strategy
You can determine the main idea, or essential message, of a work or a passage
in several different ways. One method is to summarize a whole work or a portion
of it by identifying and briefly restating its main ideas and relevant details.
Literary Analysis
Romances are narratives that tell of strange, sometimes supernatural events in
exotic settings. Medieval romances are adventure stories with kings, knights, and
damsels in distress. The medieval romances in this grouping are based on legends,
anonymous traditional stories about the past that may have been inspired by real
events and people. Legends, like these relating to King Arthur and his knights,
often feature the following:
•heroic figures and memorable deeds
•quests, or searches for something important; contests; and tests
•patterns, such as events repeated three times
Medieval writers created romances by adding to legends such elements as vivid
descriptions, plot twists, and accounts of the reactions and motives of characters.
As you read, look for these elements and compare and contrast their use in these
selections.