HISTORY OF ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE

Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature

It has always been humans’ instinct to express their aesthetic sense and artistic skills to
rejoice and literature is one of most expressive and finest forms to present different
aspects and feelings of humans. The literature, especially poetry, has been existing since
there was no means of writing it and it gradually developed from oral to written. Among
the old eras, one noteworthy era was of Anglo-Saxon literature.
Anglo-Saxon people were too much inclined towards fighting and wars which also
influenced their literature. They were used to getting entertained by the poets when they
returned from a battle and the poets were of high significance as well. Therefore we can find
much literary works based on the theme of the great display of bravery, courage and heroics.
The Anglo-Saxons were actually pagans but a religious effect is quite noticeable in written
poems. Even they also converted to Christianity later on.
Anglo-Saxon literature went through a great deal of changes since many of the poems
were written after centuries of their oral composition. They were mainly written by Christian
monks; among them the most noted is St. Bede. He wrote Caedmon’s oral poems. Therefore
the Anglo-Saxon literary works also obtained the religious influence over them. This religious
influence can be observed in poems such as “Beowulf”, “The Wanderer,” and “The Seafarer”.
Although Beowulf is a heroic poem, it does depict many religiously composed verses and ideas
since it was turned into a manuscript by a Christian poet. Anglo-Saxon literature was influenced
by Latin literature same as Greek inspired Latin literature. It was Latin who enabled and
educated Anglo-Saxons to use literary instruments properly. Anglo-Saxon poetry is
divided into two types; the first is heroic Germanic pre-Christian poetry and the other is
the Christian poetry.
There are almost 400 extant manuscripts from the era of Anglo-Saxons. The most
noteworthy and significant existing manuscripts include “Beowulf”, “Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle”, “Cædmon's Hymn”, “The Exeter Book”, “The Vercelli Book”, and “The
Nowell Codex”. The genre in which Anglo-Saxon literature was written consists of epic
poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, and riddles.
The Anglo-Saxon literature was created between 650 and 1100.
Anglo- Saxon literature has gone through different periods of research- in the 19th and
early 20th centuries, the focus was on Germanic roots of English, later the literary merits were
examined, and today the interest is with paleography questions and the physical manuscripts
themselves such as dating, place of origin, authorship, and looking connections between Anglo-
Saxon culture and the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.

Poetry In Anglo-Saxon Literature

We have no clear clues of particular poetic rules Anglo-Saxons applied in their poetry.
Whatever we know about their poetic style and rules is all based on present examination.
The earliest broadly acknowledged theory was presented by Eduard Sievers in 1885. He
told apart five distinctive alliterative patterns. John C. Pope’s theory of musical notation
to track the verse patterns was also accepted. The theory of Eduard Sievers of alliterative
verse gives the clearest comprehension of Old English poetry. The system is based on
accent, alliteration, the number of vowels, and patterns of syllabic stress. It is based on
five versions on base-verse scheme; any one of the five categories can be used in any
verse. The system was inherited from and exists in one form or another in all of the older
Germanic languages.
More or less, Old English verses are parted in half by a pause; the pause is called a
"caesura." Each half-line consists of two stressed syllables. The first stressed syllable of
the second half-line alliterates with one or both of the stressed syllables of the first halfline.
The second stressed syllable of the second half-line does not alliterate with either of
the stressed syllables of the first half. For example:
fyrene fremman feond on helle.
("to perpetrate torment, fiend of hell.")

-- Beowulf, line 101

As we know that Anglo-Saxon poetry was mainly oral and it had the heroics themes, and
it, later on, was properly written by Christian monks who left a religious impression on it.
The other noticeable styles found in Anglo-Saxon poetry are kenning, variation, and
litotes.

Anglo-Saxon Poetry At Early Age

The poetry was always there in rough form among the Anglo-Saxons. They used to sing
ballads whenever they had good deal of hunting or they returned from a war having
defeated the enemy in the battlefield. It was not an organised effort but random. Among
the gleeful crowd, any of them could cry out loud a random verse and the rest would say
it after him rhythmically and some more lines could be added by others as well. This
pattern inclined them towards the composition of complete ballads. it was the time when
minstrels were developed. They even became professionals who made their living by
roaming around the villages singing the legendary ballads or their own composed ones.
Later on, these minstrels also served at courts of the kings and sang the heroic ballads for
the warriors to entertain them. Since it was completely oral, the work is lost. But those
popular ballads and minstrel poetry gradually developed into epic poetry because it
passed on to others through word-of-mouth and other poets added into the poetry.

Features Of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

The Anglo-Saxon poetry has three main factors which are kennings, variations, and
litotes.

Kenning
Kenning is a lyrical compound which attracts reader or listener making a vivid
picture. It has an intentional effort to be vague and mysterious.
For example, the kenning for the word “blood” would be written as “wounddew”.

Variation
Variation is a repetition of a word used earlier in the verse with a different word.
For example, the word “glory” is the reputation for “valor” is a variation.
Litotes
Litotes is a type of oral irony. This is expressed in form of the overstatement such
as in Beowulf when the hero is in the clasp of Grendel’s mother, and the poet
writes repeatedly that what deep trouble Beowulf is in. It was used similarly used
in the case of the understatement. Litotes aims to intensify the feeling in the
poetry.

Common Themes In Anglo-Saxon Poetry

The themes in Anglo-Saxon poetry start with heroics such as “Beowulf” and gradually
move towards to the religious themes of Gospels. The following themes and subjects are
commonly found in Anglo-Saxon literary works: Battle, war, warriors; seas; storms;
ravens; eagles; wolves; death, dying; fate, destiny; nobles, rulers; weapons and armor.

Genres in Anglo-Saxon Poetry

The Anglo-Saxon poetry remained under growth for centuries. It started as pagan and
then evolved to Christian religious poetry and from oral to manuscript. Therefore
it gathered numerous genres in it.

Heroic Poetry
The Anglo-Saxons were ever ready to fight and go top the war. It was their in their blood
to look for battles. The warriors were entertained by the poets when they came
back from a war being triumph. The poets told them the stories of heroes,
gallantry, valor, etc. as we can find much discussed poem “Beowulf” has many
fighting depictions against the monster and the dragon. There is heroic poem
which is actually a retelling of Beowulf namely “The Fight at Finnsburh”.
Waldere is another heroic poem dealing with the life of Walter of Aquitaine.
Widsith is also a heroic one pertaining to Eormanric and the Goths from 4 th
century. Moreover Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has heroic poems. They were so
influenced by this heroic poetry that they thought of turning Gospel into heroic
poetic manner.

Elegiac Poetry
The elegiac poems describe wisdom and the ups and downs of life. The Exeter Book has
a numerous poems which fall under the category of elegies. The noticeable elegiac poems
are “The Ruin”, “The Wanderer”, “The Seafarer”, “Wulf and Eadwacer”, “The Wife's
Lament”, and The Husband's Message.