1. What I wish to say of the best of dreams,
what came to me in the middle of the night
after the speech-bearers lie biding their rest! (1-3)
It seemed to me that I saw the greatest tree
brought into the sky, bewound in light,
the brightest of beams. That beacon was entirely
garnished with gold. Gemstones
prominent and proud at the corners of the earth—
five more as well blazoned across the span of its shoulders.
Every angel of the Lord warded it there,
a brilliant sight of a universe to come.
Surely it was no longer the gallows of vile crime
in that place—yet there they kept close watch,
holy spirits for all humanity across the earth,
and every part of this widely famous creation. (4-12)
Surpassing was this victory-tree, and me splattered with sins—
struck through with fault. I saw this tree of glory,
well-worthied in its dressing, shining in delights,
geared with gold. Gemstones had
nobly endowed the Sovereign’s tree.
Nevertheless I could perceive through all that gold
a wretched and ancient struggle, where it first started
to sweat blood on its right side. I was entirely perturbed with sorrows—
I was fearful for that lovely sight.
Then I saw that streaking beacon warp its hue, its hangings —
at times it was steamy with bloody wet, stained with coursing gore,
at other times it was glistening with treasure. (13-23)

2. “There I dared not go beyond the Lord’s word
to bow or burst apart—then I saw the corners of the earth
tremor—I could have felled all those foemen,
nevertheless I stood fast. (35-38)
“The young warrior stripped himself then—that was God Almighty—
strong and firm of purpose—he climbed up onto the high gallows,
magnificent in the sight of many. Then he wished to redeem mankind.
I quaked when the warrior embraced me—
yet I dared not bow to the ground, collapse
to earthly regions, but I had to stand there firm.
The rood was reared. I heaved the mighty king,
the Lord of Heaven—I dared not topple or reel. (39-45)
“They skewered me with dark nails, wounds easily seen upon me,
treacherous strokes yawning open. I dared injure none of them.
They shamed us both together. I was besplattered with blood,
sluicing out from the man’s side, after launching forth his soul. (46-49)

3. Beowulf
So these noble warriors lodged in their delights
blissfully — until their lonely opponent
made evil upon them, the fiend from hell.
That ferocious spirit was named Grendel,
the notorious border-strider, who held the moors,
the swampy stronghold, the lair of water-monsters,
an unhappy creature, keeping them a long while,
since the Shaper had condemned him
as the kin of Cain—that killing had the Eternal Lord
avenged, after the man had struck down Abel.
Cain rejoiced not in that felony, but he banished him far away,
the Measurer for those wicked deeds, from the kindred of men.
From there was conceived all sorts of monstrous things,
ogres and elves and revenants, likewise the giants
who struggled against God for many ages—
who gave them back their just deserts. (ll )

4. of our wise men, that I should seek you,
“Then my tribesmen instructed me, the best
of our wise men, that I should seek you,
Prince Hrothgar, because they knew my skillful power,
they observed it themselves when I came back
from sorties, splattered by my enemies,
where I bound up five warriors, and destroyed
a tribe of giants, and among the waves
struck down water-beasts by night,
enduring many close calls, avenging
malice against the Weders—they asked for their woes—
I ground down our oppressors and now, against Grendel,
I must pay him back alone, that wretched monster, that demon. (ll, a)

5. “Just now I wish to ask you one thing,
lord of the Bright-Danes, Hedge of the Scyldings,
one single favor, that you do not refuse me this—
shelter of warriors, generous friend of your people,
now that I have come so far, that I be allowed
to cleanse Heorot, alone, with this band of my warriors,
this troop of hardened men. I have learned as well
that this monster, out of recklessness, reckons naught
of weaponry. So I shall disdain them, so that Hygelac
might be most pleased at heart, my lord of men,
not bearing any blade or broad shield with yellow boss
into the battle, but I must grapple with the fiend
with grip alone, contend life against life,
hate against hatred. There he must trust
in the judgment of the Lord, he whom death seizes. (ll. 426b-41)

6. I reckon that he will, if he is allowed to win
in the war-hall, fearlessly devour Geatish warriors,
just as he has often devoured your glorious troops.
There will be no need at that moment to cover
my head, but he will have covered enough,
blotted with blood, if death seizes me—
he will bear me to bloody slaughter, thinking to taste me—
the solitary stalker will eat without the slightest regret,
marking his swampy lair. There will be no need
to sorrow for long over cleaning my corpse!
Just send Hygelac, if the contest conquers me,
this best of battle-clothes that wards my breast,
finest of garments. It is an heirloom of Hrethel,
the work of Weland. The way of the world always goes as it must!” (ll )

7. … to the king.
You are the wall-stone that the stonewrights
once rejected from their labors. It suits you
that you should be the capital of the glorious hall,
and you gather up the capacious walls,
with fixed joint and stone unbroken,
so that throughout all earthly cities,
by the sight of the eyes, all men
can marvel forever at the Lord of Glory.

8. Isaiah 28:16
So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
Psalm 118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
1 Peter 2:6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

9. Therefore one can say,
who speaks truthfully to you,
that he delivered the tribe of men,
who were once perverted.
It was through a young woman,
a maiden without wickedness,
who he chose to be his mother.
That was done without the love of a man,
so that the lady became large
with the bearing of a child.
Nothing could compare to this,
before or since, arising in the world,
this woman’s yearning—
that was a secret, the Lord’s mystery.

10. and the wordy songs of the prophets,
when the Wielder came, he who amplifies
the mystery of every statement
of those who, through active state
eagerly wish to extol the Shaper’s name. (18-49)

11. Middle English period: begun with the Norman conquest 1066 (as depicted on the Bayeux tapestry)

12. =Norman conquest, Battle of Hastings, October 1066
“In 1066 the death of the childless Anglo-Saxon ruler Edward the Confessor occasioned the most important change in English political life. Edward’s mother was Norman, giving the duke of Normandy a hereditary claim to the English throne. Before his death, Edward…directed that his throne be given to William, the reigning Duke of Normandy. But the Anglo-Saxon assembly…vetoed Edward’s last wishes, choosing instead Harold Godwinson.” –The Western Heritage, 275
=Norman conquest, Battle of Hastings, October 1066

13. The Witenagemot (King’s Council)

14. William—his son Henry I—(chaos from „The Anarchy”) his daughter Matilda, her son Henry II (steered English monarchy toward an oppressive rule (married Eleanor of Aquitaine) established Angevin/Plantagenet dynasty which lasted until death of Richard III (House of York) in 1485—Richard the Lion-Hearted and John (Robin Hood) (Crusades)

15. “As Henry II acquired new lands abroad, he became more autocratic at home. He forced his will on the clergy in the Constitution of Clarendon. These measures…gave the king control over the election of bishops. The result was strong political resistance from both the nobility and the clergy. The archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas á Becket, once Henry’s compliant chancellor, broke openly with the king and fled to Louis VII…(Two hundred years later, Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in an age made cynical by the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War, had the pilgrims of his Canterbury Tales journey to the shrine of Thomas á Becket.)” The Western Heritage, 278

16. “The circumstances of writers in the English vernacular changed greatly in the years after the Norman Conquest. The collapse of the written standard established by West-Saxon monks and the exclusion of English writings from the main centres of power and patronage…” The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, 22-23
Literary language shifted to predominance of latin and french, influencing the evolution of anglo-saxon to the middle english of chaucer and his contemporaries

17. During the reign of Richard II (1377-99)
„This is the remarkable ‚Ricardian’ period, in which, in the lifetime of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, alliterative poetry flowered again in England.” The Oxford Illustrated History, 27
Alliterative Revival
„This very large body of work, which is many times greater than the whole surviving corpus of Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse, includes many notable poems, among them…Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and…Morte Darthure…” Oxford, 27
1476—William Caxton introduces printing press to England

18. House of Plantagenet

19. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
“Whoever he was, the Gawain-poet ranks as one of the most brilliant representatives of that remarkable generation of English poets which may be called ‘Ricardian’ (after Richard II, who reigned from 1377 to 1399). His chief contemporaries were Gower, Langland, and Chaucer.” Oxford, 30

20. „trawthe” and „untrawthe”
„Does any other romance writer…show what it might actually feel like to wake up on the morning of a perilous tryst, as Gawain does on the stormy New Year’s Day when he is due at the Green Chapel to receive the return blow? For in this Arthurian romance as in no other knightly courage is exposed to something like the full strength of those forces which turn most people into cowards—and is shaken by the impact.” Oxford, 33
„trawthe” and „untrawthe”

21. William Langland Piers Plowman
„The poem…concerns the narrator's intense quest for the true Christian life, from the perspective of medieval Catholicism. This quest entails a series of dream-visions and an examination into the lives of three allegorical characters, Dowel ("Do-Well"), Dobet ("Do-Better"), and Dobest ("Do-Best")” Wikipedia
Long Will
Piers (Peter)
„…the mysterious abruptness of his arrivals and…his equally mysterious departures…serve to express Langland’s deepest sense of the elusiveness of that inner goodness and truth for which Piers himself stands.” Oxford, 36

22. „Will has two dreams of how contemporary England might be reformed, in the administration of justice and in the conduct of all classes of society, by living and acting ‚truly’ in accordance with the dictates of reason and conscience. But this ideal of conduct, which comes to be called ‚Do Well,’ presents many difficulties, both because human nature is deeply perverse and also because the ideal itself seems difficult to grasp.” Oxford, 37

23. „Langland does not distinguish between social, moral intellectual, and theological issues…for him, the Church and society are ideally coterminous; both depend for their health upon the condition of individuals; and for the individual, intellectual and moral ‚truth’ are inseparable.” Oxford, 37

24. Thomas Malory Morte Darthure
deals with declining aristocratic and chivalric values
Compiled Arthurian tales into coherent group of related stories
Summary of the history of Britain as seen through the perspective of the end of the age of chivalry (knights divided by Hundred Years’ War and War of the Roses)

25. John Wyclif: philosopher, politician and reformer.
First complete translation of the Bible into English by Wyclif and his followers from the Latin text of the Vulgate. (1384)
Lollardy (precursor to Protestant Reformation)

26. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) „The Father of English Literature”

27. Son of a London wine merchant (from a family of merchants in Ipswich
Son of a London wine merchant (from a family of merchants in Ipswich. Name derives from the French „chausseur” or shoemaker)
1357 became a nobleman’s page, bringing him into the court circle
1359 travelled to France as part of English army during the Hundred Years’ War; captured at siege of Rheims, king Edward III paid for his ransom
served as Clerk of the King’s Works
Through his wife became the brother-in-law of the Duke of Lancaster, father of Henry IV
First poet to be buried in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey
Legitimized the literary use of Middle English vernacular (instead of French or Latin)
Died of unknown causes in 1400 (some say he was murdered by enemies of Richard II, or even on the orders of Henry IV)

28. Canterbury Tales
‘Only the Knight, the poor Parson and the Plowman are treated without any touch of irony, as almost ideal figures, and they are anachronisms by Chaucer’s time. The Knight represents chivalry and courtesy, the Parson’s genuinely Christian behaviour is contrasted with that of the other representatives of the Church, and the Plowman…would be hard to find in an age of the peasants’ revolt…These nostalgic portraits represent Chaucer’s oblique comments on the troubles of his time, which he never overtly discusses…The old order was breaking up…’ (David Daiches, A Critical History of English Literature. Vol. I: From the Beginnings to Milton, p. 106) *from Dr. Dósa’s lecture notes

29. The Knight’s Tale
Main characters
Theseus
Ypolita
Emily
Creon
Arcite
Palamon

30. Chaucer’s story was based upon Boccacio’s Teseide; Shakespeare wrote a dramatic version of the story The Two Noble Kinsmen; the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are based on it

31. The Knight’s Tale
Love is a gretter lawe, by my pan,
Love is a greater law, by my skull,
Than may be yeve to any erthely man;
Than may be given to any earthly man;
And therfore positif lawe and swich decree
And therefore positive (man-made) law and such decree
Is broken al day for love in ech degree.
Is broken every day for love in every way.
A man moot nedes love, maugree his heed;
A man must of necessity love, in spite of all he can do;
He may nat fleen it, thogh he sholde be deed,
He can not flee (from) it, though he should be dead,
Al be she mayde, or wydwe, or elles wyf.
Whether she be maid, or widow, or else wife.

32. 1251 "Allas, why pleynen folk so in commune
"Alas, why do folk so commonly complain
On purveiaunce of God, or of Fortune,
About the providence of God, or of Fortune,
That yeveth hem ful ofte in many a gyse
That gives them full often in many a manner
Wel bettre than they kan hemself devyse?
Much better than they can themselves imagine?
Som man desireth for to han richesse,
One man desires to have riches,
That cause is of his mordre or greet siknesse;
Which is the cause of his murder or great sickness;
And som man wolde out of his prisoun fayn,
And one man would happily (go) out of his prison,
That in his hous is of his meynee slayn.
Who is slain in his house by members of his household.
Infinite harmes been in this mateere.
Infinite harms are in this matter.
We witen nat what thing we preyen heere;
We know not what thing we pray for here;
We faren as he that dronke is as a mous.
We act like one who is drunk as a mouse.
A dronke man woot wel he hath an hous,
A drunk man knows well he has a house,

33. 1263 But he noot which the righte wey is thider,
But he does not know which is the right way to it,
And to a dronke man the wey is slider.
And to a drunk man the way is slippery.
And certes, in this world so faren we;
And certainly, so we fare in this world;
We seken faste after felicitee,
We seek eagerly after felicity,
But we goon wrong ful often, trewely.
But we go wrong very often, truly.
Thanne seyde he, "O crueel goddes that governe
Then said he, "O cruel gods that govern
This world with byndyng of youre word eterne,
This world with binding of your eternal word,
And writen in the table of atthamaunt
And write in the table of adamant (hardest of stones)
Youre parlement and youre eterne graunt,
Your decision and your eternal decree,
What is mankynde moore unto you holde
Why is mankind more obligated unto you
Than is the sheep that rouketh in the folde?
Than is the sheep that cowers in the sheepfold?
For slayn is man right as another beest,
For man is slain exactly like another beast,

34. 1310 And dwelleth eek in prison and arreest,
And dwells also in prison and detention,
And hath siknesse and greet adversitee,
And has sickness and great adversity,
And ofte tymes giltelees, pardee.
And often times guiltless, indeed.
"What governance is in this prescience,
"What (sort of) governance is in this foreknowledge,
That giltelees tormenteth innocence?
That torments guiltless innocence?
And yet encresseth this al my penaunce,
And yet this increases all my suffering,
That man is bounden to his observaunce,
That man is bound to his duty,
For Goddes sake, to letten of his wille,
For God's sake, to refrain from his desire,
Ther as a beest may al his lust fulfille.
Whereas a beast may fulfill all his desire.
And whan a beest is deed he hath no peyne;
And when a beast is dead he has no pain;

35. 2238 I kepe noght of armes for to yelpe,
I care not to boast of arms
Ne I ne axe nat tomorwe to have victorie,
Nor do I ask to have victory tomorrow,
Ne renoun in this cas, ne veyne glorie
Nor renown in this case, nor vain glory
Of pris of armes blowen up and doun;
Nor fame for deeds of arms proclaimed everywhere;
But I wolde have fully possessioun
But I would have fully possession
Of Emelye, and dye in thy servyse.
Of Emelye, and die in thy service.
Fynd thow the manere hou and in what wyse:
Find thou the manner how and in what way:
I recche nat but it may bettre be
I care not if it may better be
To have victorie of hem, or they of me,
To have victory over them, or they over me,
So that I have my lady in myne armes.
So that I have my lady in my arms.
For though so be that Mars is god of armes,
For though it be true that Mars is god of arms,
Youre vertu is so greet in hevene above
Your power is so great in heaven above
That if yow list, I shal wel have my love.
That if you please, I shall well have my love.

36. Wife of Bath’s Tale the theme of the „loathly lady”

37. 371 Thou liknest eek wommenes love to helle,
Thou also compare women's love to hell,
To bareyne lond, ther water may nat dwelle.
To barren land, where water may not remain.
Thou liknest it also to wilde fyr;
Thou compare it also to Greek (inextinguishable) fire;
The moore it brenneth, the moore it hath desir
The more it burns, the more it has desire
To consume every thyng that brent wole be.
To consume every thing that will be burned.
Thou seyest, right as wormes shende a tree,
Thou sayest, just as worms destroy a tree,
Right so a wyf destroyeth hire housbonde;
Right so a wife destroys her husband;
This knowe they that been to wyves bonde.'
This know they who are bound to wives.'

38. 682 And every nyght and day was his custume,
And every night and day was his custom,
Whan he hadde leyser and vacacioun
When he had leisure and spare time
From oother worldly occupacioun,
From other worldly occupations,
To reden on this book of wikked wyves.
To read in this book of wicked wives.
He knew of hem mo legendes and lyves
He knew of them more legends and lives
Than been of goode wyves in the Bible.
Than are of good women in the Bible.
For trusteth wel, it is an impossible
For trust well, it is an impossibility
That any clerk wol speke good of wyves,
That any clerk will speak good of women,
But if it be of hooly seintes lyves,
Unless it be of holy saints' lives,
Ne of noon oother womman never the mo.
Nor of any other woman in any way.
Who peyntede the leon, tel me who?
Who painted the lion, tell me who?
By God, if wommen hadde writen stories,
By God, if women had written stories,
As clerkes han withinne hire oratories,
As clerks have within their studies,
They wolde han writen of men moore wikkednesse
They would have written of men more wickedness
Than al the mark of Adam may redresse.
Than all the male sex could set right.

39. But now to the point, why I told thee
But now to purpos, why I tolde thee
But now to the point, why I told thee
That I was beten for a book, pardee!
That I was beaten for a book, by God!
Upon a nyght Jankyn, that was oure sire,
Upon a night Jankin, that was master of our house,
Redde on his book, as he sat by the fire,
Read on his book, as he sat by the fire,
Of Eva first, that for hir wikkednesse
Of Eve first, how for her wickedness
Was al mankynde broght to wrecchednesse,
All mankind was brought to wretchedness,
For which that Jhesu Crist hymself was slayn,
For which Jesus Christ himself was slain,
That boghte us with his herte blood agayn.
Who bought us back with his heart's blood.
Lo, heere expres of womman may ye fynde
Lo, here clearly of woman you may find
That womman was the los of al mankynde.
That woman was the cause of the loss of all mankind.

40. 812 We fille acorded by us selven two.
We made an agreement between our two selves.
He yaf me al the bridel in myn hond,
He gave me all the control in my hand,
To han the governance of hous and lond,
To have the governance of house and land,
And of his tonge, and of his hond also;
And of his tongue, and of his hand also;
And made hym brenne his book anon right tho.
And made him burn his book immediately right then.
And whan that I hadde geten unto me,
And when I had gotten unto me,
By maistrie, al the soveraynetee,
By mastery, all the sovereignty,
And that he seyde, `Myn owene trewe wyf,
And that he said, `My own true wife,
Do as thee lust the terme of al thy lyf;
Do as you please the rest of all thy life;
Keep thyn honour, and keep eek myn estaat' --
Guard thy honor, and guard also my reputation' --
After that day we hadden never debaat.
After that day we never had an argument.

41. 1117 Crist wole we clayme of hym oure gentillesse,
Christ wants us to claim our nobility from him,
Nat of oure eldres for hire old richesse.
Not from our ancestors for their old riches.
For thogh they yeve us al hir heritage,
For though they give us all their heritage,
For which we clayme to been of heigh parage,
For which we claim to be of noble lineage,
Yet may they nat biquethe for no thyng
Yet they can not bequeath by any means
To noon of us hir vertuous lyvyng,
To any of us their virtuous living,

42. 1133 "Eek every wight woot this as wel as I,
"Also every person knows this as well as I,
If gentillesse were planted natureelly
If nobility were planted naturally
Unto a certeyn lynage doun the lyne,
Unto a certain lineage down the line,
Pryvee and apert thanne wolde they nevere fyne
Then in private and in public they would never cease
To doon of gentillesse the faire office;
To do the just duties of nobility;
They myghte do no vileynye or vice.
They could do no dishonor or vice.

43. 1162 Thy gentillesse cometh fro God allone.
Thy nobility comes from God alone.
Thanne comth oure verray gentillesse of grace;
Then our true nobility comes from grace ;
It was no thyng biquethe us with oure place.
It was not at all bequeathed to us with our social rank.
Thanne am I gentil, whan that I bigynne
Then am I noble, when I begin
To lyven vertuously and weyve synne.
To live virtuously and abandon sin.

44. For as it pleases you, is enough for me."
This knyght avyseth hym and sore siketh,
This knight deliberates and painfully sighs,
But atte laste he seyde in this manere:
But at the last he said in this manner:
"My lady and my love, and wyf so deere,
"My lady and my love, and wife so dear,
I put me in youre wise governance;
I put me in your wise governance;
Cheseth youreself which may be moost plesance
Choose yourself which may be most pleasure
And moost honour to yow and me also.
And most honor to you and me also.
I do no fors the wheither of the two,
I do not care which of the two,
For as yow liketh, it suffiseth me."
For as it pleases you, is enough for me."