Literature during the Middle English period experienced tremendous growth and change. Numerous discrepancies in language and culture added to the difficulties of the day. Here we will explore this phenomenal period in history.
The Anglo-Saxon period of English ended in the 11th century with the Norman conquest of England. England became tri-lingual. Norman French was spoken by the aristocracy, Latin was spoken in the church, and the people spoke a confusion of Anglo-Saxon dialects.
The ascendancy of Anglo-Norman (the form of Old French spoken and written by the Normans who lived in England) over Anglo-Saxon interrupted the normal literary development and forced English prose and poetry into the background during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. French culture and thought were introduced in England, and a considerable number of French words enriched the English language.
It was not until the middle of the 14th century that English, and specifically the East Midland Anglo-Saxon dialect of London, from which modern English is derived, became the dominant language in the country.
This was the language in which Chaucer, the first great English poet, wrote his famous work The Canterbury Tales. Another outstanding work of this influential poet is the poem Troilus and Criseyde, considered by some to be his greatest artistic achievement.
The period between 1350 and 1400, the year of Chaucer’s death, was marked by an important revival of alliterative poetry. The finest examples of this type are Pearl, Purity (or cleanliness), and Patience, all believed to have been written by the same unknown poet. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was written during this period of time, is considered to be one of the best Authurian romances in English. The Vision Concerning Piers Plowman, attributed to William Langland, is generally considered second only to The Canterbury Tales as the greatest poem of the Middle English period. The best known English prose writer at the end of the 14th century was John Wycliffe, who initiated the first complete English translation of the Bible.
The poetry of the 15th century was dominated by the influence of Chaucer. There is very little to recommend in the poems of John Lydgate, Thomas Hoccleve, and their contemporaries. These poets continued treating the themes and using the forms of the 14th century and contributed nothing new. In drama, however, the 15th century was a period of great activity and originality. The miracle, or mystery, plays included the great cycles known by the towns in which they were performed: the York plays, the Chester plays, the Coventry plays, and the Wakefield plays (also called the Towneley plays). The other important dramatic form was the morality play, of which type Everyman is the best known example.
The first appearance in English of the Arthurian legend had been Laymon’s Brut (about 1200). In the latter half of the 15th century Sir Thomas Malory wove the many stories about King Arthur into one great comprehensive prose narrative. His Morte d’Arthur supplied the inspiration for many of the later treatments of this legend.
By the close of the Middle English period the ballad, a type of folk song passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth, was flourishing. “Sir Patrick Spens,” “Edward,” and “Barbara Allen” are three of the most popular ballads composed during the period.
Sources:
encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761558048_2/English_Literature.html
www.netc.edu/faculty/laragolden/MedievalPeriod.PPT
britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188217/English–literature/12765
www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/englit_1/medintro.htm
