History: The Period of the English Language (Part-2)

Old English (Anglo -Saxon) (450-1066)

In 449 AD, the first migration of different tribes from Germany to England occurred. The Romans ruled over the Britons, while the Picts attacked them. To protect themselves from the Picts, they constructed Hadrian’s Wall. At that time, the Romans spoke the Latin language. The Roman king Honorius told Celts to defend themselves. They left Britain. The Picts continued to attack, but the Celts lacked the courage to repel their attacks. Celts (Britons) welcome Anglo-Saxons and Jutes.

These tribes came from northern Germany. The tribes that migrated from the North to the South faced various challenges, such as inadequate education and food theft by traders. Fishing was a basic source of food. Civilization began on the seashore as a means of obtaining food through fishing. In the 5th century AD, they came from Russia. The Angles and Saxons were powerful tribes; they ruled England for 600 years. They spoke the old English language. In the 8th century, Bede wrote a book on Anglo-Saxon and Jutes, “Ecclesiastical History of English People.“. Following their capture by the Angles and Saxons, the Celts relocated to Ireland and Scotland. The Heptarchy divided Britain into seven parts. Wessex’s empire was the most powerful. They didn’t have to write literature. They taught writing to Roman missionaries. The Beowulf manuscript is from the same era. It is also referred to as the national epic of England.

Work In This Era

1. Four manuscripts contain Old English literary works.
2. Exeter book (cathedral in Devon ) (10^th century)
3. Junius Manuscript (Caedmon manuscript )
4. Vercilli Book
5. Nowell codex
6. The Bible was translated from Latin into Old English by Alfred the Great.
7. Heroic poetry, like Beuwulf, was an important work of that era.
8. 94 Riddles (Exeter book)
9. The Dream of the Road is a book by Vercilli.
10. Christ and Satan
11. The Viking invasion and Norman Conquest led to that era’s downfall.
12. Major themes include wars, patriotism, and the struggle against nature.

Middle English (1066- 1500)

About 7,000 Normans attacked England. After that, social, cultural, and political changes occur. Viking tribes are actually Normans, and they came from the North. They had settled in France. They embrace their culture. At that time, France’s King Charles (911) requested that they stop their attack. Vikings killed Wessex King Harold Godwinson in the War of Hastings (October 11, 1066). The death of Godwinson marked a turning point in English literature.

They ordered William-I to speak Norman French instead of Old English. He introduced feudalism. French became the language of the ruling class.

• The work in this timeworks.
• Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales, 1387–1400)
• The story of Bath’s wife dates back to the 14th century.
• The late 14th century saw the advent of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• John Gower, also known as Vox Clamantis, was a vocalist who lived from 1380 to 1382.
• That era gave rise to literary terms like assonance, ballad, and chivalric romance.

Renaissance period (1500- 1660) (5^th C– 14^th C)

Ancient – Medieval – Modern

The medieval era is also known as the Dark Age in Europe. During this period, the church and nobility experienced significant growth. Europeans made contact with Arabs. Turkey is attached to Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire moved towards Europe. A man named Cardinal Bessarion, along with 800 manuscripts, moved towards Italy. The Renaissance age came first in Italy. Writers such as Dante Alighieri and Petrarch, known as the father of humanism, concentrated on the Latin language. The Renaissance era creates a bridge between the ancient and modern ages. When the Renaissance arrived, the Tudor dynasty (King Henry-VIII) ruled over England. During Elizabeth’s reign, literature rose to the occasion. We also refer to it as the Golden Period. The colonization movement started after the death of Queen Elizabeth.

• Artists: Leonardo Di Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
• Sir Thomas More (Utopia 1516) works
• Edmund Spenser (The Shepheard’s Calendar, 1579)
• Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which spans 4,042 lines between 1599 and 1602, is the longest play.
• In that era, readers are important. During that period, literary terms such as sonnet and blank verse emerged.

Neo – Classical Age/ Augustan Age / Age of Enlightenment (1600-1785)

Neo-classical words originated in Rome. Johann Winckelmann, a German artist and archeologist, He provided an explanation of the differences between Greek, Greek-Roman, and Roman art. He discovered two ancient cities in Italy, Pompeii and Herculaneum, and wrote a book in 1750 titled “Thoughts on imitation of Greek works in painting and sculpture refer to the visual arts as neo-classical. In literature, Voltaire and Goldsmith coined the term “Augustan Age.”

Developments in that era included easily accessible printed material (1693). There was a significant shortage of publications during that period, ranging from 3 to 9. Books are available at a cheap rate in Bartholomew Fair.

Work In This Era

• Writers: John Dryden (All for Love, 1678)
• Alexander Pope, known as the Rape of the Lock, lived from 1712 to 1714.
• Jonathan Swift (Gulliver travels in 1726)
• Jonathan Wild (biography of criminals).
• The decline of that era can be attributed to the French Revolution and industrialization.

Romantic Period (1785–1832)

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, particularly their collection “Lyrical Ballad,” greatly influenced the romantic era. The age of reason emphasizes intellect and rationality rather than emotions. The work of Graveyard poets influenced romanticism and Gothic literature. Romantic poets like William Blake, Word’s Worth, and Samuel Taylor focus on imagination and individualism rather than reason. They’re also known as lake poets.

Jane Austen focused on 18th-century social norms. Her works are known for their irony, satire, and social commentary. In the early 19^th century, Lord Byron, P.B. Shelley, and John Keats challenged Lake Poets like Wordsworth and Sameul Taylor.

Important work in this Era

• B. Shelley wrote the “Adonais” elegy on the death of John Keats.
• Here are some significant works from the Romantic era:
• William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (1804), “Tintern Abbey” (1798)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798), “Kubla Khan” (1816)
• John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819), “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819)
• Jane Austen, “Sense and Sensibility” (1811)
• Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein” (1818)
• William Blake, “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” (1794)
• Nature, emotion, and imagination are their main motives, as well as the power of the human mind and spirit.
• The romantic era’s decline can be attributed to urbanization and the emergence of realism.

Victorian period (1832–1901)

In 1901, Queen Victoria died. M. Arnold remarked upon Queen Victoria’s death, “Wondering between two worlds, one dead.” The other powerless to be born”. They focus on morality and social issues.

Important movements

The Hungry Forties (1840), the Christ Movement (1838–1848), and the Revolution Against the Monarch (1848) are notable examples.

Crimean War (1853–1858),, Education Act (1870),

Queen Victoria served as the Empress of India in 1876 and celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1877.

Act of 1843,

Aestheticism (1890’s) emphasized art for art sake. It was a reaction against utilitarianism. Also known as the Theophile Movement.

The aim of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Movement was to capture natural beauty.

The significant political movements are worker rights and educational reform.

Darwin Work

• The works in question include Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species“. “The Descent of Man”. After Darwin’s works, there was conflict between Darwinian critics and biblical critics.
• Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895). Oscar Wilde is also referred to as “The Apostle of Aestheticism”.
• The Boer War (1880–1881) was the main reason for the decline, as was the rise of labor unions.

Edwardian Period (1901–1914)

During the Edwardian period, King Edward VII ruled the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Victorian era came to an end with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and the succession of her son Edward. The rise of modernism, fueled by writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Wolf (To the Lighthouse), and Eliot (Wasteland), was a significant movement.

E.M. Forster and Henry James focused on psychology. Literary criticism exposed critics like Eliot and Ezra Pound.

WWI was the primary reason for this era’s decline. Feminism challenges traditional social hierarchies. The decline of the British Empire and the decline of liberal parties also became major factors.

Modern Period (1914)

This era is characterized by developments in the fields of science, technology, and politics.

This movement breaks the connection between traditional literary form and convention.

Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 was the major loss.

Literary events such as the emphasis on mind in Sigmund Freud’s theory of relativity were significant. Henry Bergson’s concept of inner subjective time influenced that era’s writing.

Significances of 1922

1. S Eliot, “Wasteland“
2. James Joyce, “Ulysses“
3. Virgina Woolf, “Jacob’s Room“

A group of Georgian poets (1912–22) flourished, and they published a series of anthologies titled “Georgian poetry.”

John Masefield was the greatest sea poet of his time. He became a poet laureate in 1930, after the death of Robert Bridges. His famous collections are “The Salt Water Ballad” (1902).

A war poet, Wilfred Owen, famously wrote, “My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in pity.” Imagism was a literary movement against Georgians. T.E. Hurme and Ezra Pound were followers of imagism. W.B.Yeats gets the Noble Prize in 1923. He was the leader of the Celtic Revival and Irish literary theater (the National Theatre of Ireland). His work, “The Wandering of Orisin” (1889), contributed to his success. His other piece, “Easter (191616),” delves into the Irish struggle against the British. Lady Gregory was a leading figure in the revival and the forerunner of Abbey Theatre. She created her renowned piece, “Rising of the Moon” in 1798.

The Kailyard School was another movement that emerged in Scotland in the late 19th century. They focus on rural life, dialect, and realism.

Devastation and World War I (The Cold War Era) were the primary causes of the decline.

Post-Modern 1945…

It began in mid-20^th C. The important movements are cultural and artistic. It emphasizes universal truths, skepticism, diversity, and the questioning of power structures.

Is it grammatically correct? In the 1950s and 1960s, the deconstruction movement emerged. It focuses on the importance of traditional art, as well as language and forms. Notable artists in the destruction movement are John Lathan and Ralph Ortiz.

It produces a diverse style of writing, similar to metafiction. Post-modernism breaks the concept of the fourth wall (between actor and audience).

Works. Gabriel wrote “One Hundred Years of Solitude”.

“Catch-22” by Joseph Heller.

Eras	Major Themes
1.Old English	Loyalty Heroism Blood Vengeance
2.Middle English	Chivalry Love Religious
3.Renaissance Era	Rebirth Humanism Reformation Rediscovery Secularism
4.Neo-Classical Era	Idealism Bravery Clarity Restraint
5.Romanticism Era	Exoticism Nature Emotions
6.Victorian Era	Politics Industrial revolution Democracy Migration Nationality
7.Edwardian Era	Power Religion Reputation
8.Modern Era	Corruption Power Self-Discovery Individual vs society
9.Post -Modern Era	Multiculturalism Imperialism Post -Colonialism

This article(Period of the English Language) will be beneficial for readers and educators.

Asma Noreen

Educationist

Dr. Abid Hussain Nawaz

Ph.D.