Manju P
LCL051511
DARK
AGES AND MIDDLE AGES
INTRODUCTION
Anglo-Saxon
is the ancestor of modern English. Some scholars and philosophers call it as
Old English. The language had undergone a tremendous change in the course of
centuries. The Old English or Anglo-Saxon belongs to the Low German branch of
the Tuetonic family. Old English with its elaborate system of conjugation and
declension upsets the moderns. The Anglo Saxon had mainly four dialects namely
Northumbrian, which was first to prodce a literature; Mercian, the language of
the Midlands; Kentish, the language of South east; and West Saxon, the language
of King Alfred which became the standard form of Old English.
Like
other earlier peoples the Anglo Saxons were also a singing folk. No wonder
Anglo Saxon verse preceded Anglo Saxon prose. The oldest extant poem in Old
English is Beowulf an epic of more
than 3000 lines. Its subject matter is a Scandinavian saga. The poem gives us
an interesting picture of the life of the Anglo Saxons in the early days of
their history, their love of adventure and fondness for the sea etc. The social
life depicted in the poem is essentially primitive. But the whole atmosphere of
the poem is dark.
Some
of the Old English poems are Widsith,
Genesis, Exodus, Daniel and Christ
and Satan. Widsith (Wide Wanderer ) is perhaps the oldest poem in the
language. The first well known poet was Caedmon. Compared to Anglo Saxon poetry,
Anglo Saxon prose is inferior. It is in Northumbria were both forms of
literature originated. A prominent prose writer of the period was Venerable
Bede. He wrote mainly in Latin. He was a Benedictine monk and was the first
English historian. His one major work was Ecclesiastical
History of the English People which was written in Latin and later
translated to English.
DARK AGES
The
‘Dark Ages’ is usually considered to be the initial stage of the period called
‘Middle Age’. In this period ,the European society faced a drastic alteration
in social, economic and political status. This period reflects the ill-effects
of this condition. This was an era of great turbulence, continuous war,
dreadful plague, and a dead cultural growth. The period was referred as ‘dark’
because of the depletion of ways and practices that dominated the society. Some
historians used the term because no little information or written records of
the period were available.
The
concept of Dark Ages was first used by Petrarch an Italian poet and historian.
He used this term to denounce the Latin literature and being an Italian he was
influenced by the illustriousness of the great Roman Empire.
The
huge collapse of the English society gave way to the rise of feudalism. The
consequence of feudalism was the decline in church structures because of the
feudalistic pressure put upon them. There was a development new religious
movement called monasticism during this period. Monasticism spread very quickly
and monastery replaced the functions of the church and became a link between
classical and medieval city. Many new and small kingdoms tried to capture power
over people and capital during this period. . During this time the priests and
monks are the ones who protected the treasures of classical literature along
with Holy Scriptures and patristic writings.
The
thought and literature of this period was devised within the religious and
feudal context the intellectual flow of early Middle Ages were motivated by two
major factors: the heritage of classical thought, and the varying relation of
developing Christian theology to this heritage. During this period the church’s
“other worldly” disposition tended to subordinate the position of literature
and the arts to the pressing issues of redemption and readying for the next
life. The ascetic disposition of monasticism intensified the Christian anxiety
concerning worldly beauty and art. Early Christian philosophers echoed Plato’s
objections to art. The second stream of Christian thought showed a rationalist
emphasis and attempted to reconcile ancient Greek thought with the principles
of Christianity. The attempt of Christian philosophy to come to terms with its
classical Greek and Roman heritage continued through Gregory of Nazianzus,
Gregory of Nissa, John Chrysostom, and Ambrose reaching unprecedented heights in the work of St. Bonaventura, and St. Aquinas. The people
had a more accommodating perception of classical learning and literature.
MIDDLE AGES
It
was a period of development in England. The Norman and Angevin dynasties
established. After the Norman conquest of Britain tremendous changes were
happened in almost all the areas of the society such as political, social and
economical and linguistic. One important socio-political outcome was the Norman
brand of feudalism. The manorial system of the Normans altered the very face of
the English society. A remarkable result of the conquest was the removal of the
insular seclusion of the British Isles. The Norman Conquest supplied England
with a splendid line of able rulers but there were internal combat between
king, nobles, clergy and common man; and wars both at home and abroad.
The literature during this period was not just
in English and Latin but French as well. Medieval writing was done by hand. The
period sees the development of Middle English with the gradual weakening of the
inflectional system of the older period. The texts written down at the end of
the Old English period are in the West Saxon dialect, but when texts reappear
in the twelfth century they are written in the particular dialect of the author
or scribe. Scandinavian and French loan-words are found, the latter in
increasing numbers. The dialects which were noted in the Old English period
continue to develop.
During
this period the English language unfolded its modern nature and structure literature
found modern forms in the medieval period: prose in Julian of Norwich and
Maloryin the 15th century, verse in Chaucer and many peers in 14th
century and drama as early as the 12th century. It was in fact the
period of making English language.
With
the advent of Normans a new chapter was opened in the history of English
Church. Most of the bishops were learned and pious. They introduced greater
discipline and refinement into the English Church. The church under the Normans
encouraged education and promoted art and literature.
SOME OF THE LITERARY FIGURES OF
DARK AGES AND MIDDLE AGES
ST. AUGUSTINE
He
is one of the most important personality during the period of Dark Ages. He was
a Christian thinker who greatly influenced the traditions of both Roman
Catholic and Protestant thoughts.It is in his work that the profoundest
combination of classical and Christian notions can be discerned. His major
works are Confessions and City of God. In Confessions he explain his long and hard process of his conversion to Christianity, a
path which had included belief in Manicheism and Skepticism and he expounded his theology in City of God , where he viewed human
history as the unfolding of a divine plan. He declares that only God can
restore the natural state of goodness in which man was created. While Augustine
recognized that philosophy had a major place in the pursuit of wisdom, he
subordinated it to divine revelation. Augustine’s concept of the two cities had
an invasive influence during the Middle Ages, approving the struggles of Church
against the state. While he sympathized with Plato’s arguments for banishing
poets and dramatists on moral grounds, his views of poetry’s relation with
truth were somewhat different. He proposes that painting, sculptures and plays
were necessarily false, not from any intention to be such but merely from an
inability to be that which they present.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
Thomas
Aquinas was another great scholar and philosopher of the dark ages. He was
extremely influenced by Aristotle and
also by Augustine, Cicero, Boethius, Maimonides, Stoics, Neo-Platonists etc.
Aquinas is famous for his major works namely Summa contra Gentiles and Summa
Theologiae. The first was written 1259 and 1264. The main intention of that
book was to defend – or argue – the truth of Christianity against gentiles who
did not accept the dominion of the scriptures. In his second major work he
provides five proofs of the existence of God. Aquinas died at the age of 49 offering
the western world a legacy of theological and philosophical work much than that
of Plato and Aristotle.
DANTE ALIGHIERI
Allegory
is integral to the work of Dante Alighieri, arguably the greatest poet the
Western world has produced. He is best known for epic poem Divina Commedia and his earlier cycle of love poems published as La Vita Nuova, written in honor of
Beatrice Portinary. Dante also wrote literary criticism, which was in part
indebted to Aristotle, Cicero, and Aquinas. Dante sees the subject of poem as
twofold, corresponding to literal and allegorical senses. He views the end or
ultimate aim of the work as dual, as immediate and ultimate. The twofold
structure of allegory as given in Dante’s text informs every aspect of reading
process, from the author’s intentions and use of language to the reader’s
response. Dante’s insights concerning poetry generally displays traits
characteristic of many of the medieval writers.
GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO
Boccaccio
is widely known for his Decameron rather
than a scholar. Decameron is a collection of stories told by ten
characters against the background of the bubonic plague that took over Italy in
1348. Boccaccio influenced Chaucer and Shakespeare through his allegorical
poetry and romances. He pressed the cause of Italian native literature like
Dante did. His most important work in terms of literary criticism was Genealogia Deorum Gentilium that is Genealogy of Gentile Gods, a huge
encyclopedia of classical mythology in fifteen books. As an encyclopedia of
both literature and literary criticism, its influence on poets as well as
critics was large, and sustained for more than two centuries.
CONCLUSION
Therefore
the English society underwent a lot of changes from the dark ages up to the
period of Renaissance. Christianity and church had a major role during these
periods. There were changes not only in the socio-political status of the
society but also in language and literature. The whole era of dark ages and
middle ages are therefore the eras of difficulties and enlightenment
respectively for the English people. Literature found new roots during these
eras. So literature developed in various directions and it largely helped to
pave the way to the modern era of literature.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Habeeb, M.A.R. A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato the Present. USA: Blackwell
Publishing, 2005
Abrams, M.H. A
Glossary of Literary Terms. India:
Cengage Learning India Private Limited, 2013
Alexander, Michael. A History of English Literature. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000
Abraham. K.M. Social
and Cultural History of Great Britain. Kozha (Kerala): Institute of
Secularism, 2011
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