British Literature through Time

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• British Literature through Time
• Anglo-Saxon
• Neoclassical/Restoration
• Modern/Post-Modern
• Medieval
• Romantic
• Contemporary
• Renaissance
• Victorian

Middle English Period

(The Medieval Period)

Years:  1066-1485

Content:

Ø       plays that instruct the illiterate masses in morals and religioun

Ø       chivalric code of honor

>   romances

Ø       religious devotion

Style/Genres:

Ø       oral tradition continues

Ø       folk ballads

Ø       mystery and miracle plays

Ø       morality plays

Ø       stock epithets

Ø       kennings     

>   frame stories

>   moral tales

Effect:

Ø       church instructs its people through the morality and miracle plays

Ø       an illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature

Historical Context:

Ø       Crusades bring the development of a money economy for the first time in Britain

Ø       trading increases dramatically as a result of the Crusades

Ø       William the Conqueror crowned king in 1066

Ø       Henry III crowned king in 1154 brings a judicial system, royal courts, juries, and chivalry to Britain

Key Literature/Authors:

Ø       Domesday Book

Ø       L’Morte de Arthur

Ø       Geoffrey Chaucer

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