Middle English literature
Encyclopedia
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature
written in the form of the English language known as Middle English
, from the 12th century until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London
-based English, became widespread and the printing press
regularized the language. Between the 1470s and the middle of the following century there is a transition to early Modern English
though in literary terms the characteristics of the literary works written does not change radically until the effects of the Renaissance
and Reformed Christianity become more apparent in the reign of King Henry VIII
. There are three main categories of Middle English Literature: Religious, Courtly love
, and Arthurian, though much of Geoffrey Chaucer
's work stands outside these. Among the many religious works are those in the Katherine Group
and the writings of Julian of Norwich
and Richard Rolle
.
became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society. As the invaders integrated, their language and literature mingled with that of the natives: the Norman
dialects of the ruling classes became Anglo-Norman
, and Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition into Middle English
. Since political power was no longer in English hands the West Saxon literary language had no more influence than any other dialect so Middle English literature is written in many dialects depending on the situation of the writers.
While Anglo-Norman or Latin
was preferred for high culture and administration, English literature by no means died out, and a number of important works illustrate the development of the language. Around the turn of the thirteenth century, Layamon
wrote his Brut, based on Wace
's twelfth century Anglo-Norman epic of the same name
; Layamon's language is recognisably Middle English, though his prosody shows a strong Anglo-Saxon influence remaining. Other transitional works were preserved as popular entertainment, including a variety of romances
and lyrics
. With time, the English language regained prestige, and in 1362 it replaced French and Latin in Parliament
and courts of law. Early examples of Middle English literature are the Ormulum
and Havelock the Dane.
The Mercian dialect thrived between the 8th and 13th centuries and was referred to by John Trevisa
, writing in 1387:
's Pearl
, Patience
, Cleanness
, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
; Langland
's political and religious allegory Piers Plowman
; Gower
's Confessio Amantis
; and the works of Chaucer
, the most highly regarded English poet of the Middle Ages, who was seen by his contemporaries as a successor to the great tradition of Virgil
and Dante
.
The latter portion of the 14th century also saw not only the consolidation of English as a written language, taking over from French or Latin in certain areas, but a large shift from primarily theological or religious subject matter to that of a more secular nature. Literature during this period also saw a growth in the amount of (secular) books being copied in English. Thus, the latter portion of the 14th century can be seen as the most significant period in the history of the English language.
The reputation of Chaucer's successors in the 15th century has suffered in comparison with him, though Lydgate
and Skelton
are widely studied. At this time the origins of Scottish poetry began with the writing of The Kingis Quair
by James I of Scotland
. The main poets of this Scottish group were Robert Henryson
, William Dunbar
and Gavin Douglas
. Henryson and Douglas introduced a note of almost savage satire, which may have owed something to the Gaelic
bardic poetry
, while Douglas's version of Virgil's Aeneid is one of the early monuments of Renaissance literary humanism in English.
Many morality plays and miracle plays were produced. Sidrak and Bokkus
is an example of late Middle English literature.
printed four-fifths of his works in English. He translated a large number of works into English; Caxton translated 26 of the titles himself. Caxton is credited with printing as many as 108 books, 87 of which were different titles. However, the English language was changing rapidly in Caxton's time and the works he was given to print were in a variety of styles and dialects. Caxton was a technician rather than a writer and he often faced dilemmas concerning language standardisation in the books he printed. (He wrote about this subject in the preface to his Eneydos.) His successor Wynkyn de Worde
faced similar problems.
Caxton is credited with standardising the English language (that is, homogenising regional dialects) through printing. This facilitated the expansion of English vocabulary, the development of inflection
and syntax
and the ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.
However, Richard Pynson
, a Frenchman who started printing in London in 1491 or 1492 and who favoured Chancery Standard, was a more accomplished stylist and consequently pushed the English language further toward standardisation.
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
written in the form of the English language known as Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
, from the 12th century until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based English, became widespread and the printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
regularized the language. Between the 1470s and the middle of the following century there is a transition to early Modern English
Early Modern English
Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
though in literary terms the characteristics of the literary works written does not change radically until the effects of the Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
and Reformed Christianity become more apparent in the reign of King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. There are three main categories of Middle English Literature: Religious, Courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
, and Arthurian, though much of Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
's work stands outside these. Among the many religious works are those in the Katherine Group
Katherine Group
The so-called Katherine Group is a group of five 13th century Middle English texts composed by an anonymous author of the English West Midlands. The texts are all addressed to anchoresses and praise the virtue of virginity....
and the writings of Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
and Richard Rolle
Richard Rolle
Rolle is honored in the Church of England on January 20 and in the Episcopal Church together with Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe on September 28.-Works in print:*English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Edited by George Perry...
.
Early period
After the Norman conquest of England, the written form of the Anglo-Saxon language continued in some monasteries but few literary works are known from this period. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, Law FrenchLaw French
Law French is an archaic language originally based on Old Norman and Anglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced by Parisian French and, later, English. It was used in the law courts of England, beginning with the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror...
became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society. As the invaders integrated, their language and literature mingled with that of the natives: the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
dialects of the ruling classes became Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
, and Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition into Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
. Since political power was no longer in English hands the West Saxon literary language had no more influence than any other dialect so Middle English literature is written in many dialects depending on the situation of the writers.
While Anglo-Norman or Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
was preferred for high culture and administration, English literature by no means died out, and a number of important works illustrate the development of the language. Around the turn of the thirteenth century, Layamon
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (ˈlaɣamon; in American English often modernised as ; ), occasionally written Lawman, was a poet of the early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable English poem of the 12th century that was the first English language work to discuss the legends of Arthur and the...
wrote his Brut, based on Wace
Wace
Wace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...
's twelfth century Anglo-Norman epic of the same name
Roman de Brut
Roman de Brut or Brut is a verse literary history of Britain by the poet Wace. Written in the Norman language, it consists of 14,866 lines....
; Layamon's language is recognisably Middle English, though his prosody shows a strong Anglo-Saxon influence remaining. Other transitional works were preserved as popular entertainment, including a variety of romances
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
and lyrics
Middle English Lyric
Middle English Lyric is a genre of English Literature, popular in the 14th Century, that is characterized by its brevity and emotional expression. Conventionally, the lyric expresses "a moment," usually spoken or performed in the first person. Although some lyrics have narratives, the plots are...
. With time, the English language regained prestige, and in 1362 it replaced French and Latin in Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
and courts of law. Early examples of Middle English literature are the Ormulum
Ormulum
The Ormulum or Orrmulum is a twelfth-century work of biblical exegesis, written by a monk named Orm and consisting of just under 19,000 lines of early Middle English verse...
and Havelock the Dane.
The Mercian dialect thrived between the 8th and 13th centuries and was referred to by John Trevisa
John Trevisa
John Trevisa , was a Cornish writer and translator.Trevisa was born at Trevessa in the parish of St Enoder in mid-Cornwall, and was a native Cornish speaker...
, writing in 1387:
For men of the est with men of the west, as it were undir the same partie of hevene, acordeth more in sownynge of speche than men of the north with men of the south, therfore it is that Mercii, that beeth men of myddel Engelond, as it were parteners of the endes, understondeth better the side langages, northerne and southerne, than northerne and southerne understondeth either other…
Late period
It was with the fourteenth century that major works of English literature began once again to appear; these include the so-called Pearl PoetPearl Poet
The "Pearl Poet", or the "Gawain Poet", is the name given to the author of Pearl, an alliterative poem written in 14th-century Middle English. Its author appears also to have written the poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Cleanness; some scholars suggest the author may also have...
's Pearl
Pearl (poem)
Pearl is a Middle English alliterative poem written in the late 14th century. Its unknown author, designated the "Pearl poet" or "Gawain poet", is generally assumed, on the basis of dialect and stylistic evidence, to be the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, and Cleanness or...
, Patience
Patience (poem)
Patience is a Middle English alliterative poem written in the late 14th century. Its unknown author, designated the Pearl-Poet or Gawain-Poet, also appears, on the basis of dialect and stylistic evidence, to be the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Cleanness and may have...
, Cleanness
Cleanness
Cleanness is a Middle English alliterative poem written in the late 14th century. Its unknown author, designated the Pearl poet or Gawain poet, also appears, on the basis of dialect and stylistic evidence, to be the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Patience, and may have...
, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In the poem, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his...
; Langland
William Langland
William Langland is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman.- Life :The attribution of Piers to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin...
's political and religious allegory Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman is the title of a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus"...
; Gower
John Gower
John Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which...
's Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis
Confessio Amantis is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. According to its prologue, it was composed at the request of Richard II...
; and the works of Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
, the most highly regarded English poet of the Middle Ages, who was seen by his contemporaries as a successor to the great tradition of Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
and Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
.
The latter portion of the 14th century also saw not only the consolidation of English as a written language, taking over from French or Latin in certain areas, but a large shift from primarily theological or religious subject matter to that of a more secular nature. Literature during this period also saw a growth in the amount of (secular) books being copied in English. Thus, the latter portion of the 14th century can be seen as the most significant period in the history of the English language.
The reputation of Chaucer's successors in the 15th century has suffered in comparison with him, though Lydgate
John Lydgate
John Lydgate of Bury was a monk and poet, born in Lidgate, Suffolk, England.Lydgate is at once a greater and a lesser poet than John Gower. He is a greater poet because of his greater range and force; he has a much more powerful machine at his command. The sheer bulk of Lydgate's poetic output is...
and Skelton
John Skelton
John Skelton, also known as John Shelton , possibly born in Diss, Norfolk, was an English poet.-Education:...
are widely studied. At this time the origins of Scottish poetry began with the writing of The Kingis Quair
The Kingis Quair
The Kingis Quair is a fifteenth-century poem attributed to James I of Scotland. It is semi-autobiographical in nature, describing the King's capture by the English in 1406 on his way to France and his subsequent imprisonment by Henry IV of England and his successors, Henry V and Henry VI...
by James I of Scotland
James I of Scotland
James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
. The main poets of this Scottish group were Robert Henryson
Robert Henryson
Robert Henryson was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots makars, he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renaissance at a time when the culture was on a cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilities...
, William Dunbar
William Dunbar
William Dunbar was a Scottish poet. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , where, too, it is hinted that he was a member of the noble house of Dunbar....
and Gavin Douglas
Gavin Douglas
Gavin Douglas was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, it is for his poetry that he is now chiefly remembered. His principal pioneering achievement was the Eneados, a full and faithful vernacular translation of the Aeneid of Virgil and the first...
. Henryson and Douglas introduced a note of almost savage satire, which may have owed something to the Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
bardic poetry
Bardic poetry
Bardic Poetry refers to the writings of poets trained in the Bardic Schools of Ireland and the Gaelic parts of Scotland, as they existed down to about the middle of the 17th century, or, in Scotland, the early 18th century. Most of the texts preserved are in Middle Irish or in early Modern Irish,...
, while Douglas's version of Virgil's Aeneid is one of the early monuments of Renaissance literary humanism in English.
Many morality plays and miracle plays were produced. Sidrak and Bokkus
Sidrak and Bokkus
Sidrak and Bokkus is a late-medieval English work of general knowledge in question-&-answer form, and dealing with the fictional encounter between King Bokkus, a heathen, and Sidrak, a wiseman...
is an example of late Middle English literature.
Caxton and the English language
William CaxtonWilliam Caxton
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. As far as is known, he was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England...
printed four-fifths of his works in English. He translated a large number of works into English; Caxton translated 26 of the titles himself. Caxton is credited with printing as many as 108 books, 87 of which were different titles. However, the English language was changing rapidly in Caxton's time and the works he was given to print were in a variety of styles and dialects. Caxton was a technician rather than a writer and he often faced dilemmas concerning language standardisation in the books he printed. (He wrote about this subject in the preface to his Eneydos.) His successor Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde
Wynkyn de Worde was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press in England....
faced similar problems.
Caxton is credited with standardising the English language (that is, homogenising regional dialects) through printing. This facilitated the expansion of English vocabulary, the development of inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and the ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.
However, Richard Pynson
Richard Pynson
Richard Pynson was one of the first printers of English books. The 500 books he printed were influential in the standardisation of the English language...
, a Frenchman who started printing in London in 1491 or 1492 and who favoured Chancery Standard, was a more accomplished stylist and consequently pushed the English language further toward standardisation.
Further reading
- Kaiser, Rolf, ed. (1958) Medieval English: an Old English and Middle English anthology; 3rd ed. Berlin: Rolf Kaiser