James 1 Tiffany James Mr.

McCauley Survey of British Literature II 23 October 2013 The Best of the Old and the Beginning of the New After reading stories and poems from the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English periods it is possible to see that the literature from both periods has similarities and differences. While going back through the stories from the two different periods it became obvious that stories about religion are similar no matter the period and that as the periods changed so did peoples since of humor/ comedy. During the Anglo-Saxon/ Old English period religious stories were the main source of entertainment and were considered so important that they needed to be recorded and retold. However, authors found new and inventive ways to tell these century old stories. In the religious poem, The Dream of the Rood, (author unknown), the story is told from the perspective of the cross that Jesus was nailed to. The poem starts off saying, attend to what I intend to tell you/ a marvelous dream that moved me at night/ when human voices are veiled in sleep (The Dream of the Rood lines 1-3). The author lets the reader know right from the beginning that this whole story takes place inside a dream to help rationalize the cross talking because back then a story with an imamate object talking with explanation would have been considered crazy. When the rood starts talking it says, there powerful enemies took me,/ put me up to make a circus-play to lift up and parade their criminals./ soldiers bore me on their shoulders till they set me up on a mountain (The Dream of the Rood lines 30-32). This shows that all criminals of the time including Jesus were punished in the same way. The rood then talks about Jesus, then this

James 2 young man stripped himself that was God Almighty /strong and courageous; he climbed up on the high gallows, brave in the sight of many, as he set out to redeem mankind (The Dream of the Rood lines 39-41). These lines show how Jesus sacrificed himself to save and cleans mankind of sin. Over time stories changed, however, religious stories, poems, and plays stayed relatively the same. During the Middle English period religious literature continued to blossom and different perspective stories continued to be written. In the play, The York Play of the Crucifixion by the Wakefield Master, the death is told from the perspective of three soldiers instead of a rood. However, the two stories, The Dream of the Rood and The York Play of the Crucifixion are very similar. For example, The cross on ground is goodly graid, And bored even as it ought to be. Look that the lad on length be laid, And made be fest unto this tree. For all his fare he shall be flayed (The York Play of the Crucifixion lines 39-43). Just like in The Dream of the Rood the narrator(s) talk about what part they play in the death of Jesus. The rood held Jesus up for all to see his pain and suffering and the soldiers fastened him to the rood and placed at the top of the hill for all to see. Then Jesus himself speaks and willingly takes on the sin of the world, Thou bade that I should buxom be, For Adam plight for to be pined. Here to dead I oblige me Fro that sin for to save mankind

James 3 And sovereignly beseek I thee, That they for me may favor find (The York Play of the Crucifixion lines 51-56). Jesus lets the readers and the soldiers know that he was sent here to die for mankind and that they should remember this and learn from it. The main point of both stories is that Jesus died so that mankind could be saved and everyone needs to know about his sacrifice. Even though the Anglo-Saxon and Middle English periods had their similarities they also had their differences. As civilization moved into the Middle English period and away from Old English writers also broke out of the mold that Old English had set and develop traits that were completely their own. One of the ways they did that was through comedy/ humor mixed with romance. In the poem, Lanval by Marie de France, from the times of Old English humor was not really something the author deluged on. Instead the story has a significant amount of romance with a hint of comedy to it. After Lanval meets Queen Semiramis she asks something of him, I command and beg you, do not let any man know about this. I shall tell you why: you would lose me for good if this love were known (De France lines 144- 148). In a strange way this was an attempt at ironic humor because Lanval got what he wanted but was not allowed to talk about it. Another attempt at humor is when the queen comes onto Lanval and he rejects her, I am sure you dont care for such pleasure;

James 4 people have often told me that you have no interest in women. You have fine-looking boys with whom you enjoy yourself (De France lines 277- 282). The queen insults Lanval in a way that could be humorous, but not really as obvious. During this time humor was not really put into stories on purpose; if it happened it was accident. However, during the Middle English period humor/ comedy became an actual genre of its own. One of the men to thank for that is Geoffrey Chaucer. In his book, The Canterbury Tales he slaps the reader in the face with humor from the very beginning in The General Prologue. He uses the prologue as a chance to describe all of the characters and in the head Nuns description he says, but sikerly she hadde a fair forheed:/ it was almost a spanne brood, I trowe (Chaucer lines 154- 155). Here Chaucer is making fun of how big the Nuns forehead is and until this point something like this had not been done. In the Millers description he says, he was a short-shuldred, brood, a thikke knarre./ Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of hare,/ or breke it at a renning with his heed (Chaucer lines 551- 553). Chaucer makes fun of the Miller by calling him fat and saying that his head was so hard that he could break down a door with it. Chaucer then talks about the Millers nose, upon the cop right of his nose he hade/ a werte, and theron stood a tuft of heres,/ rede as the bristles of a sowes eres (Chaucer lines 556-558). This disgusts and intrigues the reader because writers did not describe their characters in such harsh lights back then. Then Chaucer does not hold back and goes at the Summoner describing him as one, that hadde a fir-reed cherubinnes face (Chaucer line 626). That the of his visage children were aferd. ther nas quicksilver, litarge, ne brimstoon,

James 5 boras, ceruce, ne oile of tarter noon, ne oinement that wolde dense and bite, that him mighte helpen of his whelks white, nor of the knobbes sitting on his cheeks (Chaucer lines 630-635). He describes the Miller as this grotesque man that no one wants to look at, but it is also a form of humor to make fun of ones appearance. Throughout the centuries literature has changed along with the people who wrote it and the culture that inspired it. During the Anglo-Saxon period Old English had Religion as a major genre of literature and that carried over to the Middle English period. However, during the Middle English period something interesting and unheard of came to the world literature known as comedy. During the Anglo-Saxon period there was a little bit of comedy/ humor in stories, but there were not stories solely based around comedy. The two periods were similar in many ways, but they were just as different.

James 6 Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The General Prologue. The Canterburry Tales. Greenblatt. Pg. 243- 263. Greenblatt, Stephen, editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th. A. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print. Marie de France. Lanval. Greenblatt. Pg. 154-167. The Dream of the Rood. Greenblatt. Pg. 33-36. The York Play of the Crucifixion. Greenblatt. Pg. 440-447.