Week 1 Day 3

Middle English Period/Anglo-Norman Age (1100-1500)

Norman Invasion: The event that began the transition from Old English to Middle English
was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy and, later,
William I of England) invaded the island of Britain from his home base in northern France, and
settled in his new acquisition along with his nobles and court. William crushed the opposition
with a brutal hand and deprived the Anglo-Saxon earls of their property, distributing it to
Normans (and some English) who supported him.

Battle of Hastings(1066)
Anglo Saxons and King was displaced

Soldiers came along with artisans, traders and scholars. The scholars developed history and
chronicles including songs of love and adventure.

Difference b/w Anglo Saxons and Anglo Normans:

The Old English Poetry disappeared.

The conquering Normans were themselves descended from Vikings who had settled in northern
France about 200 years before (the very word Norman comes originally from Norseman).
However, they had completely abandoned their Old Norse language and wholeheartedly
adopted French (which is a so-called Romance language, derived originally from the Latin, not
Germanic, branch of Indo-European), to the extent that not a single Norse word survived in
Normandy.
However, the Normans spoke a rural dialect of French with considerable Germanic influences,
usually called Anglo-Norman or Norman French, which was quite different from the standard
French of Paris of the period, which is known as Francien. The differences between these
dialects became even more marked after the Norman invasion of Britain, particularly after King
John and England lost the French part of Normandy to the King of France in 1204 and England
became even more isolated from continental Europe.
Anglo-Norman French became the language of the kings and nobility of England for more than
300 years (Henry IV, who came to the English throne in 1399, was the first monarch since
before the Conquest to have English as his mother tongue). While Anglo-Norman was the
verbal language of the court, administration and culture, though, Latin was mostly used for
written language, especially by the Church and in official records. For example, the “Domesday
Book”, in which William the Conqueror took stock of his new kingdom, was written in Latin to
emphasize its legal authority. However, the peasantry and lower classes (the vast majority of
the population, an estimated 95%) continued to speak English - considered by the Normans a
low-class, vulgar tongue - and the two languages developed in parallel, only gradually merging
as Normans and Anglo-Saxons began to intermarry. It is this mixture of Old English and Anglo-
Norman that is usually referred to as Middle English.
The Romances
Middle English romance was the principal form of secular literature in later medieval England.
More than eighty verse romances (metrical and alliterative), composed between c.1225 and
c.1500, survive, often in multiple manuscript versions and, later, in early modern prints.

 King Arthur by Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th Century)

• The War of Troy
• Charlemagne
• Alexander the great.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Gawain (late 14th
Century)

The Miracle and Morality Plays

Miracle plays/Mystery Plays flourished from the reign of Henry II to that of Elizabeth. (1154-
1603)
• Jean Bodel’s Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas
• St. John the Hairy

Growth and development of the Bible Story, Scene by Scene.Sacred History was developed.

The second drama form that emerged in middle ages was Morality plays.
• The Castle of Perseverance (1425)
• Wisdom (1460-63)
• Mankind (1470)
• Everyman (1495)
Uniform theme was the struggle between the powers of good and evil for the mastery of soul
of man. The personages were abstract values.
William Langland (1332-1386/1400)
William Langland, (born 1330—died 1386/1400), presumed author of one of the greatest
examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegorical
and satrical work with a complex variety of religious themes. Piers Plowman in 1360s later
edited and extended in 1370s and 80s.
The speaker of the poem, Will, experiences a series of dream-visions on his quest to learn how
to live a good Christian life. In his dreams, he meets allegorical characters who represent both
his external and internal world: the fundamental teachings and protagonists and antagonists of
Christian cosmology; the social classes and economic relationships of medieval England; and his
own faculties and physical needs. These allegorical characters fight with each other about God,
the Church, money, and how to live. One of the allegorical characters, Piers, a humble
plowman, at times becomes both Jesus Christ and Peter, the apostle who founded the Church.

The Prologue and first seven "passus," or steps, make up the Viso, or Vision, portion of the
poem, where Will seeks Truth. He dreams of the “fair field of folk” (a geographic allegory for
medieval Christendom); the Parliament of Rats fable; the trial of Miss Money; and the
confession of the Seven Deadly Sins. In the remainder of the poem, Will seeks Do-well, Do-
better, and Dobest. He dreams, among other episodes, of Piers Plowman leading the folk to
Truth through plowing a field; Patience’s dinner party with a false friar; the Tree of Charity;
Christ’s Harrowing of Hell; and the Antichrist’s destruction of the Church of Unity. In the end,
Will has progressed to become an active Christian, while the Church has been compromised by
corruption. But it concludes on a hopeful note, as Conscience embarks on a quest to once again
find Piers Plowman, who represents uncorrupted Christian values, and good work for the friars.

John Gower (1330-1408)

John Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet/
Gawain, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major
works, the Mirour de l'Omme (29,945 lines, 1380), Vox Clamantis 9 10,265 lines, Having
Peasants’ Revolt as major theme), and Confessio Amantis (33,000 lines, 1389), three long
poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral
and political themes.
Confession Amantis:
A form of conversation between the poet and divine interpreter. Gower presents himself has
moralist. 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.
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s – 25 October 1400)
He was an English poet and author. Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle
Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English
literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried
in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey.
• First Period: French models
• Second Period: Influence of Italian models
• Third period: English models

WORKS: The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women,The Parlement
of Foules,The Book of the Duchess,The House of Fame

Background of 14th Century/ The age of Chaucer.

1. Black Death: It is also known as Pestilence, Great Mortality or the Plague and was a
deadliest Pandemic recorded in human history. It resulted into death of up to 75-200
million people in Eurasia, North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. It was
caused by the bectarium Yersinia Pestis . Pestis infection most commonly results in
bubonic plague , but can cause septicaemic or pneumonic plagues.
2. Peasant’s Revolt: it also named as Wat Tyler’s Rebellion or the Great Rising and was
a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes
including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the black death
pandemic, the high taxes resulting from the conflict of with France during the hundred
years war and instability within the local leadership in London. The final trigger for the
revolt was the intervention of a royal official, John Bampton, in Essex on 30 May 1381.
William Joan Ball said: When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman.
3. Hundred years war: it was a series of conflicts in Western Europe from 1337 to 1453
, waged between the House of Plantagenet and its cadet House of Lancaster, rulers of
the kindgdom of England , and the House of Valois over the right to rule the Kingdom of
France. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which the five
generations of the kings from two rival dynasties fought for throne of the largest
kingdom in Western Europe. The war marked both the height of chivalry and its
subsequent decline, and the development of stronger National identities in both
countries.
4. The society: Military, business community, church, women, culture and Language.
5. The saint: Thomas Becket, also known as saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of
London and later Thomas a Becke ( 21 Dec 1119 to 29 Dec 1170), was arcbishop of
Canterbury from 1162 untill his murder in 1170 . He is venerated as a saint and martyr
by both the Catholic church and Anglican communion. He engaged in a conflict with
Henry 2, king of England, over the rights and privileges of the church and was murdered
by the followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death , he was
canonized by Alexander 3.
6. Canterbury: Canterbury (England) (ancient Derovernum), city , Kent, Southeastern
England, on the Stour River , the ecclesisastical center of England. The present city
 ,formed in 1974, incorporates the former city and county Borough of Canterbury and an
area that includes the seaside towns of Whitstable and Herne Bay. Trade in grains and
hops ,the chief crop of region, is conducted here. Among the industrial establishments
are textile mills, brickworks and breweries ; tourism is also important to the economy.
At Whitstable are oyster fisheries.
7. Canterbury Cathedral: the town of Canterbury is dominated by its huge cathedral ,
Seat of the Primate of the church of the England since the late 6th Century. The present
cathedral was constructed between 1070 and 1180, with important additions dating
from 15th and 19th centuries. Trinity chapel, to the rear of the altar, contains the site of
the shrine of Thomas Becket, who was murdered here in 1170. At the eastern Terminus
of the cathedral is the circular tower known as Corona Chapel or Becket’s Crown. On the
northern side of cathedral are cloisters , chapter house, baptistery, deanery, liabrary
and the King’s School ( a grammar school originally established in 7th century). Among
the Roman relics in the Canterbury are the remains of the town walls and mosaic floors
of villa. Canterbury is the seat of saint Augustine’s college ( 1848) for training for
Anglican Clergy, the university of Kent at Canterbury ( 1965) and the city of Canterbury
college of Art ( 1874).

Canterbury is a town of ancient British origins. It was occupied by the Romans in first
century A.D. in the late 6th century it became the capital of Ethelbert, king of Kent. The first
Christian missionary to England, saint Augustine, arrived here in 597, founded the Abbey,
and converted Ethelbert to Christianity. The town consequently became a Saxon religious
and cultural center. From the 8th to 11th century it was raided periodically by Danes, who
burned the cathedral in 1011. The cathedral’s shrine of saint Thomas Becket was the object
of pilgrimage from the 12th century to 1538, when it was dismantled and its accumulated
treasures confiscated, by command of Henry 8. During the 16th century French and Flemish
Protestant refugees introduced the textile industry to Canterbury. The cathedral and
surrounding buildings were damaged by German aerial bombing in World war 2 but have
since been repaired. In 2001 its population was 135,287.

Chaucer’s Introduction:
Geoffrey Chaucer ( 1340s to 25 Oct. 1400) was an English poet and author. He is widely
considered the greatest English poet of Middle ages and is best known for the Canterbury
Tales. He has been called the father of English Literature and father of English poetry and
father of English Language. He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be
called Poet’s corner, in Westminster Abbey. He also gained fame as an astronomer and
philosopher, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10 years old son
Lewis. He maintained a career in civil services as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat and
member of parliament.
By 1368, King Edward 3 had made Chaucer one of his esquires. When the queen died in
1369, it served to strengthen the Phillipa’s position and subsequently the Chaucer’s as well.
From 1370 to 1373 , he went abroad again and fulfilled the diplomatic mission in Florence
and Genoa , helping establish an English part in Genoa. He also spent time familiarizing
himself with the work of Italian poets Dante and Petrarch along the way. By the time he
returned, he and Philppa were prospering , and he was rewarded for his diplomatic
activities with an appointment as Comptroller of Customs , a lucrative position. Meanwhile
phillppa and Chaucer were also granted generous pensions by John of Gaunt, the first Duke
of Lancaster.
In 1377 and 1388 , Chaucer engaged in yet more diplomatic missions , with the objectives of
finding a French wife for Richard 2 and securing military aid in Italy. Busy with his duties ,
Chaucer had little time to devote to writing poetry, his true passion. In 1385 he petitioned
for temporary leave. For the next four years he lived in Kent but worked as a justice of
Peace and later a member of parliament, rather than focusing on his writing.
When phillpa passed away in 1387, Chaucer stopped sharing in her royal annuities and
suffered financial hardships. He needed to keep working in public service to earn a living
and pay off his growing accumulation of debt.

Characteristics of his poetry: Humanism, realism, satire, irony, characterization; abcd.

Works
The Canterbury Tales: it is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in
Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 to 1400. In 1386 chaucer became the
controller of custom and justice of Peace and in 1389 clerk of the King’s work. It was during
these years he began to working on his most famous text, the Canterbury Tales. The tales
(mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as a part of story telling
contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the
shrine of saint Thomas becket o at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize of this contest is a free
meal at Tabbard inn as Southwark on their return. Structurally the collection resembles
Boccaccio’s Decameron, which Chaucer may have read during his first diplomatic mission
to Italy in 1372.
Troilus and Criseyde: Chaucer is believed to have written this poem sometime in the mids
of 1380s. It is a narrative poem that retells the tragic love story of Troilus and Crseyde in the
context of the Trojan War. Chaucer wrote the poem using rime royal, a technique he
originated. Rime royal involves rhyming stanzas consisting of seven lines a piece.
The Legend of Good women: the legend is Chaucer’s retelling of several stories in 1380s
that he long admired Cleopatra, Thisbe, Medea, Phyllis, Hypsipyle, Ariadne, Lucretia,
Philomela, Hypermnstera and most notable Dido.
The Parlement of Foules: the parlement of foules, 1380 to 1390 (modernized: parliament
of Fowls), also called the parlement of Briddes ( parliament of Birds) or the Assemble of the
Foules ( assembly of fouls) is a poem of Geoffrey Chaucer made up of approximately 700
lines. This poem is in the form of dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and contains one of the
earliest references to the idea that saint Valentine’s Day is a special day for lovers.
The Book of the Duchess: also known as the Deth of Blaunche, is the earlies of chaucer’s
major poems, preceeded by his only short poem, “An ABC” and possibly by his translation of
the Romaunt of the Rose. Based on the themes an title of the poem, most sources put the
date of composition after 12 september 1368 ( when Blache of Lancaster died) and before
1372, with many recent studies privileging a date as early as the end of 1368.
The House of Fame: it is a middle English poem by Chaucer, probably written between
1374-1385 making it one of earlier works . it was most likely written after the Book of
Duches, but its chronological relation to Chaucer ‘s other early poems is uncertain.

The house of Fame consist 2005 lines long in 3 books and takes the form of a dream vision
composed in actosyllabic couplets. Upon falling asleep the poet finds himself in a glass
temple adorned with images of the famous and their deeds. With an eagle as a guide, he
meditates on the nature of fame and the trustworthiness of the recorded renown. This
allows Chaucer to contemplate the role of the poet in reporting the lives of the famous and
how much truth there is in what can be told.

Phonetics
The Sounds of Language

Phonetic Alphabet: A set of symbols, each one representing a distinct sound segment.

Phonetics: The general study of the characteristics of speech sounds.

Articulatory Phonetics: The study of how speech sounds are produced.

Acoustic Phonetics: The study of how speech sounds are transmitted.

Auditory Phonetics : The study of how speech sounds are received.

Voiceless Sounds: When the vocal folds are spread apart, the air from the lungs passes
between them unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are described as voiceless.
Voiced Sounds: When the vocal folds are drawn together, the air from the lungs repeatedly
pushes them apart as it passes through, creating a vibration effect. Sounds produced in this
way are described as voiced.

Bilabial: These are sounds formed using both (= bi) upper and lower lips (= labia). The initial
sounds in the words pat, bat and mat are all bilabials.

LabioDental: These are sounds formed with the upper teeth and the lower lip. The initial
sounds of the words fat and vat and the final sounds in the words safe and save are
labiodentals.

Dental: These sounds are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. The
initial sound of thin and the final sound of bath are both voiceless dentals.

Alveolars: These are sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge,
which is the rough, bony ridge immediately behind and above the upper teeth. The initial
sounds in top, dip, sit, zoo and nut are all alveolars.

Palatals: If you feel back behind the alveolar ridge, you should find a hard part in the roof of
your mouth. This is called the hard palate or just the palate. Sounds produced with the
tongue and the palate are called palatals.

Velars: Even further back in the roof of the mouth, beyond the hard palate, you will find a
soft area, which is called the soft palate, or the velum. Sounds produced with the back of
the tongue against the velum are called velars.

Glottal: There is one sound that is produced without the active use of the tongue and other
parts of the mouth. It is the sound [h] which occurs at the beginning of have and house and,
for most speakers, as the first sound in who and whose. This sound is usually described as a
voiceless glottal.

Stops: Of the sounds we have already mentioned, the set [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [ɡ] are all
produced by some form of “stopping” of the air stream (very briefly) then letting it go
abruptly. This type of consonant sound, resulting from a blocking or stopping effect on the
air stream, is called a stop.

Fricatives: The manner of articulation used in producing the set of sounds [f], [v], [θ], [ð],
[s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ] involves almost blocking the air stream and having the air push through the
very narrow opening. As the air is pushed through, a type of friction is produced and the
resulting sounds are called fricatives.
Affricates: If you combine a brief stopping of the air stream with an obstructed release
which causes some friction, you will be able to produce the sounds [ʧ] and [ʤ]. These are
called affricates.

Liquids: The initial sounds in led and red are described as liquids. They are both voiced. The
[l] sound is called a lateral liquid and is formed by letting the air stream flow around the
sides of the tongue as the tip of the tongue makes contact with the middle of the alveolar
ridge.

Glides: The sounds [w] and [j] are described as glides. They are both voiced and occur at the
beginning of we, wet, you and yes. These sounds are typically produced with the tongue in
motion (or “gliding”) to or from the position of a vowel and are sometimes called semi-
vowels.

Vowels: While the consonant sounds are mostly articulated via closure or obstruction in the
vocal tract, vowel sounds are produced with a relatively free flow of air.

Diphthongs: In addition to single vowel sounds, we regularly create sounds that consist of a
combination of two vowel sounds, known as diphthongs.