PRE-RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND

The Norman kings made London their residence. The London dialect was the central dialect, and it was understood throughout the country. It was the London dialect from which the national language developed.

In the 14th century the English bourgeoisie traded with Flan­ders (now Belgium). The English sold wool to Flanders and the latter produced the finest cloth. England wanted to become the centre of the world market. Flemish weavers were invited to Eng­land to teach the English their trade. But feudalism was a serious obstacle to the development of the country. In the first half of the 14th century France threatened the free towns of Flanders, wish­ing to seize them. England was afraid of losing its wool market.

A collision between France and England was inevitable. King Edward III made war with France in 1337. This war is now called the Hundred Years' War because it lasted over a hundred years. At first England was successful in the war. The English fleet defeated the French fleet in the Channel. Then the English also won battles on

land. B\it the ruin of France and the famine brought about a terrible disease called the "pestilence". It was brought over to England from France. The English soldiers called it the "Black Death". By the year 1348 one-third of England's population had perished. The peasants who had survived were forced to till the land of their lords.

As years went on, the French united against their enemy. As the king needed money for the war, Parliament voted for extra taxes. The increasing feudal oppression, cruel laws and the growth of taxes aroused people's indignation and revolts broke out all over the country. In 1381 there was a great uprising with Wat Tyler at the head. The rebels set fire to the houses, burnt valuable things, killed the king's judges and officials. They demanded the aboli­tion of serfdom and taxes, higher wages and guarantees against feudal oppression. But the rebellion was suppressed, and Wat Tyler was murdered.

Nothing made the people so angry as the rich foreign bishops of the Catholic Church who did not think about the sufferings of the people. The protest against the Catholic Church and the growth of national feeling during the first years of the Great War found an echo in literature. There appeared poor priests who wandered from one village to another and talked to the people. They protested against the rich bishops and also against all churchmen who were ignorant men and did not want to teach the people anything.

Such poor priests were the poet William Langland and John⁴ Wycliffe. They urged to fight for their rights. But the greatest writer of the 14th century was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was the writer of the new class, the bourgeoisie. He was the first to clear the way for realism.

Vocabulary

abolition Laebs'lifgn] л отмена bishop ['bijbp] л епископ collision [кэ'11зэп] л столкновение echo ['екэи] л отражение famine ['fsemm] л голод Flanders ['flaindaz] л Фландрия Flemish ['flemij] а фламандский force [fo:s] v заставлять guarantee Lgasran'ti:] v гарантировать

tax [tasks] n налог threaten ['Gretn] v угрожать throughout [9ru:'aut] adv повсюду till [til] v обрабатывать (землю), пахать urge [з:с&] v побуждать, заставлять wander ['wands] v бродить weaver ['wirval n ткач

Questions and Tasks

1. Describe the political situation of England in the 14th century.

2. How did people react to growing feudal oppression?

3. Talk about Wat Tyler's Rebellion and its outcome.

4. What was the result of the protest against the Catholic Church?

5. What did poor priests protest against?

6. What do you know about the poets William Langland and John Wycliffe?

7. Who was the greatest writer of the 14th century?

Geoffrey Chaucer

(1340-1400)

The most vivid description of the 14th century England was given by Geoffrey Chaucer [ 'd3efn 'tfo:ss]. He was the first truly great writer in Eng­lish literature and is called the "father of English poetry". Chaucer was born in London, into the family of a wine merchant. His father had connections with the court and hoped for a courti­er's career for his son. At seventeen Ge­offrey became page to a lady at the court of Edward III. At twenty, Chau­cer was in France, serving as a squire. During 1373 and the next few years Chaucer travelled much and lived a busy life. He went to France, made three journeys to Italy. Italian literature opened to Chaucer a new world of art. Chaucer's earli­est poems were written in imitation of the French romances.

The second period of Chaucer's literary work was that of the Ital­ian influence. To this period belong the following poems: The House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, a poem satirizing Parliament, The Legend of Good Women and others.

When Chaucer came back to England, he received the post of Controller of the Customs in the port of London. Chaucer held this position for ten years. He devoted his free time to hard study and writing. Later Chaucer was appointed "Knight for the Shire of Kent", which meant that he sat in Parliament as a representa­tive for Kent.

He often had to go on business to Kent and there he observed the pilgrimages to Canterbury.

The third period of Chaucer's creative work begins in the year 1384, when he started writing his masterpiece, The Can­terbury Tales.

Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer was the last English writer of the Middle Ages and the first of the Renaissance.

Vocabulary

court [ko:t] n двор короля courtier ['кэ:ф] п придворный esquire [is'kwaia] n оруженосец pilgrimage ['pilgnmKfe] n паломни чество

Questions and Tasks

1. Give the main facts of Chaucer's life.

2. What were the sources of Chaucer's creative work?

3. Speak about the three periods of Chaucer's creative work.

4. What is his masterpiece?

5. When did Chaucer die?

6. Where was he buried?

The Canterbury Tales

This is the greatest work of Chaucer in which his realism, iro­ny and freedom of views reached such a high level that it had no equal in all the English literature up to the 16th century. That's why Chaucer was called "the founder of realism". It is for the Canterbury Tales that Chaucer's name is best remembered. The book is an unfinished collection of stories in verse told by the pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. Each pilgrim was to tell four stories. Chaucer managed to write only twenty-four instead of the proposed one hundred and twenty-four stories.

All his characters are typical representatives of their classes. When assembled, they form one people, the English people. Chaucer kept the whole poem alive and full of humour not only by the tales themselves but also by the talk, comments and the opinions of the pilgrims.

The prologue is the most interesting part of the work. It acquaints the reader with medieval society. The pilgrims are persons of dif­ferent social ranks and occupations. Chaucer has portrayed them with great skill at once as types and as individuals true to their own age. There is a knight, a yeoman (a man who owned land; a farmer), a nun, a monk, a priest, a"merchant, a clerk, a sailor, Chaucer himself and others, thirty-one pilgrims in all. The knight is brave, simple and modest. He is Chaucer's ideal of a soldier. The nun weeps seeing a mouse caught in a trap but turns her head from a beggar in his "ugly rags". The fat monk prefers hunting and good dinners to prayers. The merchant's wife is merry and strong. She has red cheeks and red stockings on her fat legs. The clerk is a poor philosopher who spends all his money on books.

Each of the travellers tells a different kind of story showing his own views and character. Some are comical, gay, witty or roman­tic, others are serious and even tragic.

In Chaucer's age the English language was still divided by dia­lects. Chaucer wrote in the London dialect, the most popular one at that time. With his poetry the London dialect became the Eng­lish literary language. Chaucer does not teach his readers what is good or bad by moralizing; he was not a preacher. He merely paid

joi

Mi

Pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury

attention to the people around him; he drew his characters "ac­cording to profession and degree", so they instantly became typi­cal of their class.

Vocabulary

appoint [a'pomt] v назначать assemble [o'sembl] v собираться career [кэ'пэ] п карьера comment [ 'knmsnt] n комментарий,

толкование degree [di'gri:] n положение, ранг equal ['i:kwal] а равный framework ['freimw3:k] n структура instantly ['mstanth] adv немедленно level ['levl] n уровень medieval [^medi'i^sl] а средневековый

Questions and Tasks

1. Thanks to what work is Chaucer's name best remembered?

2. Describe the framework of the Canterbury Tales.

3. Speak on the characters'of the Canterbury Tales as typical representatives of their time.

4. Speak on the subject and form of the tales.

5. Comment on the state of the English language at the beginning of the 14th century and Chaucer's contribution to the development of the English language.

6. Speak on Chaucer's place in English literature.

English Literature in the 15th Century

i THE WARS OF THE ROSES

The death of Chaucer was a great blow to English poetry. It took two centuries to produce a poet equal to him. The Hundred Years' War ended, but another misfortune befell the country: a feudal war broke out between the descendants of Edward III in the 15th century.

When the English were completely driven out of France by 1453, the Yorkists took up arms against the Lancastrians, and in 1455 the Wars of the Roses began.

It was a feudal war between the big barons of the House of Lancas­ter, wishing to continue the war with France and to seize the lands of other people thus increasing their land possessions and the lesser barons and merchants of the House of York, who wished to give up fighting in France as it was too expensive for them (The Yorkists had a white rose in their coat of arms, hence the name of the war).

When the Wars of the Roses ended in 1485 Henry VII was pro­claimed King of England. The reign of the Tudors was the begin­ning of an absolute monarchy in England, and at the same time it helped to do away with feudal fighting once and for all.

Vocabulary

befall [bf foil] vjbefell; befallen) случаться lesser ['lesa] а мелкий

coat of arms ['ksutav'aimz] n герб proclaim [pra'kleim] v объявлять; про-
descendant [di'sendsnt] n потомок возглашать

Lancastrian [laen'kEestnan] n сторон- Yorkist ['p:kist] n сторонник Йоркской
ник Ланкастерской династии династии

Questions and Tasks

1. What misfortune befell England in the 15th century?

2. When did the Wars of the Roses begin?

3. Talk about the reasons for the war.

4. When did the war end?

5. Who was proclaimed King of England?

6. What was the reign of the Tudors for England?

Folk-Songs and Ballads

Though there was hardly any written literature in England in the 15th century, folk poetry flourished in England and Scot­land. Folk-songs were heard everywhere. Songs were made up for every occasion. There were harvest songs, mowing songs, spin­ning and weaving songs, etc.

The best of folk poetry were the ballads. A ballad is a short narrative in verse with the refrain following each stanza. The re­frain was always one and the same. Ballads were often accompa­nied by musical instruments and dancing. They became the most popular form of amusement. Some ballads could be performed by several people because they consisted of dialogues.

There were various kinds of ballads: historical, legendary, fan­tastical, lyrical and humorous. The ballads passed from genera­tion to generation through the centuries — that's why there are several versions of the same ballads. So about 305 ballads have more than a thousand versions.

The most popular ballads were those about Robin Hood.

The art of printing did not stop the development of folk-songs and ballads. They continued to appear till the 18th century when

they were collected and printed. The common people of Eng­land expressed their feelings in popular ballads.

Vocabulary

flourish ['АлпГ] v процветать refrain [n'frem] n припев

generation [^djem'reijbn] n поколение stanza ['staenza] n строфа

narrative ['naeretrv] n повествование version ['v3:Jsn] п вариант
occasion [э'кегзэп] п случай

Questions and Tasks

1. What poetry flourished in England in the 15th century?

2. What kind of songs were there?

3. What was the best of folk poetry?

4. What is a ballad?

5. Why could some ballads be performed by several people?

6. What kinds of ballads were there?

7. Explain why there are several versions of the same ballads.

8. What were the most popular ballads?

The Robin Hood Ballads

England's favourite hero, Robin Hood, is a partly legendary, partly historical character. The old ballads about the famous out­law say that he lived in about the second half of the 12th century, in the times of King Henry II and his son Richard the Lion-Heart. Society in those days was mainly divided into lords and peasants. Since the battle of Hastings (1066) the Saxons had been op­pressed by the Normans. In those days many of the big castles belonged to robber-barons who ill-treated the people, stole chil­dren, took away the cattle. If the country-folk resisted, they were either killed by the barons or driven away, and their homes were destroyed. They had no choice but to go out in bands and hide in the woods; then they were declared "outlaws" (outside the pro­tection of the law).

The forest abounded in game of all kinds. The Saxons were good hunters and skilled archers. But in the reign of Henry II the

numerous herds of deer were proclaimed "the king's deer" and the forests "the king's forests". Hunting was prohibited. A poor man was cruelly punished for killing one of those royal animals. This was the England of Robin Hood about whom there are some fifty or more ballads.

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a brave outlaw. In Sherwood Forest near Not­tingham there was a large band of outlaws led by Robin Hood. He came from a family of Saxon land owners, whose land had been seized by a Norman baron. Robin Hood took with him all his family and went to the forest. The ballads of Robin Hood tell us of his

adventures in the forest as an outlaw. Many Saxons joined him there. They were called "the merry men of Robin Hood".

Robin Hood was strong, brave and clever. He was much cle­verer, wittier and nobler than any nobleman. He was the first in all competitions. Robin Hood was portrayed as a tireless enemy of the Norman oppressors, a favourite of the country folk, a real cham­pion of the poor. He was generous and tender-hearted and he was always ready to respond to anybody's call for help. His worst ene­mies were the Sheriff of Nottingham, the bishop and greedy monks. He always escaped any trouble and took revenge on his enemies. Robin Hood was a man of a merry joke and kind heart.

The ballads tell us of Robin Hood's friends — of Little John who was ironically called "little" for being very tall; of thejolly fat Friar Tuck who skilfully used his stick in the battle. Their hatred for the cruel oppressors united them and they led a merry and free life in Sherwood Forest.

The ballads of Robin Hood gained great popularity in the sec­ond half of the 14th century when the peasants struggled against their masters and oppressors. The ballads played an important role in the development of English poetry up to the 20th century. They became so popular that the names of their authors were forgotten.

Vocabulary

abound [a'baund] v изобиловать archer ['aitja] n стрелок из лука avoid [s'void] v избегать band [baend] n отряд, группа crude [kra:d] а грубый gain [gem] v добиться game [geim] n дичь generous ['gemras] а великодушный herd [h.3:d] n стадо ill-treat ['il'tiit] v дурно, жестоко об­ращаться jolly ['<%d!i] а веселый

Questions and Tasks

1. What did the old ballads say about the time Robin Hood lived?

2. Describe the conditions of the Saxons after the Norman Conquest.

3. What family did Robin Hood come from?

4. What kind of man was he?

5. Who were his worst enemies?

6. Who were his friends?

7. How was Robin Hood portrayed in the ballads?

8. When did the ballads of Robin Hood gain great popularity?

English Literature

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