Texts & Characteristics
Beowulf
Originally an oral poem sung by scops (Anglo-Saxon bards) for centuries before being written down c. 750 CE. The poem is written in strong stress verse. Lines are not organized by rhyme, but are internally organized by alliteration. An Old English line is based on the number of stressed syllabus only, not a pattern of stressed and unstressed; unstressed syllables are not counted in the rhythm. A caesura is a gap in the line, a deep pause, and is a special characteristic of Old English verse.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1380)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a long poem that draws on the legend of Arthur and the court of Camelot. The poem is written in distinctive verse stanzas, which can be used to identify the poem and distinguish it from Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (c. 1470), which does not have stanzas. The body of each stanza is composed of long alliterative lines, but the stanzas end with a form called “bob and wheel.” The “bob” is a very short single line (one foot) and the “wheel” is a set of 4 short lines of trimeter lines rhyming with the bob in the scheme ababa.
Plot summary & analysis
Piers Plowman (1380) William Langland
Piers Plowman is written in alliterative verse and was written at the same time as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The long poem is comprised of eight allegorical visions wherein Will seeks out Truth in dreams. This poem was a landmark for the rival of alliterative verse in the 14th c.
Plot summary & analysis
The Canterbury Tales (1387) Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales were written in Middle English. A group of pilgrims journey to the shrine at Canterbury and tell tales along the way to pass the time. The poem is written in several different meters, but the rhyming couplet is the dominant form.
Full Text
Plot summary & analysis
Literature Study Guide 