Right now, I would rather watch the new Squid Game epsiodes that came out but I am forcing myself to study instead. Why is it that tv series tend to be more intersting when you have other, more important, stuff to do? Then, once exam season is over, the shows just don’t seem that interesting anymore XD
I’m drifting off topic… Or haven’t even started yet, to be precise. Next Monday is the day I will have to face two of my professors and defend my master’s thesis. Once I’m done with that I can also tell you the topic of it but for now let me just say that I’m specialising in English Literature. Today, I actually met my supervisor and he told me to also be prepared for a discussion about the different literature periods and how the books I worked with in my thesis fit into them. Hence, this is my attempt to summarize the main ideas of each period in a way that will stick to my brain and hopefully yours in case you need it for your exam as well. Good luck to you!
In order to make studying more fun, I thought I could turn the information I gathered into a play. 2 children, Sophie and Ahmed, travelling through time, accompanied by the wise Christopher who explains English literature and the different periods to them.
Excuse the writing though. I did this in a hurry and just wanted to get to the information quickly but good stories need more framework, so ignore the bad writing.
Travelling through Literature Periods with Sophie, Ahmed and Christopher the Conveyor
Introduction:
Two young students were sitting in a classroom, their heads buried in books, when a sudden white flash occured and they found themselves in a different place.
Sophie: Where are we?
Ahmed: I don’t know.
Christopher: But I do. I had a feeling that some students were struggling with English literature. Am I correct in that assumption?
Sophie: I think I fell asleep. Weird dream though.
Ahmed: Nah, I don’t think you’re sleeping. I am. I’m the one that couldn’t stand reading another sentence of 1984.
Christopher: Excuse you! You couldn’t stand reading 1984? The novel by George Orwell about the potential threat of a totelatarian state with constant surveillance?
Ahmed: Well, I guess I haven’t reached that part yet. I’m still at the part where it says “It was a bright cold day in April”.
Sophie: That’s the first sentence, idiot.
Ahmed: I never said I was a fast reader.
Christopher: Enough of this nonsense. I see that I’m very much needed. For that reason I’ve brought you into this limbo.
Ahmed: Oh, no… Did we die?
Sophie: At least, it happened before the exam…
Christopher: No, you didn’t die, you nimwits! This is a place in which you are neither here nor there. You’re everywhere and nowhere.
Sophie: Someone must have put something in my water.
Christopher: The children before you were much nicer. Is this how the new generation is like? Where has your thirst for knowledge vanished to?
Ahmed: So, you’ve taught people before? About English literature?
Christopher: Yes. My name is Christopher the Conveyor. It is my duty to pass on the knowledge about the different periods so that literature can be viewed through the lenses of time.
Sophie: So, this is why you should put books under you’re pillow…
Ahmed: I don’t even care if this is a dream right now. As long as I don’t fail the next exam, I’m down to learn from you, oh wise Christopher the Conveyor.
Christopher: Christopher is totally fine, children.
Sophie: ‘Kay, I guess I’ll give it a go as well. So, what can you tell us about the different time periods?
Christopher: I’m delighted to hear that. Let us start immediately.
Old English Period (ca. 450-1066):
The white nothingness they were in changed into a different setting. People in long garments, with hats and swords.
Ahmed: There’s a horse!
Christopher: This is the Old English period, sometimes referred to as the Anglo-Saxon period.
Sophie: Anglo-Saxon?
Christopher: You should know that during this time England as you know it didn’t exist. Let me start a bit before that, though: the Britons were celtic people who lived in that area. The language they spoke was called Brittonic. Just imagine tribes of people living around England wich was then invaded by the Romans in the year 43. It took them some years, but they then had power over Britain until the 5th century.
Sophie: And this is important because…?
Christopher: Because up till then mostly Brittonic and Roman were the dominant languages. Around the year 400 the Romans had to leave Britain in order to focus on their own troubles. This allowed the Anglo-Saxons to gradually take over England, which is how the Old English period starts.
Ahmed: And again – who were those Anglo Saxons?
Christopher: The Anglo-Saxons were different groups of people – the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. All of them were tribes from what you know as Germany and Denmark today. It is through their settlement in England that brought “Old English” to England. However, this Old English is not the one we are speaking right now, since the Anglo-Saxons came from somewhere where they spoke Germanic languages, you can imagine how far away their English still was from our’s today.
Sophie: Okay, so it was different from modern English, but why are we talking about the history of language evolution? I thought this was about literature?
Christopher: When you examine literature, it is important to look at the context. In order to understand literature, you have to know what historic events influenced the stories. Interdisciplinary studies, my children. Don’t just stick to your stuff but see beyond that.
Ahmed: But did they write literature?
Christopher: Yes, they did, even though poems of that time were often orally narrated, Old English ist most well known for Beowulf, an epic poem, which exists in written form. It is about a hero called Beowulf who defeats the monster Grendel and later even the monster’s mother, as well as a dragon. Old English literature is often about bravery, honor, the battle between good and evil, as well as loyalty.
Ahmed: So, poems about heroes.
Christopher: And poems about Christanity.
Sophie: I hate poetry. Analysing poems is the worst.
Christopher: Well, do you still remember anything you learned in school? Any literary devices?
Sophie: Ugh, there was this one… where the words start with the same letter?
Ahmed: See, you’re not that hopeless!
Christopher: Yes, that’s right. Alliteration: Old English ought to be over-alliterated occasionaly. Beowulf is full of it.
Sophie: I think I get it… Let’s look at later literature now?
Ahmed: Good one. And yes, please, let’s see the next period!
That’s enough for today, right? I think creating this helps me make the info stick in my brain. I’ll let Sophie and Ahmed travel through the other periods as well but I’ll skip ahead to the modern period because that is the one I need the most for my upcoming thesis defense.
I wish you luck with studying!
Yours,
Tanniyan