What is Old English and Why are its Literary Works so Important?
Heard of ‘Beowulf’? You probably have, as its one of the oldest surviving works of English Literature, acting as the bedrock of 1500 years of Literary history. If you haven’t, then it will interest you to know that despite being the bedrock of English Literature, it wasn’t even written in English at all. It was written in a much older form of English, that no native English speaker can read (unless you learn the language, much like any other). And that form is the earliest variety of English, that came into existence in about 480AD; Old English.
Also known as ‘Anglo-Saxon’, the language arrived in England with its Germanic invaders in the 5th century and was used up until the 11th century. Though, this language, like many others today, has three distinct dialects. Kentish, Anglican (which had two sub-dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian), and West-Saxon were these. The most prominent is the West-Saxon dialect, as it was spoken by the ruler Alfred the Great, which is why most texts that have survived are in this form. This language came to replace the more commonly spoken Latin (as of recent occupation of the late Western Roman Empire) and Common Brittonic, a Celtic language that was spoken by the ‘original’ occupants of the land. Why did it replace these languages that were much more commonly spoken? The answer lies in the power of the new occupants of Britannia.
Though, as a result of the power of external forces (like the Frankish Kingdom across the channel, Norse invaders across the North Sea and newly conquered lands on Britannia itself), Old English was quick to morph its dialects too. West-Saxon, similarly to other dialects, soon dropped syllables, simplifying itself, making it easier for foreign powers to understand. Most notably, the Runes that were used to write Old English, were replaced with the Latin alphabet in the 8th century, making the language more universally accessible to read and learn to outside powers on the European continent.
The two sub-dialects of Anglican Old English, one of which was to have a greater impact on the future of the English Language than West-Saxon, were particularly influenced by a northern neighbor. Mercian and Northumbrian were dialects that were found spoken on the east coast of the Island, and as a result, were often the victims of Scandinavian invasions and influence. This molded the dialects quite closely to Western and Eastern Old Norse, the language of most Viking clans. This would go on to influence these dialects to such an extent, that the Northern Germanic languages of today (Norweigan, Danish and Swedish) would closely relate to modern English.
Old English/ Anglo-Saxon lasted until about 1066, when the Norman King, William the Conquerer took England into his hands from the Anglo-Saxons and competing Vikings. This king and his ruling class greatly influenced the common tongue of the Island with there own Anglo-Norman language, a relative of French, effectively ending Old English’s dominance, and beginning whats known as ‘Middle English’.
Ironically it wasn’t the more dominant West-Saxon dialect of Old English that came to dominate the new Middle English language, which instead acted as the preserver of Old English Literature, it was Mercian, the sub-dialect of Anglican. It was this Norse influenced Old English dialect and Anglo-Norman that formed Middle English from the 11th century onwards to the 15th century.
Despite its replacement, the influence of Old English is of course immeasurable. Linguistically, the Germanic dominance of the small island of Britannia caused the Lingua Franca of the world we know today. Not only this, but its literature is also a huge part of modern English literature today, as well as acting as the perfect way to study the history of early medieval England, Scotland, and Wales.
The characteristics of Old English literature can be more notably emphasized in its subject matter. In almost every case (of which that has survived) Old English poetry is of epic stories, battles and the victors of wars — a celebration of warrior attitudes. Obviously, the famous poetic epic ‘Beowulf’ can show anyone this. To put it very simply, a hero defeats a terrible beast. It’s this hypermasculinity that is largely a characteristic of the literature of the time. And that was probably to entertain those who stayed away from battle within castle walls. Its themes are very similar to that which poets are concerned of today; good versus evil, courage, death and that of some sort of God. It is also interesting to note that the majority of Old English authors were anonymous. Exceptions to this are Bede and the earliest English poet we know of, Cædmon.
Linguistically, on the other hand, Old English poetry tends to lean on alliteration much more than poetry today, which tends to rely on rhyme and meter to define its form. And rather than rhyme connecting verses in Old English literature, its the dropping of stress onto various words and syllables to produce its rhythm. Combining two words to create a metaphor was also particularly popular, creating a rich poetic mood.
It’s also important to note there is a clear divide in the characteristics on a historical timeline. Before Christianity found its way onto Britain in the mid 7th century, Germanic heroic poetry was traditionally spoken rather than written. Though with the arrival of Christianity (along with the Latinisation of the Runic alphabet), these were eventually preserved in writing. With this new, quickly dominating religion, poetry also soon became infiltrated with Christian virtues. This can be shown through the religionless ‘Beowulf’ and the heavily Christian ‘Dream of the Rood’, which were written about two centuries apart.
Eventually, the anonymousness of Old English poetry would be replaced by the better known Middle English in the 11th and 12th centuries with the influence of Anglo-Norman and Mercian Old English. Despite religious influences altering some themes in English literature, the overall characteristics of Old English would prevail as legends of heroic knights and battles continued and developed into Middle English, such as ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, as were older tales preserved largely in West-Saxon Old English. Importantly, it was this literature that influenced not only modern literature, but the storytelling, and culture of today’s and tomorrow’s society.
