Throughout history, our values and perception change. Even the littlest event or invention could change how we do and think things. As these accomplishments and failures emerge, topics and their themes won’t change much, but our perception of it will. The old English poem, “The Wanderer”, and the Early Modern English poem, “Love (3)” by George Herbert, both share the theme of love and Christianity. However, since they are from two different literary periods, the way they are written and their opinion over the topic are going to differ.
After the Romans failed to conquer England, the Germanic tribes took over in 450 AD and changed the culture of England. This was the beginning of the Old English literary period. Two of those tribes were the …show more content…
Augustine brought Christianity to England in 597 AD. However, the Anglo-Saxons didn’t convert to Christianity from Paganism so easily. This resulted in Paganism and Christianity to mesh their ideas. That is the reason why their poems like “The Wanderer” describe God as a gold-giver or king. In their poems, they had a lot of vocabulary like gold-giver and iron to make more terms for Lord and weapon.
The Anglo-Saxons had many poems, however most weren’t printed. If their poems were to be written down, it would have been done by hand or carved in runes. Instead, they often sang the poems out loud. To help singers remember the words of the poems, they had alliteration. The poems didn’t rhyme, however the alliteration “worked well for the Anglo-Saxon language that sounded more German than Modern English” (Rougeau-Vanderford “Old English Period”).
The dramatic situation in “The Wanderer”, a poem of this literary period, is the wanderer’s fate. “The wanderer was once a member of a warrior band, but his lord-his beloved gold friend- has died, leaving him in a homeless exile” (Damrosch “The Wanderer”). Throughout the entire poem, the wanderer wishes to reunite with his lord again. The wanderer describes his lord as someone “who would welcome [him] into his mead-hall, give [him] a good cheer, [and] entertain [him] with delights” (Damrosch “The Wanderer” lines 28-30). This is how Anglo-Saxon leaders would treat their accomplished warriors. However, it …show more content…
This was a time when the world was a more human-centered place; however that didn’t mean faith and religion fell apart. In fact, “the church was changing in ways that would at once emphasize the importance of the individual while also underscoring the omnipotence of God” (Page “Early Modern English and the Renaissance”). Protestantism was at its peak, due to many criticisms of materialism in the church.
This affected the British literature and culture of this time greatly. “Serving the crown was the same as serving God” yet “Protestantism also questioned any authority that was not divinely sanctioned by Scripture” (Page “Early Modern English and the Renaissance”). Protestantism also made people believe that to be forgiven of sin you must be faithful to God, not just doing good deeds.
As for literature, the printing press was in affect and made it possible for any person to read. Therefore writings like the Bible became more available and personal towards people. Besides books, poems such as the sonnets were becoming more of a trend. Inspired by Italian poems, the English people made their own sonnet to fit their language. With their rhyme schemes, the sonnet helped organize expressions
After the Romans failed to conquer England, the Germanic tribes took over in 450 AD and changed the culture of England. This was the beginning of the Old English literary period. Two of those tribes were the …show more content…
Augustine brought Christianity to England in 597 AD. However, the Anglo-Saxons didn’t convert to Christianity from Paganism so easily. This resulted in Paganism and Christianity to mesh their ideas. That is the reason why their poems like “The Wanderer” describe God as a gold-giver or king. In their poems, they had a lot of vocabulary like gold-giver and iron to make more terms for Lord and weapon.
The Anglo-Saxons had many poems, however most weren’t printed. If their poems were to be written down, it would have been done by hand or carved in runes. Instead, they often sang the poems out loud. To help singers remember the words of the poems, they had alliteration. The poems didn’t rhyme, however the alliteration “worked well for the Anglo-Saxon language that sounded more German than Modern English” (Rougeau-Vanderford “Old English Period”).
The dramatic situation in “The Wanderer”, a poem of this literary period, is the wanderer’s fate. “The wanderer was once a member of a warrior band, but his lord-his beloved gold friend- has died, leaving him in a homeless exile” (Damrosch “The Wanderer”). Throughout the entire poem, the wanderer wishes to reunite with his lord again. The wanderer describes his lord as someone “who would welcome [him] into his mead-hall, give [him] a good cheer, [and] entertain [him] with delights” (Damrosch “The Wanderer” lines 28-30). This is how Anglo-Saxon leaders would treat their accomplished warriors. However, it …show more content…
This was a time when the world was a more human-centered place; however that didn’t mean faith and religion fell apart. In fact, “the church was changing in ways that would at once emphasize the importance of the individual while also underscoring the omnipotence of God” (Page “Early Modern English and the Renaissance”). Protestantism was at its peak, due to many criticisms of materialism in the church.
This affected the British literature and culture of this time greatly. “Serving the crown was the same as serving God” yet “Protestantism also questioned any authority that was not divinely sanctioned by Scripture” (Page “Early Modern English and the Renaissance”). Protestantism also made people believe that to be forgiven of sin you must be faithful to God, not just doing good deeds.
As for literature, the printing press was in affect and made it possible for any person to read. Therefore writings like the Bible became more available and personal towards people. Besides books, poems such as the sonnets were becoming more of a trend. Inspired by Italian poems, the English people made their own sonnet to fit their language. With their rhyme schemes, the sonnet helped organize expressions