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11 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
periodization / canonization |
always comes with "normative bias"
Literature is a mirror of, and an agent in, broader cultural developments... |
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the origins of English studies as a discipline (“When?“) |
the canon of “English“ literature was only ‘institutionalized‘ |
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different meanings of “literature“ |
- “Literariness” is not a natural, ahistorical, essential quality of texts; people haven‘t always thought of particular texts as being “literary”
- Specialization of the “literary” and narrowing of the definition of “literature” over the course of the centuries |
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oral vs. written literature |
ORAL LITERATURE
WRITTEN LITERATURE
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Genres and Forms of OE literature |
- Alliterative verse - Elegies - religious poetry |
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Alliterative verse |
- can contain any number of syllables
E.g. Caedmon‘s song:
He ærest sceop ielda bearnum |
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Epic poetry |
Beowulf as an Epic
• a long poem usually about the exploits of warriors and heroes
• Culturally specific forms: 1) Beowulf more episodic than classical epics 2) in OE literature, heroes are often seen as
- in parts of Beowulf the significance of the OE oral tradition shows in the form of the "scop"
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Elegies |
- Mixing of Anglo-Saxon and Christian elements - "The Seafarer" - "Wulf and Eadwacer” - up and down fortunes of life, gloomy in mood - Personal voices? Lyric subjectivity? |
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Religious poetry |
- “The Dream of the Rood”: -> experiencing the Passion (animistic poetry) -> public function of poetry ("tell this vision to men") |
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Riddles |
- close to 100 riddles have survived
I am fire-fretted and I flirt with Wind; |
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interplay of Christian and pagan elements in OE lit. |
Christianized Paganism? Paganized Christianity? |