Периоды английской литературы: Учебное пособие для студентов по специальности 020700 - ''Филология''

М И Н И СТ Е РСТ В О О БРА ЗО В А Н И Я РО ССИ Й СК О Й Ф Е Д Е РА Ц И И В О РО Н Е Ж СК И Й ГО СУ Д А РСТ В Е Н Н Ы Й У Н И В Е РСИ Т Е Т

У Ч Е Б НО Е П О С О Б И Е П Е Р И О Д Ы А НГ Л И Й С К О Й Л И Т Е Р А Т У Р Ы Д Л Я С Т У Д Е НТ О В П О С П Е Ц И А Л Ь НО С Т И 020700 ФИ Л О Л О Г И Я Г С Э.Ф.01

В О РО Н Е Ж 2003

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У тверж дено научно -методическим со ветом РГФ о т06.05.2003 г. (про токо л№ 6)

Со ставитель:

К арпо ваВ .А .

П о со б ие по дго товлено на каф едре английско го язы ка РГФ В о ро неж ско го го сударственно го университета. Реко мендуется для студентов 2-3 курсо в дневно го о тделения ф ило ло гическо го ф акультета.

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The Middle English Period (1350-1500) The period in English history and literature between 1350 and 1500 marked by the replacement of French by Modern English as the language of court and art and the early appearances of definitely modern English writings is referred to as the Middle English Period. The period between 1350 and 1400 was a rich poetic age: it saw the first major English poet, Chaucer, as well as poetry like “Pearl”, “The Vision of Piers Plowman” and Gower’s “Confessio Amantis”. Chaucer is by general concurrence the greatest English medieval author, the centre of English medieval literature. He has seemed to stand at the beginning of modern English literature as Homer has seemed to stand at the beginning of Greek, indeed of European literature – almost as if he has founded or invented it. The reader who eventually reads Chaucer’s poems in chronological order, will begin with the Chaucerian “Romaunt of the Rose” (before 1373). It is a delightful new English poem and at the same time the nearest thing in English to the original “Roman de la Rose”. The reader could have no more intimate introduction to the medieval French romances and allegories of courtly love and to the poetry of troubadours. The poem will also introduce the reader to a poetry that was intimately associated with the spring festivals when both peasant and courtly folk danced and celebrated the annual triumph of summer over winter. This spring note continues right through Chaucer’s poetry. Although the sources which at different stages nourish Chaucer’s poetry are many and diverse they are not at all literary. His principal “source” may surely be said to be the English that was spoken around him and out of which he made his poetry to express his direct observation and knowledge of the life around him. Of Chaucer’s other poems, the most important are probably “Troylus and Cryseyde”(c.1380-1385), and the “Legend of Good Women”(c. 1385) which show already that poetic – dramatic genius in presenting scenes and persons which is one of the characteristics of the “Canterbury Tales” (c. 1386-1400), Chaucer’s greatest achievement. The “Canterbury Tales”, the great human comedy of the literature of the Middle Ages, is what the modern reader will probably read first. It will also be what he is most likely to return to again and again. For depth of interest, for the wealth of its impressions of the human comedy, and for its mature wisdom, it is unrivalled among Chaucer’s works. The “Canterbury Tales”, a collection of over twenty religious and secular tales totalling altogether about 17000 lines – about half of Chaucer’s literary production – are told by pilgrims on their journey from London to Canterbury. They include several different short fictional genres like the religious parable, the romance, and the fabliaux which in Chaucer’s hands have been shaped with masterly comic art. While Chaucer’s collection exhibits remarkable stylistic polish and variety, a common theme is the unresolved relation between art and morality. Chaucer took great care to assure his readers that his stories would 3

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give both pleasure and moral instruction. The “moral behind the story” was a guarantee that the tales were more than mere entertainment. Most of the tales appear to be old traditional tales that were told in his age of story – telling when there were rich oral as well as written traditions to draw on. Some of the tales are based on old romances or “Breton lays”, others on fabliaux or “merry tales”. But of almost every one he makes a work of the maturest and wisest art. Yet where the art seems most mature, the traditional roots are also the deepest. The Wife of Bath’s great dramatic monologue is a brilliant new invention of sophisticated art. But it grows out of ancient roots, partly the traditional flytings between man and his wife such as those between Noah and his wife in the Miracle Plays. The Wife of Bath herself is a new type – the bourgeois woman, one might call her – yet in essentials she is as old as humanity. The diversity of the tales fulfils the promise of that initial diversity of pilgrims presented in the Prologue, characters who are individuals and at the same time are morally and socially representative. In the interludes between the tales these “characters” are set in action, talking, disputing, and the tales themselves are a livelier extension of their talk. These tales are the entertainment the pilgrims provide for each other and at the same time they are a fuller revelation of themselves, their interests, attitudes, and antagonisms. Most of the pilgrims, like the merchant, the lawyer, the cook, the sailor, the ploughman, and the miller, are ordinary people, but each of them can be recognized as a real person with his or her own character. One of the most enjoyable characters, for example, is the Wife of Bath. By the time she tells her story we know her as a woman of very strong opinions who believes firmly in the need to manage husbands strictly. Chaucer’s mastery of his art is rooted deep in past poetic practice and in the civilization already centuries old. On the other hand, his originality marks a new beginning. Chaucer was a very remarkable innovator. He adopted certain modes, themes, and conventions of French and Italian medieval poetry to English poetry for the first time. He developed the art of literature itself beyond anything to be found in French or Italian or any other medieval literature. In the “Canterbury Tales” he developed his art of poetry still further towards drama and towards the art of the novel. The unity of the “Canterbury Tales” is not altered by the fact that the whole poem as planned remained incomplete. The poet who is perhaps nearest to Chaucer is Gower. Gower’s verse (he was Chaucer’s contemporary and friend) certainly implies the same social and cultural milieu as Chaucer’s. In Gower’s English book, “Confessio Amantis” (1390-3) – it is notable that of the three books he composed, one is in Latin, one in French, one in English – we recognize again the well-bred, easy conversational tone and manner that we are familiar with in Chaucer, and the smooth – flowing - perhaps in Gower’s work, too smooth – flowing - verse. Yet “Confessio Amantis”, for all its great length and considerable achievement in workmanship, is a pale shadow compared not only with the “Canterbury Tales” but also with the other poems of Chaucer. 4

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The principal interest of “Confessio Amantis” is as a collection of tales. Many of them appear to have come originally from Ovid, and all appear to be among the innumerable tales which were in circulation in this great age of tale-telling and had become part of medieval tradition, both oral and written. Much of English medieval poetry - particularly the alliterative poems of the West Midlands and the North-West – is very unlike Chaucer’s poetry in important respects and, indeed, makes a most stimulating and interesting contrast with it. These alliterative poems show by comparison in what respects Chaucer was an innovator in English – the extent to which he brought English poetry into accord with the poetry of France and Italy, and also what he did that was new not only in English but in European literature. The masterpiece among the alliterative poems which have survived from the fourteenth century is undoubtedly “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight”. But there are others which in their nature may properly be grouped with that poem, and which are scarcely less masterly; these include the alliterative “Morte Arthur”, “The Parlement of the Thre Ages”, and “The Destruction of Troy”. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” tells of the adventures of one of King Arthur’s knights, Sir Gawayne, in a struggle against the Green Knight who possessed some magic powers as well as great strength and cunning. Sir Gawayne finishes his adventures with all honour and gets Arthur’s delighted laughter for his pains. The story of Sir Gawayne is very ancient and there are analogues in both early Celtic and French documents. But all we can see for certain is that the story is widely dispersed and may have been of remote Celtic origin. It is written in an English dialect and has vast rhythmic resources and possibilities. The “Gawayne” poet’s form of English or dialect is that of a community in a rough, mountainous country with a scattering of castles. The Gawayne poet’s dialect reflects the uniqueness of his place and generation and the triumph of “Sir Gawayne” is largely rhythmic. It is essential to read the poem aloud to enable the masterly rhythm to come into play. Perhaps the author of Gawayne also wrote “Pearl” and “Patience”, two of the best alliterative poems of the time. “Pearl” has been preserved on the same manuscript as “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” and is in the same dialect. Pearl was the name of the poet’s daughter, who died at the age of two; but he is comforted when, in a dream, he sees her in heaven. “Patience” is the story of Jonah who was thrown into the sea and swallowed by an immense creature of the sea, which carried him to the place where God wished him to go. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is a fourteenth-century metrical romance. This term is applied both to medieval verse romances and to the type of verse romances produced by Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron. There are about sixty English medieval metrical romances extant. They appear to belong to stages in the transition – during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries – from oral poetry to written composition. Many of these tales have been regarded as Celtic, and their principal channel of development into French and English and German as the Breton story – tellers who were bilingual. As 5

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professional story-tellers at the courts of kings and nobles in early medieval France and England, the Bretons told their tales in French. Thus what may have been originally Celtic tales were made into French romances, influenced in greater or less degree by the spirit of the troubadours. From French they passed into German and English. So the gods of ancient mythology became medieval knights, the spring or earth goddesses became courtly ladies or queens. If we compare the extant romances we should quickly recognize that a number of themes or motifs keep recurring in them, though always as variations. There is, for example, the theme of the union of a mortal with an other-world being. Sometimes a mortal queen meets a splendid other-world stranger, or she is abducted by the king of the Other World. Or a mortal man – a knight – may meet in a forest a lady, surpassingly lovely, who is clearly a fay and who woos him. In many romances the theme is of a succession of tests – a kind of initiation - which a knight must undergo to prove his manhood; of a contest between a knight and some other than human or other-world character. This contest may be prolonged and may take many forms other than that of a direct combat. But a combat is frequently the climax. After the ritual combat follows the ritual marriage. The victor marries the goddess or queen. This goddess, the spring or earth goddess, has become in the medieval romances the faery lady or queen. The Middle English romances are largely in verse, a few alliterative, others in couplets or stanzaic forms borrowed from France. In comparison with French romances they usually show inferior artistry, less attention to psychological treatment, more credulity and use of grotesque, and a higher moral tone. It is hard to feel, reading the current histories of English literature, that justice has yet been done to the strength and variety of the achievement of the fourteenth-century English literature. Chaucer, of course, has had his due; but the alliterative tradition which has, in a sense, roots even deeper in the national consciousness, and which produced in the North-west that highly individual development of medieval romance, “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight”, and in the Midlands, “Piers Plowman”, has tended to receive the almost exclusive attention of the philologist. Of William Langland, the author of “Piers Plowman”, a work in its own kind comparable in greatness to the best of Chaucer, almost nothing is known except what the poem itself has to tell us. Langland, in fact, was a great poet, and the quality of his greatness throws some light upon the nature of the English contribution to poetry. The greatest English poets have been those who have followed the genius of the language in resisting false convention. Shakespeare and Donne, in their day, were great poets because they freed English from the bondage of a dead scholarship and restored to it expressiveness and idiomatic strength. Their idiom was similar to that of Langland, whose language was living English and the alliterative metre into which it naturally fell the vital vehicle for it. Langland’s metre, in fact, was the natural setting of a living 6

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language. He showed that he could handle a plain, unadorned narrative in verse, bringing out its full implications, without interrupting its natural flow. He has succeeded in telling us that his poem is to be a complete survey of human life under the aspect of good and evil. Piers is the English countryman of his own particular time and place. He lives in accordance with the simplest set of values which enables him to pass judgements upon the world around him. Piers appears as the expounder of Charity and the Holy Trinity, as the Good Samaritan, and finally, by a splendid and daring transformation, as Jesus himself. It is unnecessary to prove Langland’s close contact with rural life, for it is clear on every page of his poem. Piers Plowman is merely a universalizing of the English rural way of living, the life which all readers of the poem would understand and in terms of which they could establish a common idiom with its author. Word Study I. Say the words in these pairs aloud, paying particular attention to where the stress lies. refer – reference concur – concurrence Chaucer – Chaucerian allegory – allegorical drama – dramatic style – stylistic moral – morality origin – originality innovate – innovator analogue – analogy idiom – idiomatic metre – metrical rite – ritual character – characteristic psychology – psychological

associate – association observe – observation present – presentation civilize – civilization circulate – circulation vary – variation imply – implication exhibit – exhibition recognize – recognition produce – production abduct – abduction introduce – introduction possess – possession succeed – succession contribute – contribution

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II. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right. Place the letter of the definition in the space next to the word. troubadour ___________

a. still existing (esp. of something written, painted, etc.)

secular _______________ b. a man of noble rank trained to fight, esp. on horseback prologue ______________ c. unequalled, extremely good pilgrim _______________ d. a piece of work, esp. art which is the best of its kind extant ________________ e. to continue to live or exist innovator _____________ f. generally accepted social behavior idiom ________________ g. fully grown and developed unrivalled _____________ h. a person who travels to a holy place as an act of religious love and respect mature _______________ i. a traveling musical entertainer in the Middle Age fabliaux ______________ j. an introduction to a play, long poem convention ____________ k. a person who introduces something new survive _______________ l. a way of expression typical of a person or a group in their use of language knight _______________ m. a short poem that is meant to be sung; a song (poet) masterpiece ___________ n. low-life comic tales of French origin lay __________________ o. not connected with a church, not religious dispute ______________ p. skill in making things medieval _____________ q. surroundings, esp. a person’s social surroundings masterly______________ r. to argue, esp. angrily and for a long time milieu _______________ s. of the period in history between 1100 and 1500 (the Middle Ages) workmanship __________ t. showing great skill III. Decide what part of speech is needed in the blanks. Change the original word to the appropriate form. 1. mark The period in English history and literature between 1350 and 1500 is __________ by the replacement of French by Modern English. 2. Christ The____________ lyrics are just as much rooted in pre-Christian myth and ritual, as are the so-called secular lyrics. 3. Concur Chaucer is by general ______________ the greatest English medieval author. 8

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4. chronology The reader who eventually reads Chaucer’s poems in _________ order, will begin with the Chaucerian “Romaunt of the Rose”. 5. rhythm Chaucer and Langland lived at the same time but Langland’s _________verse looks a lot older than Chaucer’s. 6. succeed In many romances the theme is of a ___________ of tests. 7. origin What may have been__________ Celtic tales were made into French romances. 8. unique The “Gawayne” poet’s dialect reflects the__________ of his place and generation. 9. exclude The alliterative tradition has tended to receive the almost ___________ attention of the philologist. 10. just It is hard to feel that _________ has yet been done to the strength and variety of the achievement of the fourteenth-century English literature. 11. universal Piers Plowman is merely a_____________ of the English rural way of living. 12. recur The theme of the child or wife lost and eventually found again is one of the most ___________ in the romances. 13. live Langland’s language was __________ English. 14. compare “Piers Plowman” is a work __________ in greatness to the best of Chaucer 15. according Piers Plowman lives in ___________with the simplest set of values 16. vary Chaucer’s poetry gained immensely in the ____________ of its idioms from being in the spoken language of the medieval English people. 17. populate The fourteenth century was disastrous for Britain because of the effect of wars and plagues. Probably more than one-third of the entire _________ of Britain died. 18. master It is essential to read “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” aloud to enable the _______ rhythm to come into play. 19. large Chaucer’s art is ___________ social. 9

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20. survive Most of the alliterative poems associated with “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” are accidental__________ from the Middle Ages. IV. Fill in each of the blanks with the word that best fits the sentence. Change the part of speech when necessary. recur guarantee survival extant metre

alliteration root scholarly necessary adorn

fiction innovate verse secular complete

rhythm mature resist dialect profession

1. Most of Chaucer’s stories were narrated in_____________ . 2. The period between 1350 and 1400 saw a revival of__________ verse. 3. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” was flexible, and had vast _______resources and possibilities. 4. Shakespeare and Donne freed English from the bondage of a dead ______. 5. The “Canterbury Tales” include several different short __________ genres. 6. The “moral behind the story was a ________ that the tales were more than mere entertainment. 7. Chaucer makes almost every tale a work of the _________ and wisest art. 8. The division between _________ and religious lyrics appears to be somewhat artificial. 9. Chaucer was a very remarkable ___________. 10. The masterpiece among the alliterative poems which have _________ from the fourteenth century is undoubtedly “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight”. 11. The greatest English poets have been those who have followed the genius of the language in ___________ false convention. 12. It is _________ to prove Langland’s close contact with rural life. 13. There are about sixty English medieval metrical romances___________ . 14. If we compare the extant romances we should quickly recognize that a number of themes or motifs keep __________ in them. 15. Chaucer’s mastery of his art is __________ deep in past poetic practice. 16. There are about sixty English medieval ________ romances extant. 17. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is written in an English ________ . 18. Langland showed that he could handle a plain, __________ narrative in verse.

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19. As ________ story-tellers at the courts of kings and nobles in early medieval France and England, the Bretons told their tales in French. 20. The unity of the “Canterbury Tales” is not altered by the fact that the whole poem as planned remained_________. Comprehension Activities I. Read the following statements. Which of these statements do you think are correct? 1. The period between 1100 and 1350 is commonly referred to as the Middle English Period. 2. The fourteenth century was a rich period for poetry. 3. In the medieval period in Europe, short narratives were most commonly written in verse. 4. All medieval English poetry closely resembles Chaucer. 5. If we compare the extant romances we should quickly recognize that their themes are not related. 6. The “Canterbury Tales” is the greatest human tragedy of the Middle Ages. 7. Chaucer’s “Romaunt of the Rose” is a literary source, a model of “Roman de la Rose”. 8. The medieval period saw the end of the alliterative tradition. 9. In the “Canterbury Tales” we are listening much of the time to the talking of the author. 10. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is written in an English dialect. 11. “Piers Plowman” is a non-alliterative poem. 12. The Middle English romances are largely in prose. 13. Chaucer, like Shakespeare, is for all time. 14. Allegory was the way the medieval mind characteristically worked; it was a mode of seeing. 15. The reader who eventually reads Chaucer’s poems in chronological order will begin with the “Canterbury Tales”. 16. .The story of “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is very ancient and there are analogues in both early Celtic and French documents. 17. All English metrical romances appear to have been written compositions. 18. Chaucer’s great asset is his English vernacular. 19. The new-fashioned kind of English poetry shows itself already in the century before Chaucer, in an early thirteenth-century debate-poem called ‘The Owl and the Nightingale”. 20. There are two dozen English medieval romances extant.

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II. Choose the best answer for the following questions 1. The “Canterbury Tales” is a collection of: a. Secular plays. b. Religious plays. c. Secular and religious plays. 2. The common theme of the “Canterbury Tales” is that of the unresolved relation between: a. Art and authority. b. Art and morality. c. Art and religion. 3. The author of “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is: a. Anonymous. b. William Caxton. c. William Langland. 4. The materials for medieval romances were chiefly drawn from: a. The Bible b. Celtic tales. c. Orient literature. 5. The reader who eventually reads Chaucer’s poetry in chronological order, will begin with: a. The “Canterbury Tales”. b. “The Romaunt of the Rose” c. “Troylus and Cryseyde” 6. In comparison with French romances the Medieval English romances show: a. More attention to psychological treatment. b. A higher moral tone. c. Less use of grotesque. 7. “Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight” is written in: a.Alliterative Verse. b. Prose. c. Blank Verse. 8. The fifteenth century was: a. A rich poetic age. b. A rich dramatic age. c. Neither a weak poetic nor a rich dramatic age. 9. In many metrical romances the theme is of a succession of: a. Domestic episodes. b. Tragic situations. c. Tests.

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10. Themes or motifs in metrical romances: a. Never recur. b. Always recur. c. Recur, though always as variations. In prose the Middle English Period was the period of Wycliffe's sermons and his translation of the Bible, of Mandeville's “Travels”, of the medieval chronicles, of prose romances, and, supremely, of Malory's Le Mort Darthur. The fourteenth century was marked by wars, political and religious unrest, The Black Death (1348-1350), and the rise of the Lollards. The spread of religious writings, which were popular with an increasingly literate population, posed a threat to the Church. These books were for use in private prayer and dealt with the death of Jesus Christ, the lives of the Saints and the Virgin Mary. Private religious experience and the increase of knowledge encouraged people to challenge the Church's authority. At the end of the fourteenth century new religious ideas appeared in England which were dangerous to Church authority, and were condemned as heresy. This heresy was known as “Lollardy”, a word which probably came from a Latin word meaning “to say prayers”. One of the leaders of Lollardy was John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor. He believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible in English, and to be guided by it in order to save their soul. He therefore translated it from Latin, finishing the work in 1396. He was not allowed to publish his new Bible in English, and was forced to leave Oxford. However, both he and the other Lollards were admired by those nobles and scholars who were critical of the Church, its wealth and the poor quality of its clergy. Henry IV was deeply loyal to the Church, and in 1401 introduced into England for the first time the idea of executing the Lollards by burning. It is surprising that Wycliffe was not burnt alive for his attacks on religious practices. After he was dead and buried, his bones were dug up again and thrown into a stream which flows into the River Avon (which itself flows into the River Severn); The Avon to the Severn runs, The Severn to the sea, And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad, Wide as the waters be. An important Middle English prose work, Le Morte Darthur [=Arthur's Death], was written by Sir Thomas Malory. He wrote eight separate tales of King Arthur and his knights but when William Caxton (the first person in England to print books and other documents) printed the book in 1485 (after Malory's death) he joined them into one long story. Caxton's was the only copy of Malory's work until, quite recently (1933-4), a handwritten copy of it was found in Winchester College. The first books produced by Caxton in England were mainly of a leisure type to suit the needs of the new public. His first book was the “Histories of Troye”; and “The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers” (1477), Malory's “Le Morte Darthur” and Chaucer's poems, were all of this class. 13

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Probably the legend of Arthur grew out of the deeds of some historical person. He was probably not a king, and it is very doubtful that his name was Arthur. He was presumably a Welsh or Roman military leader of the Celts in Wales against the Germanic invaders who overran Britain in the fifth century. The deeds of this Welsh hero gradually grew into a vast body of romantic story that provided a glorious past for the Britons to look back upon. When Arthur developed into an important king, he yielded his position as a personal hero to a group of great knights who surrounded him. King Arthur and his knights came to represent all that was best in the age of chivalry, and the stories of their deeds make up the most popular group of the great cycles of medieval romance. At the end of the Middle Ages and the end of the long efflorescence of medieval romance in many languages, Malory endeavoured to digest the Arthurian romances into English prose using as his source an assortment of French Arthurian prose romances. The stories of Arthur and his knights have attracted many British and other writers. Malory's “Le Morte Darthur” was destined to transmit Arthurian stories to many later English writers, notably Tennyson. Spenser used an Arthurian background for his romantic epic “The Faerie Queene” (1590), and Milton contemplated a national epic on Arthur. Interest in Arthur decreased in the eighteenth century, but Arthurian topics were particularly popular in the nineteenth century. Tennyson's “Idylls of the King” and E. A. Robinson's “Merlin”, “Lancelot”, and “Tristram” show how different generations have modified the Arthurian stories to make them express contemporary modes of thought and individual artistic ends. Arthurian themes received powerful and sympathetic musical treatment in a opera by Dryden with music by Purcell, “King Arthur”, and in some of Richard Wagner' s operas. The first English plays were called Miracle or Mystery Plays. Drama derives its qualities from the age in which it is written. The age of the Miracles was one in which religion was an integral part of communal life, and not only influenced work and play, but was itself an important form of re-creation. The Mystery Cycle represents what might perhaps be called a history of the world – of mankind in relation to God – from the Creation to the Last Judgement. The purpose of the performance was evidently that of a ritual, namely to give significance or meaning to life for that year. Between the creation and the Judgement the central mystical events are the birth, death and resurrection of Christ. The whole corresponds, of course, to the cycle of the Christian year. The annual performance was, it would seem, nothing less than the great occasion of the year in the town – community life of the Middle Ages. The townspeople performed it as an intrinsic part of the Corpus Christi procession at the height of the year (June). It was clearly what gave significance to the life of each year for both the individual and the community in which he belonged. Indeed, this Cycle of events and participation in it each year was probably felt to be more important to the townspeople than what we now look back to as the historical events of that year. 14

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Mystery plays were performed outdoors and ultimately upon movable pageants. The medieval pageant, constructed on wheels for processional use, as in celebrating Corpus Christi day, was designed for use by a particular guild for the production of a particular play and usually reflected this special purpose. Thus the pageant of the fisherman to present the play of Noah, would be constructed and painted to represent the Ark. The historical origins of the plays that have come to form the Mystery Cycle can, we know, be traced back to the embryo Latin plays which appeared first as intrinsic parts of the Church services at Easter and at Christmas. Yet the size and nature of what by the end of the fourteenth century had become the English Mystery Cycle cannot be entirely accounted for as a straight development or expansion from these priestly performances. The Mystery Cycle is a truly communal or national drama. There are things in the Plays of which the Church became more than doubtful and, indeed, the whole Cycle became, from the Church's point of view, something which had got entirely out of hand. The classical Greek drama was developed, we know, out of earlier dramatic rituals. The evolution of the English drama – the drama, above all, of Shakespeare – is perhaps more complex. It is necessary in its case to take account of the influence of Classical models as the Renaissance. Nevertheless, the only truly national or English drama before the Shakespearean is the Mystery Cycle – and that is certainly already the outcome of a union, a unique combination, of the dramatic rituals of the old religion and the new. Other plays in some respect not very different from the Miracles, were the Morality Plays. Despite surviving elements of paganism, Christianity was without any serious rival in its profound and pervasive influence on life. The Moralities keep alive the central theme – the sense of man's responsibility to a power higher than himself. The Biblical references alone are very numerous. The morality style derives from the medieval spoken idiom and the thought – content from the medieval religion. That religion encouraged a readiness to face the fact of evil in man. However what mattered was not the amount of evil, but the power of divine mercy to lead man. And without divine aid, man could achieve nothing. The Moralities were distinguished from the Miracles by being a dramatized allegory in which the abstract virtues (such as Truth, Mercy. Conscience, Knowledge) or vices (such as Greed, Shame, Flattery, Revenge) appear in personified form, the good and the bad usually struggling for the soul of a human being. A man – any or every man – is imagined as faced with two alternative sets of choices, sharply distinguished as good and evil, right and wrong. The idea of two sets of alternatives gives rise to the idea of a conflict between them for possession of the soul of each man. Where there is conflict there is certainly the potentiality of drama. In a typical Morality Play personifications are grouped round a central figure who is a man. This man is not a particular but a representative man, Everyman. It is for the possession of his soul that these personified impulses and forces contend. 15

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Further, in a typical Morality Play there are other important dramatis personae who are not human. They are the metaphysical or supernatural beings or powers of medieval theology or mythology – Angels and Devils. These Good and Bad Angels (or Devils) imply a metaphysical or supernatural universe, Heaven and Hell. Behind the forces of evil, as they concentrate in the mind of a man for possession of his soul, is Hell; behind the forces of good, as they concentrate for his protection, is Heaven. The earliest extant Morality Play is “The Castell of Perseverance” (1405). One of the latest, and probably the best, is “Everyman”, a play which is still very moving. It is the story of the end of Everyman's life, when Death calls him away from the world. The world, everything, and everyone, that Everyman has loved forsake him. He is deserted by Fellowship, his Kindred, his Goods, and, at the very end, also by Strength, Beauty, even Knowledge. Only his Good Deed is entirely faithful, who says finely: Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide, In thy most need to be by thy side. The Mysteries and Moralities had, indeed, like Chaucer’s work, shown typically English traits, especially the good-humoured satire of which there is relatively little in Continental literature. By the sixteenth century some of the morality plays had admitted so much realistic and farcial material that they began to establish a tradition of English comedy and doubtless contributed much to the interlude which was common in late fifteenth – and early sixteenth century England. The term “Interlude” may mean a play brief enough to be presented in the interval of a dramatic performance, entertainment, or feast, or it may mean a play or dialogue between two persons. Some interludes imitate French farce, and do not exhibit symbolic technique and didactic purpose, while others appear to have developed from the Morality Play, and still others from the Latin school drama: the two latter types are likely to be moralistic. The themes of the interludes include science, philosophy, farcial situations, and even stories from the Mysteries. The Interludes began to reintroduce the notion (largely forgotten since Chaucer's time) of England as part of the European cultural community. They were drawing more exclusively on non – religious and national sources. The playwrights were often professional scholars from the universities, which were introducing the Classics and paying more attention to music; not only were they experimenting with the use of song in drama, but they were going to Latin comedy for themes and treatment. Their presentation in colleges and in the dining – halls of the nobles indicates the new purposes of the plays – the study of declamation and the Classics, and the catering to learned and aristocratic taste. Homely details and realistic treatment are significant features of the interludes, which still followed the allegorical pattern of the Morality and yet represented the growth away from the abstract and toward the individual and particular. 16

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On the whole, the Interludes show the constant necessity for dramatic art to seek new forms of appeal and the marked tendency in Renaissance art to assert its own autonomy. To those, who know something of later dramatic achievement, the Interludes may appear awkward in language and amateurish in structure. But they were a series of innovations and experiment both interesting in themselves and valuable in pointing the way for the Elizabethians. Taken along with the Mysteries, Miracles, and Moralities, they help us to observe one of the most interesting and continuous forms of evolution in the whole history of literature – an evolution which, beginning with liturgical worship in mimetic or dialogue form in the early ages of Christianity, can be traced up to the fullest development of dramatic art in the early seventeenth century. Word Study I. Say the words in these pairs aloud, paying particular attention to where the stress lies. loyal – loyalty scholar – scholarly Arthur – Arthurian sympathy – sympathetic communal – community high – height heresy – heretic treat – treatment judge – judgement rite – ritual pagan – paganism farce – farcial classics – classical pervade – pervasive mime – mimetic

generate – generation participate – participation contemplate – contemplation combine – combination innovate – innovation personify – personification modify – modification declaim – declamation possess – possession resurrect – resurrection protect – protection attract – attraction evolve – evolution contribute – contribution execute – execution

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II. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right. Place the letter of the definition in the space next to the word. literate ________________

a. widespread

deal with ______________ encourage _____________ challenge ______________ authority ______________

b. to understand and assimilate mentally c. to express very strong disapproval of d. an aim or purpose e. mode of treating a subject in literature or art or speaking f. a person with great knowledge of, and skill in studying, a subject, esp. a non – science subject g. power to influence h. to be about; have as a subject i. to change, esp. slightly j. opinion contrary to the orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church k. development of various types of plants, animals, etc., from fewer and simpler forms l. the style of a story, poem, painting, etc., in which the characters and actions represent general truths, good and bad qualities, etc. m. to give explanation for n. a scaffold or stage on which dramas were performed in the Middle Ages o. able to read and write p. (of something unwanted) to spread over in great numbers q. the conditions that exist when something happens and that help to explain r. (in the Middle Ages) the beliefs or practices of noble soldiers (knights) as a group s. to question the rightness, legality, etc., of t. to give active approval, courage to; support

heresy ________________

condemn ______________ scholar ________________ overrun _______________ chivalry ______________ digest ________________

background ___________

modify _______________ end __________________ treatment ______________ pageant _______________ account for ___________ pervasive ____________

evolution ____________ allegory _____________

III. Decide what part of speech is needed in the blanks. Change the original word to the appropriate form. 1. religion A good deal of Middle English prose is _________.

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2. celebrate In America pageants, with actors, dramatic scenes, dances, and songs have become widespread for the ________of historical events of special local interest. 3. know The writers of early Moralities are ________until we come to the beginning of the 16th century. 4. Arthur Malory endeavoured to digest the ________romances into English prose. 5. sympathy Arthurian themes received powerful and _________treatment in the 19th century. 6. commune In medieval England religion was a integral part of __________life. 7. move Mystery plays were performed outdoors upon _________pageants. 8. secularize After the Mystery plays left the Church and became _________, they were performed by trade guilds. 9. preserve The great Cycles whose texts have been __________to us are the York, Chester, Coventry, and Wakefield. 10. resurrect Between the Creation and the Judgement the central mystical events are the birth, death and _________of Christ. 11. moral The __________style derives from the medieval spoken idiom. 12. allegory The Morality plays are a species of __________plays or dramatic allegories. 13. personify The characters proper to allegory are __________.

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14. farce The later Moralities contain a __________element which becomes interesting for its own sake. 15. popular The Church was unpopular during the 14th century and one of the reasons for its ___________was the greed of the Church. 16. produce The first books ____________by Caxton in England were mainly of a leisure type to suit the needs of the new public. 17. insult According to the code of chivalry, the perfect knight fought for his good name if ___________, served God and the king, and defended any lady in need. 18. imagine The 14th - century legend created around Arthur included both the ___________magic and mystery of the Celts, and also the knightly values of the court of Edward III. 19. innovate The Interludes were a series of ____________and experiments both interesting in themselves and valuable in pointing the way for the Elizabethians. 20. depart Many forces made the Interludes a ____________from medieval practice. IV. Fill in each of the blanks with the word that best fits the sentence. Change the part of speech when necessary. guild comedy deals romance preserve

Arthur evolve associate interest nation

chivalry compose qualities extant speak

mankind Bible personify authority truly

1. ___________legend had taken its place as one of the great themes of medieval romance. 2. King Arthur and his knights came to represent all that was best in the age of _____________.

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3. The subject – matter of the Mystery Plays was the history of ___________from the Creation to the end of the world and the Last Judgement. 4. The Mystery cycles were probably ____________in the first place by clerks of the neighbourhoods where they were to be performed. 5. Mystery plays were performed by the members of one ____________ (or more in collaboration) on a stage on wheels. 6. The ___________references in Morality Plays are very numerous. 7. Such morality comic figures as the Vice and the Devil were especially well-developed and influenced later ______________. 8. In a typical Morality Play the characters are moods, attitudes, virtues and vices, physical (and mental) conditions such as old age and youth ___________. 9. The ____________of the English drama was more complex than that of the classical Greek drama. 10. The limited – scope morality _____________with a single vice or moral problem or a situation applicable to a certain person. 11. Drama derives its _____________from the age in which it is written. 12. John Wycliffe believed that the Bible, not the church was the true ________. 13. The English Mystery Cycle is undoubtedly ____________with the dramatic rituals upon which it drew. 14. The Mystery Cycle is a ____________communal or national drama. 15. ___________in Arthur decreased in the 18 th century. 16. Spenser used an Arthurian background for his ___________epic. 17. The earliest ___________Morality Play is “The Castell of Persevearance”. 18. There is a fragment of an English interlude ___________from as early as the 13th century, “The Clerk and the Maiden”. 19. The morality style derives from the medieval ____________idiom. 20. The only truly _____________or English drama before the Shakespearean is the Mystery Cycle. Comprehension Activities I. Read the following statements. Which of these statements do you think are correct? 1. Rituals have nothing to do with the Morality Plays. 2. The Mystery Plays and The Moralities became so secularized as to bring on the disapproval of the Church. 3. Arthurian legend had taken its place as one of the greatest themes of medieval romance. 4. The term “Interlude” suggests short pieces between other entertainments. 21

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5. The drama in the 15th century was dramatically restricted by the requirements of religion. 6. The last years of the fifteenth century saw the arrival of the Interlude. 7. Toward the end of the Middle English period England had a weak dramatic tradition. 8. The 14th century was disastrous for Britain, because of the effect of wars and plagues. 9. The central figure in the Morality Play represents a particular trade guild. 10. Allegory was the established medieval method of visualizing; it had been very much developed in the earlier literature of the Middle Ages. 11. John Wycliffe was a strict follower of the religious practices of his time. 12. The playwrights of the Interlude were often priests. 13. The blend of the secular with the sacred was one of the characteristics of the medieval play. 14. Mystery plays originated in the liturgy of the Church and developed from liturgical dramas into the great Cyclic Plays. 15. The Interlude played an important part in the secularization of the drama and in the development of realistic comedy. 16. Realistic treatment was a significant feature of the earlier literature of the Middle Ages. 17. Allegory represents one thing in the guise of another. 18. The popularity of Arthurian tradition reached its climax in medieval English literature in Spenser’s epic “The Faerie Queene”. (1590). 19. The age of the Miracles was one in which religion was an integral part of communal life. 20. The first books produced by Caxton in England were meant to suit the needs of the Church. II. Choose the best answer for the following questions. 1. New religious ideas that appeared at the end of the 14 th century were dangerous to: a. Civil authorities. b. The Royal authority. c. The authority of the Church. 2. The representatives of the Lollard movement criticized: a. Secular conventions. b. Religious practices. c. Civil authorities. 3. Henry IV introduced the idea of executing the Lollards by: a. Shooting. b. Burning. c. Hanging. 22

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4. Sir Thomas Malory used as his source chiefly an assortment of: a. Welsh Arthurian tales. b. French Arthurian prose romances. c. Roman Arthurian romantic epics. 5. The age of the Miracles was one in which an integral part of communal life was: a. Commercialism. b. Intellectual rebirth. c. Religion. 6. The historical origins of the Mystery Plays can be traced back to: a. The embryo Latin plays. b. Ancient Celtic myths. c. Breton lays. 7. Medieval drama arose out of rites: a. Dealing with life and death. b. Commemorating the birth and the resurrection of Christ. c. Dealing with the theme of fertility. 8. Mystery plays were performed: a. In colleges. b. In the dining – halls of the nobles. c. Outdoors on movable pageants. 9. The Moralities keep alive the central theme: a. The union of a mortal with an other – world being. b. Chivalric deeds of knights. c. The sense of man’s responsibility to a power higher than himself. 10. The Interludes began to reintroduce the notion of England as part of the European: a. Spiritual community. b. Cultural community. c. Religious community.

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