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LITERATURE AS A
PRODUCT OF ITS TIME
• As indicated by your textbook, the literature of the Middle Ages can best be understood when one understands the three dominant influences of the time:
– Feudalism
– Religion
– Chivalry

•
1066 start=Norman Invasion=William the
Conqueror named king
•
1485 end=end of the War of Roses
– End House of York rule (white)
– House of Tudor rule begins (rule for 118 years) (red)
• Renaissance-Henry VII-Elizabeth I

• Three significant wars/series of wars during this era are:
–
Crusades: Military expeditions launched by
Christian secular and religious rulers against the Moslems in the Middle East from 1096-
1291.
– 100 years war (House of Plantagents claimed to be king of both England and France)
–
War of the Roses (House of York vs House of Tudor)

• Feudalism : both a political and economic system. ( Nobles grant land (fief) in exchange for personal service, ie. Protection/knights)
•
Fealty: vassal’s fidelity, loyalty and allegiance to a lord.
• Vassal : the holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance.
•
Fief: a piece of land given/granted on condition of giving military and other services to the feudal lord in return for receiving protection.

•
Liege: the superior or sovereign lord to whom a vassal owes ultimate allegiance above all others.
•
Primogeniture : means first born. The law of primogeniture prevented the dispersal of family property by allowing only the eldest son to inherit the entire estate.

•
Chivalry: the idealized code of conduct for medieval knights *see separate notes and handouts*
• Exalted courage and courtesy in battle, generosity to one’s inferiors and loyalty to one’s lord.
• Church involvement in the crusades added love of God and the defense of Christian principles of code.
• End of Crusading period, chivalric behavior extended to the idealization of women and courtly love and became the pursuit of the elite who expressed the antiquated military code in mock battles and jousts.

BRITISH CLASS STRUCTURE OF
THE MIDDLE AGES
King
Ruling Class Nobles, Related to royalty
Clergy Class
†
Religious association: Priest,
Minister, Nuns, Brothers, Monks
Etc.
Some formal education;
Career vs. job; some $
Trade Class No formal education Trained by someone already in the biz; work for someone else-If at all
Peasant Class
Illiterate; no formal education; poor, farmers, servants, etc.

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Training-fight
War=ennobling experience
Special brotherhood
Ideal code for war and love
Moral system

See “Ten Commandments” and “The Code of Chivalry” Handout
Read
Write a one paragraph summary.

Be brave and honorable in battle
Defend your king and your country with your life
Be honest and loyal to all you serve
Protect the defenseless, especially ladies
Be courteous in all your doings with others

Respect women
Be generous to those less fortunate than you and to your lord, king, and host.
Fight fairly, granting mercy even to an enemy if requested
Follow the teachings of the church and fight to defend Christianity
Obey your lord and king in all things

Follow the rules of courtly love, to honor your liege lady
Serve a virtuous noblewoman
Perform brave deeds to prove devotion to her
Accept that she is unattainable

•
Allegory : a prose (not poetic) tale in which people and things represent abstract qualities.
•
Alliteration : the repetition of the initial consonant sound within multiple words in a line of poetry.

•
Ballad : a song-like narrative poem, originally oral, that tells about a specific event , using third person, dialogue and repetition. Like modern day songs, contains a refrain (chorus) repetition of a line, lines, or stanza.
• Structure typically consists of 4 lines (quatrain) per stanza . Follow a rhyming pattern for example: 2 nd and
4 th lines have end rhyme (acbc ). (*More to come in
Ballad Unit)

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
•
Breton Lais : set in the Brittany region of
France, Celtic in origin, of magic, fairies, folk lore and courtly love.
•
Beast Fable : Animals are given human qualities and involved in clever tales that preach a moral lesson.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
Exemplum/Moral Tale : A sermon that illustrates a well-known, moral lesson using an anecdote or short story.
Fabliau : a low level type of humor, stories based on clever tricks involving infidelity.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
• Miracle & Mystery plays: retold bible stories and the lives of the saints.
•
Cycle plays : portray biblical history of mankind.
Hell usually represented by a dragon’s mouth which breathed fire.
• Morality play : portrays the life of an ordinary person, meets characters who represent abstract qualities to teach a moral lesson.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
•
Romance: imaginative adventure concerned with noble, idealized heroes,
(King Arthur & the knights) gallant love, a chivalric code of honor, daring deeds and supernatural events, faraway settings, lighthearted in tone and often involve one or more characters on a quest.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
• Couplet : a rhymed pair of lines. A simple couplet may be written in any rhythmic pattern.
• Chaucer tells
The Canterbury Tales in either rhymed couplets or in stanzas of seven lines.
His use of iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets is the forerunner to the perfection of the heroic couplet as a technique.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Heroic Couplet : two rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter.
•
Example: Shakespeare uses rhyming iambic couplets/heroic couplets for the lines of the lovers Romeo and Juliet in The
Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Iambic pentameter : an iamb is one weak stress followed by one strong stress.
Pentameter 5 beats per line, ie. 5 strong beats or 5 pairings of stressed/unstressed.
Ex : My horse , my horse , my king dom for a horse .

Hyperbole : An exaggeration used for effect.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Metaphor : a direct comparison between two unlike things.
Mock-Heroic Style : a style in which trivial matters are written in a style that would be more appropriate for great and important events. ( Rape of the Lock )

LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Satire: literary technique in which ideas, customs, behaviors or institutions are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.
– May be: witty, abrasive, bitterly critical
– Often uses exaggeration
– Satirist distances self by creating a calm, naïve, fictional observer who address the topic without revealing the true emotions of the writer.