The Old English Poetry Room :: Essays Papers

The Old English metrical composition RoomThe Anglo-Saxon ChroniclesThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicles were written by a come of unknown monks and covered events starting with pre- romish Britain. The Chronicles are seven manuscripts and two fragments. They were compiled sometime in the last decade of the ninth century. Since there were few sources of register open to the monks, it is speculated that they relied heavily on Bedes An Ecclesiastical History of the English pile for information on the period between the Roman occupation and 731. From the first of all century to sometime in the fifth century, Britain was a colony of the Roman Empire. Settlers came and built villas, baths, libraries and city walls in the Roman tradition. Many of these survived. The ruins were sometimes referred to as the work of giants in early literature. This can be seen in The Wanderer, a verse form active a man who has lost his lord and is stoicly roving about lamenting his loss and looking for a new hom e. From about 350 A.D., Roman power weakened throughout the empire. After 409, the Romans no perennial ruled Britain. Then, in 449, the Anglo-Saxon invasions began. According to The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles , the first conclave of immigrants most comparablely came from Germany and the Netherlands. Their leaders were supposedly Hengest and Horsa. It is possible that these are legendary leaders, but it also possible that the Hengest who appears in the epic poem Beowulf is the corresponding individual. The Chronicles mention three main groups during the period of the invasions the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. In the sixth century, the Anglo-Saxon advance was halted and 50 years of peace followed. The Venerable Bede (c. 673 - 735) is unmatched of three Christian figures mentioned in The Chronicles. Bede studied and wrote on many subjects, among them classical langu come alongs, astronomy and medicine. His An Ecclesiastical History of the English People covers Englands biograph y and conversion to Christianity. The first writers of The Chronicles used his year-by-year approach and took much of their information from this work. If you would like to access another website with more information about the Venerable Bede, clatter here. It is from Bedes An Ecclesiastical History of the English People that we studied Caedmons Hymn, a poem about a man who lives to a rather advanced age without ever learning any songs. At feasts, when the harp is passed around for the say of stories, Caedmon would rather leave the feast than receive the harp to tell a story.