“The Wanderer” and “The Dream of the Rood” PDF

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History of British and Irish literature

Week 2

16/10/2018 Classroom discussion: “The Wanderer” and “The Dream of the Rood”. The Middle English Period (1066-1485). Historical outline and general literary features: new subject matter, different mood, the evolution of form, new genres; the evolution of English. Poetry: rhyming chronicles/chronicles in verse (“Brut”), historical-patriotic poem (“Bruce”), allegorical poetry – didactic and moralising, usually with an implied religious meaning (“The Owl and the Nightingale”, “Pearl”, “Piers Plowman”, Lyric: (“Cuckoo Song”, “Alison”, “I Sing of a Maiden”), metrical romances (thematic cycles), ballad (Robin Hood), satirical verses (Chaucer and John Skelton), and pastoral poetry (Alexander Barclay).

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: King Alfred (A.D. 849-901), who drove back the Danes from England, was the greatest and noblest Anglo-Saxon king. He is also regarded as the Father of the English Prose. It was during Alfred's reign that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the greatest monument of Old English prose, which had existed before Alfred, was transformed into a national history under his guidance. It continued long after his death until 1154. The starting point for this Chronicle is the 5th century. In which those Anglo-Saxons tribes arrived in Britain from Europe. The Chronicle records events in Britain from the time of Anglo-Saxon arrival to long after King’s death when it continued to be recorded by his followers. We must discuss two old English poems: The Wanderer and The Dream of the Rood. The Wanderer-represents elegiac poem it's not quite an elegy. Elegy is a poem of lament or morning for the dead also a meditative poem in the solemn or sorrow mood. The elegiac mood was very common in old English literature. The Dream of the Rood- represents the genre of dream poetry or dream poem or vision poem.

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The Wanderer The Wanderer is a poem of 115 lines long discovered in the Exeter MS (manuscript). We do not know the author of the poem. The wanderer is someone who wonders around. The Wanderer finds himself aboard a ship carrying him far away from his native land, from his old Lord whom he buried. He is sad and unhappy because he lost his old Lord-his sponsor and his protector. He is homeless now. He's looking for a new home and a new master who would take care of him. It is worth observing that nature corresponds to the theme and the mood of the poem, which is gloomy. The speaker mentions frost, snow, hail and rime (szron) and the stormy, rolling sea around him. Suddenly, the Wanderer has a dream vision in which he sees his old Master again, the one he had lost and for a short moment, he is happy. In his dream/ vision, the Wanderer approaches his lord; he kneels in front of his Master’s throne and puts his head on the knee of his lord. This is a typical act of Old-English loyalty. But then the vision is gone and we are left with a sharp and striking contrast: a beautiful dream and a cruel reality. All around him again is a cold sea. The narrator also emphasizes the fact that the man, all earthly things are doomed to pass. Not only people but also material things are doomed to perish in the end. In the last two lines of this poem, there is a glimpse of hope, however. The Wanderer knows that there is a more powerful lord in Heaven, not just the earthly lord that he had lost but heavenly Lord. In the mercy of God, we should seek help and comfort. If we lead a decent life, we would be able to find peace with God in the end. Moving around makes this person a kind of a philosopher. The Wanderer has learned something about life from his past experiences. As an old man, he knows that in life you need to be patient, to say only what is important, not to babble (talk nonsense). The message is very sad for everyone because whichever way the wanderer turns, he can only see decay and destruction. In the poem, it is made clear that all earthly things are doomed to pass. The Wanderer himself says: ‘Look, I can only see the ruins of giant castles’.

Poetic ornaments: In this poem we can find some poetic ornaments; there are quite many poetic passages. Instead of saying ‘I buried my Lord in a coffin’, he says: ‘I buried my friendly God-giver in the dark chamber of the Earth’- this is an example of old-English cunnings. There are also some unusual examples of some unusual syntactic structures; relative to the structure of sentences (structure składniowe), e.g. When the speaker asks some rhetorical questions: Where have gone the …? Where are the men? Where are the pleasure givers? Where are the banquet dwellings? Where are the joys of the …..? If we put a series of rhetorical questions in a poem the effect on the reader is much more powerful, especially when they remain without answers. Another example as regards rhetorical figures used by the speaker in this poem would be explanatory sentences. ‘Oh bright cup! Oh, Jane the warrior! Oh, glorious things! Look! Where is it now? Dead! Oh, change made warrior!’ Such devices used by the speaker make the meaning clearer, and the effect on the reader is lasting. We might also comment on the speaker or speakers in the poem because it is not clear if we have one or more than one speaker. Sometimes the third person ‘he’ is used and sometimes the first person ‘I’ is used. 2

The Dream of the Rood: The Dream of the Rood -represents religious or Christian poetry and dream/vision genre of poetry. The author of this poem is a person certainly educated. Some sources point to Cynewulf as a possible author. Some scholars say that in a Vercelli Book (one of the Old English Collection of books) there is a poem entitled Elem, which is sign elem relates to celema of the Holly Cross. The point is that in this poem the description of the Holy Cross is similar to the description found in the poem The Dream of the Rood. This is why literary historians point to Cynewulf as a possible author of this poem. The word Rood is the cross. Question: What parts can we distinguish in the poem? The poem is divided into 3 parts. In the first part the poem a dreamy poet is telling us about his dream. He fell asleep one night and during his sleep he came across the Rood- the Cross. He describes the cross and his dream. The author describes his dream as the best one he had ever had and he describes the cross as the most splendid tree. There are jewels shinning bright, he calls it a beacon (latarnia). A beacon guides lost sailor or ships with its light, it shows them a way. However, there is a striking contrast that we can find in this first part of the poem- these are the beams of light shining from the cross and the poet himself who is a ‘sin-stained sinner’ (grzesznikiem)- not pure and clean. What is more, there are visible stains of blood which foretells suffering (jest zapowiedzia cierpienia). At the end of the first part of the poem the speaker relays what the cross told him. In the second part of the poem the Cross begins to speak with its own voice, in the first person. In the first part of its story, the cross strikes a note of humiliation (upokozenia)the cross is ashamed. It was originally a tree and it was cut down, taken away from the wood, from the forest and transformed into instrument of punishment for criminals- gallows (szubienica). In the poem the word used is jittery (szubienica w Old English-OE). But then what follows in the story of the cross is Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Now the cross changes its tone. It’s no longer ashamed of what have happened but the tone now is versivious (?), the tree is now conscious of the importance of this event. This is the event that changed the course of the human history. These lines which which describe crucifixion were carved (wyryte w kamieniu) on a stone cross that was discovered in Scotland. Fragment z wiersza: They drove me through with dark names, On me the marks are plane . They mock us both together, I was all wet with blood The Cross said that they drove them with Jesus together; it was not only Jesus who suffered- it was also the tree. The Cross also said: I was all wet with blood as the Cross itself was bleeding- not only the Son of God. They mock us both together- people laughed at Jesus and the Cross- they were both ridiculed. The Cross identifies itself with Christ and his 3

suffering, which is striking. So the tree was connected with Jesus and they become one- they become united. Next the voice of the Cross changes again. It is no longer ashamed, it is no longer suffering. The Cross realised that Jesus Christ sacrificed on the cross in order to save mankind so the Cross realised that it became a symbol of HOPE for Christians and all humanity all over the world. (Krzyż-drzewo, na którym umarł Jezus, zdało sobie sprawę, że stało się symbolem nadziei na zbawienie dla całej ludzkości). This part of the Cross speech ends with its insistence that the dreamer must propagate its message all over the world. Literary the cross orders the readers to deliver this dream vision to the world. Now I bid thee (now I order you) Tell of this sight to other men…-fragment.

In the conclusion of the poem, the dreamer wakes up and knows that his life has changed (I am a new man) as if the speaker was reborn. He says that he is no longer to be a sinner. This is the meaning of the change that he has undergone. He says ‘I will now follow this victory tree’, which means that he will be obedient to the message that he has received. QUESTION: Can we find some traces of Old English pagan culture, traditions in the poem? This is a Christian poem, but we can find some secular (swieckie- no religious) elements in it. There is some kind of Old English reflection in the poem, namely the word victory is used many times. Even the dreamer when he wakes up he says ‘victory tree’. There are references to Viking struggle and there is blood. There are gems and jewels with witch the cross are decorated. These elements seem to point to the Old English secular world and its customs.

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The Middle English Period- Outline: Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest poet of the Middle English Period. The starting point is 1066. This is the year of the Norman Conquest and the end of the Old English Period, after Anglo-Saxons were defeated by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings. This was the end of that world and that culture and beginning of the distinctive period when French culture dominated the old Anglo-Saxon world, changing it completely. The Norman came from the territory of Normandy in Northern France. They landed in the south-east of England and defeated combined Anglo-Saxon forces at the Battle of Hastings. The leader of the conquering army was William Duke of Normandy and at Christmas time of 1066 he became the king of Britain- he would be known as William the Conqueror (Wilhelm Zdobywca). The first Norman ruler on the British throne and the founder of the Norman Dynasty on the British throne. The consequence of the conquest was that the English poetry changed completely in comparison to the Old English poetry. There were new stanzas, rhymes and many new poetic genres. The Norman Conquest was the reason for enrichment and modernisation of the English language and literature; a profound change took place. The Middle English period was marked by dramatic events like The Hundred Years’ War. The name the Hundred Years’ War has been used to describe the long conflict that pitted the kings and kingdoms of France and England against each other from 1337 to 1453. England lost this war and as a consequence England lost their possessions in France. English territory in France, which had been extensive since 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, now remained confined to the Channel port of Calais (lost in 1558). Another dramatic event was The Plague or The Black Death which was the bubonic plaque (zaraza Dzumy) The Plaque decimated (zdziesiatkowala) about 20% of the population of England and in 1665 the plague reached an all-time high, killing a record number of 100,000 in London alone. Next there was The Peasant’s Revolution. A peasant is a person who lives in a countryside and at that time their position was abused. They were not exactly enslaved but it was very close to the position of the slave. A peasant 5

was obliged to work for his master and he was not allowed to move. Peasants were suffering from hunger, they gathered the army and came to London to discuss their situation. The ruling king at the time, Richard II, promised to ease their situation but he did not intend to keep the promise (nie zamierzal dotrzymywac obietnicy). When peasant’s army dispersed, he arrested the leaders of the uprising and executed them. There was another bloody and dramatic event in the conclusion of The Mid-English PeriodThe Wars of the Roses which lasted 30 years. The War of the Roses was the domestic War (wojna domowa). In this war, two dynasties were involved: The house of York and the house of Lancaster. The white rose was House of York and red rose belong to the House of Lancaster coat of arms (herb). The winner was Henry Tudor, who came to the throne and his coming to power marks the end of war and the beginning of Reneisance. The beginning of the English Renaissance is often taken to be 1485, when the Battle of Bosworth Field ended the Wars of the Roses and inaugurated the Tudor Dynasty.

Kings of Britain: Richard I known as Richard Lionheart (Ryszard Lwie serce) or Richard Lionhearted (Ryszard o lwim sercu). He was the king at the end of the 12th century. He made the name for himself as a crusader (krzyrzowiec) and a great knight. His name was popularised in chivalric romances. (rycerski).

The second king was John the Lackland (Jan bez ziemi). He was a very greedy man who introduced many taxes and his subjects (poddani) rebelled against his rule. He was obliged to sign a very important document Magna Carta Libertatum which translates as The Great Charter of Liberties (Wielka Karta Swobod). Charter- important hand-written document. This document marks the beginning of Parliamentary rule in Britain. That means that the king was obliged to seek advice and content of representatives of different classes before taking any important decisions which affected the whole nation. English Parliamentarism dates to Magna Carta Libertatum signed by King John in 1215. 6

Homework: Read Geoffrey Chaucer’s General Prologue to “The Canterbury Tales”, select 2 or 3 pilgrims for a detailed discussion; what was heroic couplet?

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