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English 245 with Dr.
Gary Gutchess |
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Course Lessons 2. Beowulf 1 3. Beowulf 2 4. Middle Ages 5. Romance 6. Sir Gawain 7. Malory 9. Wife of Bath 11. Biblical Drama 12. Play of Mankind 14. Thomas More 15. Philip Sidney 16. Print Culture 17. Walter Raleigh 18. Twelfth Night 1 19. Twelfth Night 2 20. Civil War 22. Aphra Behn 23. Reading Papers 24. Gulliver 25. Rape of the Lock 27. New God 28. Revolution
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*** 1. CLASSICAL BRITAIN *** |
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READINGS FOR
THIS LESSON
Our three-volume textbook divides early British literature
historically into the
middle ages
Ancient Druids in Britain wrote in Greek but Druid literature, and whatever came before it, has vanished. Descriptions of classical Britain survive only in histories by Julius Caesar and Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, who participated in Roman invasions of Britain. There is also an account, by an imperial propagandist named Cassius Dio, of a bloody uprising against Nero by British queen Boudicca.
These Roman sources show mere glimpses of ancient Britain, but their
themes are fully resonant with later British literature. Though soon to
be forced into the Roman system, Caesar's British are brave and independent-minded or, as
he puts it,
superstitious and disorganized. They have grain, which is why Caesar has
invited himself to the islands, but how will such barbarians ever manage to rule an empire
greater than Rome's? |
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NOTES AND COMMENTARY What is British Literature? Damrosch and his co-editors define it as literature from the British Isles (xxi-xxii). Geographically, this region includes today's United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. This is a culturally and linguistically diverse area, as various peoples of the British Isles even today variously describe themselves as Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Norse and more. Because so many do not call themselves "English," and because historically so many did not write in the English language, Damrosch and company do not call their book "English Literature." Their textbook is multi-cultural, including works in translation that originally were composed in Latin, Irish, French, Welsh and Cornish as well as English dialects. What was British Literature? The multicultural approach is common in AngloAmerican education these days, but it is not the traditional approach. Until the British Empire collapsed after World War II and American influence began to wane following the cold war, British Literature courses focused almost exclusively on classic texts composed in English because of the historical dominance and modern global importance of the English language.
Teaching a standardized "English
Literature" was thought to help preserve the language and promote
common understanding among educated English speakers globally. This
motive underlay literature courses
Teaching the traditional English canon may not be a bad idea, even today. Despite the rise of global communications networks in the twentieth century, concerns about maintaining the unity of the language have not gone away. Today some form of English is spoken by about 1.5 billion people, one-quarter of the world's population, but many more of them are in India and China than in Britain and North America--which may mean that the kind of "standard English" currently taught at TC3 and Cornell and Oxford and Cambridge soon will be superseded by some form of Asian standard English. Or maybe the Americans and British will not go along with an Asian standard? In a future with declining influence of the United Kingdom and the United States, maybe there will be no worldwide standard English of any kind, and English gradually will die, having spawned a variety of new local languages? This is what happened after the unexpected fall of the Roman Empire when Latin quickly dissolved into Italian, Spanish, French and other romance languages. Maybe more people in the dark ages should have been schooled in Caesar and Tacitus! The future could give rise to Australian, British, American, Indian, African and Chinese derivatives of English, none of them speaking directly to each other, and all of them as incompatible with today's "classical" English as modern European languages are incompatible with ancient Latin and Greek. How many people in that future would be able to read Shakespeare or Dickens or Darwin or The Wealth of Nations? Would it matter if nobody could read these old standards anymore? What will British Literature become in the future? Shakespeare is unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon, but he over-promised when he claimed that his poetry would make his girlfriend immortal. As the British Empire gradually vanishes into the mists of history, the classic books in English inevitably will prove less interesting to most people outside of the British Isles. This development seems apparent already in the Damrosch geographical definition of British Literature (vol. 1A, xxi) and in the emergence of multiculturalism generally. Eventually, Queen Victoria will be as forgotten as Queen Boudicca, even in Britain, and the last remnants of our subject will be sucked into the black hole of un-remembrance. This oblivion overtook Druid literature long ago. It has almost overtaken Caesar. In time it swallows all literature.
Why then study British Literature? Students will answer this question for themselves by the end of the course. Many will find that the study improves their reading, writing and general language skills. Some will discover a better understanding of the past--or more insight into the present, for wisdom can come from knowledge other times and places. Some will find a calling to the cause of Anglo-American culture which is noble in so many respects. In any case, I hope that all will enjoy these readings. Early Britain is uniquely a foreign world accessible by a largely familiar language. I hope that you find your visit there a memorable one. |
Why yes, if you have the biggest ships!
English became the leading language in the British Isles by the late Middle Ages, and then it spread through the world with Drake, Raleigh, Cook and other English explorers of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries.
Time changes everything. Left: Boudicca in London, the Roman city she burned to the ground, whose people she slaughtered, which now celebrates her as a heroic spirit of liberty!
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Prehistoric Britain Prehistoric Britain from Wikipedia. The Megalithic Portal (prehistoric megaliths in the UK and elsewhere) . Roman Britain Tacitus at Bartleby. Tacitus on Boudicca and the Druids at Britannia.com, The Annals and The Histories at Internet Classics Library from MIT. Works of Julius Caesar at The Internet Classics Library from MIT Celtic tribes (mentioned by Caesar)
Brigantes, “People of
Brigit” (goddess of knowledge), Yorkshore
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ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS LESSON The lesson includes both a quiz and a journal writing assignment to be submitted by online students on the interactive Angel course site at SUNY Learning Network. See General instructions on Journaling for this course. For a sample journal, see Dr G's Brit Lit 1 journal. Journal
Write for an hour (or more if you have time).
Summarize your readings from Lesson 1:
Ancient Britain Source
Texts
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(before
the printing press, before European discovery of the Americas), the
at British schools established throughout the
