For a brief moment suppose that time travel exists. A conundrum that has influenced our movies, our stories, and proved impossible by the laws of physics, is now a reality. What is the first thing to do: Kill Hitler? Save the Library of Alexandria? Suppose that a time traveler has a great love for literature, specifically literature from the Anglo-Saxon period and the English Renaissance. These two periods had vastly different societies, and due to this, vastly different literature. If the time traveler were to compare the literature from both periods, they would see that as time progresses, the themes in the literature from these periods shift from the bravado of glory and honor to the quieter aspects of life.
While time travel may not be an opportunity at the moment, it is possible to step into the traveler's shoes by examining the historical context surrounding these periods. Foremost, the Anglo-Saxon period, was a time when brawn, not brains, won the crown. The Celtic peoples, or Gauls, were loose-knit tribal people who were chased to Great Britain by the Romans, and built Hadrian's Wall to protect themselves. The Germanic people were very similar to the Celtic people: both used human sacrifice and had warrior kings. This was a time of the Vikings, for adventure. It was a time when the old gods—Dagda, Lugh, Odin, Thor, and many others—ruled. In the midst of all of this barbarism, it was oddly progressive, as women could divorce their husbands and own property. As time
Our cohort is nearing the end of its secondary education and therefore it is important that we reflect on the ways in which it has shaped our attitudes, values and beliefs. For example, over the past five years, we have read, analysed and evaluated various literary works such as novels, plays, poems and films in our English studies. These texts have expressed various ideologies, explored interesting themes and introduced us to fascinating characters. These elements have left a lasting impression on our attitudes, values and beliefs. In addition to this, English literary texts have provided us with historical knowledge as well as a thorough understanding of the role that aesthetic devices
The Literate Arts can also be used has a kind of time capsule. The future needs to know how the past was and what better way than through our literature. Our literature allows the future to know how we communicated, acted, what we believed in, our doubts, our successes and our failures. We could not make progress today without examining our past. Being an Architecture student, I have read a lot of architecture related literature, texts and journals from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s and so on. It was clear one led to another meaning the future looked to the past to learn from their mistakes and build on their successes. Our literature can give access to our soul so the world of the future can know how we thought and why we thought like that. Miller wrote about the book ‘The Information’ by Martin Amis in his text, The Dark Night of the Soul, and showed how Amis believed that this point of literature being important
Many people wonder how you could possibly compare an ancient Anglo-Saxon culture with the sophisticated world that we live in today. Despite numerous cultural and technological advancements, the time of Beowulf and modern day have many similarities. When examining the two cultures closely, it is observed that they have not so much changed as they have evolved. Having an army, fearing literal and hypothetical monsters, and the joy of different forms of entertainment are three of the most common and obvious resemblances. Although, Beowulf took place in the fifth century, our current day society has significant similarities to this time period.
Knowing the historical context of a work is crucial to understanding both its general meaning and its deeper essence. Often times, authors use their works as outlets to freely express their personal feelings toward a social trend or issue. As such, the time in which a story is written can have a strong influence on the message the author is trying to convey to his or her reader. Their personal reflections can be asserted in many ways; among the most common being through the characters themselves and their development throughout the work, the setting, and the implied themes.
One of the most important things to do when looking to the past is to look at works of literature from the influential people of
Castles in the medieval time period were more than just a home, but rather a safe haven for the whole town. The first castles were built in the tenth century in Western Europe. Castles played a crucial role in European history. However, by the end of the thirteenth century they had lost their military, political, and social significance and were being abandoned. Castles in the medieval and Anglo Saxon times, especially in European area, were built entirely for proper function towards protection from the outside world.
We often think of the "Old English" time as an era filled with mighty pagan warriors gathered in a dark wooden room, drinking ale to celebrate their victory in a brutish bloody battle. Or maybe we picture brawny Vikings with dirty faces wearing animal skins while sailing in large wooden ships. You may even imagine the crude but lovable Hagar the Horrible from the popular comic strip. Regardless to which of these views you take, we always think of the "Old English" as a time far in the past. Even though we may not notice, the strong brutal men of this past era infiltrate our everyday lives.
During the Anglo-Saxon time, the social periode of this age was hard on everyone, for this particular reason it had a big effect on the literature of this time, literature during these centuries reflected the realism of the situations and experiences of the time period ….. The fall of the Roman Empire threw the social conditions into chaos ; there was a lot of war between between cultures & religions, along with disagreement and mistreatment between classes of people (especially when it was a time of feudalism ), Historians and others thought of this iron age to be ; corrupt, vile and hellish ,because of this it has and continues to be nicknamed the “Dark Ages “. The Literature of this age shows the fatalistic world view that the people developed from this wretched time, the writings tell of death and war with little hope for a better future.For example in the story of Beowulf it shows the many challenges that a society had to face before it could even be near peace and even then problems kept coming, not only does it show these
The history of the modern world derives from thousands of years of human history. Embedded in its history are the many eras of man which have constructed our modern learning, art, beliefs, and order. The middle ages, although represented as “dark”, backwards, and idle, were in fact a bridge linking the classical and modern world. Medieval society may not have been in a sense glorious, but the era of itself was a prime foundation of the modern world’s newfound stability, a revival of the law and teachings from the classical era, a reinvestment and reform in the church, and a precursor to the golden age of art.
The airplane connects to the plot’s rising action, as the plot’s rising action where the Time Traveler uses a time machine similar to an airplane to transport himself to different places to explore very quickly. Planes are used to travel long distances across the world, faster than ever before. People who travel to distant places usually will experience new cultures, traditions, and changes. Like the airplane the time machine in the plot’s rising action teleports the time traveler into the future, to a different place where he learns the social differences of 802,701 AD.
Who would've thought time traveling was possible? I didn't, not until I found my dad's suitcase. It was a cold day in Los Angeles, my mom and I were cleaning the garage piling all of my dad's old stuff together. It would've been easier to deal with his death if he didn't passed away a year ago. No one knew about his death or anything that's why there was no news about it until now. I kept thinking to myself "man, I've only talked to him twice in my life and now he's gone forever. I wish I could just see him one more time." As i start to space out, my mom yelled "stop spacing out and help me with these boxes dude!" Panicking, "Ok, ok!" She lets out a huge sigh and pulls out a black suitcase, "Hm, I've never seen this suitcase
The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing
Literature is an imitation of societal values and is thus a reflection of the human experience of a time period. Written works emphasize the elements of culture, by means of characters, particular events, setting and theme, specific to the time period in which it was composed. Furthermore, literature mirrors the troubles or hardships of society and projects the core values that define said society. Thus, as culture has changed over time, literature has remained a critical facet in representing time periods of the past. Essentially, the culture of a time period is manifested through writing in the projection of society’s values, symbolism of the center of community and literature itself.
As its name suggests, Middle English is the language that was spoken in the country of England around the 12th to 15th centuries. Middle English became the prominent language in England near the end of the 11th century shortly after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066. Unlike England's preceding language, Old English, Middle English evolved into much more of a written language. There were many writers and educated English scholars who worked to translate Old English texts into the new Middle English language. There were also writers, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, who used the Middle English language to write new works which employed new and creative literary techniques. One
In the Anglo-Saxon literature, the scop has a privilege of retaining history, culture and social values of that society. In many cases the scop exercises the power to create stories which reflect the values of that society. The Rood in the ¡°The Dream of the Rood¡± also tells a story of which affects its society and people. The existence of this witness that reports the suffering and the glorification of Christ proves necessary for the people to believe. The Rood becomes a hero that preserves an event that proves crucial to the society. As the Rood observes the suffering of Christ, it also shares with him the pains of crucifixion. In other words, the Rood takes part in Christ¡¯s crucifixion which pertains to the salvation of the souls.