14th. and 15 Century Study Guides
English 399W: Study Guides for Honors Exam
Middle English Literature for Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
Summary of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
The later Middle English Literature of the 14th and 15th centuries varies greatly from earlier works. I am going to refer to these two centuries together because they are linked so explicitly. Indeed, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, due to historical and literary overlaps, contain many of the same tenets, questions and themes.
The issues:
From the time of the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066, to the year 1300, Normans were still a strong influence on England. Much of the works composed from 1066 until the black plague (1349) were lost. This interim to the fourteenth century is known as the time of early Middle English. In the later portion of the fourteenth century, however, British Kings began asserting their pride and power, which altered the heavy French influence in language and literature. In addition, the 1300’s also brought on a split between the Norman society when John Wycliffe, a criticizer and disapprover of the Catholic Church, began to follow the British Bible. This time period experienced a change from the Old English, and Early Middle English language. Although words may have been pronounced differently to our English, the fourteenth and fifteenth century literature is written in a more understandable (more modern) Middle English which incorporates some simplicity from the French influence. Geoffrey Chaucer, who will be discuss in another students study guide, is known to have written the first piece in “standard” modern Middle English (“The Canterbury Tales”) at the end of the fourteenth century. Other writers had written Middle English pieces in different dialects (Sir Gawain).
The Tenets
The themes of the works also began to change slightly. The 1300-1400’s topics began to shift to an aristocratic frame of reference. The topics of literature during this time shifted from religious works and works geared to the uppermost of society to works of chivalry and romance. It is during the fourteenth century that literacy expanded, and a middle class emerged. Until this time, books were not commonly read by people unless they belonged to the wealthy (who owned mostly religious service books). Knights and courtly honor became themes of interest. Much of the writing during this time centered on “courtly love,” where a woman is in love with man who is in her social class but provides service to her, and so it appears she would be lowering herself. Themes of secrecy, jealousy, and separation became prevalent in these works. Prominent works arose out from the Fourteenth and Fifteenth centuries. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is a fourteenth century work of Arthurian Romance. This work shows mixes of it Anglo-Saxon heritage, but includes language of architecture and art which was a new theme for this period.
Due to expanding literacy, topics of romance, fashion, and hunting emerged (reflecting the preference of the commoners). In addition, the idea of morality was established. Many writing became didactic, teaching lessons on right and establishing a social morality. It is also during these centuries that debate and dream writings occurred. Writing often included fictitious facts about real locations, adding interests to these locations.
The fourteenth and fifteenth century writers are known for borrowing from other, earlier famous poets. Some of the themes, vocabulary, and the idea of the stanziac verse, are things that such writers borrowed from their predecessors.
The fourteenth century is known to have had an alliterative revival. Alliteration was seen in both the miracle and mystery plays but also in many of the fourteenth and fifteenth century poetry. Poetry of this time had common themes such as the tradition of English iambic meter with four stresses, and any number of unstressed words per line. This facilitated in producing two stressed beats per half line of poetry. End rhyme emerged as a tenet of poetry form this century. The poetry has distinctive vocabulary that centers on the themes. In addition, allegory was also a characteristic of this time period, as often a character would be in place of an institution of vice (example of this would be a character being the vice “greed” or “gluttony,” which is allegorical personification often found in morality plays. Works from this time were often romances, chronicles, and political satires that reflected that disunion of church and state.
There were also a large majority of religious works that were written during this time period because of the tradition of religious prayer books and private devotion. These “mystical writings” as they were called became popular in the fourteenth century. Julian of Norwich’s works show the introduction of “affective piety” which was a physical and emotional reaction to their quest for a union with Christ. During this same time existed the medieval drama cycles which were entertaining and didactic. They were performed during the fifteenth century by play guilds. They contained many of the tenets of this time period, such as lessons on morality, and technical aspects like alliteration and end rhyme.
Fourteenth Century works that may appear on the exam:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (General Prologue, Knights Tale, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, Parson’s Tale)
Langland’s Piers Plowman
Dante’s Divine Comedy
Winner and Waster (1352-3)
Gower’s The Lover’s Confession or The Tale of Philomena and Tereus
Julian of Norwich’s Book of Showings (chapters 3, 5, 59 appeared prominently)
Fifteenth Century Texts (later middle age texts) that may appear on the exam:
The Second Shepherd’s Play
The York Play of the Crucifixion (1425)
The Croxton Play of the Sacrament (1461)
Mankind (1470)
Everyman (1485)
Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte Darthur
It may be good to have an overview of the four major cycle productions: (N-town (Towneley), York, Wakefield, Chester)
Works Cited
Bolton, W.F, ed. History of Literature in the English Language: The Middle Ages.
Vol.1 London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970.
Coleman, Janet. Medieval Readers and Writers: 1350-1400. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1981.
Damrosch, David, ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. 2nd Ed. Vol. 1.
New York: Addison-Wesley Publishers, Inc, 2003.
Everett, Dorothy. Essays on Middle English Literature. Patricia Kean,ed. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1955.
Kane, George. Middle English Literature: A Critical Study of the Romances, the
Religious Lyrics, Piers Plowman. London: Methuen & Co, LTD, 1951.
Links to other students study exams:
Since the 14th and 15th centuries are considered the Middle Ages, this Middle Ages Overview relates well to get a full view of the time period.
In addition, I mention Chaucer as one of the more prominent writers of the 14-15 century overview because of his use of modern Middle English in The Canterbury Tales. Here is a link to information on Chaucer.