The era of poetical domination — A dive into my favorite poems and poets

The Middle English Periods and why it attracts me as a modern-day poet

The stage saw the development of Middle English, with the slow weakening of the older period. The manuscripts which were written at the end of the Old English era were in the West Saxon dialect. Similar kinds of writings also reappear in the twelfth century but are written in the particular dialect of the author. The term under review provides a tremendous amount of fascinating, powerful, and sometimes refreshing work. The remarkable features of this era were The Transition, The anonymous nature of writing, and The Domination of poetry. Poetry was used in fields of history, divinity, and science. A big reason was that people could memorize poetry and it was also for the distribution of knowledge.

I am quite fascinated with some great works of that time and will classify them into three categories.

1. Chronicles

There was an unusual number of verse chronicles during that period. These were distinguished by their use of stories, which appears incredible due to their inventiveness. A lot of cases showcased the vivacity of style.

Layamon’s Brut

This was written by Layamon, a monk of Arley Kings, in Worcestershire, in 1205. The piece tells the history of Britain from the landing of Brutus to the death of Cadwallader, in a 16,096 long alliterative lines. Characteristics of Layamon’s style is his use of epic formulae, were sometimes alliteration and rhyme appear together.

2. Didactic poetry

The Owl and the Nightingale

The authorship to this is still debatable, it was written somewhere in the early thirteen century. It has rhyming octosyllabic couplets and is probably one of the earlier rhetorical poems. The poem is a beautiful depicture of an argument between a nightingale, and the owl. Here, the nightingale represents the simple joys of life, whereas the owl has a stand for attainment and seriousness. There are rhyming couplets handled with considerable skills. The narration and characterizations are on point!

3. Romance

The very great number of romances in this period can be classified according to a subject, though it should be noted that they are both alliterative and rhyming in poetry.

Amis and Amiloum

Romantic poetry was very descriptive in those times, and this an extremely touching love story. The poem comprises of 2508 lines It is about two friends who are born to different sets of parents and in different places, but are striking similar looking. The poem was written in the late thirteen century and has been found in four different manuscripts. The dialect of the poem is of north-eastern midlands is highly applauded for its stanzaic brilliance.

These weren’t the only categories of poems written. There were a lot of devolutional and religious poems as well but I do not have a favorite in that category! Apart from my favorites, I believe this age was crucial for England. Crusades were in fashion, there was a rise in religious orders, a copious amount of internal conflicts among the nobles and kings. And, all this leading to the Renaissance. Thus, so much intellect was being surfaced that the literature bloomed in its full glory.

Let us also talk about two poets that I admire.

1. Layamon

He somewhat kept the foundation of history writing in England and was an influence on many writers. His writings were mainly a combination of alliterative verses and Old English Rhyme. He was also a big step in developing the Arthurian literature.

2. Geoffrey Chaucer

How can you not like the “father of English poetry/literature”? He was an astronomer and that inclination was visible in a lot of his works. He is famous for The Canterbury Tales. His style was an accentual syllabic metre. I believe in creating new styles while you write, something Chaucer did a lot. He was a great philosopher and very progressive for his time.

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