Anglo Saxon Prose---

Anglo Saxon Prose--.>

Old English Prose cannot compare in variety or interest with Old English Poetry.But this short coming of Anglo-Saxon poetry is in one sense its asset. Whereas the poetry was deliberately archaic and modeled on a remote and indefinite antiquity, the prose was nearer to life  and everyday speech.

Old English Prose

            The earliest extent English prose was composed in the reign and under the guidance of Alfred, King of wessex from 8^th  871 – 899. Though an unlearned laymen himself, Alfred had always displayed an interest books and learning. The writing of Alfred and his men, therefore, must not be regarded as works of art. These were written as part of an educational program. Among the books that Alfred helped to be translated, six complete volumes and a number of fragments survive.   

Alfred himself certainly translated Gregory the Great’s Cura Pastoralis, Boethius “consolation of philosophy, Orosius" History and was possible responsible for st. Augustine Soliloquies. The other books which were translated are Gragory's Dialogues and Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the Angles. 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

                                         

                                          In the year 891some compiler, probably cleric in  King Alfred's employ' finished a set of annals devoted chiefly to the history of the English from there settlement in Britain to the year of compilation. This record come subsequently to be known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  and it  and it constitutes one of the principle glories of Alfred. The earliest event recorded is juliuas Caisar's invamsion of Britain. The compiler used various sources, such as early annalist matter,Genealogists Bede's History and oral report.  

                                                      The Chronicle is perhaps the most important prose work in Old English.No other people of the world during these centuries  possessed such a relatively complete and reveling records of their history.On the basics of evidence supplied by the  Anglo-Saxon Chronicle we may say that if Old English Poetry followed in the late 7th and 8th centuries, Old English Passionflower the late 10th  and 11th.

                                                        Embedded in the Chronicle, especially  from 925-975, are Old English Poems which continues the unbroken tradition of alliterative stress verse.   The Battle of Brunanburh (937AD) celebrates the victory of the English under Athelestan over  the combined forces of Scots and Vikings. The poem is notable  for its portrait flavour.  It is done with technical skill, the transitions in particular show the poet's mastery of his medium. It is a poem of praise and does not describe the course of the battle in any details.

            Another poem, The Battle of Maldon, rises magnificently to the tragic occasion. The battle was fought in the year 991 and its hero was Byrhtnoth, Earl of  Essex. The poet does not name the leaders of the Vikings envadors . After parleying, the chivalrous  zeal withdraws his troops to purmit the Norse to form their battle line on the mainland. The mighty Earl and many of his thanes fall .while some Anglo-Saxon warriors flee in cowardice . The Norse Pyrrhic victory.

            The writers who came immediately after Alfred was Aethel wold , and it was he who was responsible for initiating the classic prose with a translation of the Rule of St benedict(960AD). His version is a paraphrase, his  English smooth and competent. 

                The leading Prose writer of the period i.o, Aelfric, the disciple of Aethelwold, wrote various types of prose : homilies, pastoral letters, the lives of saints and many other. We may pass over his grammar  and Glossary with their pendant the Colloquy of special mention are the 120 sermons which he wrote between the years 990 and 998. Each sermon was written for use on a suitable day of the Church Year.

            The chief literary contemporary of Aelfric was his superior and friend, Wolfstan, who was the Arch bishop of york for 21 years. He died in 1023. He is best known as a homilist, and his literary form rests mainly on a single homily composed in the troubulous year, 1014.

        After Wulfstan all was over: the antichrist came indeed. The Danes became the masters of the country; gradually Normans became masters. The garden of English prose was at last laid waste and its keeper stain. 

 

      ANGLO-SAXON PROSE

 

The development of Old English prose does not go back to earlier Germanic origins as the poetry does. It takes place wholly in England and largely as a result aims were primarily utilitarian and practical rather than artistic.

Alfred , the glorious king of Wressex , is rightly called the ‘father of English prose’. He began his series of translations due to the lamentable state of English learning. Even the knowledge of Latin was declining. So, he began to translate some popular books into his own tongue to civilize his people. Five important translations attributed to Alfred are :- ‘Pastoral care’ of Pope Gregory,

                                                  ‘History of the World’ by Orosius,

                                                   ‘Ecclesiastical History’ of Bede,

                                                ‘Consolation of philosophy’ of Bothius,

                                         and     ‘Soliloquies’ of st.Augustine.  

 

Pastoral Care:--

                   Gregory’s “Pastoral care” describing the duties and responsibilities of a bishop comes first on Alfred’s list. It is on the whole a literal rendering; but it flows easily and there is little indication of the forcing of one language in the Idiom of another.

 

History of the World: - It was written under the influence of St. Augustine. Alfred treated his original rather freely, adding his own illustrations and omitting-much propaganda. More important, he added two entirely new narratives – one told him by Oh there, the other told him by Wulfstan. These lively accounts together with Alfred’s additions give this transition its present value.  

 

Ecclesiastical History:-

                                         It was probable made not by the king himself but by the one of his Mercian helpers. It shows frequent omissions as well as misunderstanding of the Latin. Its value lies in the fact that it provides basically important book.

 

Consolation of Philosophy:-

                                   Here Alfred mistakes the meaning fairly frequently and is incapable of Conveying the fine shades of the original. In the famous 7^th chapter, which is almost entirely Alfred’s own additions, the king meditates on his own life as a ruler, the tribulations on tailed.

 

Soliloquies:-

                       The condition of freely rendered passages  from St. Augustine’s Soliloquies  together with reflections and meditations on them which he called ‘blossoms’ seems to have been Alfred’s last work. The preface provides a strong impressions of his personality, as well as an example of his original prose, as district from translation.

 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:-

                                            The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most impressive landmark in the history of Old English prose literature. It is arecord of important events in the history of Anglo-Saxons.

                                            It begins with the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar and ends with the account of to troublesome resign of Stephen.

                                                    

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