UNIT-I The Age of Chaucer English Literature Before Chaucer (500 - 1340) Introduction The historians of the English language feel that it grew out of the Anglo-Saxon in the fourteenth century. In the place of the word "Anglo-Saxon" "old English" is used. In the same way a natural change has occurred in the history of English literature. Instead of Anglo-Saxon literature, an early form of English literature which dated even before Chaucer. It started with the history of the English people on the continent of Europe. English Literature before the Conquest The Anglo-Saxon poetry before the Conquest has been preserved. The epic Beowulf of which the authorship is still a controversy. But it is probably from the ballads of the ancestors of the English in Denmark and Sweden. Apart from Beowulf, the works of Cardamom and Cynewulf are important. Anglo-Saxon poetry flourished in the north and prose developed later in the south. King Alfred is a note-worthy writer of this time.

UNIT-I The Age of Chaucer English Literature Before Chaucer (500 - 1340) Introduction The historians of the English language feel that it grew out of the Anglo-Saxon in the fourteenth century. In the place of the word "Anglo-Saxon" "old English" is used. In the same way a natural change has occurred in the history of English literature. Instead of Anglo-Saxon literature, an early form of English literature which dated even before Chaucer. It started with the history of the English people on the continent of Europe. English Literature before the Conquest The Anglo-Saxon poetry before the Conquest has been preserved. The epic Beowulf of which the authorship is still a controversy. But it is probably from the ballads of the ancestors of the English in Denmark and Sweden. Apart from Beowulf, the works of Cardamom and Cynewulf are important. Anglo-Saxon poetry flourished in the north and prose developed later in the south. King Alfred is a note-worthy writer of this time.