Question1.

Define Literature. How does it work in society?

Answer:
➢ Introduction:
Literature generally is a collection of written works, but it is also used more
narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose
fiction, drama, and poetry.

▪ Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems,

including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter.

▪ Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting

knowledge and entertainment.

"Literature provides insight into the minds of other human beings, into the mind of
the author and the minds of the character he or she brings to life,"

"It provides one with the opportunity to further one's education to continuously
learn new things and be exposed to a plethora of ideas."

▪ Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction

genres, such as autobiography, diaries, memoir, letters, and the essay.

▪ Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books,

articles, or other printed information on a particular subject.

➢ Definition:
A Latin word “litera” which means letter. This is a body of literary
productions, either oral, written or visual containing imaginative language that
realistically portrays thoughts emotions and experiences of the human condition.

➢ Origin:

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 The term derives from Latin word “litera” which means "learning, a writing,
grammar," originally "writing formed with letters”.

➢ Oral Literature:

Oral literature is an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of the

world".

The earliest poetry is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a

way of remembering history, genealogy, and law. All ancient Greek literature was
to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely also oral.

➢ Oratory:
Oratory or the art of public speaking "was for long considered a literary art".
From Ancient Greece to the late 19th century, rhetoric played a central role
in Western education in training orators, lawyers, counsellors, historians,
statesmen, and poets.

▪ Types of Literature:
▪ Poetry
▪ Prose
▪ Novel
▪ Short story
▪ Graphic novel
▪ Electronic literature
▪ Nonfiction
▪ Drama

➢ English Literature and English Society:

English Literature is one of richest literatures of the world. Being the
literature of a great nation which, though inhabiting a small island off the west
coast of Europe, has made its mark in the world on account of her spirit of

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adventure, perseverance and tenacity, it reflects these characteristics of a great
people. It has vitality, rich variety and continuity.
As literature is the reflection of society, the various changes which have
come about in English society, from the earliest to the modern time, have left their
stamp on English literature. Thus in order to appreciate properly the various phases
of English literature, knowledge of English Social and Political History is essential.
For example, we cannot form a just estimate of Chaucer without taking into
account the characteristics of the period in which he was living, or of Shakespeare
without taking proper notice of the great events which were taking place during
the reign of Elizabeth. The same is the case with other great figures and important
movements in English literature.
When we study the history of English literature from the earliest to modern
times, we find that it has passed through certain definite phases, each having
marked characteristics.
❖ These phases may be termed as ‘Ages’ or ‘Periods’, which are
named after the central literary figures or the important rulers of England.
Thus we have the ‘Ages’ of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope,
Johnson. Wordsworth, Tennyson, Hardy; and, on the other hand, the Elizabethan
Age, the Jacobean Period, the Age of Queen Anne, the Victorian Age, the Georgian
Period.
❖ Some of these phases are named after certain literary
movements, as the Classical Age, the Romantic Age; while others after
certain important historical eras, as the Medieval Period, Anglo-Saxon
Period, Anglo-Norman Period.

❖ These literary phases are also named by some literary

historians after the centuries, as the Seventeenth Century Literature,
Eighteenth Century Literature, Nineteenth-Century Literature and
Twentieth Century Literature.
These ‘Ages’ and ‘Periods’ naturally overlap each other, and they are not to
be followed strictly, but it is essential to keep them in mind in order to follow the

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growth of English literature, and its salient and distinctive characteristics during the
various periods of its development.

➢ How it works in society?

Literature has had a major impact on the development of society. It has
shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and exposed injustice. Literature
gives us a detailed preview of human experiences, allowing us to connect on basic
levels of desire and emotion.

➢ Literature and Society:

We are going to start with some theories specified by practitioner/scholars.
“One hypothesis is that literature "reflects" society”
Second Hypothesis is
“literature influences or "shapes" society”
A third hypothesis is that
“literature functions socially to maintain and stabilize, if not to justify and sanctify,
the social order, which may be called the "social-control" theory.”
The idea that literature reflects society is at least as old as Plato's concept of
imitation. The essential function of the reflection theory is to "explain" in social and
historical rather than individual terms the quality and greatness of literature, as
well as its content, style, and forms.
In effect, it emphasized social and cultural determinism instead of personal
inspiration, and it became the broad orientation of innumerable works dealing with
the arts. To be sure, other phrases were often used, such as "expression of society"
or "mirror of life," but their meaning is practically identical with "reflection.
These phrases were applied to nearly everything social and cultural as well
as biological and geographical. At one time or another literature has been thought
to reflect economics, family relationships, climate and landscapes, attitudes,
morals, races, social classes, political events, wars, religion, and many other more
detailed aspects of environment and social life.

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 This diversity results, apparently, from the fact that literature embraces a
wide variety of subject matter, representing "settings," behavior patterns, and
ideas in their complex interrelationships.

➢ Social Problems and Literature:

Within the last fifteen years several sociologists have explored or implied
another variety of reflection which has arisen evidently from accumulated
sociological data and a concern for social problems.
Their basic assumption is that literature, mainly fiction and biography in
"popular" forms, reflects social "facts": vocational and divorce trends, population
composition and distribution.
This hypothesis is perhaps the most mechanistic version of all, since it
postulates that literary data somehow correspond to certain types of statistical
data; that heroines in popular fiction, for example, are portrayed as having the
same occupations, proportionately, as actually exist in society at a particular time.
Although the hypothesis seems hardly promising, the results have been
somewhat profitable, for they indicate the direction of the distortion of statistical
facts. Indeed, seems to be slanted in the direction of widespread interests and
ideals.

➢ Literature and its influence on Human Life:

Literature grows out of life, reacts upon life, and fed by life.
Generally, we can say that everything in print is literature. But this would be
a very vague description of literature. Broadly speaking, “literature” is used to
describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but
the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination,
including works of drama, essays, fiction and nonfiction.
Any work of art in which the emotional content predominates is literature.
Literature is the expression of written words. Literature is distinct from all other
arts. It has no medium of its own. Many mixed forms of literature exist in it.

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 Though literature is beyond these definitions, it is more than what we see
and perceive. Its boundaries cross our lives, our traditions, culture, social relations,
national unity and a lot more.
It serves as a reflection of reality, a product of art, and window to an
ideology, everything that happens within a society can be written, recorded in, and
learned from the piece of literature. Whether it be poetry or prose, literature
provides insight, knowledge, or wisdom, and emotion towards the person who
partakes it entirely.

➢ Literature contribution in Human lives:

Literature also functions to contribute several of human lives. In education
program, literature may give significant contribution for students‟ development
and knowledge.
The contribution of literature in education covers intrinsic values and
extrinsic values. The intrinsic values are the reward of a lifetime of wide reading
recognizable in truly literate person while the intrinsic values facilitate the
development of language skills and knowledge.

➢ Literature as Social Document:

Used as a social document, literature can be made to yield the outlines of
social history.
Chaucer and Langland preserve two views of fourteenth century society. The
prologue to the Canterbury Tales was early seen to offer an almost complete survey
of social types.
Shakespeare, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, Ben Jonson in several plays,
and Thomas Deloney seem to tell us something about the Elizabethan middle class.
Addison, Smollett, and Fielding depict the new bourgeoisie of the eighteenth
century; Jane Austen, the country gentry and country parsons early in the
nineteenth century.

➢ Conclusion:
Literature is an instrument of revolution. Political turmoil, societal injustice,
and genocidal conquest can all be ended and resolved in the form of literature.

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 A writer can be a warrior with his words as his weapon. He can be a
revolutionist by writing literary pieces that exploits corruption in his fellow
countrymen.
Literature in the present generation still exists as an expression of art, a
source of knowledge, and an instrument of entertainment. In short literature has
very deep meaning in our society it has it roots in every aspect of our society.

Question2.
Write in own words your understanding about Old English Era?

Answer:

➢ Introduction:

Old English era, is the name given to the earliest recorded stage of the English
language, up to approximately 1150AD (when the Middle English period is generally
taken to have begun).

▪ It refers to the language as it was used in the long period of time

from the coming of Germanic invaders and settlers to Britain

▪ in the period following the collapse of Roman Britain in the early

fifth century

▪ up to the Norman Conquest of 1066, and

▪ beyond into the first century of Norman rule in England.

It is thus first and foremost the language of the people normally referred to by
historians as the Anglo-Saxons.

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 ➢ Origin of Anglo-Saxons:
The Anglo-Saxons formed the basis of English culture, religion, and language
and ruled England for 600 years. The term Anglo-Saxon refers to a group of settlers
from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony who took over England after the
fall of the Roman Empire.
The Anglo-Saxons first introduced Old English literature in the fifth century.
We refer to the years between 450 and 1066 as the Old English or Anglo-
Saxon period. The Old English language, or Anglo-Saxon, is the foundation of
Modern English, although if untrained Modern English speakers could hear
someone speaking Old English, they would not be able to understand it.
One of the first examples of literature written during the Old English period
was a poem written by a man named Caedmon, who was a cattle herder around
680 A.D. Caedmon's poem survived because it was written down by a monk named
Bede in 733 A.D. Many writings from Anglo-Saxon literature were preserved after
being written down by clerics or others with knowledge of a story through the
years.
The Exeter Book is the most popular book in Old English Literature. It
contains a total of 131 stories. It is the only surviving source for many popular
pieces of literature written in Old English era, including;
▪ 'The Wanderer,' 'The Seafarer,' and 'The Wife's Lament.'

➢ Anglo-Saxon literature or Old English literature:

Anglo-Saxon literature or Old English literature
encompasses literature written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English era) during the 600-
year Anglo-Saxon period of Britain, from the mid-5th century to the Norman
Conquest of 1066.

These works include genres such as epic

poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles,
and others. Some of the most important works from this period include the
poem Beowulf, which has achieved national epic status in Britain.

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The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of early English history. The
poem Cædmon's Hymn from the 7th century is one of the oldest surviving written
texts in English.

Anglo-Saxon literature has gone through different periods of research—in

the 19th and early 20th centuries the focus was on the Germanic roots of English,
later the literary merits were examined, and today the interest is with paleography
questions and the physical manuscripts themselves such as dating, place of origin,
authorship, and looking at the connections between Anglo-Saxon culture and the
rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.

A large number of manuscripts remain from the 600 year Anglo-Saxon

period, with most written during the last 300 years (9th–11th century), in
both Latin and the vernacular.

Old English literature is among the oldest vernacular languages to be written

down. Old English began, in written form, as a practical necessity in the aftermath
of the Danish invasions—church officials were concerned that because of the drop
in Latin literacy

Society during old English Era:

The Anglo-Saxons were a pagan society, but information about their lives and
culture has been told by Christian writers. Some wonder if Christian writers have
not added their own Christian twist to the stories written by Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxons maintained order in their society through social means.
Society was led by powerful leaders (a ring-giver, lord or lady) who rewarded their
servants for various activities. Anglo-Saxons enjoyed serving their lords and found
it hard to survive if they were not supported by their lords.
Power of women during Old English era:
Women had just as much power as men did during the Anglo-Saxon period.
In fact, understanding the lifestyle of the Anglo-Saxons depended on one's ability
to understand the connection between men and women in society.
Songs and Poetry during Old English era:

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 Songs and poetry were very important components of Anglo-Saxon society.
Poems were conveyed orally but started appearing in written form in 733.
Archbishops were known to sing songs to attract crowds for their sermons.
One of the most valued members of Anglo-Saxon society was the scop, or
poet, who discussed social and cultural values in his work. Scops were responsible
for maintaining a person's reputation through song after his or her death.

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