Medieval literature is developed in the Middle Ages, which is considered a transition

stage that precedes the modern age, Located between the ancient Greco-Roman era
and renaissance.
As u can see, I started with the definition of Medieval English literature, I will give u a
brief explanation about the medieval English literature. These are any written works with
a lasting value which was made during the middle ages.
Well, medieval literature is those literary works found in Europe and beyond in the
middle ages. Ahm based on the timeline of the middle ages, it is from the fall of the
western roman empire to the late 15th century, on the other words, until the renaissance
.
So it means that any kind of literary work found during this period, it is classified in the
medieval literature or also known as middle English literature and the majority of works
in this period are written and During the Middle Ages, a great deal of literature was
written in Latin.
In this period, spelling and grammars were inconsistent which can make people hard to
read until the invention of printing press in the 14th century because during that time,
spelling begins to standardized

So, that is the description of medieval English literature, let us now move on to the
history of medieval English literature.
So, here as u can see we have here a timeline, so in the later part of 15th century
literature first came into anglo Saxons and jutes came to settle in England kung saan,,,,
they eventually gave the country its name and language.

Their language is spoken court was always a form of French.

After the Norman Conquest, anglo norman become an acquired tongue and it is used
as a test of gentility.
The earliest extent text in the anglo-norman dialect is belongs to the reign of Henry I in
the 1st century until the latest to that of Henry IV of 15th century.
The dialects anglo-norman French started exerting an influence on old English and the
two gradually evolves to what is known as the middle English. Until the have printing
press sa England and that is by William Caxton which helps the writers produce their
writing more easily.
Because it allows for the mass production of uniform printed matter, mainly text in the
form of books.
And that is the history of Medieval English literature.
After discussing the definition and history of Medieval English Literature let us now
proceed to the characteristics of Medieval English Literature.

So the first characteristic concern in medieval English literature is

1. Impersonality/Anonymity.
this is one of the most important characteristics of middle english literature.
during those times, the authors of literary works used to acknowledge authors before
them and sometimes they imitate them.
and to avoid censorship, those literary works or text was written under anonymity.
just like for example, at the end of the text, we wouldn't find written by in the name of the
author, u would rather define written by anonymous.
it stated there anonymous because the one wrote that, wanted to avoid censorship or
also he acknowledge the author before him.

2. Derivative Stories
Derivative refers to something that is based on another source an act of imitating the
work of another person.
Originality was not a major requirement of medieval authors, were the authors during
this period based their work on something else or someone’s work.
During the medieval period, It is common to find that the original author of a work is not
named.

3. Religiosity
As I have red some of my research, it is said that, men and women looked upon religion
as a means to the next life. They lived in constant fear of hell and its torments and were
vitally concerned with the salvation of their souls. That’s why religious writing forms a
greater part of Middle English Literature.
Religiosity is one of the characteristics because during this period, literature is full of
teachings and warnings instead of entertainment because people are afraid to God and
punishment, so everything is related to religion and God which obviously affected
literature in that time.
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 4. Oral Quality
Another important characteristic of Middle English Literature is its oral quality. People
during this period used to memorized and retell poems instead of reading.
As there were no printing facilities in those days, most of the literature was memorized.
One of the reasons why people in this period prefer to memorized literary text is
because of the unavailability of books and materials, which were so expensive that
common people could not afford to buy them. So it hindered the spread of literature in
this period.

5. Courtly Love
Courtly love, on the other hand, had nothing to do with marriage.
courtly love was all about romance, but sexual contact typically had nothing to do with
it.
It was a secret affair between the lovers. In the Middle Ages, love and marriage have
nothing to do with each other
Courtly love is close to adultery. One of the example is based on the (The Art of
Loving) by Ovid, the Roman poet. A Knight who was inlove with a married woman of
higher rank was required to prove his heroic deeds and present love letters to his
beloved without disclosing his identity.

6. Chivalry
One of the characteristics which is quite important, chivalry qualities was popular in
medieval period so middle English poetry is mostly concerned with heroic deeds of
Knights. It was the main subject for authors of Middle English Literature.
Because at that time, chivalry was mainly a behavior. It consists how a man should
serve a king, how a man should treat a woman and how to be good in society.
 7. Romance
Romance is another important characteristic of Middle English literature. Romance in
this period was something important, it was mainly related to a courage of a Knight.

8. Infra-Literary
This does not mean that there are no great works of the imagination in the Middle Ages. There
are some, but poems like the Divine Comedy are rare at any age.
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Themes of Medieval English Literature

Some of the most common themes of medieval literature are love, chivalrous adventures,
conquests or religion.
So we have here 4 most frequent themes in medieval English literature.

1. Religion
As stated in the definition, it is the most recurrent theme in medieval literature, as it is
responsible for dictating all the rules of behavior, morals and good customs of society.
And based on my findings, Theology, the life of the saints and the interpretations of the sacred
scriptures are other common themes in this period, in medieval English literature.
Because in medieval English literature, the themes are more focus on religious guidelines.

2. Love and War

during this period, themes are somehow related to the implications of war being a metaphor for
love and about the love letters between soldiers.

3. Spirituality
Many works from this period are about spirituality, the search for God, and how to find it through
contemplation, prayer, anonymity, and the monastery.

4. Modalities and behavioral norms

Because in this period, there were great celebrations in the castles, which included banquets
that flattered noble and educated knights.
Therefore, it was necessary to implement minimum rules of behavior and behavior when eating,
dancing, dressing and speaking.
They are following behavioral norms.
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Let us now talk about some famous works during the medieval period, having said the history,
characteristics and themes of literature in medieval english literature, now let us have a
throwback of the famous works that was written and play a significant role in medieval period
and of course it plays a major role in literature as a whole.

One of the famous work during this period is the Canterbury Tales by Geofrey Chaucer
A frame story written in Middle English in 1387-1400.
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About the author

Chaucer has a prolific writer, creating many fine works which have been shadowed by the
Canterbury Tales.
Chaucer was a multilingual, fluent in italian, french and latin and translated his works from latin,
french to english. he also established middle english as a respectable medium for medieval
literature.
now let's proceed to his famous work, the canterbury tales.
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the canterbury tales was a framed story written in middle english 1387 to 1400s.
the story is a collection of 24 stories that runs over to 17,000 lines.
it is also believed in the original prologue that Chaucer intended to have each greenery 4 stories
with the entire collection number around 120 tales.
however, Chaucer died, prior to the works completion. despite being unfinished, the canterbury
tales is widely regarded as Chaucer's best work.
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The next famous work is the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by The Pearl Poet
It's a late 14th Century Middle English Alliterative Romance.
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Summary of the Story

It is sophisticated in the use of Medieval Symbolism and it was written by Pearl Poet.
Based on my research, Pearl poet is the name given by the scholars to the Gawain and
Green knights. Though his name and identity is unknown, the Pearl poet has written a
poem named pearl, so his name after his poem, pearl.
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Sir Gawain and the green knight is a strange and extra ordinary tale of king Arthur and
his court.
Read the summary
When you have a free time, u can read the summary of the poem or u can just
download and watch it since there was a movie under hollywood movies which is the
Gawain and the green knight.

This story is an important poem in the romance genre which typically involves a hero
who goes on the quest to test his ability. So basically the main theme in the story
involves relationship between chivalry courtesy and Christianity and sinful nature and
the importance of truth.
I hope that that was clear to all of you.
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The next famous work written during the medieval period is The Book of Margery
Kempe.
The Book of Margery Kempe is the earliest autobiography in English.

About the author

Margery Kempe is indeed a middle-class woman and what makes her unique is that she
was known as an English Christian mystic known for writing through dictation.
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Since it is autobiography, the content of the book is all about Margery’s life and travel in
England and on pilgrimage to the holy land and Santiago de Compostela after
experiencing religious visions.
The reason why this book is famous is because it tackles the controversy of being a
Christian in a middle-class during the medieval period.
That’s all from the famous work during the medieval period or in medieval English
literature. i hope you’ve got something from that short discussion.