Tuesday

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The hero of earlier times became the man of romance in Middle English literature (1150-1485). The name of King Arthur became a symbol of English history for many centuries. The sstory of
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is the greatest national myth in English. There was probably a real King Arthur around the year 500; about 200 years later the story begins to appear in the spoken tradition with characters such as the magician Merlin, Guinevere and Lancelot. The sword in the stone (Excalibur) and the Holy Grail also became part of the Arthurian legend.
A children's story The Sword in the Stone was filmed by Walt Disney.


A successful film about King Arthur was filmed in the 1980s: Excalibur (Excalibur is the sword in the stone which only the hero can pull out)

Beowulf, the first hero in English literature.

Have you ever heard the name Beowulf ? Have you seen the film Beowulf ? This film is based on the old English poem Beowulf.
Beowulf is the first hero in English literature, the man who can win battles and give safety to his people over a long period of time.

Beowulf is a long anonymous poem which describes invasions and battles, some historic, some legendary.The poem is set around the sixth century. These are Anglo-Saxon times and are known as the early medieval period. It was a time of wars and invasions. Britain was invaded by many peoples from Europe: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings and finally Normans.
The first stories and poems were spoken; it took a long time before they were written down and they were first written down in the monasteries. Most of the texts of this period are religious or heroic ( of heroes who defended their lands against invaders).
The language of the first literature in English is known as Old English.