2 Plan: The role of the English Literature in the Development of the world Literature

Pre-Renaissance Period in English Literature
In the 14th century the Norman kings made London their residence. It became the most inhabited and busy town in England. (The London dialect was the central dialect, and could be understood throughout the country). Even peasants who wished to get free of their masters went to London. But the life in the country was miserable especially with the so-called Hundred Years’ War flamed by king Edward against France. There was another burden on people’s shoulders – rich foreign bishops of the Catholic Church, who did not care of people’s sufferings. The protest against the Catholic Сhurch and the growth of national feeling during the first years of the War found the reflection in literature. There appeared poor priests who wandered from one village to another and talked to the people. They protested not only against rich bishops but also against churchmen who were ignorant and could not teach people anything. Among poor priests were then acknowledged poets William Langland and John Wyclif.


William Langland (1332?-1400?)
was a poor priest. His parents were poor but free peasants. He denounced the rich churchmen and said that everybody was obliged to work. His name is remembered for a poem he wrote, “The Visions of William Concerning Piers the Ploughman” (Piers -Peter). Nowadays the poem is called “Piers Plowman”. “Piers Plowman” is an allegorical poem. In it Vice and Virtue are spoken of as if they were human beings. Truth is a young maiden, Greed is an old witch. The poem was very popular in the Middle Ages. It begins with a vision which the poet William had on the Malvern Hills. In a long and complicated succession of scenes Langland portrays almost every side of fourteenth-century life. In his dream the poet sees Piers the Ploughman, a peasant. Piers tells him about the hard life of the people. He sees the corruption of wealth, and the inadequacies of government. To him, the only salvation lies in honest labour and in the service of Christ. If Langland were not a mystic, he would have been a revolutionary. He is the nearest approach to Dante in English poetry, for despite his roughness, and the bleak atmosphere of much of his work, he has written the greatest poem in English devoted to the Christian way of life.
But modern poetry begins with one of the most prominent people of the Middle English period – Geoffrey Chaucer, diplomat, soldier and scholar.