ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Anglo-Saxon Poetry (or Old English Poetry) encompasses verse written during the 600-year Anglo-Saxon period of British history, from the mid-fifth century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. Almost all of the literature of this period was orally transmitted, and almost all poems were intended for oral performance.

Detailed explanation-2: -[15] The meter and the style of Anglo-Saxon narrative verse were inheritances from the oral tradition in which they originated.

Detailed explanation-3: -Oral-formulaic theory in Anglo-Saxon poetry refers to the application of the hypotheses of Milman Parry and Albert Lord on the Homeric Question to verse written in Old English. That is, the theory proposes that certain features of at least some of the poetry may be explained by positing oral-formulaic composition.

Detailed explanation-4: -Anglo-Saxon, term used historically to describe any member of the Germanic peoples who, from the 5th century ce to the time of the Norman Conquest (1066), inhabited and ruled territories that are today part of England and Wales.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Anglo-Saxon oral poet was assisted by three poetic devices: alliteration, kennings, and epithets. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in words close to one another. Anglo-Saxon poetry is often called alliterative poetry.