Middle English Period (1066 – 1500)

 


Middle English Period. (1066 – 1500)

The fourteen century is important for the growth of the English national spirit during the wars with France. Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry, is famous for his poetry and its variety. A good deal old Middle English prose is religious.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales consists of 17 000 lines. A group of pilgrims tells stories to pass the time on their journey from London to Canterbury. The characters are realistic and the language is simple. Mystery plays, Miracle plays, and Morality plays prepared the foundation for Elizabethan drama.

Effect

  • An illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature.

Content

  • Religious devotion.
  • Romance
  • Chivalric code of honor.

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