Appunti di letteratura- THE BIRTH OF A NATION

The first inhabitants of Britain were the Britons. We don't know much about them, but they left us the world- famous circle of big stones -STONEHENGE- a sort of astronomical clock.

The Celts were of Indo-European origins. They were divided in clans or tribes and were warriors and strongly indipendent. They lived in hill forts. The Druids were their religious leaders but also judges and doctors of the time.

The first Romans to come to Britain were guided by Julius Caesar in 55-54 B.C, but the real invasion started with the emperor Claudius in 43 A.D., but the Romans conquered only a part of Britain, they couldn't control Scotland and Ireland. The Romans left so many traces of their presence: Adrian's Wall,the road system, the administrative system and the names of cities, and their way of life. 

In 410 the Romans left England because of the invasion of Germanic tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. They defeated the Romans and the Britons, that remained only in Wales where a Celtic language still exists. Anglo-Saxon society was ruled by men, they were  warlike people and their king had to be the best of them. They were divided in small Kingdoms and in war against each oher. They became Christian and the most important cities were Canterbury, the religious center and Winchester the political centre. Christianity brought the Latin and the written literture. The most important writer of that time was Venerable Bede, who wrote the first history of Britain.

The Vikings came from Scandinavia and invaded Britain in 800. They were sailors, farmers, fishermen, traders. They were at  war with Anglo-Saxons and Britain was divided in a northern part (Danelaw) to Vikings and a southern part to Anglo-Saxons.

The Anglo-Saxons celebrated their kings and their glorious deeds in poetry with epic poems. Beowulf is an example of this. In it we find technical devices such as Allitteration, that is the repetition of the same sound in a  word in the same line; Kennings,  a sort of very formal compound metaphors and Riddles, when a familiar object is presented in a mysterious way, a kind of our indovinello.

                                                       BEOWULF

 It is an anonymous poem written in late 10th century. It tells the story of Beowulf who helps the king of Denmark to kill a Monster Grendel and its mother. 50 years later he kills a dragon, but in the fight he remains mortally wounded and dies as a hero.

In this work it is reflected the Anglo-Saxon society of the time and their most important values: strenght, courage and loyalty, but also Christian ideals.