jueves, 2 de febrero de 2012

Literature in the English Middle Ages

Image taken from: http://madmikesamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/1226626964.415016.pjpeg_.jpeg

According to different countries and languages, medieval literature was the starting era of our modern vision of books. we have some examples as English Beowulf, Germanic Nibelung's Ring story, French Chanson de Roldan and some other old books.

What is the most incredible thing about this period, is that books were not meant for all public, like for example workers. Reading and writing was reserved for intellectuals, rich people and clerics.

The books of this era are, in its majority, narrations taken from old legends, for example epic poems with ancient Celtic, Greek or Nordic mythology; Arthurian knights era or greatest travelers and knights (Mio Çid, Don Quixote, even Marco Polo)

We can see that art was also present in books, big colored illustrations and typographies could be found on ancient books, this is a plus for this craftsmanships.

We can also found some allegories or representations of concepts like in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Maybe this period help modern literature to established but i think writing and sharing thoughts and ideas is part of human behavior, from hieroglyphics to latin letters humans always wanted to share emotions, historical events, triumphs, tales, legends, poems and whatever description or thought is in our minds.

No matter the language, copyright restrictions and other stuff, written expression would always be considered as a masterpiece of art, the stories form the times of kings and knights are still with us thanks to written languages.

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