Middle English

1.- Approximately when was Middle English spoken?
It was spoken between the 11th century and about 1470,

2. What were the major factors which led to the development and the spread of Middle English?
The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, the introduction of the printing press into England by William Caxton in the late 1470s, the variant of the Northumbrian dialect (prevalent in Northern England) spoken in southeast Scotland was developing into the Scots language.

3. Match the following Old English words with their Anglo-Norman equivalent:
A. Pig = Pork
B. Cow = Beef
C. Wood = Forest
D. Sheep = Mutton
E. House = Mansion
F. Worthy = Honourable
G. Bold = Courageous

4. Compare & contrast the structure of nouns, pronouns and verbs, between Middle English & Modern English.
The grammar of Middle English is much closer to modern English than Old English. It is probably most similar to modern Dutch. In modern English we can find the disuse of the T-V distinction (thou, ye); the use of auxiliary verbs becomes mandatory in interrogative sentences and the rise and fall of prescriptive grammarians. In terms of Nouns, the strong -(e)s plural form has survived into Modern English. The weak -(e)n form is now rare in the standard language, used only in oxen, children and brethren; and it is slightly less rare in some dialects, used in eyen for eyes, shoon for shoes, hosen for hose(s) and kine for cows. In terms of Verbs, as a general rule, the first person singular of verbs in the present tense ends in -e ("ich here" - "I hear"), the second person in -(e)st ("þou spekest" - "thou speakest"), and the third person in -eþ ("he comeþ" - "he cometh/he comes"). (þ is pronounced like the unvoiced th in "think"). In the past tense, weak verbs are formed by adding an -ed(e), -d(e) or -t(e) ending. These, without their personal endings, also form past participles, together with past-participle prefixes derived from Old English: i-, y- and sometimes bi-. Strong verbs, by contrast, form their past tense by changing their stem vowel (e.g. binden -> bound), as in Modern English. In terms of Pronouns, the first and second person pronouns in Old English survived into Middle English largely unchanged, with only minor spelling variations. In the third person, the masculine singular became 'him'. The feminine form was replaced by a form of the demonstrative that developed into 'she', but unsteadily—'ho' remained in some areas for a long time. The lack of a strong standard written form between the eleventh and the fifteenth century makes these changes hard to map. The overall trend was the gradual reduction in the number of different case endings: the dative case disappeared, but the three other cases were partly retained in personal pronouns, as in he, him, his.

5. How is pronunciation different between Middle English and Modern English?
All letters in Middle English words were pronounced. (Silent letters in Modern English come from pronunciation shifts, which mean that pronunciation is no longer closely reflected by the written form because of fixed spelling constraints imposed by the invention of dictionaries and printing.)The word 'knight' was pronounced /kniçt/ (with a pronounced /k/ and the /gh/ as the /ch/ in German 'Knecht'), not /naɪt/ as in Modern English.

6. What is the Chancery Standard, and how did it come into effect?
Chancery Standard was a written form of English used by government bureaucracy and for other official purposes from the late 15th century. In its early stages of development, the clerks who used CS would have been familiar with French and Latin. The strict grammars of those languages influenced the construction of the standard. It was not the only influence on later forms of English—its level of influence is disputed and a variety of spoken dialects continued to exist—but it provided a core around which Early Modern English could crystallize.

7. Who wrote the Canterbury Tales?
Geoffrey Chaucer

8. Describe the medieval pilgrims who journeyed from Canterbury to London.
The pilgrimage was a very prominent feature of medieval society. Pilgrims would frequently journey to cathedrals that preserved relics of saints. They believed that such relics had miraculous powers. Pilgrimages also represented the mortal journey to heaven through the struggles of mortal life.

9. Why did the pilgrims take this journey?
They wend their way to Canterbury from every shire of England to seek the holy blessed martyr, Thomas Becket, who has helped them when they were sick.
Canterbury was a popular destination within England. Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been killed in the Canterbury cathedral by knights who had misunderstood Henry II's order during a disagreement between him and Becket. Miracle stories connected to his remains began to spring up soon after his death, and the area became a popular pilgrimage destination

10. It is thought that some of the stories in The Canterbury Tales originated in Italy. What was the name of the Italian book and who wrote it?
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

11. The Canterbury Tales is considered an extremely important book, both in terms of English Literature & in the history of English writing. In your opinion, why is this book so important?
It gives an important influence in modern English, besides is important in terms of culture and history.

12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is:
a. A collection of German folk tales, similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales.
b. A collection of Japanese ghost stories, similar to Kwaidan.
c. A detailed explanation of the proper etiquette & behaviour for all knights in Medieval Europe.
d. A medieval romance poem, with Arthurian themes.
e. None of the above.
f. All of the above.

13. Who is Sir Gawain?
Sir Gawain, the youngest of Arthur's knights and nephew to the king, accepts the Green knight’s challenge. He severs the giant's head in one stroke, expecting him to die. The Green Knight, however, picks up his own head, reminds Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel in a year and a day and rides away.

14. What is the challenge that The Green Knight proposes to the Knights of the Round Table?
A large Green Knight armed with an axe enters the hall and proposes a game. He asks for someone in the court to strike him once with his axe, on condition that the Green Knight will return the blow one year and one day later.

15. What is the similarity between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Irish tale of Cúchulainn?
The earliest known story to feature a beheading game is the 8th-century Middle Irish tale Bricriu's Feast This story parallels Gawain in that, like the Green Knight, Cú Chulainn's antagonist feints three blows with the axe before letting his target depart without injury.

16. What is the importance of the pentagram/pentangle in the poem?
The pentangle on Gawain's shield is seen by many critics as signifying Gawain's perfection and power over evil.

17. How are numbers used to symbolize events in the poem?
The poet highlights number symbolism to add symmetry and meaning to the poem. For example, three kisses are exchanged between Gawain and Bertilak's wife; Gawain is tempted by her on three separate days; Bertilak goes hunting three times, and the Green Knight swings at Gawain three times with his axe. The number two also appears repeatedly, as in the two beheading scenes, two confession scenes, and two castles. The five points of the pentangle represent Gawain's virtues, for he is "faithful five ways and five times each". All five of his senses are without fault; his five fingers never fail him, and he always remembers the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of the Virgin Mary. The fifth five is Gawain himself, who embodies the five moral virtues of the code of chivalry: "friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety" All of these virtues reside, as the poet says, in the "Endless Knot" of the pentangle, which forever interlinks and is never broken.

18. What is the significance of Sir Gawain's neck wound?
During the medieval period, the body and the soul were believed to be so intimately connected that wounds were considered an outward sign of inward sin. The neck, specifically, was believed to correlate with the part of the soul related to will, connecting the reasoning part (the head) and the courageous part (the heart).

19. Which actor played the Green Knight in the film adaptation, Sword of the Valiant?
Sean Connery was the Green Knight

20. In many ways this poem is, in the modern sense, a soap opera. Compare Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with a modern Chilean teleseries.
Maybe Sir Gawain is similar with the Chilean teleseries by treachery because in national soap operas is comon watch how the people is disloyal with friends and even with their own family, but in some way both have a happy ending.