EN 2643 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Great Vowel Shift, Medieval Warm Period, Geoffrey Chaucer
25 Jun 2017
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Bede: author of the ecclesiastical history of the english people & wrote of caedmon. Monastery of stroenaeshalch: (todays english = whitby abby) where caedmon stayed as a lay brother. Lay brother: not yet a monk of catholic religion, still in training, looked after livestock at monastery. Feast day: allowed to eat meat (5 days/year, one of them being christmas) Caedmon at feast day couldn"t sing & create lyrics like the monks so he left. Dream: that night he has a dream of a visitor asking him to improvise lyrics of a song/poem called principium creaturarum -> he creates this poem in his dream. Principium creaturarum: a song/poem about creation & living things. Wakes up: he remembers the entire poem & creates more lines (something he couldn"t do before at the feast) Supervising monk: takes the poem to the abbess of the abbey (head monk)
