routledge+history+of+literature+in+english

French influence and English affirmation
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intentions: it ranges from misogyny to worship of the beloved, from
immorality to chastity, so these contrasting philosophies have made
the text both ambiguous and controversial. However, it is perhaps
best seen as covering a great range, albeit from a male point of view
and starting off a wide-ranging new tradition of love literature which
can be both pure and earthy. The love literature of the next few
centuries will do its best to uphold this new tradition, despite frequent
temptations to bring love to a more realistic and earthly expression.
It is interesting that the two strands of war literature and religious literature
united to foster this new theme. Love is thus romanticised, instead of being
allowed to become dangerous, anarchic, and subvert the order of things. It
has its own emblems, symbols and patterns, but largely without the realistic
elements of daily life. Realism, we will find, often has to be kept down if
literature is to affirm the accepted dominant values of its time.
As we have seen, French culture and language interacted with native
English culture for several generations after the Norman Conquest. A
common word such as ‘castle’ is a French loan word, for example; and
the whole romance tradition comes from the French. But this sensibility,
culture, and language becomes integrated with native culture.
As well as the beginnings of what came to be called a courtly love
tradition, we can find in Early Middle English (around the time that
Layamon was writing Brut) the growth of a local tradition of songs and
ballads. The song lyric might celebrate the changing of the seasons, like
‘Lenten is come with love to town’ (from Spring), it might praise the
glories of nature, it might even sing of love in a more direct way than the
courtly poem. Summer is i-cumen in – welcoming the arrival of summer
– is one of the first such songs, and is usually dated around 1250.
Summer is i-cumen in,
Lude sing, cuccu!
Groweth seed and bloweth med
And springth the wode nu.
The ballad traditionally told a story, based on a character (like
Robin Hood, unfortunate Lord Randal, or the Wife of Usher’s Well), in
memorable rhythmic verses. The ending was generally unhappy, in