Anglo- Saxon period (450- 1050)

Anglo- Saxon period (450- 1050)

When the Teutonic ancestors of English people were living on the borders of the North Sea, English Literature began with their songs and stories. The three tribes of these ancestors, the Jutes, Angles and Saxons, conquered Britain in the latter half of the fifth century. They laid the foundation of the English nation. After that the early English literature started. This early English literature is called the Anglo- Saxon period (450- 1050) or the Old English period.

The great and hidden life of the Anglo-Saxons finds expression in all their literature. According to William J. Long , their poetry deals with ‘their love of personal freedom, their responsiveness to nature, their religion, their reverence for womanhood, and their struggle for glory as a ruling motive in every noble life’. ‘The prose, unlike the verse, was not used as an emotional stimulant; it was for the most part educational’, says Rickett.