Untitled THE MIDDLE AGE AFTER CHAUCER WILLIAM LANGLAND -second great poet after Chaucer -together with Canterbuy Tales created a full picture of social life -he copied legal documents -he was married therefore he couldn't enter the church - rich people paid him to pray for them - PIERS PLOWMAN: it was written in 1462, 15 years after Canterbury Tales theme: how can man win salvation? By loving God and working honestly difficult to understand because of the use of allegory plot: the poem is divided into two visions: first one: the poet dreams of a large group of people who meet on a plain (it's a denunciation of corruption) second one: deals with search of truth and perfection this poem is written with strong french influence and old english technique PROSE -during the age of Chaucer, prose was not considered highly -poetry was more important -THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE: the only work in prose of the period. It talks about a series of imaginary journeys and incredible sights. This work became popular because it was written in simple and clear style. RELIGIOUS PROSE - the most important writer of religious prose was John Wycliffe - in his works he attacked religion and the Church, in particular the interferences of Rome in English affairs - John Wycliffe was a priest, he wrote sermons and letters in english which could be read by the nation - he said that people should not obey popes who violate the gospel - he was against the temporal power of the church; he said that the pope should not have the power of excommunication, the Church should return to a state of poverty and give its property to the state - Wycliffe translated the Bible into English and spread religious knowledge - he created on organization of poor priests who went around the country communicating his ideas POETRY - from Chaucer to the renaissance - barren age because there was poverty of litterary production because the english language changed, it lost the final "e" and this caused problems with rhymes PROSE - only one great work: Sir Thomas Mylory's Morte d'Artur - it was a collection of legends - the best known legend is Sir Galahad and the Holy Grail (il calice di Ges?/p> - this work was printed by Caxton (the first printer of England)- Caxton printed the Canterbury Tales too DRAMA The Barren age for literature was however very important for medieval Drama -the origins of medieval plays/drama can be found in the ritual of the Church - the Church used drama to teach religion to illiterate people - Church/Miracle plays became too big for the Church and the theatre moved outside the church CYCLES: miracle plays are grouped into 4 cycles, these cycles have the name of the towns where they were performed (f.e. York...) PAGEANTS: there was a carriage where the play was performed, this meant that the play could be performed in different parts of the town TRADE GUILDS:was a group of different trademen who took control of the pageants (f.e. bakers, painters, butchers...) MORALIT Continua »