Middle English Grammar

THE NOUN
- Two methods of indicating the plural: the -s or -es from the strong masculine declension and the -en from the weak.
In the fourteenth century -s became the standard plural ending all over England.

THE ADJECTIVE
- As a result of the sound-changes, partly through the extensive working of analogy
form nominative singular ---> extended to all the cases of the singular.
form nominative plural ---> extended to all the cases of the plural.
So the change was -an>-en>-e.

THE PRONOUN
- Decay inflections ---> to rely juxtaposition, word order and prepositions.
- Loss in the demonstratives
   - the and that surviving Middle English.
   - tho (those) survived to Elizabethan times.
- Personal pronoun
   - dative + accusative ---> dative (him, her, them)
   - neuter ---> accusative it, general objective case.
   - loss of the dual number.
   - by the end Middle English ---> they, their, them normal English plural.

THE VERB
- Serious losses suffered by the strong conjugation (a third).
- Thirty more obsolete in the course Middle English.
- Thirty more used in 16th and 17 century died, after passed weak conjugation.
- Today, more than half Old English strong verbs have disappeared.
- Survival of strong participles.

Old English Grammar

THE NOUN
- Four Cases (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative).
- The inflection indicates number (singular and plural), gender and case.
- Two declensions (vowel and consonant or also called strong and weak)

THE ADJECTIVE
- Two fold declension.
- Strong declension and weak declension.

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
- Singular and plural.
- Masculine, feminine, neuter and all genders.
- Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative and Instrumental.

THE PERSONAL PRONOUN
- It has distinctive forms for all genders, persons, and cases.
- Dual number.

THE VERB
- Two simple tenses by inflection (a present and a past).
- It recognized (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods).
- Two numbers and three persons.
- Weak and strong (or regular and irregular.
- Strong verbs, seven general classes.
- Four forms: infinitive, the preterite singular (first and third person), the preterite plural, and the past   participle.
- Weak verbs (past tense, adding -ede, -ode, or -de)
                       (past participle, adding -ed, -od, or -d)

Middle English Literature

Ancrene Riwle

Ormulum

Brut

The Owl and the Nightingale

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)

Chaucer's Biography



Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales



William Langland (1332-1400)

William Langland's Biography

Piers Plowman

Piers Plowman

John Wycliffe (1330-1384)

John Wycliffe's Biography

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

All of them are in the British Library

Old English Literature

The Junius Manuscript   (or Caedmon Manuscript) Ilustrated Poetic Anthology 
Genesis A and B, Exodus, Daniel, and Christ and Satan
Bodleiana Library in Oxford
www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/

The Exeter Book     Anthology 10th century Codex
Exeter Cathedral 

Vercelli Book   Prose and poetry

Vercelli Book
Digital Pages





Cotton Manuscript also called Novell Codex  Poetry and Prose 





Beowulf (epic poem, 3182 lines) in Novell Codex
British Library 
Electronic 

Beowulf

http://www.bl.uk/whatson/podcasts/podcast99773.mp3




 Widsith (short poem)

The Wanderer (poem) Libro de Exeter

The Seafarer (poem, monologue) Libro de Exeter

The Ruin

Battle of Brunanburh

Battle of Maldon

 Wulf and Eadwacer Libro de Exeter

The Whale Libro de Exeter

The Wife's Lament Libro de Exeter


Caedmon


 Caedmon's Biography
Whitby Abbey  founded in 657





Cynewulf 

Cynewulf's Biography

-Juliana (Exeter Book)


-Elene (Vercelli Book)


-Christ (Exeter Book)

-The Fates of the Apostles (Vercelli Book)


Religious Poems

Andreas (Vercelli Book)

Judith

The Phoenix

 Christ and Satan