Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 29, 2025
Had we not already spoken of Layamon out of true order in following the story of Arthur, it is here that we should speak of him and of his book, The Brut. So, perhaps, it would be well to go back and read chapter vii., and then we must go on to the Metrical Romances. The three hundred years from 1200 to 1500 were the years of the Metrical Romances. Metrical means written in verse.
This is shown by the fact that the Brut, a poem of 32,250 lines, translated from a French original into English about 1205, has not more than a hundred words of Norman-French origin. At first the Normans despised the tongue of the conquered Saxons, but, as time progressed, the two races intermarried, and the children could hardly escape learning some Saxon words from their mothers or nurses.
Apart from matters of style, Wace made other changes from Geoffrey's narrative that are more important for Arthurian romance. He wrote the Brut under the patronage of Henry II, and, if we may trust Layamon's statement, he dedicated it to Queen Eleanor, who was the ardent propagator in England of the courtly ideals of southern France.
According to an old Welsh history, the Brut Tyssilio, there were Anglo-Saxons in Britain before Caesar's invasion; invited there by the Celts, and living in peace under the Celtic kings.
Read the "Brut y Tywysogion" and consider how far the actions there related can have been inspired by the feeling of nationality. Here is the account in the "Brut" of what was happening in Wales in 1200 and the following years, the period represented by our map.
I forgot to say that she was in on the seal ring and $10 joke, too. I wish I had been. Then I could have had two bottles of brut, tipped the waiter with the ring and had the whole business off my hands. Don't be superior and insulting, Old Bryson tell me what a fellow can do with a thousand dollars." Old Bryson rubbed his glasses and smiled.
"Dear God," ran always my prayer, "Dear God, if you really exist, make me a great poet. I ask for nothing else. Only let me become famous." I was so happy in my studies, my work, even, my wanderings in the woods and along the country roads, with the poets under my arms.... I read them all, from Layamon's Brut on. For, for me, all that existed was poetry.
WORKS ON LAYAMON Introduction, Madden's ed. of Brut. H. Morley, English Writers, London, 1888-1890, III, 206-231. L. Stephen and S. Lee, Dictionary of National Biography, London, 1885-1904, under Layamon. WACE, Roman de Brut, ed. Le Roux de Lucy, 2 vols, Rouen, 1836-1838. Roman de Rou, ed.
Here is the Tale of Troy, which the audience will bear hearing some part of, every week; the Death of Julius Caesar, and other stories out of Plutarch, which they never tire of; a shelf full of English history, from the chronicles of Brut and Arthur down to the royal Henries, which men hear eagerly; and a string of doleful tragedies, merry Italian tales, and Spanish voyages, which all the London 'prentices know.
There were many cycles of Arthurian romances, chief of which are those of Gawain, Launcelot, Merlin, the Quest of the Holy Grail, and the Death of Arthur. In preceding sections we have seen how these fascinating romances were used by Geoffrey and the French writers, and how, through the French, they found their way into English, appearing first in our speech in Layamon's Brut.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking