Literature is closely connected with the life and history of the people. The life of the ancient Britons was full of many battles against a whole lot of invaders, among them there were Germanic tribes, Angles, Saxons and Jutes; it was these invaders who created the Anglo-Saxon England.
The Anglo-Saxons had no written language when they conquered Britain, but they had letters called runes which they carved on wood and stone. The songs, stories, and poems they made up to be memorized and were handed down from generation to generation. One Saxon poem called “Beowulf” has reached our days. We can call this period the dawn of English literature.
The greatest writer of this period was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was the first truly great writer in English literature and is called “the father of English poetry”. Chaucer’s literary work began in 1373, he wrote such poems as “The House of Fame”, “The Parliament of Fowls”, “The Legend of Good Women” and others. In the year 1384 he started writing his masterpiece “The Canterbury Tales”. Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His death was a great blow to English poetry. Though there was hardly any written literature folk poetry flourished in England and Scotland. Folk songs were heard everywhere. Songs were made up for every occasion. There were harvest songs, mowing songs, spinning and weaving songs.
The best of folk poetry were the ballads. A ballad is a short narrative in verse with the refrain following each stanza. The refrain was always one and the same. Ballads were often accompanied by musical instruments and dancing. They became the most popular form of amusement. Some ballads could be performed by several people because they consisted of dialogues.
There were various kinds of ballads: historical, legendary, fantastical, lyrical and humorous. The ballads passed from generation to generation through the centuries - that’s why these are several versions of the same ballads. So about 305 ballads have more than a thousand versions. The most popular ballads were those about Robin Hood, England’s favorite hero, who is a partly legendary, partly historical character. These are about some fifty or more ballads. The ballads of Robin Hood tell us of his adventures in the forest as an outlaw. Many Saxons joined him there. They were called “The merry men of Robin Hood”
Robin Hood was strong, brave and clever, he was generous and tender-hearted and he was always ready to respond to anybody’s call for help, he escaped any trouble and took revenge on his enemies. The ballads played an important role in the development of English poetry up to the 20th century. They became so popular that the names of their authors were forgotten.
The art of printing did not stop the development of folk songs and ballads. They continue to appear till the 18th century when they were collected and printed. The common people of England expressed their feelings in popular ballads.