The History of English

When April with his sweet showers has stuck to the roots the

dryness of March…

There are five main beats in each line, and the reader will notice that rhyme has taken the place of Old English alliteration. Chaucer was a well-educated man who read Latin, and studied French and Italian poetry; but he was not interested only in books. He traveled and made good use of his eyes; and the people whom he describes are just like living people.

The Canterbury Tales total altogether about 17,000 lines – about half of Chaucer’s literary production. A party of pilgrims agree to tell stories to pass the time on their journey from London to Canterbury with its great church and the grave of Thomas a Becket. There are more than twenty of these stories, mostly in verse, and in the stories we get to know the pilgrims themselves. Most of them, like the merchant, the lawyer, the cook, the sailor, the ploughman, and the miller, are ordinary people, but each of them can be recognized as a real person with his or her own character. One of the most enjoyable characters, for example, is the Wife of Bath. By the time she tells her story we know her as a woman of very strong opinions who believes firmly in marriage (she has had five husbands, one after the other) and equally firmly in the need to manage husbands strictly. In her story one of King Arthur’s knights must give within a year the correct answer to the question “What do women love most?” in order to save his life. An ugly old which knows the answer (“to rule”) and agrees to tell him if he marries her. At last he agrees, and at the marriage she becomes young again and beautiful.

A good deal of Middle English prose is religious. The Ancren Riwle teaches proper rules of life for anchoresses (religious women) how they ought to dress, what work they may do, when they ought not to speak, and so on. It was probably written in the thirteenth century. Another work, The Form of Perfect Living, was written by richard rolle with the same sort of aim. His prose style has been highly praised, and his work is important in the history of our prose.

john wycliffe, a priest, attacked many of the religious ideas of his time. He was at Oxford, but had to leave because his attacks on the Church could no longer be borne. One of his beliefs was that anyone who wanted to read the Bible ought to be allowed to do so;

but how could this be done by uneducated people when the Bible was in Latin? Some parts had indeed been put into Old English long ago, but Wycliffe arranged the production of the whole Bible in English. He himself translated part of it. There were two trans­lations ! 1382 and 1388), of which the second is the better.

It is surprising that Wycliffe was not burnt alive for his attacks on religious practices. After he was dead and buried, his bones were dug up again and thrown into a stream which flows into the River Avon (which itself flows into the River Severn):

The Avon to the Severn runs,

The Severn to the sea,

And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad,

Wide as the waters be.

An important Middle English prose work, Morte D'Arthur [= Arthur's Death], was written by sir thomas malory. Even for the violent years just before and during the Wars of the Roses, Malory was a violent character. He was several times in prison, and it has been suggested that he wrote at least part of Morte D'Arthur there to pass the time.

Malory wrote eight separate tales of King Arthur and his knights but when Caxton printed the book in 1485 (after Malory's death) he joined them into one long story. Caxton's was the only copy of Malory's work that we had until, quite recently f1933-4;. a hand­written copy of it was found in Winchester College.

The stories of Arthur and his knights have attracted many British and other writers. Arthur is a shadowy figure of the past. but probably really lived. Many tales gathered round him and his knights. One of the main subjects was the search for the cup used by Christ at the East Supper. (This cup is known as The Holy Grail. Another subject was Arthur's battles against his enemies, including the Romans. Malory's fine prose can tell a direct story well, but can also express deep feelings in musical sentences. Here is part of the book in modern form. King Arthur is badly wounded:

Then Sir Bedivere took the king on his back and so went with him to the water's edge. And when they were there. close by the bank, there came a little ship with many beautiful ladies in it; and among them all there was a queen. And they all had black head-dresses, and all wept and cried when they saw King Arthur.

 

 

 

III. Modern English (1500-to the present day)

By the beginning of 20th century, Britain was no longer the world's richest country. Perhaps this caused Victorian confidence in gradual reform to weaken. Whatever the reason, the first twenty years of the century were a period of extremism in Britain. The Suffragettes, women demanding the right to vote, were prepared both to damage property and to die for their beliefs; the problem of Ulster in the north of Ireland led to a situation in which some sections of the army appeared ready to disobey the government; and the government's introduction of new types and levels of taxation was opposed so absolutely by the House of Lords that even Parliament, the founda­tion of the political system, seemed to have an uncertain future in its traditional form. But by the end of the First World War, two of these issues had been resolved to most people's satisfaction (the Irish problem remained) and the rather un-British climate of extremism died out.

The significant changes that have taken place in this century are dealt with elsewhere in this book. Just one thing should be noted here. It was from the beginning of this century that the urban working class (the majority of the population) finally began to make its voice heard. In Parliament, the Labour party gradually replaced the Liberals (the 'descendants' of the Whigs) as the main opposition to the Conservatives (the 'descendants' of the Tories). In addition, trade unions managed to organize themselves. In 1926, they were powerful enough to hold a General Strike, and from the 1930s until the 1980s the Trades Union Congress (see chapter 14) was probably the single most powerful political force outside the institutions of government and Parliament.

From about 1600, explorers, adventurers, settlers and soldiers went out from Britain to found settlements and colonies overseas. They took the English language with them.  At the height of their power, during the 19th century, the British could claim that the sun never set on their Empire.  Today almost all the countries of the old Empire have become independent.  However, most of them are now members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and English continues to be an important language for them.

After the Second World War the United States became what Britain had been in the 19th century:  politically and economically one of the most powerful nations in the world. As its power spread, so the English language spread.

Five hundred years ago they didn't speak English in North America. The American Indians had their own languages. So did the Inuit (often called 'Eskimos') and Aleuts in Canada. So did the Aborigines in Australia, and the Maoris in New Zealand.

The English arrived and set up their colonies. And then other people came from all over the world, bringing many different languages and cultures.

The USA has the biggest mixture of all: it is often called a 'melting pot' of cultures. In 1619 a small ship arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, with twenty slaves from Africa. For over two hundred years, the Americans imported, bought and sold African slaves. Today there are over 29 million black Americans living in the USA.

In 1848 the population of the United States was still very small. Then two important things happened: they discovered gold in California and a new law, the Homestead Act, gave free land to farmers. Suddenly millions of immigrants came to America, 'The Land of Opportunity'.

At first they were English, Irish, German and Scandinavian. Then Italians, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Russians and Poles came. Most immigrants came because economic conditions at home were bad. But there were also other problems in Europe. About three million Jews came to the USA between 1880 and 1910 because of religious persecution in Russia and other countries.

Today the USA is still much richer than most of its neighbors. Its most recent new citizens are many Spanish-speaking people from Puerto Rico, Mexico and South America.

The population of Britain is only about 58 million. But throughout the world English is spoken by over 700 million people.

About 350 million people speak English as their first language in 12 countries such as Britain, the USA. Canada Australia. New Zealand. South Africa.

About 300 million use English as a second or official language in over 60 countries, for example, in India. They usually use it when doing business, or when completing official documents and forms.

It is estimated that at least 100 million people throughout the world use English fluently as a foreign language.

There are over 3.000 languages in the world.  So why has English become so widely spoken?

Today the English language is almost the same all over the world. You can tell a person's nationality from their accent - Australian, Scottish, Canadian and so on. But the words are more or less international.

It's strange that the differences in Britain itself are greater than those between Britain and other English-speaking countries. For a Londoner, it's easy to understand an American, but quite difficult to understand the dialect of Newcastle in the North of England!

But not many people speak dialects in Britain these days. A hundred years ago (before radio and television) all ordinary working people did. In Emily Bronte's book Wuthering Heights the old man Joseph speaks Yorkshire dialect:

“Take these in tuh t'maister, lad. Un' bide theare. Aw's gang up tuh my awn rahm.” (Take these in to the master, boy. And stay there. I'm going up to my own room.)

Don't worry. Joseph doesn't say very much in the book - the rest is in normal English!

In a country like New Zealand, English is the first language. In fact it’s the only language for most people. About 100,000 Maoris have their own language, but they also speak English. Most of this book is about countries where English is the first language – Canada, Ireland, the USA and so on.

But in more than sixty other countries English is a second language. The government, business and universities use it. Some of the people, but not all, speak it well and use it for certain parts of their lives.

 

IV. Conclusion.

I enjoy learning English, it is really great' I like to learn new words, to look up in the dictionary their meanings. English grammar is difficult, but I try hard to understand it, to learn the rules, to put them into practice.

I think it is very interesting to read English books, newspapers, magazines. I came to know a lot of exciting facts and new things. It is like a new world where you can enter if you know the language.

English folklore is very rich.  I believe, it is good to know English proverbs and tongue-twisters, English rhymes and limericks. English sayings and songs.

When you  learn  tongue-twisters,  it  helps  you  to improve your phonetics.

I know quite a number of them. Here is a good one:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper:

A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked:

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper

Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked!

This one is my favorite:

A thatcher of Thatchwood went to Thatchet a-thatching

Did a thatcher of Thatchwood go to Thatchet a-thatching?

If a thatchcr of Thatchwood went to Thatchet a-thatching

Where's the thatching the thatcher of Thatchwood has thatched?

While writing my research paper report I had to read a lot of books on English History I came to know a lot of English folk songs, they are simple and nice. Some of them help me to learn words.  Solomon Grundy is a folk song it helps you to remember the days of the week. It is a sad song/ but 1 the same it’s funny too.

Solomon Grundy

Born on Monday

Christened on Tuesday

Married on Wednesday

Ill on Thursday

Worse on Friday

Died on Saturday

Buried on Sunday

This is the end

Of poor old Solomon Grundy.

English proverbs are useful in many situations. Here are a few examples. When there's a will, there's a way. Or: All’s well that ends well. No sweet without sweat.  Lend money and lose a friend.  East or West, home is best.

English jokes are very funny. They often laugh at nationalities of the British Isles.  Here is a typical one.  “An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman were alone on a desert island.”  One day the Englishman found an old bottle.  He broke it and out came a genie. The genie said: “I'll give you  and your friends three wishes.  But choose  well, because you may have only one wish each” “My wish is  quite  simple”, - said the  Englishman, - “I wish to be taken home”.  “Your wish is my command”, - said the genie, and the Englishman disappeared.  “Yes, I'd like the same”, - said the Scotsman.  And in a minute he was at home as well. Then the genie turned to the Irishman.  “And  what  about  you? What's your wish?” The Irishman thought a little and then said:  “I'm very lonely without my friends. I wish they were back here with me.”

English literature has very rich traditions.  English poetry is well known in the world best Russian poets translated English poetry into Russian. But of course, when you study English it's a pleasure to learn English poems in the original.  My favorite poem is “If by R. Kipling. I think, he gives very good advice for the young people in this poem.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are loosing theirs and blaming it on you*

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master:

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim.

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same.

You can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginning

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the will which says to them; “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, out non much;

If you can *ill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run.

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Yes, to learn English is such a fun, indeed!!!   

 

 

 

 

 

List of Literature

1.     Speak Out 3/2001 – pages 2-4 Издательство «ГЛОССА».

2.     Борисов В.С., Борисова Л.М. «Английский не для всех»

3.     Mark Farrell «The World Of English» England Longman 1995.

4.     James O’Driscoll «Britain» Oxford University England Press 1995.

5.     «Treasures Of Historical English» Борисова Л.М.

6.     «History And Mystery Of The English Words» Борисова Л.М.

7.     G.C. Thorney «An Outline Of English Literature» England Longman 1984.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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