BY PRAGYAN SHARMA POLAVARAPU
INTRODUCTION
In the many literary masterpieces of
old classical English , we can see in some
a serious classical inimitable beautiful style (Shakespeare,
Milton, Dryden ,Dr Johnson ) and in some
a more flowing and simpler but in outstanding
majestic new styles ( Wordsworth,
Shelley, Keats, Sir Walter Scott, RL Stevenson ,Daniel Defoe of Robinson Crusoe
fame, ,Jane Austen and many others) . There are perhaps thousands of other outstanding
writers of last 300-400 years. Here only a little group of great names is given by a foreign admirer of
English. To understand the big transformations
that occurred perhaps over a
period of 1000 years to create modern English, we have to know a little of
history of England.
NORMAN CONQUEST
From days of Norman Conquest (1066) of
England large number of French words crept
into English language.
The political landscape of the British Isles transformed in
a big way. William the Conqueror (1028-1087)
replaced the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with Norman-French
aristocracy and redistributed most land to the Norman warlords . Only a few
Anglo-Saxon noblemen were retained. Land was allotted in
recognition for military service even up to level of peasants volunteering
for war service. A new French-Norman
culture appeared in the English
royal court and control of high civilian offices, control of castles , law courts and religious
institutions went mostly into hands of Normans. Norman rule existed in
England from 1066 to the Reformation(1517 ) i.e. for about 450 years .However ,subsequently
slowly over decades, though the Normans
became completely “ anglicized”, their way of centralization of government
work and church control became part of English rule. Norman French ” became the
language of the kings, nobles and Norman aristocrats .
Latin was the language of the Church ,the courts
and the scholars. The common people spoke archaic Anglo-Saxon English
full of French words. By an act of parliament in 1362 the king of England ordered that only English language(the archaic
old English) was to be used for all official purposes.
INVENTION OF PRINTING PRESS IN 1476
The invention of printing press in
1476 had
a profound effect (as profound as
the electronic computer has on present times!) A quite standardized form of English
spread fast in London and nearby areas .
This was because copies of the Holy Bible in English and other Christian religious pamphlets ( translated into simple English) could be distributed among scholars,
churchmen and royal staff. History states that by Shakespeare’s time(b
1564) modern English was fast developing. It was already
quite standardized. Mostly ,the
revered Bible and other widely
popular religious books when produced in English and distributed to every
church helped spread simple standardized
English . The church fathers popularized correct usage of English words. Also, the Bible in easy English created a
new moral atmosphere in every village and town.
Besides the Bible –works of Shakespeare, books
of English poetry and ballads, newssheets/pamphlets in English became available to not only the
aristocracy, and scholars but also to
common people. There was visible speed in
cultural unification of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE OVER
THE CENTURIES
It can be said that “modern English”
which we read today started to develop around 15th century. Earlier there was
archaic English heavily loaded with German words and phrases and Germanic
grammar. The times around 15th century were a world of deeply religious Anglo-Saxon world of ancient
Christianity. There was a deeply
religious disciplined atmosphere in the people . The church fathers spoke in
the slowly crystallizing English language and the lectures and sermons were becoming
popular. The language then contained
large number of Latin and Norman French words(instead of the heavy load of
German words in the older versions) .Such position might have existed for 400-500 years.
The “Old English” --- of the time of
king Alfred the Great (871-899 AD ) and even of later times ( 9th/10th centuries)--- was quite a foreign language. It resembled German
with just one English-like word
in a whole paragraph ! It took 400-500 years to create a recognizable English style by great poets like Chaucer and Spencer and
for the majestic stately English of
Shakespeare to develop. The
important milestones which helped this
process in last 400-500 years are mentioned below in a
simple way.
(a)SHAKESPEARE
The dramatic works of Shakespeare
(1564–1616) have great beauty and majesty like slow majestic steps of an
elephant . The style and classical beauty of the work is inimitable. His work
has raised the beauty of English language itself and is like a great summit in the topography of English literature . His works besides describing
some events in British royal history drew heavily on Greek/Roman
classics .His plays were performed in London and the print versions were also
read widely by scholars. His plays were reported to have become
popular even in Scotland and Ireland a little later because of
their high literary and artistic quality.
(b) DR SAMUEL JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY
The famous “Dictionary” of Dr Samuel
Johnson (1709–1784) standardized spelling and also mentioned correct context
for using words. Johnson's dictionary had over 40,000 words and set rules
of grammar for correct use of the words and also gave a standard spelling for
the words. This helped scholars to popularize the correct usage of those
words among the students and public. The grammar rules given by Dr Johnson
were carefully followed for decades till they were further simplified .
( C )DR JOHNSON’S OTHER WORKS
His periodical journals(‘the Rambler’
and ‘the Idler’) published in the period
1750-1760 stressed on high moral standards and serious cultured writing in news
sheets and pamphlets and while attempting literary criticism of other writers. He
examined ethical issues in these papers. The two papers were read by a wide audience and created a position
of respect for Johnson’s style and also greatly popularized use of important
words and phrases . Young people were greatly attracted and increased their
writing and speaking skills and this in turn further standardized language. Two
other great works of Dr Johnson “Preface to Shakespeare”and “Lives of the Poets”
created standards for reviewing works of writers and for examining the
existence of a moral purpose in all writing.
(D)INFLUENCE OF THE “SPECTATOR” ESSAYISTS
The Spectator essayists, particularly Joseph Addison(1672-1719) and Richard Steele(1672-1729) further contributed to the establishment of standard English through their very
popular and highly readable essays. Some of the essays were about
cultivating good manners, about
arts and about literary criticism . There were also great prose writers like
Oliver Gold smith(1728-1774).
(E) THE POETRY AND POLITICAL PAMPHLETS
Geoffrey Chaucer(1343-1400) and
Edmund Spencer (1552-1599)were among the very
first poets in English language . Their English is archaic and is only partly
understandable but is highly enjoyable even for a modern reader. We can see
vocabulary and grammar took shape but spelling was notstandardized.
(a)From Geoffrey Chaucer
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make
Of euery kynde that men thinke may
And that so heuge a noyse gan they make
That erthe & eyr & tre & euery lake
So ful was that onethe was there space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.
(b) From Edmund spencer
That is true beautie: that doth argue
you
to be diuine and borne of heauenly seed:
deriu'd from that fayre Spirit, from whom all
true
and perfect beauty did at first proceed.
He onely fayre, and what he fayre hath made,
all other fayre like flowres vntymely fade.
Next came the great Shakespeare the
dramatist who wrote the sonnets mainly within the plays with a most beautiful
flower like sensitivity and in polished Biblical English.There were other outstanding poets –like John Dryden(1631-1700,a poet laureate
of his time) and John Milton(1608-1674)
the great author of “Paradise Lost” with a deeply religious bent of mind and
also an active Puritan political activist.
Then the famous “ Romantic Movement”
in literature and politics broke upon Europe and also England towards end of 18th century. In the
case of English poetry ,it was an internal revolutionary examination about art and philosophy. It rejected, from idealistic poetic angle, even the scientific, rational, realistic
view and preferred an artistic ideal poetic view in literature. The poets studied
everything from a sensitive art view ,studied problems of individuals,
popularized a deep love for nature , studying the art and poetry in folklore,
understanding human emotions both happy and sad, and also deeply studied mysticism
and spirituality .
The movement swept over all Europe and also England. Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
William Wordsworth, Percy B Shelley, John Keats ,Lord Byron,Lord Tennison and
many other great poets outstanding poetry . Their poems
available in print became popular throughout the country.
The political pamphlets and newspapers were widely
read and helped to create standard vocabulary. During the Reformation there
were many popular religious pamphlets.
(F)MODERN ENGLISH
Modern English which we use has
acquired the status of an international bridge language and is used by people of various
countries in science,
technology,diplomacy, commerse, air travel etc. organizations like UN, EU, ILO,IOC etc use English as a
medium for communication and dicussion.English is a language of science, democracy, peace, and
love between religions.
INTEGRATION OF ALL REGIONS OF BRITISH ISLES (a)
The transformation of English into a
link language between Anglo-Saxon England(southern England) and the Celtic
dominated Scotland,Ireland and Wales took several centuries.
The cultural differences existed since
centuries because of geographic isolation and very mountainous inaccessible
nature of some Celtic territories . The Celts and Anglo-Saxons belonged to same
Aryan ethnic roots 3000 years back but lived in
separate geographic regions in Europe for 2000-3000 years.
(b)Historians say that the spread of English into
Scotland and Wales and Ireland started from 16th century .The Celtic languages like Scottish, Welsh,
Irish are minority languages but in the
present times are well protected and are spoken in homes and have a growing
literature. The governments support
development of these languages. Due to being a centuries- long Roman Catholic
area and due to unending differences with government of Geat Britain, the main part of Ireland separated and became Republic of Ireland from 1949.
England and Scotland became a single kingdom of Great Britain way back in 1707 ( three centuries back).
Scotland experienced high industrial and
economic growth and has world famous universities.
( c ) In the present times
modern English language
is spoken in all parts of the British Isles
without any Anglo-Saxon /Celtic differences . Minority
Celtic languages like Scottish, Gaelic, Welsh, and Irish flourish
and are protected by governments . But modern English is spoken just like a
mother tongue in all regions . Internet tells us that in Irish Republic also
all education is conducted entirely in English and it is treated as essential language for work,business and
daily living.
CONCLUSION
(1) All people in ancient times stressed on the need
and necessity of performing daily prayer to god . There were often sermons on high morality from elders. Particularly
teaching children the necessity of daily
prayer and about high morality was felt absolutely necessary and of top
priority. All human civilizations were
unanimous about teaching moral
principles to children--be good, love
all people, help the poor,work hard
etc.
In those very ancient times(thousands of years
ago) when there were no books and no writing and no
schools, the duty of teaching moral
principles to children was performed by parents as their first duty.
Parents were the first teachers. The
village elders too taught high moral principles
to children. .
(2) Slowly in the most ancient of times,
the idea of creating institutions called schools arose. Schools were designated
as places where all children of the
village could be gathered to be taught lessons on morals and good behavior en
masse. Those first schools remained for centuries exclusively as morality teaching schools . There permanent teachers were
employed and their entire duty was to
teach moral principles .
Now let us come to the real world –the
hundreds of thousands of villages in the
world . Daily lessons only about morality
and god were taught . The schools
and monasteries were concerned only with
imparting moral knowledge . The monasteries permitted only discussing about morality . But the hard fact
was that no printed books were
available. Though writing was invented only
one or two copies of a book were prepared ---by writing by hand on dry leaves .Only one or two
copies of each book was available for entire country.
A good alternative way was found(was
invented) to preserve knowledge . Devoted
youngsters were asked to get by heart sections of the book. Ex-- group A will by- heart poems 1 to 20, group B will by- heart poems 21 to 40 ,group C will by- heart poems 41 to 60 . When asked they
will recite as a group and thrill the listeners whether farmers or kings. Thus
moral stories were passed on to following generations in old
days.
(3)Then the real revolution came that changed
languages and learning , chaged even
kingdoms . That it was a revolution was not noticed at first. It became
known when it exploded.It is the technology of printing hundreds, thousands
copies of the same book. (Talking of our
present times printing a million copies
of a paperback is normal and nothing unusual).
The printing press came in 14th/15th
centuries and created a great new world influencing teachers, philosophers and
kings. The great holy scriptures were printed in bulk. Then came the small
political pamphlets and news- sheets that were read in every coffee club. Then came the printed books bringing out
hundreds or even thousands of copies of great books of learning to every school
and college. Great newspapers, then great novels and great political journals
etc came and spread knowledge through every school and college.
One of the greatest things to happen
in medieval times is establishment of universities—the “think tanks” of the medieval world that influenced even kings and emperors . Slowly over
centuries this phenomenon(of opening universities ) spread all over the world
and dozens of affiliated colleges were
opened. The universities fuelled all
revolutions in literatutre, science, politics and technology .They brought a
worldwide great renaissance.
Now the heavy burden on “printed book” is
partly taken off by other media like
radio/TV/ cinema/computer/internet / electronic audio-video USB. But unless the world proceeds
by the first moral codes --
reorganization of humanity for coming centuries cannot be achieved .
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