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The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in European culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England (and, by extension, the United Kingdom), or poetry written in English. The oldest poetry written in the area currently known as England was composed in Old English, a precursor to the English language that is not something a typical modern English-speaker could be expected to be able to read. In addition, there was a tradition of English poets writing also in Latin and classical Greek. Today's multicultural English society is likely to produce some interesting poetry written in a wide range of other languages, although such poetries are proving slow to emerge.
With the growth of British trade and the British Empire, the English language has been widely used outside England. In the twenty-first century, only a small percentage of the world's native English speakers live in England, and there is also a vast population of non-native speakers of English who are capable of writing poetry in the language. A number of major national poetries, including the American, Australian , New Zealand and Canadian poetry have emerged and developed. Since 1922, Irish poetry has also been increasingly viewed as a separate area of study.
This article focuses on poetry written in English by poets born or spending a significant part of their lives in the UK. However, given the nature of the subject, this guideline has been applied with common sense, and reference is made to poetry in other languages or poets who are not primarily British where appropriate.
1 The earliest English poetry
The earliest known English poem is a hymn on the creation written by CædmonCaedmon is one of only two Anglo-Saxon poets whose names are known (the other being Cynewulf). According to Bede, writing in the 7th century, Caedmon was a cow-herd at a Yorkshire monastery, who was unable to sing in public until he miraculously found him (fl. 658Events The union of Slavic tribes falls apart after Samo's death Births Deaths King Samo of the Slavs 658.– 680Events October 10 Battle of Kerbela November 12 The Sixth Ecumenical Council opens in Constantinople The Bulgars subjugate the country of current-day Bulgaria Pippin of Herstal becomes Mayor of the Palace Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I succeeded by Yazid I ibn), an illiterate herdsman who produced extemporaneous poetry at a monasteryA monastery is the habitation of monks. Originally: a hermit's cell. Christian monasteries are also called abbey, priory, charterhouse, friary, and preceptory The habitation of nuns is also called a convent. The communal life of a monastery is called ceno at WhitbySee also Whitby (disambiguation Whitby is a fishing port and tourist destination in North Yorkshire on the north-east coast of England. At this point the coast curves round, so the town faces more north than east. It sits at the mouth of the River Esk and. This poem marks the beginning of Anglo-SaxonOld English poetry is based upon one system of verse construction which was used for all poems. The system consisted of five permutations on a base verse scheme; any one of the five types could be used in any verse. The system is founded upon accent, alli poetry.
Although the great epic BeowulfThis article describes Beowulf the epic poem. For the person Beowulf see Beowulf (hero For other uses, see Beowulf (disambiguation . Beowulf is a traditional heroic epic poem in Old English alliterative verse. At 3182 lines, it is far more substantial tha has been dated on internal evidence to around 608, the next verifiable event in the history of English poetry is the writing of The Dream of the Rood, parts of which were carved on the Ruthwell Cross around 700. The most notable poems of the 8th century include Christ II, Elene, The Fates of the Apostles, and Juliana, all signed by Cynewulf. The second half of the 10th century saw the compilation of four important poetry manuscript volumes; Junius manuscript, the Vercelli Book, the Exeter Book, and the Beowulf manuscript and the composition of The Battle of Maldon, which tells the story of a battle between the English and the Danes in 991.
In addition to Beowulf and religious verse, Anglo-Saxon poetry encompasses poems of exile such as The Wanderer and The Seafarer, the magnificent elegy on the remains of Roman Bath called The Ruin, riddles and Medical charms. Although most surviving manuscript copies are written out in unbroken prose, scholars have been able to recreate the metrical structure. The poems were written in a particular form of alliterative verse. This form consists of a basic line of four beats or stressed syllables and an irregular number of unstressed ones. The line is broken by a caesura somewhere between the second and third stresses and the alliteration occurs on stressed syllables only.
