2.Write a brief discussion on Aelfric. What was his
purpose in writing Catholic Homilies?
Answers
Answer:
He wrote both to instruct the monks and to spread the learning of the 10th-century monastic revival. His Catholic Homilies, written in 990–992, provided orthodox sermons, based on the Church Fathers
Answer:
Ælfric was not content simply to convey sound doctrine, however: he sought to do so memorably through what proved to be an influential linguistic style. Adapting the features of Old English verse, he created a fluid combination of alliteration and rhythm that made his language striking and attractive to later writers. Though Old English was displaced among the ruling class by Anglo-Norman after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and became unreadable over the next three centuries as the vernacular changed, antiquarian writers seeking to recapture “authentically English” literary traditions repeatedly looked to Ælfric as a model. In the late twelfth century, Layamon’s Brut draws directly on Ælfric for its style, and to Ælfric may be indebted the Alliterative Revival of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, when writings such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight consciously hearkened back to Old English poetic forms. Indeed, though Ælfric’s innovative style has traditionally been labeled “rhythmical prose,” one recent study has recast him as “Anglo-Saxon England’s most prolific poet.”13 Such a perspective both challenges our understanding of Old English genres and positions Ælfric as a dynamic part of larger literary developments in Western Europe.