Site Created by Mark Young

Any questions, comments or suggestions regarding the essays found here are welcomed!

Within these pages you will find information pertaining to early English literature dating back as far as the eighth century. Works such as Beowulf, an old English poem based on Germanic heroicism, and The Canterbury Tales, one of Chaucer's most famous literary successes, give us insight into the life and times of people who helped shape society as we now know it. Trying to recreate a society and culture long past is often a difficult, and sometimes an impossible task. While studying medieval literature may not tell us exactly what the middle ages were like, it certainly gets us closer to understanding what the people back then were interested in reading. Surely these authors did not write soley for their own enjoyment.