Read the earliest British poem, and the earliest British epic, or semi-epic, Y Gododdin.
The online text is here, at the wonderful "maryjones.us" site that has so much Celtic literature in both English translation and, often, in the original language.
But please use the version on our Canvas page. That way, we all have the same page numbers and can easily refer to the text together.
Take your time! This poem needs to be read slowly.
Here is the Wikipedia article on Y Gododdin online. But please use the version on Canvas.
Read Ashley, A Brief History, Chapter 8 pp. 239-245.
Once again, this is so we can all have the same text and same page numbers for discussion.
There is a lot more to say about this great poem than is on the Wikipedia page. But let's start with that.
Now, please download and read these three short English battle poems.
Note that these are "English" -- meaning, "Anglo-Saxon", written in Old English, the language of the Germanic invaders who had earlier battled against the British (Britons).
Writing Assignment: Write 350 words or a bit more on similarities to and differences between Y Gododdin and these three OE poems.
Email to me and to your group.