Anglo Saxon or Old English period (670-1100)

-                    It is the Earliest form of English literature

-                    It started with angles and Saxons, two ancestors tribes of the English race.

-                    English was a common name and tongue of these tribes.

-                    They belonged to the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, and the land they occupied was called Engle-land.

-                    They were fearless, adventurous and brave.

-                    Like other tribes they song at their feasts about battles, gods and heroes.

-                    Most of their poetry is lost, except a few.

-                    Beowulf was the famous poem of this period.

-                    Later they embraced Christianity and started writing about religious themes.

-                    The Angles and Saxons combined in themselves opposing traits of character- savagery and sentiment, rough living and deep feeling, splendid courage and deep melancholy.

-                    They followed five great principles - love of personal freedom, responsiveness to nature, religion, love for womanhood, and struggle for glory.