Folklore is an oral version of literary style preserved since ancient days. Originally oral it now exists in a written version as a recording

  Every society, from the earliest civilizations, developed its own unwritten literature. This ancient literature, carried from one generation to the next by word of mouth, consisted of poems, prose narratives, myths and legends, dramas, proverbs, riddles, and other forms, all of which are called folklore.

There are several types of folk literature, told in poetry or prose. Legends tried to account for the origin of the world and the human race, explain the nature of God or the gods, and predict how the world would come to an end. Ffictional tales or fairy tales (magic stories, romance tales, animal tales and so on) represent an attempt to escape from reality. Folklore often relies on famous folktale characters

For example English Folklore has such characters as Barghest, the Dog of Darkness, Giants, Robin Hood, Witches and the like.

Being an important promotion of English style development, folklore remained and developed, for instance, piracy produced a series of tales about characters who were widely known and talked about, not for their good deeds but for their crimes. Along the East coast of America a long time ago there were many wicked pirates and smugglers. One of the wickedest of these characters was the pirate who was known as Blackbeard. His cruel deeds and rich booty were the subjects of many stories told in the Carolinas. Another sea rover buried his treasures along the banks of the Hudson River. This was Captain Kidd, who is often spoken of as a pirate though the facts do not seem to prove it.

One of modern appearances of folklore in literature is through the allusion, In addition to the allusion, folklore have found their way into literature and other arts through retelling, adaptation, and imitation.

Folklore genres developed in middle age. The beginnings of English literature appeared in the 7th or 8th century AD. After the Romans withdrew their troops from Britain in 410, there followed a long period of social unrest, war, and turbulence. This was reflected in a genre of saga. The word saga is derived from the Old Norse verb meaning “to say” or “to tell.” A traditional form of household entertainment in medieval Iceland was reading stories aloud. In this saga entertainment all kinds of written narratives were used. The major sagas that survived are those that tell of the lives of kings, legends of heroes, and stories of ordinary Icelanders.

The legendary sagas are about the pre-Christian past of Iceland. The Poetic Edda, compiled in the second half of the 13th century, is a collection of poems based on the Norse gods, and it contains a retelling of the Nibelung legend. Some of these sagas were also heroic tales of the Viking exploits in Europe.

Beowulf, the most notable example of the earliest English poetry, is an odd blend of Christianity and paganism. The story of Beowulf takes place in lands other than England, but the customs and manners described were those of the Anglo-Saxon people. This epic poem describes their heroic past. It tells of Beowulf's three fierce fights—with the monster Grendel, the equally ferocious mother of Grendel, and the fiery dragon. By conquering them, Beowulf saves his people from destruction. (In Middle English English language went untaught and was spoken only by “unlettered” people.

The language of the nobility and of the lawcourts was Norman-French; the language of the scholars was Latin. The cult of chivalry came into being, fed by the great Crusades. The tales of King Arthur and his Round Table were a result of this movement. century.

The Middle English period also marked the beginning of a native English drama, which was at first closely associated with the church. The early cycles of miracle and mystery plays possibly began as celebrations of traditional religious feasts and fasts. In any case, by the end of the 14th century the observances of certain festivals—for example, Corpus Christi—regularly involved pageants. These plays were staged in larger towns, such as York, Wakefield, and Chester, on wagons that were moved from place to place in a procession, perhaps chronological, of events.

In addition to mystery and miracle plays, morality plays were also popular at the end of the Middle English period. They usually personified such abstractions as Health, Death, or the Seven Deadly Sins and offered practical instruction in morality.

The first, and some of the best, satires in the Middle Ages were the animal tales whose hero is the wily Reynard the Fox. Although cowardly and cunning, Reynard manages to triumph over the brute strength of his adversary, usually a dull-witted wolf. The many Reynard tales satirize most aspects of medieval society.

Another outstanding literary achievement of the times was the creation of the great English and Scottish ballads. These were probably sung by people at social gatherings. The ballads preserved the local events and beliefs and characters in an easily remembered form. It was not until several hundred years later that people began to write down these ballads. They are immensely vivid stories that modern readers find especially attractive.

In examining the development of English style it is necessary to mention the role of religious literature, first of all – the Bible. The Bible is a collection of many books by an unknown number of authors. It has two components—the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written by many authors over a period of many centuries. The New Testament was written by far fewer men over a much shorter span of years—perhaps between AD 50 and 150. The writers whose work makes up the New Testament composed four different kinds of books: the Gospels, a history of the early church entitled Acts of the Apostles, epistles (letters), and a prophetic-dramatic work entitled Revelation. All of the books were originally written in Greek. The Bible is not the whole literature of Christianity. Many other books with religious themes circulated among Christians and produced an effect upon English style.

" Make practical stylistic tasks

1. Read a fairy-tale. Find out means, that make it close to its origin – the song (melody, rhythm, phonetic devices etc.) Write down examples. Find out means, that make it close to modern prose, the story. (composition, characters, idea) Substantiate your point of view with the examples.
2. Summaries the features of the fairy-tale in 5-7 sentences.