What it Means to be English

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the development of England as a national entity which paralleled the development of ideas of "Englishness", of what constituted British society and the British soul, often contrasted with what was not English. This paper states that the idea of what constitutes England and Englishness can be traced through historical shifts as England developed as a unique entity. Furthermore, this idea can be considered in terms of political and social commentary from different ages, the literature of the time that reflected the same ideas, and the way these ideas helped form the Britain of today.

From the Paper:

"Certainly, the image created in the poem is of a society in disarray, but it is also a society where the truth can be found, where there are institutions dedicated to assuring that the truth is revealed, and that is a society where there is a good element as well as a bad. The sense of the poem is really that in spite of the lapses at the top, the run-of-the-mill people like the ploughman see the truth and uphold the values of society and of the church, or at least attempt to do so. In this aspect of the work, the poet shows a connection to long-standing traditions that indeed suggest that "The more things change, the more they remain the same." England by this time was established as a political entity, a social construct, and a developing philosophy based on Christian principles married to many of the ideas of chivalry offered first by the French and then adapted to the British experience."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ashe, Geoffrey. The Quest for Arthur's Britain. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1987.
• Britain. Amsterdam: Time-Life, 1986.
• Clark, Geroge. Beowulf. Boston: Twayne, 1990.
• Corfield, P.J. "Class by Name and Number in Eighteenth-Century Britain." History 72 (1978), 38-61.
• Hopper, Vincent F. "Introduction." In Beowulf Together with Widsith and the Fight at Finnesburg in the Benjamin Thorpe Transcription and Word-for-Word Translation. Woodbury, New York: Barron's, 1962.

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