The making of English is the story of three great invasions and a cultural revolution. This classic PBS program shows how an early form of English was carried to Britain by invading Anglo-Saxons, how that language was all but obliterated by waves of Viking settlers, and how it was reshaped by the French-speaking Normans. The fact that English survived on the lips of people who left no written records is made clear in the program; however, the nascent literary history of the language is also presented—how it emerged in the first English plays, developed in the printing achievements of William Caxton, and flowered in the poetry of the first great English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer. (58 minutes)

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Part of the Series : The Story of English

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