what was so important about Old English and Middle English that we felt the need to label them and what are the main differences?
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Middle English was about the time when English started to become the “black sheep”
Old English was clearly Germanic to the naked eye. It sounded Germanic, functioned Germanic. You could put English beside German, and they’d look like siblings without any squinting.
Middle English by contrast marks the loss of most of our grammatical case & gender systems, and a massive influx of Norman/French words entering the language. We also lost a great deal of verb conjugations.
This was basically the time when “English” as we know it began to exist. It’s still more difficult to parse as it looks like it was written by a toddler, but it’s still actually readable. Same can’t be said for Old English
Take this example: Beowulf vs Chaucer:
Syððan ærest wearð feasceaft funden, he þæs frofre gebad, weox under wolcnum, weorðmyndum þah, oðþæt him æghwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde, gomban gyldan. Þæt wæs god cyning!
ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan To ryden out, he loved chivalrye, Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisye. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, And thereto hadde he riden (no man ferre ) As wel in cristendom as hethenesse, And evere honoured for his worthinesse.
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