brit lit stuff

The faerie Queene: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: Edmund Spenser

• Era: English Renaissance / Elizabethan Era

• Published: 1590 (Books I–III part of early publication)

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Book I follows the Redcrosse Knight on a quest to defeat a dragon and learn true holiness.

  • Book III follows Britomart, a female knight representing chastity, searching for Artegall.

  • The poem is an allegory about virtues, morality, religion, and politics.

  • Characters:

• Redcrosse Knight

• Una

• Duessa

• Britomart

• Artegall

• Gloriana

• Archimago

Astrophil and Stella+ the defense of poesy: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: Philip Sidney

• Era: English Renaissance / Elizabethan Era

• Published:

  • Astrophil and Stella: 1591

  • The Defence of Poesy: written c. 1580, published 1595

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Astrophil and Stella: sonnets about Astrophil’s love for Stella and the conflict between desire, virtue, and reason.

  • The Defence of Poesy: argues poetry is valuable because it teaches morality and inspires virtue better than philosophy or history.

• Characters:

  • Astrophil

  • Stella

Twelfth Night Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: William Shakespeare

• Era: English Renaissance / Elizabethan-Jacobean transition

• Published: First performed c. 1601; published 1623 in the First Folio

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Viola disguises herself as Cesario after a shipwreck.

  • Duke Orsino loves Olivia, Olivia falls for Cesario, and Viola secretly loves Orsino.

  • The play explores gender, identity, love, and social roles through mistaken identities and comedy.

• Characters:

  • Viola / Cesario

  • Orsino

  • Olivia

  • Sebastian

  • Malvolio

  • Sir Toby Belch

  • Maria

  • Feste

The Duchess of Malfi: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: John Webster

• Era: Jacobean Era

• Published: 1623

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • The Duchess secretly marries Antonio against her brothers’ wishes.

  • Her brothers obsessively try to control her, leading to betrayal, madness, and murder.

  • The play examines corruption, power, gender, and revenge.

• Characters:

  • The Duchess

  • Antonio

  • Ferdinand

  • The Cardinal

  • Bosola

  • Cariola

Jonne Donne poems: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Era: Metaphysical / Jacobean Era

• Published: Mostly early 1600s; many published posthumously in 1633

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Donne’s poems explore love, religion, death, spirituality, and human connection using intellectual metaphors (“conceits”).

• Most Important Poems:

  • The Flea

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • The Sun Rising

  • Holy Sonnet 10

  • Batter My Heart, Three-Person'd God

• Characters:

  • Usually a speaker and a lover/God/death rather than formal characters

Paradise Lost: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: John Milton

• Era: Restoration Era / Puritan influence

• Published: 1667

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Retells the Biblical Fall of Man.

  • Satan rebels against God, tempts Adam and Eve, and causes humanity’s fall from Eden.

  • Explores free will, obedience, temptation, and redemption.

• Characters:

  • Satan

  • Adam

  • Eve

  • God

  • Jesus / the Son

  • Raphael

  • Beelzebub

A modest propsal: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: Jonathan Swift

• Era: Enlightenment / Neoclassical Era

• Published: 1729

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Swift satirically suggests poor Irish families sell their babies as food to solve poverty and famine.

  • The essay mocks British policy and the cold logic of wealthy elites.

• Characters:

  • No real characters; uses a fictional “proposer” narrator

Gulliver’s Travels: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: Jonathan Swift

• Era: Enlightenment / Neoclassical Era

• Published: 1726

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • Lemuel Gulliver travels to strange societies that satirize politics, science, and human nature.

  • Includes Lilliput (tiny people), Brobdingnag (giants), Laputa (obsessed intellectuals), and the Houyhnhnms (rational horses).

• Characters:

  • Lemuel Gulliver

  • The Lilliputians

  • The Brobdingnagians

  • Houyhnhnms

  • Yahoos

The rape of the lock: Who is the author 

• What is the era

• When was it published 

• Main plot/ summary 

• Characters?

• Author: Alexander Pope

• Era: Enlightenment Era

• Published: 1712 (expanded 1714)

• Main Plot / Summary:

  • A young nobleman cuts a lock of Belinda’s hair, causing an exaggerated social crisis.

  • Pope satirizes vanity and upper-class society using epic style for a trivial event.

• Characters:

  • Belinda

  • The Baron

  • Ariel

  • Umbriel

  • Clarissa