British Literature History

Beowulf - Old English -

An Old English epic poem that tells the story of the hero Beowulf, who battles the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon, reflecting themes of heroism, loyalty, and the struggle between good and evil.

Caesura

a rhythmic pause in a line of poetry, often used in Old English verse to create a natural break and emphasize the meaning.

alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely positioned words, commonly found in Old English poetry to enhance rhythm and musicality.

Kenning

a compound expression in Old English and Old Norse poetry with metaphorical meaning, often used to replace a simple noun.

Epithets

descriptive phrases or adjectives used to characterize a person or thing, often found in epic poetry to highlight qualities. They typically serve to enhance the narrative and aid in characterization.

personification

a literary device where human qualities are attributed to non-human entities or abstract concepts, enriching the narrative and creating vivid imagery.

Lyrical poems - Middle English

Cucu - summer coming - good harvest - celebrate

I syng of a Mayden - a Middle English lyrical poem celebrating the Virgin Mary.

Geoffrey Chaucer

A prominent English poet of the Middle Ages, best known for "The Canterbury Tales," which offers a vivid portrayal of medieval society through a collection of stories told by pilgrims.

The Cooks Tale - a story within "The Canterbury Tales" that humorously explores themes of greed and deception, focusing on a dishonest cook and his interactions with a young apprentice.

Sir Thomas Malory

An English writer best known for compiling and reworking the Arthurian legends into "Le Morte d'Arthur," which has significantly influenced the portrayal of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He is considered one of the first to write the stories in English.

The early history of drama

Miracle plays - depict biblical stories and saints' lives, often performed in churches or public spaces during religious festivals.

Mystery Plays - dramatize events from the Bible, often involving the creation, the Fall, and the Last Judgment.

Morality plays - teach moral lessons through allegorical characters and themes, highlighting the struggle between good and evil.

Interludes - short comedic plays performed between larger works, often satirizing contemporary society and politics.

Christopher Marlowe (early history of drama)

University wits, Dr. Faustus - a tragic play that explores the themes of ambition, knowledge, and the consequences of making a pact with the devil. Marlowe was a key figure in the development of English drama, known for his blank verse and complex characters.

Henry Garnet

Equivocated in court and was the scapegoat in the gunpowder plot.

English Sonnet

14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF, Couplet last 2 lines, Volta in the middle

Pertrarchan sonnet

14 lines, Octave ABBA ABBA, Sestet 6 lines, volta in the ending.

Simile

Uses like or as to compare things

Sir Thomas Wyatt - Renaissance 1485-1642

Young nobleman, traveled Europe.

Wrote “Whoso list to hunt” a pertrarchan sonnet Iambic

Michael Drayton - Renaissance 1485-1642

“Since there’s no help” - Carpe Diem → seize the day → Have sex with me now

Edmund Spenser - renaissance 1485-1642

The Faerie Queen - “a gentle knight was pricking”, chivalry story

Amoretti - Happy love story, no point to immortolize her → she will die mortal→ Thru his poetry she’ll have eternal life. “One day I wrote her name upon the strand”

Sir Thomas More - Renaissance 1484-1642

Utopia - A perfect place, which therefore cannot exist.

Also friend with Henry VIII

Sir Phillip Sydney - Renaissance 1485-1642

Astrophil and stella (him and Penelope) - Stella is virtous and a vergin and can’t be togheter with astrophil even tho he wants to. “who will in fairest book of nature know”

Robert Herrick - Renaissance 1485 1642

To vergins to make much of time - “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” - carpe diem and memento mori,

John Dunne - Renaissance 1485 1642

From the Flea - Metaphysical (abstract and weird metaphor)

Andrew Marvell - The Commonwealth 1649-1660

To his coy mistress - metaphysical poem, arguing for her to sleep with him → carpe diem→ If we had all the time, but we have to hurry.

Friend with Cromwell (puritan)

John Milton - The commonwealth 1649 1660

Paradise lost - Christian epic about adam&eve→ Supernatual, lucifer the hero→ serves humanity

Blind by 1652 and secretary to Cromwell

John Bunyan - The commonwealth 1649 1660

The Pilgrim’s Progress - About a man called Christian, Spiritual, allegory of lifes journey, big in England. “Valiant for truth”

Father of the English novel

Samuel Pepys - the restoration 1660-1713

The diary and political history

John Dryden - The restoration 1660-1713

“the age of dryden”, Tradgic comedies; heroic drama, Literary critic, Translator→accsesibility→growing literature

The Georgian Era 1700-1740

Augustan literature, Neoclasscism - admiration for classical writing, The enlightenment - intelectual movement, pupblic sphere

Alexander Pope - Georgian era 1700-1740

An essay on man in four epistles(letters) - Remember that you’ll die, be selfconsious, idea of human. “know then thyself, presume not God to scan”

Jonathan Swift - Georgian era 1700-1740

A modest propsal - satire “it is an melancholy object”

Gullivers travels - satire, children’s injustice, society, Irish writer(english parents)

The Gothic 1740-1789

The age of sensibility - connected to man’s feelings

Graveyard poets - Edward Young, Thomas Gray

Edward Young - Gothic 1740-1789

Night Thoughts

Thomas Gray - Gothic 1740-1789

Elegy(serious reflection) Written in a Country churyard

commemorates the death’s of regular peeople, walking alone in a cementary

“The curfew tolls the knell of the parting day”

sublime - gothic 1740-1789

danger from a distance, through darkness and obsecurity, the monumentall great - like pyramids

Gothic Terror

Ann Radcliff

The gothic heroine, the supernatual explained

Gothic horror

Matthew Lewis

supernatual and demonic - not explained imagenary

William Blake - Romanticism 1st gen - 1789-1832

London - Jerusalem (London), highly critical of industralization and what became of london

Engraver & Poet

William Wordsworth - romanticism 1st gen 1789-1832

The prelude, or growth of a poets mind; autobiography/ epic

Composed upon Westminister Bridge; walking around in london in the morning, different from Blake, sees the beuty of London

Lake district poet

John Keats - romanticism 2nd gen - 1789-1832

When I have fears that I may cease to be - Scared of dying before accomplishing anything

died at 25y of TB

Percy Bysshe Shelley - romanticism 3rd gen - 1789-1832

Radical poet

Not everyone can be a poet

Lord Byron - Romanticism 3rd gen - 1789-1832

Mad bad and dangerous to know

celebrity

Mary Shelley - Romanticism - 1789-1832

frankenstein

Alfred Lord Tennyson - Victorian era 1832 - 1901

The charge of a light brigade - a blunder in the Crimean War “half a league, half a league”

Poet of the nation

Realism - faithful portrayal of life

Charles Dickens - victorian era - 1832 - 1901

Great expectations - Pirrip in a churchyard and only 12y old, narration from adult Pip→two temporarities. Meets a escaped convict and use of dialectal words→ creates realism.

Oliver Twist, a Christmas Carol → social critic, against industrialization, childhood and coming of age, “the voice of the English consciousness”

George Eliot - victorian era- 1832-1901

mary ann evans - silly novels by lady novalists

Middle march

Thomas Hardy - Victorian era - 1832-1901

Far from the mudding crowds

the tess of d’urbanviles

social tradgedies

The Bronte sisters - victorian era - 1832-1901

Ann Bronte - Acton Bell - The tenant of wildfell hall

Emely Bronte - Ellis Bell - the wuthering hights

Charlotte Bronte - Currer Bell - Jane Eyre

all had female protagonists

Oscar Wilde - Victorian era - 1832-1901

The picture of Dorian Gray

The importance of being earnest

Drama

Harry James -20th century 1901-1938

the turn of the screw

The golden bowl

Modernism and realism, american-english

Joseph Conrad - 20th century - 1901-1938

Heart of darkness- from colonists perspective

Polish-english writer, Horrors of colonialism and imperialism

E.M. Forster - 20th century - 1901-1938

A room with a view

Maurice

Humanism and was gay

James Joyce - 20th century - 1901-1938

Ulysses - stream of consiusness

Irish writer and modernist and experimental

Virginia Wolf - 20th century - 1901-1938

A room of one’s own

The waves

The bloomsbury group

Highrow: modernist, serious, intellectual

Lowbrow: Comedy, popular fiction, science fiction

T.S. Eliot - 20th century 1901-1938

The wasteland - April is the cruellest month of breeding

The love son of J.alfred Prufrock -Adresses the reader, is there time for change, self consiusness, dissulution

Won nobel prize, Avant Garde

W.H. Auden

The age of anxiety - alliterate verse