Love through the ages eras

When was the modernism era?

1880-1960

When was the Post-modernism era?

1960 onwards

What key historical context do the Modernism and Post-Modernism eras have?

• WWI and WWII

• Women gained the right to vote (1918 and 1928)

• Rise in globalisation + international travel

• Rise in terrorism and other major issues like global warming

• Stereotypical gender roles were broken down further

What type of content defines Modernist literature?

• Rejection of Victorian traditions (exploration of industrial/real-life issues)

• Belief that previous religious beliefs, social norms and art conventions had been destroyed

• Literature was built out of fragments of myth, history, personal experience or earlier art

• Emphasis on a quest for meaning + mourning the chaotic world

• Lots of epiphanies/moments of realisation

• Loss of the hero in literature

What were some key Modernist authors?

• James Joyce

• Joseph Conrad

• Sylvia Plath

• DH Lawrence

• Dylan Thomas

• George Orwell

• William Butler Yeats

• Virginia Wolfe

What were the popular themes of Post-Modernist literature?

• Writers began to feel that meaning was an impossible quest and so began to embrace meaninglessness

• Intensified celebration of fragmentation and disorder

• Technology’s destruction of society

• Restlessness

• Destruction, fragmentation and loss

• Existentialism (problem of human existence and free will)

What typical styles/genres can be found in Post-Modernist poetry

• Written quite free form to reflect the thought process/organic speaking/stream of consciousness, hard to understand on purpose in order to reflect the poem back to the reader

• Key themes of meaninglessness or lack of reality, showing an existentialist pov

• Chaotic structure and line breaks, often with no specific meaning, erratic line breaks indicate chaotic shapelessness of the world

• Complicated/Difficult to understand word order, little consideration for the reader, reflects separation between poet and the audience

Who are some key Post-Modernist authors?

• Paul Muldoon

• Tony Harrison

• Wendy Cope

• Carol Ann Duffy

• Seamus Heaney

When was the Medieval era?

1066-1485

What key historical events happened in the Medieval era?

• The Norman Conquest, 1066, William the Conqueror brought French politics, fashion, architecture and language into Britain

• Black Death- summer of 1348, believed to have killed off a third of the population by 1350

• 1455- War of the Roses, House of Lancaster vs House of York, won by the House of Lancaster which lead to the start of the Tudor dynasty, post-war economic and health stabilization meant the country could put more focus into literature and education

• Printing in England developed, popularized by William Caxton in 1476, standardised English language

What was popular content featured in Medieval literature?

• Plays instructing illiterate masses in morals and religion

• Chivalric code of honour/romance

• Courtly love

• Religious devotion

What were the typical styles/genres of Medieval literature?

• Oral tradition

• Folk ballads

• Mystery and miracle plays

• Morality plays

• Moral tales

• Frame stories

When was the Renaissance era?

1485-1660

Elizabethan era- 1586-1603

Jacobean era- 1603-1625

What is the key historical context of the Renaissance era? (1st half)

• The Renaissance was a period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth”

• Classical philosophy, literature and art were rediscovered

• Global exploration opened up new lands: discovery of the “new world”

• Humanism gained momentum in Italy, promoting the idea that man was the centre of his own universe and people should embrace human achievements in education, classical arts, literature and science

• Printing and communication meant that people like Petrarch could promote the renewal of traditional Greek and Roman culture and values

Who were the key Renaissance era intellectuals/writers/scientists/artists?

• Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519): painted “The Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650): the “father of modern philosophy”, “I think; therefore I am”

• Galileo (1564-1642): astronomer/physicist/engineer, placed under house arrest for his views of a heliocentric universe

• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543): mathematician/astronomer, put forward first modern scientific argument for heliocentric view

• William Tyndale (1494-1536): English bible translator (burned at the stake for this), humanist, scholar

• John Milton (1608-1674): English poet/historian, wrote “Paradise Lost” (epic poem)

• William Shakespeare (1564-1616): England’s “national poet”, famous playwright, celebrated for sonnets and plays

What is the key historical context of the Renaissance era? (2nd half)

• Humanism encouraged European questioning of the Catholic church, as people learned how to read, write and interpret ideas and the Bible was printed widely

• Luther led the Protestant Reformation

• Renaissance/Universal man was a new ideal, prompting men to embrace all knowledge and develop their own capacities as much as possible

• English Civil War (1642-1651): Parliamentarians triumphed, Charles I was executed and a republic was formed

What was popular content of Renaissance literature?

• Stressing of human life on earth rather than religious afterlife

• Development of human potential

• Love: unrequited love, constant love, timeless love, courtly love, changeable nature of love

• By the 1590s, conventions of sonnets had become cliche and almost comical and insincere

What were the typical styles/genres of Renaissance literature?

• Cavalier poets: 17th century, supported Charles I in Civil War, uplifted by the King

  Cavalier poetry aims to express the joy and simple gratification of celebratory things such as: beauty, love, sensuality, drinking, honour, social life, etc…

• Sonnets

• Metaphysical poetry

• Pastoral poetry

• Conceits- elaborate/unexplained metaphors

• Drama written in verse

• Elegies (poetry that mourns a lover or recounts a tragic event)

What are the 4 types of sonnet and how can you identify them?

• Petrarchan: 14 lines, octave and sestet, ABBA x2 + CDE x2 OR CDC x2

• Shakespearean: 14 lines, 3 quatrains and a couplet, iambic pentameter, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

• Spenserian: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

• Miltonic: internal struggle or conflict

When was the Neoclassical period?

1660-1798

What was the key historical context of the Neoclassical period?

• The Restoration: reign of Charles II (1630-1660) after his restoration to the throne in 1630 following the English Civil War

• The Age of Enlightenment/Age of Reason: 17th/18th centuries, developed from the rise of Humanism, ideals included separation of the church and state, liberty, progress, tolerance, value of human happiness, pursuit of knowledge obtained through reason

• 50% of males were literate

• Fenced enclosures of land caused the demise of traditional village life

• Industrial revolution begins

• Impoverished masses begin to grow as farming declines

What was the popular content of Neoclassical literature?

• Emphasis on reason and logic

• Stresses on harmony, wisdom and stability

What were the typical styles/genres of Neoclassical literature?

• 18th century satire (use of humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose/criticize people’s stupidity or vices)

• Restoration poetry, 1660-1700, influenced by his experiences in Frances, Charles II encouraged English poets and dramatists to throw away discipline, restraint and conservatism from their works, causing a literary period dominated by themes of moderation, realism and reason instead of themes of judgment, morality and religion

• Essays

• Letters, diaries, biographies

• Novels

Who were key Neoclassical authors?

• Alexander Pope

• John Dryden

• Daniel Defoe

• Jonathan Swift

• Samuel Johnson

• John Bunyan

• John Milton

• Robert Burns

• John Wilmot

• Aphra Behn

When was the Romantic Period?

1798-1832

What was the key historical context of the romantic period?

• Industrial Revolution

• French Revolution: growing ideas of equality and liberty

• Rise of Romanticism: emphasis on imagination and emotions

• Damsel in distress ideas, helps woman incapable of independence

What was some of the popular content of Romantic literature?

• Introduction of Gothic elements

• Finding comfort and peace in nature

• Exploration of the Sublime, the meeting of the emotional and natural worlds: we should allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation, this is an experience to happen alone

• New role of individual thought and personal feeling in poetry

What were the typical styles and genres of Romantic poetry?

• Odes, lyrical ballads, sonnets- more direct and sincere

• Gothic writing

• Supernaturalism

• Sentiment: feelings over reason, glory in emotions like tenderness and compassion

What were key authors from the Romantic period?

• Jane Austen

• Mary Shelley

• William Blake

• William Wordsworth

• Samuel Coleridge

• Lord Byron

• Percy Shelley

• John Keats

When was the Victorian period?

1837-1901

What was the key historical context?

• Britain expanded it’s territory and became the dominant Empire in the world

• New inventions, e.g. the telephone, car, changed the way people lived

• Boom in industry

• Emergence of women in literature