ENG202 Final Exam Dates

Germanic speakers settle in Britain, old English begins

circa. 449

Christianization of England begins

597

Caedmon’s Hymn composed, inscribed in …

circa. 640s - 670s or 730s

Beowulf inscribed

circa. 1000

Norman Conquest set off Anglo-Norman period / (early) Middle English

1066

Marie de France’s poems circulated and inscribed

circa. 1160 - 1199

Life of St. Margaret inscribed in (manuscript) Bodley 34

circa. 1200 - 1225

(manuscript) Digby 86 inscribed (Dame Sirith, The Fox and the Wolf)

circa. 1272 - 1283

The Pride of Life composed

1344 - 1399

The Black Death, first emergence of the bubonic plague, kills 1/3 of England’s population

1348 - 1350

Julian’s Shewings composed and circulated

1370s / 1390s

York and Chester Plays (Noah, Shepherds, Judgement) composed, performed, and continually revised

circa. 1376 - 1575

The Peasants’ Revolt

1381

The “re-emergence” of (later) Middle English

circa. 1380s - 1390s

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales composed and circulated

circa. 1387 - 1400

Kempe’s Book composed and inscribed

circa. 1410 - 1430

Earliest extant copy of Robin Hood and Cloudesley Tales composed, inscribed, and published

circa. 1450s - 1660s

Earliest printing press in London

1476

Tudors reign

1485 - 1603

Skelton’s poems circulated and published (Collyn Clout)

1507 - 1527

English Renaissance

1520s - 1620s

Wyatt’s poems circulated in manuscript (published …) (Whoso List to Hunt)

1520s - 1542

The English Reformation

1530s - 1570s

The first theatre opens in London

1567

Earliest stages of British naval imperialism

1588 - 1607

Donne’s poems circulated in manuscript (published …) (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning)

1601 - 1631

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night performed (published …)

1602

Earliest development of English dictionaries

1613 - 1755

Milton’s Lycidas published

1638

English Civil War (…), Interregnum (…), and Restoration (…)

1642 - 1660 (1642-1649), (1649-1660), (1660-)

The Royal Society founded

1660 - 1663

Cavendish’s Blazing World published

1666

Medieval English Literature (old and middle English)

circa. 449 - 1480s or - 1530s or - 1570s

(possibly earlier) Early Modern English Literature

1530s - or 1470s -

Robin Hood and the Potter first line

In schomer, when the leves spryng.

Circa

Approximately - an indicator that the listed date is an estimate to show when something happened

Inscribed

When the earliest surviving copy was written down

Extant

Copy that survives (of a text)

Composition date

First formation of a text as we know it

Manuscript

Handwritten copy of the text

Exemplar

The text a copy is made off of

Doxa

Self evident, obvious idea - what goes without saying

Simplifications and Centralizations of Tudor Reign

Henry 7 - regionalism, enforcing laws, printing press

Henry 8 - modernize government finances, cut religion from catholic church, reorganize education

Elizabeth 1 - tighten government role in power, money, culture, religion etc, global naval imperialism and colonialism, labour and land rights, controlling poor and mentally ill

Medieval English Literature Ideals

Reformist ideals - old system needs to be fixed

Unresolved juxtaposition of genres

Complicated accretion, multivocality

Addition, contribution, development

Recognition of historical totality

Early Modern English Literature Ideals

Revolutionary ideals - old system needs to be replaced

Distinction of genres by propriety

Cleanness of lines, unity of purpose

Novelty, innovation, conversion

Return to original purity (greco-roman or biblical)

Overtime Robin Hood stories becomes…

Gentrified

Tamed

Straightened

Rationalized

Colonialist

Protestanized

Due to English reformation, and institutional simplifications and centralizations

Materialism vs Mechanist/Empiricist

Materialism: Nature is matter in motion, nature is a complete organism

Mechanist: All natural phenomena can be explained by mechanical or chemical process

Empiricist: Emphasize evidence from direct observation