Download Brit Lit Final Preparation!

Brit Lit Final
Preparation!
ANGLO-SAXON
AND MEDIEVAL
PERIODS
Anglo-Saxon and Medieval
• Encompasses literature written in Old
English during the 600-year period of
England, from around 450 A.D. to the
Norman Conquest of 1066.
• Works include genres such as epic
poetry, sermons, Bible translations,
legal works, chronicles, riddles, and
others.
Anglo-Saxon and Medieval
• In all there are about 400 surviving
manuscripts from the period, a
significant corpus of both popular
interest and specialist research.
• Among the most important works of
this period is the poem Beowulf, which
has achieved national epic status in
Britain.
ENGLISH
RENAISSANCE1
066-1660
English Renaissance
• Sometimes referred to as "the age
of Shakespeare" or "the
Elizabethan era," taking the name
of the time period’s most famous
author and most important
monarch, respectively; however it
is worth remembering that these
names are rather misleading.
English Renaissance
•Shakespeare was not an
especially famous writer in his
own time, and this time period
covers a period both before
and after Elizabeth's reign.
English Renaissance
• Important writers of the era include:
• essayist poet Sir Phillip Sidney (Astrophel and Stella),
• poet Edmond Spencer (The Faerie Queen),
• playwright William Shakespeare (As You Like It; Hamlet; Macbeth;
King Lear; The Tempest).
ENGLISH
RESTORATION
AND
ENLIGHTENMENT
1660 to around
1750
English Restoration and
Enlightenment
•An episode in the history of
Britain beginning in 1660 when
the English monarchy, Scottish
monarchy and Irish monarchy
were restored under King Charles
II after the Interregnum that
followed the English Civil War.
English Restoration and
Enlightenment
• The term may apply both to the
actual event by which the monarchy
was returned to order, and to the
period immediately following the
accession of Charles II.
• The period was ruled by literature
that was reasoned rather than
passionate.
English Restoration and
Enlightenment
• John Milton wrote Paradise Lost.
• Jonathan Swift notably wrote “A
Modest Proposal” and Gulliver's
Travels.
• The novel rose to prominence with
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
ROMANTICISM
Around 1750 to early
1800s
Romanticism
• Complex artistic, literary, and intellectual
movement that originated in the second half of
the 18th century in Western Europe, and
gained strength during the Industrial
Revolution.
• It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social
and political norms of the Age of
Enlightenment, and was embodied most
strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature.
Romanticism
•The poet and painter William
Blake is the most extreme
example of this time period in
Britain, epitomized by his claim
“I must create a system or be
enslaved by another man's.”
Romanticism
• Blake, a poet, wrote Songs of Innocence and of Experience
• Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein
• John Keats, a poet, wrote "Ode to a Nightingale" and “Ode on
a Grecian Urn."
VICTORIANISM
1800s
Victorianism
• It forms a link and transition between the
writers of the romantic period and the
very different literature of the 20th
century.
• The 19th century saw the novel become
the leading form of literature in English.
Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters
are leading examples of novelists of this
time period.
Victorianism
• Charles Dickens wrote novels such as
Great Expectations and Oliver Twist.
• Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering
Heights.
• Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre.
MODERNISM
1900s
Modernism
•Describes an array of cultural
movements rooted in the
changes in Western society in
the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century.
Modernism
• The term covers a series of
reforming movements in art,
architecture, music, literature and
the applied arts which emerged
during this period.
• James Joyce was one of the most
prominent writers of this time
period.
Modernism
• Joyce’s most important works include The Dubliners, A Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses.
Epic Poems
• An “epic” is a lengthy narrative poem,
ordinarily concerning a serious subject
containing details of heroic deeds and
events significant to a culture or nation.
• A work need not be written to qualify as an
epic, although even the works of such great
poets as Homer, Dante Alighieri, and John
Milton would be unlikely to have survived
without being written down.
24
Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
• A “kenning” is a metaphorical phrase
made of a compound word used to
name a person, place, or thing
indirectly.
• Kennings typically create an image.
Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
• Examples of kennings from Beowulf:
Gold-shining hall = Herot
Guardian of crime = Grendel
Cave-guard = dragon
Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Bone-box: grave of human body
Whale-road: sea
Sky-candle: stars, moon, sun
Light of battle: sword
Helmet bearers: warriors
Giver of gold: King
Storm-of-swords: war, battle
Characteristics of the Epic
• The hero is of imposing stature, of
national or international importance,
and of great historical or legendary
significance.
• The setting is vast, covering many
nations, the world, or the universe.
• The action consists of deeds of great
valor or requiring superhuman courage.
28
Characteristics Continued
• Supernatural forces—gods, angels,
demons—insert themselves in the
action.
• A style of sustained elevation is
used.
• The poet retains a measure of
objectivity.
The Basic Premise:
• A group of religious pilgrims are making their way to the shrine of
Saint Thomas á Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury
who was assassinated in 1170 by knights of King Henry II.
• The shrine is the cathedral in Canterbury,
55 miles southeast of London, the scene of Becket’s murder.
Canterbury Cathedral
The result?
The Canterbury Tales gives us . . .
• A great understanding of English society at the time of Chaucer.
• Rich portraits of some very different kinds of people and the roles
they play in society.
• Many insights into human nature—the good, the bad, and the
ugly!
• And some really hilarious stories (some quite racy), along with
other stories that are very instructive or full of adventure.
Literary Structure
in The Canterbury Tales
• The Canterbury Tales is an example of a “frame tale” (numerous
stories are found inside the “frame” of the basic premise).
• The Prologue serves to establish the frame and to introduce the
various pilgrims.
• The pilgrims are identified as to their vocations, backgrounds, and
personalities.
• Their physical descriptions are given, as well, so that the reader can
see them clearly.
Carpe Diem and Pastoral Poetry
Carpe Diem is a Latin phrase
which means “seize the day.”
Poets in the Renaissance
were pushing for
enlightenment and the
concept of fleeting time/life
being short meant more
authors were generating
poems with these themes:
Live for today. Eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow
we die.
Pastoral Poetry
focuses on the
idealized countryside
and the simple life.
With cities on the
rise, there was a
desire to get back to
the simplistic things
in life. Pastoral
poetry idealizes a
simple life.
RHYME scheme
•Petrarchan (Italian) rhyme
scheme:
• abba, abba, cd, cd, cd
• abba, abba, cde, cde
English Sonnets
The rhyme scheme for the English
sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg, with three
quatrains (a set of four lines) and a final
couplet (two lines). Notice that there are
more rhymes in the English sonnet.
Because so many Italian words end in
vowels, it is easier to find four words that
rhyme in that language than it is in
English.
Lines 192-220
• Epic Simile
• Satan compared to a Titan of Greek mythology or a Leviathan sea
monster from the Bible.
• Milton tells us why God really left Satan free:
• While doing evil, see his evil turned to Good.
• Wrath and damnation on Satan while mercy and goodness fall on
humanity.
Great Chain of Being
God
Angels
Kings/Queens
Dukes/Duchesses/Thanes
Bishops
Earls/Countesses
Knights/Local Officials
Ladies-in-Waiting
Priests/Monks
Squires
Messengers
Merchants/Shopkeepers
Tradesmen
Yeomen Farmers
Soldiers/Town Watch
Household Servants
Beggars
Actors
Thieves/Pirates
Gypsies
Animals
Plants
Rocks
http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/09/20/searchmoving-up-the-buzzword-chain-of-being/
Disruption in the Chain
could cause anything
from storms to deaths
to absolute chaos.
Imagination
• Contrast to the supremacy of reason and the Enlightenment
• The creative mind is the human equivalent of the creative
powers of a deity
• Allows humans to constitute or “create” reality (we not only
perceive the world around us but we, in part, create it)
• Focus on “intellectual intuition” and reconciliation of
differences and opposites
Reminder of Enlightenment
Thinking
Social Issues
• The abuses of the past came under closer scrutiny
• literature becomes the vehicle that helps to reform social
inequalities.
• period was a time of sustained peace
• domestic issues could be addressed.