BRITISH

LITERATURE

THROUGH
TIME
OLD ENGLISH
ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD
449 – 1066
 CONTENT
Strong belief in fate
Juxtaposition of the church
and pagan worlds
Admiration of heroic warriors
who prevail in battle
Express religious faith and give
moral instruction through
literature
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 EFFECT
♠ Christianity helps literacy to
spread
♠ Introduces Roman
alphabet to Britain
♠ Oral tradition helps unite
diverse people and their
myths
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 Style / Genres
♠ Oral tradition of literature
♠ Poetry is the dominant
genre
♠ Unique forms includes:
o Caesura
o Alliteration
o Repetition
o 4 beat rhythm
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 Historical Context
♠ Life centered around ancestral
tribes/clans that ruled themselves
♠ At first the people were warriors from
invading outlying areas: Angles,
Saxons, Jutes, and Danes
♠ Later they became primarily
agricultural

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 Key Literature: Authors
Beowulf
ExeterBook
The Venerable Bede

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD

(The MEDIEVAL Period)

1066 – 1485

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 CONTENT
♣ Plays that instruct the illiterate
masses in morals and religion
♣ Chivalric code of honor
♣ Religous devotion
♣ Romances

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 STYLE / GENRE
♠ Oral tradition continues
♠ Folk ballads
♠ Mystery and miracle plays
♠ Morality plays
♠ Stock epithets
♠ Kennings
♠ Moral tales
♠ Frame stories

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 EFFECT
♣ Church instructs its people
through the morality and
miracle plays
♣ An illiterate population is
able to hear and see the
literature
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 Historical Context

♣ Crusades bring the development of a money

economy for the first time in Britain
♣ Trading increases deamatically as a result of the
Crusades
♣ William the Conquerer crowned king in 1066
♣ Henry III crowned king in 1154, brings a judicial
system, royal courts, juries, and chivaly to Britain
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 Key Literature: authors
♠ Domesday Book
♠ L’Morte de Arthur
Geoffrey Chaucer

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

The Renaissance
1485 – 1660

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 CONTENT
World view shifts from religion and afterlife to
one stressing the human life on earth
Popular them: development of human
potential
Popular theme: exploding the many aspects of
love:
 Unrequited love
 Courtly love
 Constant love
 Love subject to
 Timeless love change
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 STYLE / GENRES
 Poetry
o sonnet
 Dramma:
o Written in verse
o Supported by royalty
o Tragedies, comedies, historics
 Methaphysical poetry:
o Elaborate unexpected metaphors called
conceits

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

Historical Context

 War of Roses ends in 1485 and political stability arrives

 Printing press helps stabilize English as a language and
allows more people to read a variety of literature
 Economy chages from farm-based to one of
international trade

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 Key Literature: authors
 William Shakespeare
 John Donne
 Cavalier poets
 Metaphysical poets
 Christopher Marlowe
 Andrew Marvel

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

Neoclassical Period
(THE RESTORATION)
1660 – 1798

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 CONTENT
 Emphasis on reason and logic
 Stresses harmony, stability and
wisdom
Locke: a social contract exists
between the government and the
people. The government governs
guaranteeing «natural rights» of
life, liberty, and property
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
 STYLE / GENRE
 Satire: uses irony and exaggeration to
poke fun at human faults and
foolishness in order to correct human
behavior
 Poetry
 Essays
 Letters, diaries, biographies
 Novels

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 EFFECT
 Emphasis on the individual
 Belief that man was basically evil
 Approach to life «the world as it
should be»

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 Historical Context
 50% of men are functionally literate (a
dramatic rise)
 Fenced enclosure of land cause the demise of
traditional village life
 Factories begin to spring up as the industrial
revolution starts
 Impoverished masses begin to grow as
farming life declines and factories build
 Coffe houses – where educated men spend
evenings with literary and political associates

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

 Key Literature: authors
 Alexander Pope
 John Dryden
 Jonathan Swift
 Daniel Dafoe
 Samuel Johnson
 John Bunyan

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE