Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM

Rodriguez, Rizal

His
tor
y
an
Submitted by:
Catbagan, Audrey
Dela Cerna, Preince Jay
Juanzo, Rozelle
Submitted to:
Mrs. Imelda Oregines Ausa
Subject:
Readings on Worlds Literart Masterpieces (Lit 2)
His
tory
of
Lite
rat
ure
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
For convenience of discussion, historians divided the continuity of English literature into
segments of time that are called “period”. The exact numbers, dates, and name of these periods vary, but
the list below conforms to widespread practice.

Old English Period

Old English period, also called Anglo-Saxon, language spoken and written in England before
1100; it is the Ancestor of Middle English and modern English. Scholar place old English in the Anglo-
Frisian group of West Germanic Language. Four dialect of the old English language are know:
Northumbrian in northern England and southeastern scot land; Mercian in central England; Kentish in
southeastern England; and West Saxon in southern and southwestern England.
The main characteristics of Anglo-Saxon literature are the love of freedom, responsiveness to
nature, strong religious convictions, and belief in faith. Beowulf, the earliest literature, the national epic
of the Anglo-Saxon, one of the striking features- the use of alliteration.

Middle Age Period

When the Middle English come into being with its literary usage, the most extensive writing was
conducted on subjects associated with religion. The fourteenth century is important for the growth of the
English national spirit during the wars with France. Geoffrey Chaucer, father of English poetry, he is
famous for his poetry and its variety. A good deal of Middle English prose is religious.
Middle English period is the vernacular spoken and written in England from about 1100 to about
1500.

Renaissance
The renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, Artistic, political and economic
“rebirth” following the middle ages. Generally described as taking place from the 14 th century to the 17th
century, the renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art. Some of the
greatest thinkers, authors, statemen, scientists and artists in human history thrived during the era, while
global exploration opened up new lands and cultures to European commerce. The renaissance is credited
with bridging the gap between the middle ages and modern days civilization.
The renaissance is divided into four which are given below:
 Elizabethan Age
The Elizabethan Age is the time period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-
1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. It was an age considered to be the
height of the English renaissance, and saw the full flowering of English literature and English poetry. In
Elizabethan theater, Willian Shakespeare, among others, composed and stage plays in a variety of settings
that broke away from England’s past style of plays it was an age of expansion and exploration abroad,
while at home the protestant reformation was established and successfully defended against the catholic
powers of the continent.
 Jacobean Age
 Period of visual and literary arts during the reign of James I of England (1603-1625). The
distinctions between the early Jacobean and the preceding Elizabethan style are subtle ones, often merely
a question of degree, for although the dynasty changed, there was no distinct stylistic transition.
The Jacobean age is characterized by a combination of motifs from the late perpendicular gothic
period with clumsy and imperfectly understood classical details, in which the influence of Flanders was
strong.
 Caroline Age
It is (1625-1649). Caroline is an adjective of Carolus, the Latin word for Charles. The age of
Caroline is an age of poetry of three kinds or school: Metaphysical, Cavalier and puritan schools of
poetry.
 Commonwealth Period
The commonwealth Period. Also known as the puritan Interregnum is a literary epoch influenced
by the English historical context between 1649 and 1660. The fundamental part of this epoch is the
puritan revolution which opposed to the influence of the Catholic Church in the country.
This period born after the second English war (civil war) this causes the execution of Charles I,
the last king of England before the puritan interregnum.

The Puritan Period

Puritan age is marked by the decline of renaissance age the age of revival of knowledge. A
member of a group of English protestants who in the 16th and 17th century advocated strict religious
discipline along with simplification of the ceremonies and creeds of the church of England.
Puritanism was the doctrine or school of English protestants of the 16 th and 17th centuries who
aim was the purification of the religious practice.

Neo-classical Age (1660-1785)

Writers of the neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the romans and Greeks. Thus the
combination of the terms ‘neo,’ which means ‘new,’ and ‘classical,’ as in the day of the roman and Greek
classics. This was also the era of the enlightenment, which emphasized logic and reason. It was preceded
by the renaissance and followed by the romantic era. In fact, the neoclassical period ended in 1798 when
words worth published the romantic ‘lyrical Ballads’.
Understanding the neoclassical era helps us better understand its literature. This was a time of
comfortableness in England.

The Neo-classical age is divided into three main periods which are given below:
  The Restoration (1660-1700)
In English literature the period from 1660 to 1700 is called the period of Restoration, because
monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who had been defeated and
beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the king.

 The Augustan Age (Age of Pope)

The Augustan age has its beginning with the reign of King George I of Hanover, who came to
power after the death of Queen Anne Stuart. The society in this age was a materialist society, which was
responsive to economic pressure, but its political organization was hierarchical, hereditary and privileged.

 The Age of Sensibility (Johnson)

The age of Johnson, often referred to as the age of sensibility, is the period in English literature
that ranged from the middle of the eighteenth century until 1798. Ending the age of Johnson, the romantic
period arrived in 1798 with the publication of lyrical ballads by poets William Wordsworth and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), poet, critic, and author of fiction, is the namesake for this period in
literature. John wielded considerable influence over this era with works that focused on neoclassical
aesthetics

Major Writers of the Neo-classical Age

1.) John Dryden(1631-1700)
English poet, dramatist, and literary. Critic who so dominated the literary scene of his day that it
came to be known as the age of Dryden. He is the representative figure of the neo-classical age. Dryden
was the greatest poet, supreme satirist of the neo-classical age. His major works are; all for love, The
Easy on Dramatic poesy, Alexander’s feast etc.

2.) William Congreve (1670-1729)

William Congreve is the supreme master of the comedy of manners. He wrote all his dramas
before he was thirty. The old Bachelor, love for love are his main works.
3.) John Bunyan (1628-1688)
Bunyan wrote about sixty books. He was a religious man with great respect to the bible.
Celebrated English minister and preacher, author of the Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) the book that was the
most characteristic expression of the puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and
controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, grace abounding (1666); and the allegory. The holy war
(1682).
 4.) Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Poet and satirist of the English Augustan period, best known for his poems an essay on Criticism
(1711), the rape of the lock (1712-1714), The Dunciad (1728), and An Essay on Man (1733-1734). He is
one of the most epigrammatic of all English authors.
5.) Themas Gray, William Blake, Robert Burns, Dr. Samuel Johnson, William Cowper etc. are the
major writers of the Neo-Classical Age.

The Romantic Period

Romanticism is the revolt against pseudo-classicism/Augustan age. The publication of the
“Lyrical Ballads (1798), was the heralder of Romanticism. The Augustan age was highly intellectual,
rational, artificial style, no place for nature and feelings dealt with, the artificial life of the upper class etc.
Romanticism revolted against it.
Return to nature played very important role in changing people to love nature, rejecting nasty
crowd of the town. The Medieval Revival is a notable trend of this age. Romantic poetry is spontaneous
overflow of powerful passions. Love of supernatural, universe and nature. Transcendental world is
described. A romanticist is a dissatisfied individual, pessimistic, escaping to the past Middle Ages to
express melancholy. Love of Nature was the major theme of this age. Romanticism is an important
literary movement which began in Western Europe during 17 th century and went on till the second half of
the 18th century.
Major Writers of this Age
1. William Wordsworth (1770-1856)
- He is a natural poet. For him, nature is everything. He treats nature as a friend, a lover and a
teacher. For him, nothing is ugly. He is famous for his sonnet and lyrical ballads etc. His
works are: “The Prelude”, “The Excursion” etc. He gave unique interpretation of nature.
2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
- He is a poet, critic and a philosopher of romanticism. Coleridge is called the highest priest of
romanticism for his three great poems, “The Ancient Mariner”, “Kublakhan”, “Christabel”.
His poetry is fragmentary. He makes the supernatural look natural.
3. P. B. Shelly (1792-1822)
- P.B. Shelly struggled against the human misery. He is an optimist and a reformer regarding
the future of mankind. Shelly was one of the best lyricist in English Literature. His works are
“The Odes” and “Ode to West Kind”.
4. John Keats (1795-1820)
- He was born in London and his father was a stable keeper. His father wanted him to be a
doctor but he was interested in literature. He fell violently in love with Fanny Browne and her
rejection for his love was one of his consumption and untimely death of 25. His main works
are the “Endmion” and “Isabella”.
The women novelists were Mrs. Anne Maria and Jane Austen. This was age of poetry.
The Victorian Age

Victorian Literature, mainly written in English, during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).
It was preceded by Romanticism and followed by the Edwardian Era. While in the preceding Romantic
period, poetry had been the conquerors, novels were the emperors of the Victorian Period.

Prose Fiction
 Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
- He dominated the first part of the Victoria’s reign and most rightly can be called the “King of
Victorian Literature”. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published in 1836, and his
last Our Mutual Friend between 1864-1865.
- He is the most famous Victorian novelist. Extraordinarily popular in his day with his
characters taking on a life of their own beyond the page; Dickens is still one of the most
popular and read authors of the world. Dickens worked diligently and prolifically to produce
the entertaining writing that the public wanted, but also to offer commentary on social
problems and the plight of the poor and oppressed.
 William Thackeray (1811-1863)
- He was Dickens’ great rival in the first half of Queen Victoria’s reign. With a similar style
but slightly more detached, acerbic and barbed satirical view of his characters, he also tended
to depict a more middle class society that Dickens did.
- His most famous work Vanity Fair subtitled A Novel without a Hero appeared in 1848. It is
an example of a form popular in Victorian literature: a historical novel which recent history is
depicted.
 George Eliot (1819-1880)
- A major later novel was George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1872)
 Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
- He was the major novelist of the later part of Queen Victoria’s reign. Under the Greeenwood
Tree appeared in 1872 and his last, Jude Obscure in 1895.

Science, Philosophy and Discovery

The Victorian Era was an important time for the development of science and the Victorians had a
mission to describe and classify the entire natural world. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species,
remains famous. The theory of evolution contained within the work challenged many of the ideas
Victorians had about themselves and their place in the world. Much of the work popularizing Darwin’s
theories was done by his younger contemporary Thomas Henry Huxley, who wrote widely on the subject.
A number of monumental reference works were published in this era, most notably the Oxford
English Dictionary which would eventually become the most important historical dictionary of the
English Language. Also published during the later Victorian Era were the Dictionary of National
Biography and the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Children’s Literature
The Victorians are credited with 'inventing childhood', partly via their efforts to stop child
labor and the introduction of compulsory education. As children began to be able to read, literature for
young people became a growth industry, with not only established writers producing works for children
(such as Dickens' A Child's History of England) but also a new group of dedicated children's authors.
 Rarely were these publications designed to capture a child’s pleasure; however, with the increase
in use of illustrations, children began to enjoy literature, and were able to learn morals in a more
entertaining way. With the newfound acceptance of reading for pleasure, fairy tales and folk tales became
popular. Compiling folk tales by many authors with different topics made it possible for children to read
literature by and about lots of different things that interested them. There were different types of books
and magazines written for boys and girls. Girls' stories tended to be domestic and to focus on family life,
whereas boys' stories were more about adventures.

Supernatural and fantastic literature

The old Gothic tales that came out of the late 19th century are the first examples of the
genre of fantastic fiction. These tales often centered on larger-than-life characters such
as Sherlock Holmes, famous detective of the times, Sexton Blake, Phileas Fogg, and other
fictional characters of the era, such as Dracula, Edward Hyde, The Invisible Man, and many
other fictional characters who often had exotic enemies to foil. Gothic literature combines
romance and horror in attempt to thrill and terrify the reader. Possible features in a gothic novel
are foreign monsters, ghosts, curses, hidden rooms and witchcraft. Gothic tales usually take place
in locations such as castles, monasteries, and cemeteries, although the gothic monsters
sometimes cross over into the real world, making appearances in cities such as London.

The Edwardian Period

The end of the Victorian era marked a new beginning for literature in the land with fresh ideas
and greater need leading the way. Edwardian literature would go on to be more intense, social and
political for ages to come. Edwardian novels would go on to start a new style of writing that would be
prevalent for a long time to come. The ambivalence and restlessness of the new millennium were to find
representation earlier than expected in the boundaries of Edwardian literature itself. The main propagator
of a whole new system style of writing in this era was none other than George Bernard Shaw himself. He
would go onto use his works to question society and the structure of politics, the institution and norms of
marriage as trusted forward by the society and the challenge of female emancipation.

This was to mark a beginning itself in the age of bold writing as there were others who followed
Shaw’s footsteps in converting plays into an arena for debate and discussion. The writers of Edwardian
novels decided to stand up and set the readers thinking positively in the hope that they would change for
the better the atrocities of mankind of that day and age.

E.M. Forster the writer of books such as a Room with a View and Howards End too experimented
with certain themes of insensitivity, repression and lack of humility in the English people. Further still
HG Wells took to trying to use literature to show to the world how science and technology would change
the future for the better. However, writers such as Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling would try hard to
re-invigorate old literary forms like the satire, narrative poem, and ballad and so on. Imagism and
futurism were becoming ever apparent in the Edwardian literature and Edwardian novels. In all a new
age was dawning upon us when it came to the use of literature to affect society. In time the proverb. The
pen is mightier than the sword was about to be realized.
Realism came in varying forms whether it be through colonial adventures as those by Joseph Conrad and
E.M Forster or through the finest sense of subtle humor by P.G Wodehouse.

Colonial Romances generally portrayed the adventures of a sailor or colonial agent to distant lands of
Africa or India and their trials and tribulations there. These romances were criticized a lot with the rise of
post-colonial literature by the likes of authors like Chinua Achebe.

The subtle humor of Wodehouse was also criticized by his contemporaries and the British Government
for his portrayal of the British high-class man as an absolute mess without his valet mainly through his
celebrated character of Bertie Wooster.

Famous Edwardian Authors

Arnold Barett and J.M. Barrie were two famous writers whose works were greatly appraised. The
Clayhanger trilogy and The First Wives Tale are some of the most famous works of Arnold Barett.

J.M. Barrie, on the other hand, is known for his classic tale, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t
Grow Up. This was the story of a boy called Peter Pan who refused to grow up. He meets a girl called
Wendy and together they have adventures in the magical land of Neverland. Based on this writer, a semi
biographical film called Finding Neverland was made in 2004 where Johnny Depp played the role of J.M
Barrie. One of the characteristics that distinguish Edwardian novels from other periods is that during this
time there was a significant difference between popular literature and the high brow literature.

The Modern Age Period

Modern period in the English literature begins with the 20th century and remain till 1965. The
period saw an abrupt break away from the old ways of interacting with the world. In all the previous
periods experimentation and individualism were highly discouraged but with the onset of the modern
period both these things became virtues. There were many cultural shocks with the beginning of
modernism. The blow of the modern age were the World War 1 and 2. These wars began in the year 1914
and last till 1919 and 1939 to 1945 respectively. Aftermath of the world wars was traumatic for everyone.
The horror of the World War 1 was evident on the face of every citizen. Feeling of uncertainty was spread
and no one knew where the world was heading into.

Advancement of the social science and natural science in the latter half of the 19th century and
early decades of the 20th century. Gains in material wealth with the rapid development and
industrialization. The difference between aristocrats and clergy increased more.
English literature of the modern age started with the initiation of the 20th century. The prominent
feature of the literature during the modern age was that it opposed the general attitude towards life as
shown in Victorian literature.
People started to regard Victorian age as a hypocritical age, having superficial and mean ideals.
Hypocrisy of Victorian period generated a rebellious attitude in the writers of modern literature. Things
that were considered as beautiful and honorable during Victorian age was considered as ugly by the
writers of modern period. Sense of questioning was absent in the mind of the people from the Victorian
age.
 During Victorian times, people adhere to the voice of the people who were in power, they
accepted the rules made the church. People started to accept the law without questioning them. But the
generation came after were having critical thinking, they raise questions against the decisions produced
by supreme authorities. Writers of modern age refuted the ideas and beliefs of previous era.
Modern age helped in replacing the simple belief of the Victorians into modern man’s desire to
probe. George Bernard Shaw attacked the old superstitious religious beliefs as well as the superstitions of
science. He was the one who pioneered the interrogative habits in the mid of modern people. Shaw openly
challenged the voice of those who were ruling the country, and religion authority. He provoked the people
to come up with questions over the morality and religion.

Transition from the Victorian Period to the Modern Period

Changes in the literature

There were various changes took place in the field of literature also during the modern
period. The imaginative writing, verses, structure of the verses of Victorian period became
obsolete. Writers work started losing the magic they used to have in previous age. Victorian
writers were becoming rancid and their works were failing to evoke the spirit of the readers. Art
has to be renewed in order to revitalize the readers. But Victorian art works were lacking the
surprising elements and freshness in the content.

Declination of sentiments and values

Modern world people were more into independence, they don’t want to bind by the parental
authority, whereas Victorians believed in maintaining the home life, they consider themselves a family
person more. Moreover, the feeling of love was getting limited to sex in modern times, love had become
less of a romance and more like a greed. Such things portray the decline in the values, emotions and
feelings in the people of modern period. Literary work also portray the similar life style. If writers try to
write on the themes of Victorian age then it would be no longer a striking piece of literature. Therefore,
you will find the literature of modern period having less zeal for love, natural beauty and the sentiments.
Modern writers come up with fresh point of view suiting the conventional audience.

Age of machinery
There is no doubt that machinery has dominated the modern people’s life. Modern period is also
known as the age of machinery. People had become too materialistic brought by the machinery. There is
no doubt that the advent of machinery made life comfortable for modern man. Living become quite easy
and production of goods were also accelerated. But they downward side of mechanical life was that man
has mechanical like a clock, using all his energy not according to his/her own will rather according to the
time scheme. Such atmosphere of modern life brought great distress among the people.

Literature of the Modern Period

Literary trends

The trend of modernism emerged after the end of the First World War. They includes:
-Stream of consciousness -Dadaism

-Surrealism -Futurism
-Cubism -Expressionism
-Imagism -Symbolism

a) Modern English poetry

Modern English Poetry is a sort of revolution against the traditional thoughts and types of the
Victorian era poetry.

b) Modern English novels

They rein the literature in the initial three decades of the twentieth century, these years are known
as the golden period of modernist novel.

c) The development of 20th century English drama

George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde were the most known, praised and celebrated drama
writers of the nineteenth century. They were highly popular in the last decade of the century. One can say
that they marked the beginning of the modern drama. However, these two eminent writers never brought
many variations or innovations in the writing techniques and types.

2. Modern Period: Artistic features

a) Modernism

Modernism is a quite unique and complex movement in almost all the creative areas. It began at
the end of the 19th century. During this period literature got the inception of greatest renaissance of 20th
century. When the First World War ended, a number of literary trends of the modern period such as
dadaism, stream of consciousness, futurism, cubism, expressionism and imagism emerged.

b) Basic characters of modernism:

The foundation of modernism lies in the theory of psycho-analysis and irrational philosophy. One
of the main characteristics of modern period is “the dehumanization of art”. Some other crucial themes of
modernism involves alienated, ill and distorted relation between man and man, man and his own self, man
and society and most importantly between man and nature.

The pillars of modernism

 David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) – Sons and Lovers

  James Joyce (1882- 1941) Ulysses
 Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888- 1965) Murder in the Cathedral
 George Bernard Shaw (1856- 1950) Mrs. Warrant’ Profession
 William Butler Yeats (1865- 1939) The Land of Heart’s Desire
 John Galaworthy (1867- 1933) The Man of Property

The Postmodern Period

Postmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction,

unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and
political issues. This style of experimental literature emerged strongly in the United States in the 1960s
through the writings of authors. Post modernists often challenge authorities, which has been seen as a
symptomatic of the fact that this style of literature first emerged in the context of political tendencies in
the 1960s. This inspiration is, among other things, seen through how postmodern literature is highly
reflexive about the political issues it speaks to.

Comparison with modernist literature

Both modern and postmodern literature represent a break from the 19 th century realism. In
character development, both modern and postmodern literature explore subjectivism, turning from
external reality to examine inner states of consciousness.

Shift to Postmodernsim
The prefix “post”, however, does not necessarily imply a new era. Rather, it could also indicate a
reaction against modernism in the wake of the Second World War.

Common themes and techniques

 Irony, playfulness and black humor

 Intertextuality
- Relationship between one text and another one text within the interwoven fabric of literary
history.
 Pastiche
- Means to combine, or “paste” together, multiple elements. It can be seen as a representation
of the chaotic, pluralistic, or information-drenched aspects of postmodern society.
 Metafiction
-Making the artificiality of the art of the fictionality of the fiction apparent to the reader and
generally disregards the necessity for “willing suspension of disbelief”.
 Minimalism
- Characterized as a focus on a surface description where readers are expected to take an active
role in creation of a story.
 Technoculture and hyperreality
- Technology has become a central focus in many lives, and our understanding of the real is
mediated by simulations of the real.
 Paranoia
- Often straddles the line between delusion and brilliant insight.
 Fragmentation
- Various elements, concerning plot, characters, themes, imagery and factual references are
fragmented and dispersed throughout the entire work.
 Genre/
Forms of
Literatur
e
Categorizing Literature Genres
Back in ancient Greece, literature was divided into two main categories: tragedy and comedy.
Nowadays the list of possible types and literature genres can seem endless. But it is still possible to
narrow down the vast amount of literature available into a few basic groups.
The five genres of literature students should be familiar with are Poetry, Drama, Prose,
Nonfiction, and Media—each of which is explained in more detail below. You’ll see some overlap
between genres; for example, prose is a broader term that includes both drama and non-fiction. At the end
of this article, we’ll also touch on a couple of narrower but still important literary categories.

Poetry
This is often considered the oldest form of literature. Before writing was invented, oral stories
were commonly put into some sort of poetic form to make them easier to remember and recite. Poetry
today is usually written down but is still sometimes performed.
A lot of people think of rhymes and counting syllables and lines when they think of poetry, and
some poems certainly follow strict forms. But other types of poetry are so free-form that they lack any
rhymes or common patterns. There are even kinds of poetry that cross genre lines, such as prose poetry.
In general, though, a text is a poem when it has some sort of meter or rhythm, and when it focuses on the
way the syllables, words, and phrases sound when put together.
Poems are heavy in imagery and metaphor and are often made up of fragments and phrases rather
than complete, grammatically correct sentences. And poetry is nearly always written in stanzas and lines,
creating a unique look on the page.
Poetry, as experienced in the classroom, is usually one of three types. There are the shorter, more
modern poems, spanning anything from a few lines to a few pages. Often these are collected in books of
poems by a single author or by a variety of writers. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven," is one of the most
commonly taught poems of this type. Then there are the classical, formulaic poems of Shakespeare’s
time, such as the blank verse and the sonnet. And finally, there are the ancient, epic poems transcribed
from oral stories. These long, complex poems resemble novels, such as Homer’s The Iliad and The
Odyssey.

Prose
Once you know what poetry is, it’s easy to define prose. Prose can be defined as any kind of
written text that isn’t poetry (which means drama, discussed below, is technically a type of prose). The
most typical varieties of prose are novels and short stories, while other types include letters, diaries,
journals, and non-fiction (also discussed below). Prose is written in complete sentences and organized in
paragraphs. Instead of focusing on sound, which is what poetry does, prose tends to focus on plot and
characters.
Prose is the type of literature read most often taught in English classrooms. Any novel or short
story falls into this category, from Jane Eyre to Twilight and from “A Sound of Thunder" to “The
Crucible." Like poetry, prose is broken down into a large number of other sub-genres. Some of these
genres revolve around the structure of the text, such as novellas, biographies, and memoirs, and others are
based on the subject matter, like romances, fantasies, and mysteries.

Drama
 Any text meant to be performed rather than read can be considered drama. In layman’s terms,
dramas are usually called plays. When written down the bulk of a drama is dialogue, with periodic stage
directions such as “he looks away angrily." Of all the genres of literature discussed in this article, drama
is the one given the least time in most classrooms. And often when drama is taught, it’s only read the
same way you might read a novel. Since dramas are meant to be acted out in front of an audience, it’s
hard to fully appreciate them when looking only at pages of text. Students respond best to dramas, and
grasp their mechanics more fully when exposed to film or theater versions or encouraged to read aloud or
act out scenes during class.
The dramas most commonly taught in classrooms are definitely those written by the bard.
Shakespeare’s plays are challenging, but rewarding when approached with a little effort and a critical
mindset. Popular choices from his repertoire include Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and Romeo and
Juliet, among others. Older Greek plays are also taught fairly often, especially Sophocles’ Antigone. And
any good drama unit should include more modern plays for comparison, such as Arthur Miller’s Death of
a Salesman.

Non-Fiction
Poetry and drama both belong to the broader category of fiction—texts that feature events and
characters that have been made up. Then there is non-fiction, a vast category that is a type of prose and
includes many different sub-genres. Non-fiction can be creative, such as the personal essay, or factual,
such as the scientific paper. Sometimes the purpose of non-fiction is to tell a story (hence the
autobiography), but most of the time the purpose is to pass on information and educate the reader about
certain facts, ideas, and/or issues.
Some genres of non-fiction include histories, textbooks, travel books, newspapers, self-help
books, and literary criticism. A full list of non-fiction types would be at least as long as this entire article.
But the varieties most often used in the classroom are textbooks, literary criticism, and essays of various
sorts. Most of what students practice writing in the classroom is the non-fiction essay, from factual to
personal to persuasive. And non-fiction is often used to support and expand students’ understanding of
fiction texts—after reading Hamlet students might read critical articles about the play and historical
information about the time period and/or the life of Shakespeare.

Media
The newest type of literature that has been defined as a distinct genre is media. This
categorization was created to encompass the many new and important kinds of texts in our society today,
such as movies and films, websites, commercials, billboards, and radio programs. Any work that doesn’t
exist primarily as a written text can probably be considered media, particularly if it relies on recently
developed technologies. Media literature can serve a wide variety of purposes—among other things it can
educate, entertain, advertise, and/or persuade.
More and more educators are coming to recognize the importance of teaching media in the
classroom. Students are likely to be exposed to far more of this type of literature than anything else
throughout their lives, so it makes sense to teach them how to be critical and active consumers of media.
Internet literacy is a growing field, for example, since the skills required to understand and use online
information differ in important ways from the skills required to analyze printed information. Teaching
media literacy is also a great way for educators to help students become participants in their own culture,
through lessons on creating their own websites or home movies or commercials.
Other Types of Literature
These are far from the only important genres of literature. Here are a few more that are sometimes used in
classrooms:
Oral Literature: The oldest type of literature, and the foundation on which culture was built. Now, most
oral texts have been written down, of course, and are usually taught in the form of epic poems or plays or
folk tales.
Folklore/Folk Tales/Fables: A distinction is often made between regular prose and folklore. Most folk
tales were originally oral literature, and are short stories meant to pass on a particular lesson or moral.
They often have a timeless quality, dealing with common human concerns that are just as relevant to us
today, while still being products of a very specific culture and time period.
Graphic Novels and Comic Books: It used to be that most educators saw comic books as the lowest form
of literature, not suitable or valuable for children. But times have changed, and many teachers have come
to realize that comic books and the more modern graphic novels are both appealing to kids and are a valid
form of literature in their own right.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_literature
http://victorian-era.org/edwardian-era-literature.html
https://www.allassignmenthelp.com/blog/modern-period-in-english-literature/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_literature
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQRLavIeUI7i3_7FLg5TeHG1zB7Zw
%3A1579618879081&ei=PxInXvTPBBJGGoATmn7z4Aw&q=romantic+period+literature