Amazing Map Store: Minds

MAURO SPICCI
AMAZING
MINDS
MAP STORE
FROM THE
ORIGINS
TO THE
1
ROMANTIC
AGE
MAURO SPICCI
AMAZING
MINDS
MAP STORE
1
Table of contents
From the Origins to the End From the Puritan Age to
1 of the Middle Ages (500-1485) 3 the Augustan Age (1625-1760)
2 From the origins to the end of the Middle Ages 16 The Puritan Age and The Restoration Age
3 Beowulf 17 The Augustan Age
4 Medieval literature before the Norman conquest 18 John Donne
6 Poetry after the Norman conquest 19 John Milton
7 Geoffrey Chaucer 20 Daniel Defoe
21 Jonathan Swift
The Renaissance and the Age

2 of Shakespeare (1485-1625) 4 The Romantic Age (1760-1837)
8 The English Renaissance 22 The Romantic Age
10 The Elizabethan drama 24 English Romantic Poetry
12 William Shakespeare 26 William Blake
14 Christopher Marlowe 27 William Wordsworth
15 The Elizabethan sonnet 28 Samuel Taylor Coleridge
29 Jane Austen
30 The second generation of English Poets
32 Mary Shelley
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Chapter 1 - From the origins to the end of the Middle Ages
FROM THE ORIGINS

TO THE END OF THE
MIDDLE AGES
(500-1485)
They established
themselves in villages.
The Anglo Saxons had
SOCIAL TRENDS
strong tribal tides.
They embraced
Christianity.
BEFORE THE NORMAN Anglo-Saxon Literature

CULTURAL TRENDS The Romans invaded
CONQUEST (1066) flourished.
Britain and built forts,
roads and baths.
They were followed by

Originally the British the Anglo-Saxons.
POLITICAL TRENDS Isles were occupied by
the Celts. They were frequently
attacked by the Vikings.
In 1066 they were

defeated by the
Normans, coming
from France.
14th century: half

The Feudal System was
the people of England
SOCIAL TRENDS introduced after
died because
the conquest.
of the Black Death.
This led to the birth

of Middle English.
French replaced Old
CULTURAL TRENDS English as the language Last half of the
of poetry and literature. 14th century: English
MV 8339 00605H All rights reserved. © 2017, Pearson Italia, Milano-Torino.

language is born
thanks to the works
AFTER THE NORMAN of Geoffrey Chaucer.
CONQUEST (1066)
First step towards
Internal fights between the modern concept
the king and the barons. of democracy.
1455-1485:
POLITICAL TRENDS The War of the Roses.
Fight between the House

1215: the Magna Charta of York and the House
was signed. of Lancaster.
The war was won by

Henry Tudor (Lancaster).
The union of the two

families brought about
a period of strength
and growth.
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Chapter 1 - Beowulf
Anonymous
BEOWULF THE AUTHOR
A cultured man
practising the art
of poetry.
He spoke Old English.
He was probably
Christian.
Actions of a
THE PLOT
Scandinavian prince.
Heroism and its
meanings.
1st part: Beowulf
needs to free the
land of Danes from The presence
Grendel, a monster. of the supernatural
in the world.
THEMES
2nd part: Beowulf
becomes a king. The struggle between
good and evil.
Last part: Beowulf

dies while fighting
a monster. The celebration
of Christian values.
He is the perfect hero.

He embodies
THE
all the qualities
CHARACTER
of the perfect warrior.
He is not a flat
character: he evolves
and grows up
throughout the poem.
Centred on the actions

of an unrivalled hero.
Use of highly poetic

STYLE Epic poem
language.
Stories are told by

an omniscient and
unobtrusive narrator.
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Chapter 1 - Medieval literature after the Norman conquest
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
French replaced Old English
AFTER THE NORMAN as the language of poetry
This led to the birth
CONQUEST of Middle English.
and literature.
(1066)
Literary production: many

POETRY
genres
13th-14th centuries:
Secunda Pastorum (or The
performances started
Second Shepherds’ Play),
to be organised in cycles Main genre:
a play representing
and to be staged Miracle plays
the nativity scene
on pageants (allegorical
in comic terms.
carts).
DRAMA
Everyman is a morality
Plays characterised play representing the
14th-15th centuries: by the presence of struggle between vices
Morality plays. allegories and a strong and virtues for the
moral tone. possession of the soul
of Everyman.
Sir Thomas Malory His masterpiece is Le Morte D’Arthur.
It is a collection of stories related

PROSE to King Arthur.

He wrote the Historia Regum
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Britanniae (1137).
It is a reconstruction of the mythical

and historical origins of Britain.
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Chapter 1 - Medieval literature after the Norman conquest
They were born in France and

performed by minstrels.
MATTER OF ROME
(about Roman heroes)
MATTER OF FRANCE
Romances There are three cycles: (including stories
of Charlemagne and Rolande)
MATTER OF BRITAIN
(centred on King Arthur
Themes: courtly love, chivalry, and his knights)
supernatural events, magic.
Main example in England:

Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
They were anonymous

narrative poems accompanied
with music. Use of simple and common
language.
Use of lines with

STYLE
a question-answer structure.
Ballads
Presence of refrains.
Themes: actions of heroes,
tragic or supernatural events
Main example in England:

Lord Randal

It is a masterpiece of Medieval
literature.
English is used as a versatile

means of artistic and literary
expression.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales
(1387-1400)
It is a collection of short stories
representing the different
aspects and characters of
medieval society.
It has a strong realistic accent.
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Chapter 1 - Poetry after the Norman conquest
French replaced English

POETRY AFTER as the language of poetry
and literature.
THE NORMAN Historical and cultural
facts
CONQUEST French culture influenced
English culture.
They are anonymous

narrative poems
There are two main accompanied by music.
BALLADS
genres.
They are transmitted
orally.
Use of simple and Betrayal

common language.
Use of lines with a Preservation of property

STYLE
question-answer structure.
Use of refrains. Death
Mysteries of life
Dangers of love and

THEMES
passion
Example: Lord Randal

Structured as a dialogue
Anonymous Scottish
between a mother and
ballad
her dying son.
They were born in

France.
Courtly love
ROMANCES Two main themes:

Chivalry
They were developed

by travelling minstrels.
The most interesting

In England, many
example is represented Collection of stories
romances focus on the
by Thomas Malory’s related to King Arthur.
actions of King Arthur.
Le Morte D’Arthur.
Typical themes such as

quests, journeys, magic
apparitions, battles and
enchantments.
THEMES Religion plays

an important part.
The quest for

the Holy Grail
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Chapter 1 - Geoffrey Chaucer
GEOFFREY He belonged to
He travelled to
He is buried
He was born a rich family and in Westminster
CHAUCER LIFE in London. received a fine
France and Italy
Abbey
as a diplomat.
(1340-1400) education. (‘Poet’s Corner’).
MAIN WORK: The first published book English becomes the vehicle for
THE CANTERBURY TALES of poetry in English. artistic and literary expression.
Typical experience
in the Middle
Ages.
THE Spiritual experience
THEMES
PILGRIMAGE
Double meaning
It allows people
Collective and social
to get in touch
event
with the others.
Chaucer’s are real-life

characters.
Chaucer’s poem is a vivid portrait
of English medieval society.
Some characters belong
to the new emerging
SOCIAL
classes.
SUBVERSION
Women have freedom
Chaucer portrays many female
of movement and are
characters.
gaining independence.
Structured as a narrative poem.
Narrative frame: the pilgrimage The pilgrims meet

STYLE to the shrine of Saint Thomas in London and decide to
Becket in Canterbury. tell two stories each.
The heroic Rhyming couplets

TWO MAIN VERSE FORMS
couplet. of iambic pentameters.

Seven-line stanzas
The relationship between The ‘rhyme royal’.
of iambic pentameter.
men and women.
The journey, which is both

individual and collective
The changing role of women

in society.
THEMES The meaning of life.
The role and importance of

storytelling as a means to reveal
the meaning of life.
The variety of human life

and experiences.
OTHER THEMES Greed, love, war and religion.
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Chapter 2 - The English Renaissance
THE ENGLISH English religious

RENAISSANCE SOCIAL TRENDS Religious tensions
Reformation
Universe: hierarchical.
World view
Correspondence between
the universe and the world.
Technical innovations Printing system
CULTURAL Revival of classical

Humanism
TRENDS learning.
Development of the arts,

science and literature.
Renaissance in Italy
City-states flourished.
Great development ‘Golden Age’ of English

of the arts literature and culture.
Centralised government
Expansionism
Early modern Britain

International trade
Emerging nation
POLITICAL
TRENDS
Important monarchs
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Chapter 2 - The English Renaissance
The relationship between

England and the Church
was intense.
Persecutions of English Protestants left They founded

They went to New World.
Catholics and Protestants. the country. new colonies.
A group of Catholics tried

1605: the Gunpowder Plot. to murder the king
(James I).
Every creature has specific

place in the universe.
Macrocosm vs Microcosm
Books became cheaper.
The circulation of books

became wider.
New translations
of classical works.
Michelangelo
Political leaders
Leonardo da Vinci
encouraged artists
Raphael
Triumph of drama
He was an intelligent man.
Henry VIII Tudor He embodied the virtues of the Renaissance man.

Separation of England
from the Pope.
Act of Supremacy (1534)
Monasteries were
She was Henry VIII’s daughter suppressed.

‘The Virgin Queen’
Elizabeth I Tudor Spain was defeated in 1588. Political stability
Colonial expansionism
End of the Tudor dynasty
Rise of the Stuart dynasty
He became king of England, Ireland and Scotland in 1603.
James I Stuart Strong leader
Belief in the king’s divine authority Persecution of Catholics
Religious tensions Tensions between

the king and the Puritans
and the Scottish Church
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Chapter 2 - The Elizabethan drama
THE
ELIZABETHAN THE SPACE:
Elizabethan Playhouses
DRAMA
All social strata
People wanted to be entertained,

AUDIENCE but also socialise and make
friends.
They talked during the shows.
ACTORS
No artificial light
MISE Basic props such as swords, shields,

EN SCÈNE bottles, and other common objects.
Language played a very important role.
It filled the gaps left by the poverty

and the bareness of the theatre.
PLAYWRIGHTS
Modest background
Many of them were

also actors.
Mix of tragedy and comedy MAIN PLAYWRIGHTS
Christopher Marlowe’s
STYLE Freedom Doctor Faustus (1592)
anticipates this trend. No unity of space
No respect for Aristotle’s unities. No unity of time
No unity of action
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Chapter 2 - The Elizabethan drama
Examples: The Theatre (1576),

The Swan (1595), The Globe (1599)
They had a square stage.
People stood around the stage

Open amphitheatres
(groundlings).
They had roofed benches for rich people.
They were stakeholders of theatre

companies.
They used a very loud voice because the

audience was noisy.
No women Female parts were played by men.
They were considered vagabonds. Earl of Leicester’s Men
They organised themselves in

companies under the protection of a Lord Strange’s Men
rich person.
The Chamberlain’s Men
(Shakespeare’s company),
later known as King’s Men.
He wrote historical plays, comedies,
tragedies, Roman plays and romances.
William Shakespeare The peak of his career is
(1564-1616) represented by his greatest
He is the most famous playwright
tragedies: Othello (1604-1605),
of all times.
King Lear (1605-1606)

and Macbeth (1605-1606).
Hamlet (1600-1601) represents
a watershed in his production and It is a play about modernity.
in world literature.
The Duchess of Malfi

John Webster Who wrote claustrophobic plays.
(1614)
Who wrote about oppression Tis a Pity She’s a Whore

John Ford
and final catastrophes. (1629?)
He was Shakespeare’s antagonist.
Ben Jonson
He respected Aristotle’s unities.
(1572-1637)
His production includes historical plays Volpone

and comedies. (160 6)
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Chapter 2 - William Shakespeare
WILLIAM He was born in Stratford

He went to the local
SHAKESPEARE LIFE upon Avon on April 23rd,
grammar school.
1564.
(1564-1616)
Shakespeare’s collection of They might have been

POET sonnets is called Sonnets published without the
and was published in 1609. author’s consent.
Written in iambic pentameter

STYLE
3 quatrains + 1 couplet
DRAMATIST WORKS
Shakespeare’s dramatic works were not

supposed to be printed.
They were collected in the in-folio edition of

1623 by Henry Condell and John Heminges,
two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors.
The in-folio contains 36 plays (histories,

comedies and tragedies).
The official list of works composed

by William Shakespeare is called
‘Shakespeare’s canon’.
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Chapter 2 - William Shakespeare
1582: He married 1592: He was active 1599: Shakespeare’s 1603: Shakespeare’s

a local woman, as a playwright company opened its company became known
Anne Hathaway. in London. theatre, The Globe. as ‘King’s Men’.
Shakespeare’s Love Sonnet 130

sonnets are 154.
Beauty Sonnet 18
MAIN THEMES Brevity of man’s life Sonnet 15
Immortality
Sonnet 18 + Sonnet 15
Power of poetry to overcome death
Fair Youth
TWO MAIN ADDRESSEES
Dark Lady
They deal with English history and

History Plays show a portrait of Medieval and Richard III (1593)
Modern England.
They deal with Roman history; show

Roman Plays Julius Caesar (1599)
exemplary characters; analyse power.

They deal with mistaken identities, A Midsummer Night’s
Comedies
marriage and have a happy ending. Dream (1595)
Shakespeare’s plays can
be divided as follows:
They deal with dark and pessimistic
Problem Plays themes; focus on the workings of the Hamlet (1601)
mind of the characters.
They deal with tragic destiny

Rival companies could Tragedies of mankind; focus on human Macbeth (1606)
steal the plays of a foolishness.
company.
They contain magic and supernatural
Romances elements; deal with the contrast The Tempest (1611)
between virtue and vices.
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Chapter 2 - Christopher Marlowe
CHRISTOPHER He was born He studied He became

He was killed
MARLOWE LIFE in Canterbury at Cambridge popular thanks
in 1593.
in 1564. University. to his plays.
(1564-1593)
He is one He probably
of the ‘University worked as
Wits’. a secret agent.
Tamburlaine the
MAIN THEME Lust for power
Great (1587)
Faustus is a magician
who wants to obtain
supreme knowledge.
Faustus sells his soul to

the devil in exchange
PLOT
for absolute knowledge
for 24 years.
The play ends with

Faustus’ damnation. Like Everyman,
he is a universal
character.
Arrogance of the Faustus is a

protagonist modern Everyman.
The thirst for Unlike Everyman,

MAIN WORKS Doctor Faustus
THEMES knowledge he is an individual
(1588-1589)
of modern man with a personal
history.
The human desire to
obtain supreme power
and knowledge

Use of symbols and
allegories
Written in ‘blank verse’

(unrhymed iambic
pentameter)
STYLE
Use of monologues
and soliloquies
Declamatory style
The Jew of Malta

MAIN THEME Thirst for unlimited richness.
(1590)
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Chapter 2 - The Elizabethan Sonnet
THE
ELIZABETHAN
SONNET
It is a 14-line poem, usually written
in iambic pentameter.
What is
a sonnet?
It was imported into England by
It is a poetic form that was
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
invented in Italy.
and the Earl of Surrey.
The octave presents

a ‘problem’.
STRUCTURE:
Petrarchan Sonnet
1 octave + 1 sestet.
The sestet presents
a comment or a solution.
Types of sonnet
The first three quatrains
contain a series of
English STRUCTURE: reflections on a problem.
(or Shakespearian) 3 quatrains +
Sonnet 1 couplet. The final couplet
introduces a turning
point and contains
an unexpected
conclusion.
MAIN WORK:
Sir Philip Sidney
Astrophel and
(1554-1586)
Stella (1581)
Main theme: love.
Edmund Spenser MAIN WORK:

Key figures
(1552-1599) Amoretti (1595)
Collection of 154 sonnets.

Uncertain date
of composition (between
William 1585 and 1609).
MAIN WORK:
Shakespeare
Sonnets (1609)
(1564-1616)
Probably their publication
was not authorised by
the author.
MAIN THEMES
Sonnets 127-
Sonnets 1-126: Theme:
Theme: love 154: devoted
devoted to the love and its
and marriage. to the ‘Dark
‘Fair Youth’. complexities.
Lady’.
Other related
themes
Brevity of man’s
Immortality Marriage Poetry
life
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Chapter 3 - The Puritan age (1625-1660) and The Restoration age (1660-1714)
THE PURITAN AGE

(1625-1660) AND
New audience Upper class
THE RESTORATION
AGE (1660-1714)
Main themes: love

and marriage.
Theatres
DRAMA reopened in
1660 New genre: Use of ‘wit’
Comedy of or verbal
Manners inventiveness.
Satire
CULTURAL The masterpiece
TRENDS of this genre
is William
Witty language
Congreve’s
The Way of the
World (1700).
Relationship
between social
conventions and
Defence of civic moral integrity
liberties
GENERAL TRAITS Puritan values
End of the
supremacy of Emergence Philosophical
Elizabethan of new genres writings
drama.
Struggle between The new historical

POLITICAL 1642-1649: 1649: the king
the Crown and phase is called
TRENDS Civil War was beheaded.
the Parliament ‘Commonwealth’.

Britain was
ruled by Oliver
Cromwell.
Oppressive years
Puritan Years In 1660 the

Theatres were closed monarchy was
and freedom of press restored and
was suppressed. Charles II
returned to
Restoration of the Britain.
SOCIAL TRENDS
Anglican Church
New season
of liberty and cultural
activity
Restoration Years
It limits the power of
1689: Bill of Rights the king in favour of the
Parliament.
The Toleration Act grants

Toleration Act freedom of worship to all
dissenters except Catholics.
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Chapter 3 - The Augustan Age
There is a reading
THE AUGUSTAN public who want to
read novels.
AGE Reaction against
(1714-1760) the ideals of the Middle-class
Renaissance and readers want to
Puritan moralism. read stories that
entertain them and
The Augustan Age make them reflect.
saw the rise of the
Why?
novel as the leading
genre. This is the age
of Empiricism
and novels are
CULTURAL TRENDS a realistic
‘picture of life’.
Women are among

the most interested
readers of this age.
The Augustan Age
Two main phases:
(1714-1750)
Increase in the
Transition between number of readers.
Classicism and
Pre-Romanticism
(1750-1760). Spread of circulating
The Augustan libraries.
Age is the age
Importance given of journalism Middle-class
to feelings. and newspapers. readers want to be
informed.
Two main titles:
The Spectator The Tatler

(1711) (1709)
Augustan poetry

tends to emulate
prose.
Drift from the

countryside to the
towns (especially
London).
POLITICAL TRENDS
Coffeehouses
became the centre They promoted the
of social life. circulation of ideas.
International wars
SOCIAL TRENDS
on the continent.
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Chapter 3 - John Donne
In 1615 he
He was born in He studied at embraced the
JOHN DONNE LIFE 1572 into Oxford Anglican faith He died in 1631.
(1572-1631) a Catholic family. and Cambridge. and became Royal
Chaplain.
Emotional intensity
Conceits are extended

Use of conceits and complex metaphors comparing
STYLE imagery objects/entities that seem
very different.
Use of direct language
Imagery taken from different

fields such as astronomy,
medicine, politics, philosophy.
THEMES
Many poems revolve around

religion.
They contain no proper

sonnets as in Donne’s
Songs and Sonnets
day the term was still
(1590s-1617)
used to refer generally

to poetic songs.
Holy Sonnets
POETRY
(1601-1615)
They were the only

Anniversaries important poetic works
MAIN WORKS (1611-1612) he published in his
lifetime.
PROSE Sermons
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Chapter 4 - John Milton
During the years When the

He was a man He visited Europe
JOHN MILTON LIFE of immense and met Galileo
of the Civil War monarchy was
he supported restored, he was
(1608-1674) scholarship. Galilei.
Cromwell. forced to hide.
Internal political events.
Urgent social issues such as education, divorce and

THEMES the freedom of expression.
Fall and redemption of humankind.
MAIN WORKS The contrast between good and evil.
PERIOD 1: Italian poems such as L’Allegro and Il Pensoso (1631).
THREE
PERIODS PERIOD 2: political pamphlets and prose works defending religious and civil liberties.
PERIOD 3: marked by the poet’s blindness and by the writing of Paradise Lost (1667).
one is Satan’s and leads to

damnation.
There are
Disobedience two moral
paths: the other is Adam and Eve’s,
and leads to redemption.
THEMES Satan refuses to accept the

Hierarchy
hierarchy of the universe.
This is only possible thanks

Redemption
to God’s mercy.
It tells the biblical story of Satan’s rebellion and Adam and Eve’s disobedience.

PARADISE LOST He is the most fascinating character in the poem.
THE
CHARACTER He is complex and subtle.
OF SATAN
He endures a process of moral and physical degradation.
Difficult, full of allusions and

extended similes.
Milton’s epic poem is written Successive lines of unrhymed

STYLE
in Heroic verse. pentameters.
Unlike primary epic, which

Milton’s poem has been was meant to be transmitted
defined as a ‘secondary epic’. orally, Paradise Lost
is meant to be read.
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Chapter 3 - Daniel Defoe
He was actively As a professional

He was involved in writer Defoe
DANIEL DEFOE He was born
a writer, politics and responded to
LIFE in London in
(1660-1731) pamphleteer believed in the needs of the
1660.
and journalist. religious rising middle
freedom. class.
Social injustice.
The rise of the middle class.

THEMES
Domestic and international history and politics.
Religious dissention.
Clear and plain prose style.

It gives an air of authenticity to the
Journalistic tone.
fictional events narrated.
STYLE
Use of realistic details.
Use of irony.
The True Born Witty poem in defence of the king,

Englishman (1701) who was attacked as a foreigner.
The Shortest Way with A pamphlet showing the absurdity

Dissenters (1703) of religious intolerance.
Robinson leaves his home country on a ship.
He is shipwrecked on an island and is forced to survive.

PLOT
MAIN WORKS He becomes the ‘owner’ of the island and begins
to organise his life on it.
He is finally rescued by a ship and brought back to England.
Robinson is the prototype

of the ‘economic man’, who
The role of economy reproduces all the production
processes of the western world

in his small land.
Robinson is a sinner and is

Robinson Crusoe The role of providence
THEMES punished for that. But Providence
(1719) in man’s life
helps him restore his life.
repents from his sins.

The island is a
primitive version of
converts a man.
England, a microcosm
in which Robinson:
builds a perfectly functioning
society.
Readers believed it was

a true story.
It is written in a Attention to small details

STYLE
realistic way.
Fictional autobiography
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Chapter 3 - Jonathan Swift
After the In 1713 he

JONATHAN He was born He studied Glorious In 1695 he became the dean
SWIFT LIFE in Dublin at Trinity Revolution, became an at St. Patrick’s
in 1667. College. he moved Anglican priest. cathedral
(1667-1745) to England. in Dublin.
The absurdities of human life.

THEMES
Political and social issues such as poverty, religious controversies,
England’s exploitation of Ireland.
Use of irony, satire and sarcasm.
Bitter criticism of the evils of the world.

STYLE
Swift’s prose style has been considered an emblem of perfection.
Perfect balance between clarity and aesthetic beauty.
A Tale of a Tub
In this work Swift criticises Catholicism and Protestantism.
(1704)
The book contains the account of the voyages

made by Lemuel Gulliver, an English surgeon.
MAIN WORKS
His first voyage is to Lilliput, where he meets
the tiny Lilliputians.
His second voyage is to the land of the

PLOT
Brobdingnag, the land of the giants.
His third voyage is to Laputa, where he visits

the academy of Lagado.
His fourth voyage is to a land dominated

He is best by intelligent horses.
remembered
for his prose Gulliver’s Travels
works. His (1726) Relativism of opinions
most famous
works include:
Variety of perspectives
THEMES Human folly and weaknesses
Adventures, travels and encounters with wonderful

places and strange people
Dangers of religious fundamentalism
Apparently the story This gives Gulliver’s

is told from the account a tone of
objective point of veracity and makes
view of an English the satire of the
STYLE surgeon. work stronger.
Use of the Direct relationship

1st-person narrator with the reader.
A Modest Proposal Satirical work in which Swift proposes to solve the problem of Ireland’s
(1729) poverty by using children as food.
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Chapter 4 - The Romantic Age
THE ROMANTIC AGE

(1760-1837)
Reaction to Classicism
Exaltation of the individual and of the self

Birth of
CULTURAL TRENDS
Romanticism
Distrust in progress and factories
Use of imagination as a reaction to the age of industry
General attitude
Age of Revolutions of revolt against
POLITICAL TRENDS EXAMPLES
and War outworn traditions
and attitudes.
Increasing industrial
production
Availability of raw
materials from the
colonies
Quick turn from

Industrial an agricultural
New inventions
Revolution economy to an
industrial one
SOCIAL
CONSEQUENCES
SOCIAL TRENDS
1807: Abolition
of slave trade
Middle-class men
1832: Reform Act were given the right
to vote.
Social reforms Attempt to improve

the living conditions
1833: FACTORY ACT
of children working
in factories.
Parishes were no
longer obliged to
1834: amendment
offer financial help
of the Poor Law
to the poor and
unemployed.
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Chapter 4 - The Romantic Age
1783 (Treaty of
Versailles): Britain
1775-1783: England lost its 4 July 1776: accepted the
American War of American colonies. America declared its independence of
Independence Social reforms. independence. the United States of
America.
In 1799 Napoleon
The first revolutionary
Bonaparte seized
Revolt against the old phase was followed
power and crowned
social order. by Robespierre’s
himself emperor of
1789-1794: French ‘Reign of Terror’.
France in 1804.
Revolution
Spread of ideas such
as equality, fraternity,
and liberty.
Spinning jenny
Revolution in
Steam engine production and
in transport
Increase in the Increase in cheap

population labour
Unemployment and
Social unrest
Increasing poverty
The act forbade the

employment of
children under the
age of 9.
Poor and In workhouses they

unemployed people were given food and
had to go into a clothes in exchange
workhouse. for manual labour.
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Chapter 4 - English Romantic Poetry
ENGLISH
ROMANTIC
POETRY
Exaltation of nature
Distrust in progress and industrial

development
Use of imagination
GENERAL FEATURES
Rejection of Neoclassicism
Accent on spontaneous feelings

and on emotions
Interest in the world of the self
Two phases
1760-1801:
ANTI-CLASSICAL TENDENCIES
EXPONENTS FEATURES
William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge Focus on Importance

(1770-1850) (1772-1834) common life of imagination
Poetry is the Interest

Main work:
spontaneous Main work: in the
Humble The poet The Rime of
overflow Lyrical supernatural,
and rustic re-creates the Ancient
of feelings Ballads the
life an emotion. Mariner
recollected in (1798) mysterious,
(1798)
tranquillity. and dreams.
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Chapter 4 - English Romantic Poetry
Anticipated by
PRE-ROMANTICISM
EXPONENTS FEATURES
Thomas Gray William Blake Rediscovery of the Exaltation of the Re-evaluation of Use of classical
(1716-1771) (1757-1827) Middle Ages primitive Nature over Reason forms of expression
Elegy Written Songs of Innocence

in a Country and of Experience
Churchyard (1751) (1794)
Reflection
Contrast between
on death
purity and evil.
and mortality.
1801: publication of the Preface

1801-1837:
to the Lyrical Ballads (manifesto
ROMANTIC AGE
of English Romanticism).
EXPONENTS FEATURES
Lord Byron Percy Bysshe Shelley John Keats Poet as a

Poet as a rebel
(1788-1824) (1792-1822) (1795-1821) bohemian
‘Negative
capability’,
Criticism Truth
Living Byronic Rebel and Celebration or the poet’s
of social through
legend hero atheist of freedom ability to lose
conventions beauty
himself in
imagination.
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Chapter 4 - William Blake
The Bible and He became an In 1789 he

WILLIAM its imagery apprentice to published Songs
Educated
BLAKE LIFE
at home.
had a profound an engraver and of Innocence,
impact on became a visual followed by Songs of
(1757-1827) Blake. artist. Experience in 1794.
Represents
The Tyger dark forces and
Many of the
Songs of Innocence violence.
poems are
MAIN WORKS and of Experience
organised
(1794) Represents
in pairs. The Lamb
meek virtue.
They describe how

Songs of Innocence and of Experience are adult life can destroy
collections of poems on the contrast between the purity of
childhood and the adult world. childhood.
The idea that the world can be understood

only through imagination.
Poverty, degradation,
Criticism of the Industrial Revolution. child labour and
prostitution.
Rejection of the Materialism of the

THEMES
Enlightenment.
Refusal of the dominant values of the age.

In contrast with the
Childhood as a state of purity and innocence. alienation of the
adult world.
Search for freedom and moral truth .
Simple and direct
STYLE Use of symbols
Use of abstract concepts
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Chapter 4 - William Wordsworth
He supported the
WILLIAM He was born
He visited republican ideas.
in Cumbria,
WORDSWORTH LIFE in the Lake
France in
He graduated from During the same
1790.
(1770-1850) District. Cambridge year he met Samuel
University in 1791. Taylor Coleridge.
They worked
together on the
‘Lyrical Ballads’.
Use of the natural Rejection of the refined In 1843 he became

language of common forms of 18th-century England’s Poet
speech poetry Laureate.
STYLE
Plain and easy
to understand
Collection of poems
This poem is the
containing famous
Poems reconstruction of a
works such as
(1807) walk the poet had
I Wandered Lonely
in 1802.
as a Cloud
Lyrical Ballads
(1798) It describes the
collection Prelude Autobiographical work development
of poems by (1808) in 13 books of his ideas and of
Wordsworth his poetry.
and Coleridge
Work of philosophical
MAIN WORKS The Excursion
reflection on man,
The Preface (1814)
nature and society
is considered
the manifesto
of English
Romantic Poetry.
Importance

of feelings
Common events,
country people
and natural scenes
Uncontrollable
force that
Nature
dominates man’s
life
THEMES He uses sensitivity and imagination
Poet Visionary figure

He ‘recollects’ emotions in tranquillity
and he reproduces them through poetry
Spontaneous
Poetry overflow of
powerful feelings
Childhood
and the memory
of childhood
in adult life
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Chapter 4 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
SAMUEL He studied
He left
He became He settled
TAYLOR Cambridge
Hebrew, friend of in the Lake
LIFE University
COLERIDGE Greek and
Latin.
without
William
Wordsworth.
District and
died in 1834.
(1772-1834) graduating.
The role of the mysterious

and the supernatural in human life.
The representation of medieval

THEMES
and/or oriental settings.
The return to the magical and the supernatural.
Use of old verse forms (ballads).
Use of Gothic elements.

STYLE
Rich, erudite and archaic language.
Frequent use of sound devices and effects.
Kubla Khan Probably written under the influence of

(1798) opium.
Medieval setting
Christabel
(1816)
Mystery and evil forces

MAIN WORKS Contrast between ordinary
experience and supernatural
events.
FEATURES Hypnotic atmosphere.
Interest in the medieval past.
The Rime
of the Ancient
STYLE Ballad form
Mariner
(1816)
The poem can be considered

a study of guilt, suffering and
expiation.
THEMES
On an artistic level the poem is a
journey into the fantastic and the
supernatural.
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Chapter 4 - Jane Austen
She began She travelled

She was She went to She published
to write very
JANE AUSTEN born in a boarding
when she occasionally
many of
LIFE Hampshire, school with her works
(1775-1817) in England. her sister.
was very and never
anonymously.
young. married.
She was the first English woman

to transform writing into a profession.
Use of indirect speech.
Use of dialogue. This is the means by which Austen reveals

the characters’ thoughts.
Limited use of narrative

or scenic descriptions. Their focus is the analysis of social
conventions of the middle class and the
Austen’s novels are among the best country gentry.
STYLE examples of the ‘novel of manners’.
Novels are set in closed communities and
focus on a limited number of characters.
Mix of tradition and innovation
Psychological analysis
Microcosm
Use of irony
Happy endings
The role and position of women in the world.
THEMES The relationship between love and marriage.
The relationship between the individual and society.
Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters and have to

PLOT
search for a husband for each of them.
Mr Darcy is a nobleman who is attracted by

Elizabeth, one of the daughters of the Bennets.
Elizabeth rejects Darcy’s proposal because she

thinks he is too proud of himself.
Sense and

Sensibility (1811)
After a series of events in which they get to know each
other better, Elizabeth and Darcy are ready to marry.
Pride and Prejudice To solve the conflict

MAIN WORKS Conflict between
(1813) characters have to
pride and
overcome a series of
prejudice
obstacles and grow up.
Characters are aware of

Emma (1816) the social boundaries
between them.
Love and class
THEMES
consciousness All aspects of life are
regulated by class
consciousness.
Women have no financial

independence.
The condition
of life of women Marriage is the only
possibility for a woman
to have a future.
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Chapter 4 - The Second Generation of English Romantic Poets
THE SECOND COMMON

Poet = rebel
They all died at a Many of their works
FEATURES very young age. tackle social themes.
GENERATION
OF ENGLISH Poets themselves
ROMANTIC are actively involved
POETS in social battles.
He studied at Trinity College in In 1809 he started a tour of the

LIFE
Cambridge. Mediterranean.
MAIN
Hours of Idleness (1807) Don Juan
WORKS
An epic-satire novel-in verse based

First collection of poems
on the life of a legendary hero.
GEORGE GORDON
BYRON (1788-1824)
His later works abandon
Predominant use of long
STYLE the declamatory style in favour
melodramatic verse narratives
of satirical criticism of society.
A character who exercises great

THEMES The ‘Byronic Hero’ fascination and has a mysterious
seductive power.
He was an unhappy and rebellious

LIFE He studied at Oxford.
student.
MAIN The Necessity of Atheism The Revolt of Islam

WORKS (1811) (1818)
PERCY BYSSHE
SHELLEY (1792-1822) A pamphlet challenging belief A long narrative poem containing
in God. attacks on religion.
Shelley was a master of many poetic

STYLE
and dramatic styles and forms.
Human freedom and rejection

THEMES Nature
of religion.
Symbol of the poet’s political

and poetic aspirations
He began to study medicine and He fell in love with a woman

LIFE
became a licensed apothecary. called Fanny Brawne.
MAIN Poems by John Keats Endymion

WORKS (1817) (1818)
JOHN KEATS
(1795-1821)
It is an erotic / allegorical
STYLE Keats’ first collection of poems.
romance.
THEMES Brevity and sorrow of life No political themes
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Chapter 4 - The Second Generation of English Romantic Poets
Certain degree Disillusionment after

of immorality. the revolutionary years.
He was politically engaged He had an incestuous Ostracised by English

He returned to
and campaigned for workers’ relationship with his society, he had to leave
England in 1811.
rights and social reform. half sister. the country.
Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage
The first two cantos A poem telling the

story of a world-weary Poem in four parts
were published in
man searching or ‘cantos’.
1812.
for the meaning of life.
Intelligent, perceptive, but also

characterised by a dark side.
He was expelled by the university He fell in love with Mary Godwin, the daughter
and rejected by his father because of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, They got married
of his atheist ideas. and went to Switzerland with her. in 1818.
Ode to the West Wind Prometheus Unbound A Defence of Poetry

(1819) (1820) (1821)
A song on natural A four-act lyrical It is about Prometheus’ An essay on the

change and human drama inspired by rebellion against the value of poetry in a
growth. Aeschylus. Olympian gods. materialistic world.
Hatred of oppression and

Poetry Social change

injustice.
It has a regenerating Hope in the possibility of

function. reform and a better world.
Contrast between the

His health was poor He went to Rome and eternal perfection of art and
in 1820. died there in 1821. the limits of human life.
Ode on a Art is a refuge from time,

Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Grecian Urn decay and death.
Agnes, and Other Poems (1820)
Celebration of the
immortality or art and
Poems dealing with legendary themes of The volume also The Eve beauty.
ancient, medieval and Renaissance times. contains five odes. of St. Agnes
Imagination Beauty Art and nature
It is more powerful It is the central theme They are in contrast

Beauty = truth
than reason. of Keats’ poetry. with a decaying present.
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Chapter 4 - Mary Shelley
MARY SHELLEY
(1797-1851)
She was the

In 1814 she
daughter of the
She did began a
feminist Mary She and Shelley The couple
not receive relationship
LIFE Wollstonecraft and travelled across married in
any formal with the poet
of the philosopher Europe. 1818.
education. Percy Bysshe
and writer William
Shelley.
Godwin.
Victor Frankenstein is
PLOT a scientist who discovered
the secret to create life.
One night he assembles

a monstrous creature and gives
life to it.
The creature follows Frankenstein
The creature is abandoned and asks him to create a female
by Victor and develops a sense creature for him. Victor refuses
MAIN WORKS of hatred towards him. and escapes to the North Pole,
where he dies.
Frankenstein is a Romantic ‘Prometheus’, a man

who tries to become God by discovering the secret of life.
The creature is born pure and innocent,

Noble Savage
Frankenstein, but experience transforms it into a monster.
or the Modern
THEMES

Prometheus
(1818) Monstrosity and
The creature is enormous and deformed:
social prejudice
this makes it an ‘outcast’ of society.
towards difference
This theme links the novel to the myth of Faustus,

Pursuit of knowledge the philosopher who wants to gain absolute
knowledge and damns himself for eternity.
Warning against the Mary Shelley’s novel is often considered the first
dangers of science science-fiction novel of English literature.
Complex structure Epistolary novel

STYLE
Use of multiple Three different points
narrators of view
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MAURO SPICCI

The Renaissance and the Age

0020_MV833900605H@0001.indd 1 07/02/17 13:12

FROM THE ORIGINS

BEFORE THE NORMAN Anglo-Saxon Literature

They were followed by

In 1066 they were

14th century: half

This led to the birth

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Fight between the House

The war was won by

The union of the two

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BEOWULF THE AUTHOR

He spoke Old English.

Last part: Beowulf

He is the perfect hero.

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Centred on the actions

Use of highly poetic

Stories are told by

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Literary production: many

Sir Thomas Malory His masterpiece is Le Morte D’Arthur.

It is a collection of stories related

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It is a reconstruction of the mythical

0030_MV833900605H@0002_0032.indd 4 10/05/17 10:27

They were born in France and

Main example in England:

They were anonymous

Use of lines with

Main example in England:

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English is used as a versatile

It has a strong realistic accent.

0030_MV833900605H@0002_0032.indd 5 10/05/17 10:28

French replaced English

They are anonymous

Use of simple and Betrayal

Use of lines with a Preservation of property

Use of refrains. Death

Dangers of love and

Example: Lord Randal

They were born in

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They were developed

The most interesting

Typical themes such as

THEMES Religion plays

The quest for

0030_MV833900605H@0002_0032.indd 6 10/02/17 10:13

Chaucer’s are real-life

Structured as a narrative poem.

Narrative frame: the pilgrimage The pilgrims meet

The heroic Rhyming couplets

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The journey, which is both

The changing role of women

THEMES The meaning of life.

The role and importance of

The variety of human life