3RD QUARTER REVIEWER

English 9: Anglo-American Literature

I. ROMANTICISM PERIOD
WHAT IS ROMANTICISM?
“literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form."
It emphasizes emotion, imagination, intuition, freedom, personal experience and the beauty of
nature
Highlighted the care about the 3Is:
INDIVIDUAL
o Individual deepest artistic impulses were unique with nature as a source of spirituality.
IMAGINATION
o Imagination and emotion are more important than reason and formal rules.
INTUITION
o Intuition and reliance on “natural feelings” as a guide to conduct are valued over
controlled rationality.

It highlighted…
 Love for nature
 Respect for primitivism
 Valuing of the common
 Idealize country life.
Literature

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

About the Author
A major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the
Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).
He was praised as the "poet of humanity"
About the poem
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by
William Wordsworth. It is Wordsworth's most famous work.
The poem was inspired by an event on 15 April 1802, in which Wordsworth and his sister
Dorothy came across a "long belt" of daffodils.

Theme:
Nature and Humanity
Considered one of the most significant examples of Romantic poetry, “I Wandered
Lonely as a Cloud” explores the relationship between nature and humanity. In doing so, it makes
 two key points. Firstly, it argues that humanity is not separate from nature, but rather part of it.
And secondly, it suggests that the natural world—and a strong bond with it—is essential to
human happiness. Though the reader might be fooled by the suggestion of solitude in the title,
this is an optimistic poem with a positive outlook on the world. This happiness is drawn from the
speaker’s interaction with nature, in turn encouraging the reader to appreciate the natural majesty
that is all around them.

II. VICTORIAN PERIOD

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 – 1901. Important innovations during her
reign: steam railroads, iron ships, the
She is a mother to 9 children. telegraph, photography, anesthetics,
She always wears black mourning clothes for 40 years after universal compulsory education.
her husband’s death.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
England was the first country to become industrialized – increase in both wealth and social
problems.
Unchecked industry led to horrible working conditions in factories, crowded cities and slums.
Factory owners employed children because they were cheap, did not complain, and could crawl
about under machines.
FAMOUS AUTHORS:
Robert Browning
o Much of his work contemplates death and the way that it frames our life choices.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

o Doyle gave his main character a lot of material to work with and a lot of crimes to solve.

George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)

o known for the psychological depth of her characters and her descriptions of English rural
life.

LITERATURE

Oliver Twist
About the Author
born in 1812 in Portsmouth, England.
his family moved to London in 1823.
his family did not have enough money, so at the age of 12 Charles Dickens had to work with
other child workers.
Themes:
 Society and Class
"Society and Class" is one of the central themes of most Dickens novels. In Oliver Twist,
Dickens often shows how superficial class structures really are—at the core, everyone’s really the
same, regardless of the social class into which they’re born.
Dickens also exposes how callous and uncaring Victorian society was—folks just ignored
the plight of the less fortunate because they were so self-satisfied, and so convinced that the
systems they had in place to take care of the poor were the best and most humane systems
possible.
Poverty
Workhouses, filthy quarters, despair: Dickens is very concerned with showing just how
miserable the lower classes really were in 19th Century London. With Oliver Twist, he doesn’t
shy away from depicting the conditions of the poor in all their misery with gritty realism.
Criminality
Crime was a huge problem in London in the 1830s, when Dickens was writing. Novels
and plays about crime were hugely popular. Some novelists wrote about crime because they had a
particular point to make about the source of criminal behavior, or possible solutions to the crime
wave. Other novelists wrote about crime just because they knew it would sell.
Oliver Twist was hugely popular, but Dickens definitely had a point to make: he wanted
to show how criminals really lived, in order to discourage poor people from turning to crime. He
also wanted to show how external influences created criminal behavior as much or more than
natural criminal urges.

III. THEATER AND DRAMA TECHNICAL TERMS

Ad-Lib
• To improvise stage business or conversation, especially when an actor has missed or forgotten
lines and other actors must supply the missing information.

Apron
• The section of the stage in front of the curtain
Backdrop
• A large piece of cloth, on which scenery is painted, that is fastened to battens and hung at the
back of the stage setting.
Backstage
• The area behind the set that is not visible to the audience, including dressing rooms, the
greenroom, etc.
Blocking
• Movement and groupings on the stage
Cyclorama (Cyc)
• A white background curtain on which lights or other effects can be projected.
Gel
• A transparent color medium placed on lighting instruments to produce different colors.
Holding for Laughs
• Waiting for an audience to quiet down after a humorous line or scene.
Improvisation
• The impromptu portrayal of a character or a scene without any rehearsal or preparation
Projection
• The control of the volume and quality of the voice so that it can be heard clearly by everyone in
an audience.
Stealing a Scene
• Attracting attention from the person to whom the center of interest legitimately belongs
Tableau
• A scene presented by silent, unmoving actors
IV. TYPES OF PLOT
a. The Defeat of a Monster – the protagonist defeat a monster or force in order to save some people
– usually everybody. The protagonist usually comes out as a hero or as a king. (Ex. Beowulf, Jack
the Giant Slayer)
b. Rags to Riches – The story can begin as either poor or rich, but at some point, the character will
have or lose everything, then gain it all back at the end of the story. (Ex. The Count of Monte
Cristo, Cinderella)
c. The Quest – the character embarks on a quest involving travel and dangerous adventures in order
to find treasure or solve a huge problem. (Ex. The Iliad, Eragon)
d. The Voyage and Return – The protagonist goes on a journey to an unknown or strange place,
facing adventures and dangers along the way, returning home with experience and understanding
(Ex. Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia)
e. The Comedy – A happy and fun character finds a happy ending after triumphing over difficulties
and adversities. (Ex. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Home Alone)
f. The Tragedy – The protagonist experiences a conflict which leads to very bad ending, usually
death. (Ex. Romeo and Juliet, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
g. The Rebirth – The protagonist is a villain who becomes a good person through the experience of
the story’s conflict. (Ex. The Secret Garden. The Grinch)
V. FAULTY LOGIC
What is Faulty Logic?
 Faulty Logic pertains to imperfect reason.
TYPES OF FAULTY LOGIC

Circular Reasoning
 DEFINITION: The writer (or speaker or ad) supports a claim with restatements of that same
claim. The argument goes around and around with the reason making the same claim as the
original argument.
 EXAMPLE: John is a wonderful writer because he writes so well.
(wonderful writer = writes so well)
  STRATEGY: Look at the end of the sentence. Is it really similar to the beginning? Is it
going around and around?

Overgeneralization
 DEFINITION: The writer reaches conclusions from a limited number of facts. (Look for words
such as all, every, and always.)
 EXAMPLE: “I loved that movie we saw last night with Brad Pitt. I am going to rent all of his
movies, and I am sure I’ll like all of them.”
(watching only 2 movies doesn’t guarantee you of liking all his films) 

Self-contradiction
 DEFINITION: The writer states a position that contradicts an earlier stated premise.
 EXAMPLE: As Mayor, my top priority will be improving education. So my first act of office
will be to cut funding for our public schools.
(improving education ≠ cut funding of public schools)
 STRATEGY: Look at the beginning of the sentence; look at the end. Are they the opposite of
each other?

False Causality
 DEFINITION: This occurs when two events happen at the same time, and an assumption is
made that one event causes the other.
 EXAMPLE: Our house was burglarized right after that new family moved in next door.
(being burglarized because of the new family?) 
 STRATEGY: Try to identify an end result or effect. Ask yourself: Did the reason given really
cause the end result?

Over-simplification
 DEFINITION: This occurs when a single cause is assumed to have created a problem or an
issue. In reality, the problem or issue may have been created by a number of causes.
 EXAMPLE: The cause of the Civil War was slavery.
(slavery is not the only reason)
 STRATEGY: Look for an effect that has MANY possible causes.

Assumption
 DEFINITION: This occurs when the writer may be proven false or may be merely stating an
opinion.
 EXAMPLE: The Superstition Mountains are the most beautiful mountains in Arizona.
(opinionated )
  STRATEGY: Ask yourself: Is this statement true? Often, in an assumption, the statement is
either false or an opinion. Often, the assumption is based on a stereotype.
VI. BIAS AND PREJUDICE
BIAS
 The human tendency to make systematic error in judgment or when making decisions based upon
certain thinking, and thoughts.
Example:
Charmaine knew Timothy for quite some time. When Timothy applied for a job, Charmaine
chose to hire him even he is not qualified for the position.
PREJUDICE
 is pre-judgment based on incomplete information. It is a devaluation of someone who is different
based not on who they are, but on hostile assumptions about who they are.
Example:
While watching the commercial for Jollibee, Nico exclaimed that their new released product is
not good even he has not tasted it.

VII. Verbals & Verbal Phrases

Verbals are verb forms which act as another part of speech in a sentence (i.e. as adjectives,
nouns, and adverbs).

3 TYPES OF VERBALS
GERUND
A verbal ending in –ing and acts as a noun.
To form gerunds, use the base form of the verb +ing. WORK + ING = WORKING
Because it is acting as a noun, it can be anything a noun is:
subject, direct object, indirect object, object of a preposition.
FUNCTIONS OF GERUNDS
SUBJECT
A gerund can be the subject of a sentence and it is always singular. You may determine the subject in a
sentence by asking, “What word is the sentence telling me about?”

Remember: A Note: The subject is usually

subject is something at the beginning of the
that is being subject.
DIRECT OBJECT discussed.
Direct objects follow action verbs and you can determine if a word
is a direct object by asking Whom? Or What?
OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION
Remember: Prepositions are small words that create a relationship between other words in a sentence by
linking phrases to the rest of the sentence.
Gerund that functions as an Object of a Preposition simply involves preposition words.

SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
It is a noun that appears with a linking verb and tells something about
Note: A subject complement will
the subject of the sentence.
almost always be found after linking
verb.

PARTICIPLE
A participle is a verb functioning as an What is an adjective?
adjective. • A word that modifies a noun or pronoun.
Verb forms that are used as adjectives are • Adjectives answer the questions which one?
called participles. and how many?
They will have two forms: – Present (ending
in “-ing”) – Past (ending in “-ed” or “- en”)
These contain action, but they are not used as verbs in the sentence.
Example:
A raging fire destroyed the uninsured building.
o What kind of fire? Raging (present participle)

o What kind of building? Uninsured (past participle)

INFINITVE
An infinitive is a verb form that usually begins with to. It is used NOTE: Do not confuse an infinitive
as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. with a prepositional phrase.
• A infinitive is to plus a verb.
An infinitive phrase is an infinitive plus any modifiers or • A prepositional phrase is to
complements. plus a noun.
Example:
• To exercise regularly is very important.