Representative texts and authors from Europe Literature of the Ancient Greece:

Oedipus the King

Sophocles
– “Oedipus the King” is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, first
performed in about 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles‘ three Theban plays to be
produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology (followed by “Oedipus at Colonus” and
then “Antigone”). It follows the story of King Oedipus of Thebes as he discovers that he has
unwittingly killed his own father, Laius, and married his own mother, Jocasta. Over the
centuries, it has been regarded by many as the Greek tragedy par excellence and certainly as the
summit of Sophocles’ achievements. Shortly after Oedipus’ birth, his father, King Laius of
Thebes, learned from an oracle that he, Laius, was doomed to perish by the hand of his own
son, and so ordered his wife Jocasta to kill the infant. However, neither she nor her servant
could bring themselves to kill him and he was abandoned to elements. There he was
found and brought up by a shepherd, before being taken in and raised in the court of the
childless King Polybus of Corinth as if he were his own son. Stung by rumors that he was not the
biological son of the king, Oedipus consulted an oracle which foretold that he would marry his
own mother and kill his own father. Desperate to avoid this foretold fate, and believing Polybus
and Merope to be his true parents, Oedipus left Corinth. On the road to Thebes, he met Laius, his
real father, and, unaware of each other’s true identities, they quarreled and Oedipus‘ pride led
him to murder Laius, fulfilling part of the oracle’s prophecy. Later, he solved the riddle of the
Sphinx and his reward for freeing the kingdom of Thebes from the Sphinx’s curse was the hand
of Queen Jocasta (actually his biological mother) and the crown of the city of Thebes. The
prophecy was thus fulfilled, although none of the main characters were aware of it at this point.
A priest and the Chorus of Theban elders are calling on King Oedipus to aid them with the
plague which has been sent by Apollo to ravage the city. Oedipus has already sent Creon, his
brother-in-law, to consult the oracle at Delphi on the matter, and when Creon returns at that very
moment, he reports that the plague will only end when the murderer of their former king,
Laius, is caught and brought to justice. Oedipus vows to find the murderer and curses him
for the plague that he has caused. Oedipus also summons the blind prophet Tiresias, who
claims to know the answers to Oedipus‘ questions, but refuses to speak, lamenting his ability to
see the truth when the truth brings nothing but pain. He advises Oedipus to abandon his search
but, when the enraged Oedipus accuses Tiresias of complicity in the murder, Tiresias is
provoked into telling the king the truth, that he himself is the murderer. Oedipus dismisses
this as nonsense, accusing the prophet of being corrupted by the ambitious Creon in an
attempt to undermine him, and Tiresias leaves, putting forth one last riddle: that the murderer
of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own
wife. Oedipus demands that Creon be executed, convinced that he is conspiring against him,
and only the intervention of the Chorus persuades him to let Creon live. Oedipus‘ wife
Jocasta tells him he should take no notice of prophets and oracles anyway because, many years
ago, she and Laius received an oracle which never came true. This prophecy said that Laius
would be killed by his own son but, as everyone knows, Laius was actually killed by bandits at a
crossroads on the way to Delphi. The mention of crossroads causes Oedipus to give pause and he
suddenly becomes worried that Tiresias‘ accusations may actually have been true. When a
messenger from Corinth arrives with news of the death of King Polybus, Oedipus shocks
everyone with his apparent happiness at the news, as he sees this as proof that he can never kill
his father, although he still fears that he may somehow commit incest with his mother. The
messenger, eager to ease Oedipus‘ mind, tells him not to worry because Queen Merope of
Corinth was not in fact his real mother anyway. The messenger turns out to be the very
shepherd who had looked after an abandoned child, which he later took to Corinth and gave
up to King Polybus for adoption. He is also the very same shepherd who witnessed the murder
of Laius. By now, Jocasta is beginning to realize the truth, and desperately begs Oedipus to stop
asking questions. But Oedipus presses the shepherd, threatening him with torture or execution,
until it finally emerges that the child he gave away was Laius’ own son, and that Jocasta had
given the baby to the shepherd to secretly be exposed upon the mountainside, in fear of the
prophecy that Jocasta said had never come true: that the child would kill its father.
With all now finally revealed, Oedipus curses himself and his tragic destiny and stumbles off, as
the Chorus laments how even a great man can be felled by fate. A servant enters and explains
that Jocasta, when she had begun to suspect the truth, had ran to the palace bedroom and
hanged herself there. Oedipus enters, deliriously calling for a sword so that he might kill
himself and raging through the house until he comes upon Jocasta‘s body. In final despair,
Oedipus takes two long gold pins from her dress, and plunges them into his own eyes. Now
blind, Oedipus begs to be exiled as soon as possible, and asks Creon to look after his two
daughters, Antigone and Ismene, lamenting that they should have been born into such a cursed
family. Creon counsels that Oedipus should be kept in the palace until oracles can be consulted
regarding what is best to be done.

England- Age of Restoration (1660–1700

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674)

was an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England
under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and
political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse, and
widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.

REPRESENTATIVE TEXT

Paradise Lost

John Milton Paradise Lost has two narrative arcs, one about Satan (Lucifer) and the other following
Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell,
also called in the poem, Tartarus. In Pandæmonium, the capital city of Hell, Satan employs his rhetorical
skill to organize his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also
present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to corrupt the newly created Earth and God's new
and most favoured creation, Mankind. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner
reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traversal of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters
God's new material World, and later the Garden of Eden. At several points, an Angelic War over
Heaven is recounted from different perspectives. Satan's rebellion follows the epic convention of
large-scale warfare. The battles between the faithful angels and Satan's forces take place over three
days. At the final battle, the Son of God single-handedly defeats the entire legion of angelic rebels and
banishes them from Heaven. Following this purge, God creates the World, culminating in his creation of
Adam and Eve. While God gave Adam and Eve total freedom and power to rule over all creation, he gave
them one explicit command: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on penalty of
death. Adam and Eve are having a romantic and sexual relationship while still being without sin. They
have passions and distinct personalities. Satan, disguised in the form of a serpent, successfully tempts
Eve to eat from the Tree by preying on her vanity and tricking her with rhetoric. Adam, learning that
Eve has sinned, knowingly commits the same sin. He declares to Eve that since she was made from his
flesh, they are bound to one another- – if she dies, he must also die. Adam was seen as a heroic figure,
but also as a greater sinner than Eve, as he is aware that what he is doing is wrong. Soon as they fall
asleep, both have terrible nightmares, and after they awake, they experience guilt and shame for the
first time. Realizing that they have committed a terrible act against God, they engage in mutual
recrimination. Meanwhile, Satan returns triumphantly to Hell, amid the praise of his fellow fallen angels.
He tells them about how their scheme worked and Mankind has fallen, giving them complete dominion
over Paradise. As he finishes his speech, however, the fallen angels around him become hideous
snakes, and soon enough, Satan himself turns into a snake, deprived of limbs and unable to talk. Thus,
they share the same punishment, as they shared the same guilt.

Eve appeals to Adam for reconciliation of their actions. Her encouragement enables them to approach
God, and sue for grace, bowing on supplicant knee, to receive forgiveness. In a vision shown to
him by the Archangel Michael, Adam witnesses everything that will happen to Mankind until the Great
Flood. Adam is very upset by this vision of the future, so Michael also tells him about Mankind's
potential redemption from original sin through Jesus Christ (whom Michael calls "King Messiah").

Adam and Eve are cast out of Eden, and Michael says that Adam may find "a paradise within thee,
happier far." Adam and Eve also now have a more distant relationship with God, who is
omnipresent but invisible (unlike the tangible Father in the Garden of Eden)

17th Century Russian Literature Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (August 1828 – November 1910),

usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest
authors of all time, He received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from
1902 to 1906 and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910. Born to an aristocratic
Russian family in 1828, he is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877),
often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction.

REPRESENTATIVE TEXT

Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy tracks the life of aristocrat Anna Karenina and her tryst with Count Vronsky. The
novel is staged in the late nineteenth century at the height of major political and social changes in
Russia. Anna Karenina includes dozens of characters that portray a realistic account of Russian
society during this period. Dolly, Kitty's sister, discovered her husband Stiva having an affair.
Anna Karenina consoles Dolly and convinces her to stay with her husband. Meanwhile, Kitty is
proposed to by Konstantin Levin. She turns him down because she is in love with Count
Vronsky. Count Vronsky shows no interest in Kitty. Upon meeting Anna, he falls in love with
and courts her even though she is already married. At a ball, Anna and Vronsky give each other
so much attention that Kitty realizes she will never be with him. Anna returns to St. Petersburg
followed by Count Vronsky, while Konstantin returns to his estate in the countryside
heartbroken. Torn apart by Vronsky's affection for Anna, Kitty becomes ill and goes to a healing
center. Kitty comes back to St. Petersburg feeling better and more prepared to be a wife. Anna
and Count Vronsky consummate their relationship. She struggles with her roles as wife and
mistress. Anna becomes pregnant with Count Vronsky's child and tells her husband, Karenin, of
the affair. Konstantin Levin focuses on his farm and tries to find meaning in life without Kitty.
He watches as his brother falls deathly ill from tuberculosis. Despite Anna being pregnant with
his child, Count Vronsky refuses to commit himself to her. He struggles to choose between his
love for Anna and his career goals. Anna rejects the option to stay with her husband; however,
she doesn't know what to do since she cannot depend on Vronsky for support. Levin and Kitty
become engaged. Although Anna refused him, Karenin does his best to appear happy with his
marriage in public. However, after becoming angry with the circumstances, he hires a divorce
lawyer. Anna becomes ill with puerperal fever and is on her deathbed when Karenin forgives her
for the affair and says that she can be with Vronsky. Although Karenin was willing to give her
one, Anna refuses divorce because she is afraid that she will lose her
Son.
Humiliated by his past actions and unwillingness to support Anna, Vronsky unsuccessfully
attempts suicide. Anna and Vronsky travel together after she is better. Kitty and Levin are
married and struggle with the reality of married life. Kitty becomes pregnant. Anna and Vronsky
return from Italy. After seeing her son again, Anna realizes how alone she feels. She becomes
desperate to legitimize her relationship with Vronsky. Although Vronsky advises against it, Anna
attends the opera, where she is treated insultingly. Vronsky is angry that she didn't listen to him,
while Anna is furious with him for not understanding her social position. The two move to the
countryside, but the relationship begins to deteriorate. Dolly visits Anna. She realizes that Anna's
life is cold compared to her life. Anna confesses that Vronsky's interest is waning. At the same
time, Count Vronsky feels suffocated by Anna's intense love, which becomes apparent when
Anna requests he return home during a political convention. Upon realizing the relationship with
Vronsky will not endure, Anna commits suicide. Count Vronsky enlists in the Russian military.
Meanwhile, a peaceful Levin learns that the meaning of life is about living for the good of
humanity.

Representative Texts and Authors from other European Countries

Country
Author
Text
England
Lord Alfred Tennyson
Charge the Light Brigade
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter
John Bunyan
Pilgrim’s Progress
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Geoffrey Chaucer
Book of the Duchess
France
Alexander Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo
Ezza Agha Malak
Qu'as-tu fait de tes mômes,
Papa ?
Victor Marie Hugo
Les Misérables
Michael Praust
In Search of Lost Time
Voltaire
The Maids of Orleans
Guy de Maupassant
Bel – Ami
Greece
Homer
Iliad and Odyssey
Sophocles
Electra
Odysseas Alepoudellis
The Elegies of Oxopetra
Aeschylus
Oresteia
Rome
Publius Vergilius Maro
( Virgil)
Aenied
Dante Alighieri (Dante)
Divine Comedy
Ovid
Metamorphosis
COUNTRY AUTHOR TEXT
Lord Alfred Tennyson Charge the Light
ENGLAND Brigade
J.K. Rowling Harry Potter
John Bunyan Pilgrim’s Progress
William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
Geoffrey Chaucer Book of the Duchess
Alexander Dumas The Count of Monte
Cristo
FRANCE
Ezza Agha Malak Qu'as-tu fait de tes
mômes, Papa ?
Victor Marie Hugo Les Miserables
Michael Praust In Search of Lost Time
Voltaire The Maids of Orleans
Guy de Maupassant Bel-Ami
Homer Iliad and Odyssey
GREECE Sophocles Electra
Odysseas Alepoudellis The Elegies of Oxopetra
Aeschylus Oresteia
ROME Publius Vergilius Maro Aenied
( Virgil
Dante Alighieri (Dante Divine Comedy
Ovid Metamorphosis
 Andrea Bajani Ogni Promessa (2010)
Alessandro Baricco Senza sangue,; Without
Blood , 2002
Count Lev Nikolayevich The Death of Ivan
RUSSIA Tolstoy (Leo Tolstoy) Ilyich
Vladimir Vladimirovich The War and the World
Mayakovsky (1917)
SWEDEN Vaino Linna The Uknown soldier,
1954
Eyvind Johnson The Days of his Grace,
1960

Literary Genre
The three genres of literature are: PROSE, POETRY and DRAMA and all of
them have a unique way of writing them.
PROSE
is the most regular, easiest and simplest form of writing; you basically need no
skill in writing this. It is however written in chapters and verses that is how you
recognise them. They are also a continuous form of writing, which basically the
aim of a prose is to narrate a story. Prose can be of any form, but first it comes in
two types, which is the fictitious and non -fictitious, fictitious prose tends to be
more interesting, because it is the creativity of a writer that makes people want to
read a myth instead of the true story.
DRAMA
on the hand is basically a style of writing that portrays the actions of men, and this
genre of literature comes in dialogue and is written in scenes because it should
originally been acted on a stage, before being written down.

POETRY
is the most difficult genre. Many people write prose and call it poetry, however
without the add-ons of figures of speeches and literary devices, a work can never
be considered a poem. Poetry consists the more formal metrical structure of verse.
Poetry often involves a metrical or rhyming scheme.

What Is Structure in A Poem?

The structure of a poem refers to the way it is presented to the reader. This could
include technical things such as the line length and stanza format. Or it could
include the flow of the words used and ideas conveyed. 1. Line length shows the
reader how it should be read. Short lines are usually read faster, with more
emotion. Longer lines slow down the pace of a poem. Choosing appropriate line
breaks gives a reader a chance to take a natural breath.

Those who write poetry pay careful attention to elements like sentence length,
word placement and even how lines are grouped together.
2. Rhythm or the beat that the poem follows. This will typically be measured in
meters (sets of syllables that are stressed and unstressed) that the reader will sing
along with. Consider the rhythmic effect of music and the words. What emotions
does the singer display? The notes and the meter may be fast at first, but they may
slow down later on. This rhythm affects the message as a whole.
3. Stanzas, the groups of lines, are like paragraph in prose. They contain a
central idea. Having multiple stanzas gives readers a chance to focus on multiple
ideas. Think about a page with writing. Is it more manageable to read it if all the
words flow together as one paragraph or if they are broken apart into appropriate
paragraphs? The same works with poetry.
4. Consistency Structure also refers to the consistency used throughout the
poem. An author might start each line with a certain part of speech, or a repeated
line or phrase is used at the same spot in each stanza. When a poem has a strong
sense of structure, it flows from beginning to end, and the ideas are easily
conveyed.
Here is an example of rhyme in poetry.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth (an excerpt)
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Structure of Poetry and Its Elements

The Line: A line in a poem is not the same as a sentence. Just because the words
are placed in a single line, does not mean that the thought is complete. As you
read through a poem, and you come to the end of a line where there is no
punctuation after the last word, there is no need to pause – navigate to the start of
the next line and continue reading. For example, in the poem
Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
 And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea,

SUMMARY OF LITERARY TEXT ELEMENT

AUTHOR/ REPRESENTATIV GENRE/STRUCTURE/
LITERARY PERIOD E TEXT ELEMENTS
Genre: prose poetry/, written in
chapters Family Drama, Romance,
Tragedy, Literary Fiction
Elements:
Theme:
 Social Change in Nineteenth-
Count Lev Century Russia
Nikolayevich/ 17th Anna Karenina  The Philosophical Value of
Century Russian Farming
Literature  The Blessings of Family Life
 Adultery
 Forgiveness
 Death
Setting:
 Late 19th Century Moscow,
Petersburg, The Russian
Countryside
 a time of insane amounts of
intellectual fervor and debate about
what direction Russia should take
in becoming a modern nation.
Characters/characterization:
 Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
 A beautiful, aristocratic married
woman from St. Petersburg whose
pursuit of love and emotional
honesty makes her an outcast from
society
 Anna’s adulterous affair
catapults her into social exile,
misery, and finally suicide
 Alexandrovich Karenina
Anna’s husband
 high-ranking government
minister and one of the most
important men in St. Petersburg
 is formal and duty-bound
 is cowed by social convention
and constantly presents a flawless
façade of a cultivated and capable
man Alexei
 Kirillovich Vronsky
 A wealthy and dashing military
officer whose love for Anna
prompts her to desert her husband
and son.
 Vronsky is passionate and
caring toward Anna
 Was clearly disappointed when
their affair forces him to give up
his dreams of career advancement
 Konstantin Dmitrich Levin
 A socially awkward but
generous-hearted landowner
 the co-protagonist of the novel
Levin’s long courtship of Kitty
Shcherbatskaya ultimately ends in a
happy marriage  is intellectual
and philosophical  applies his
thinking to practical matters such
as agriculture  aims to be sincere
and productive in whatever he does
 Ekaterina Alexandrovna
Shcherbatskaya (Kitty)
 A beautiful young woman who
is courted by both Levin and
Vronsky, and who ultimately
marries Levin
 Modeled on Tolstoy’s real-life
wife
 Kitty is sensitive and perhaps a
bit overprotected, shocked by some
of the crude realities of life
 displays great courage and
compassion in the face of death
when caring for Levin’s dying
brother Nikolai.
Plot:
 Initial Situation
 Anna's life goes downhill,
Levin's goes up, and what makes
Levin happy (i.e., his family) is
exactly what makes Anna
miserable
 Conflict
 Anna meets Vronsky and starts
feeling unsatisfied with her family
life
 Levin attempts both farming and
marriage proposing, and fails at
both.
 Complication
 As Anna's dissatisfaction with
her own marriage mounts, she turns
more and more to Vronsky
 Levin continues on his quest to
resolve his existential angst through
marriage and farming
 Climax
 Anna suffers an irreparable
break with Karenin and ties her fate
forever to Vronsky
 Levin finally gets the girl.
 What is Karenin going to do
about his wayward wife?
 Levin is married, is he finally
satisfied?
 Denouement
 Anna commits suicide
 Levin has an epiphany
 Conclusion
 Anna is dead
 Levin embraces his love for the
family he's been looking for
throughout the novel.