BAUAN TECHNICAL INTEGRATED HIGH SCHOOL

Senior High School Department

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
 EUROPEAN
LITERATURE
Mr. Windle M. Perez
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the
World
• Europe is a large peninsula
conventionally considered a
continent, it is located entirely in
the Northern Hemisphere and
mostly in the Eastern
Hemisphere. Comprising the
westernmost peninsulas of
Eurasia, it shares the
continental landmass of Afro-
Eurasia with both Africa and
Asia.
• It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean
to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to
the west, the Mediterranean Sea
to the south and Asia to the east.
Europe is commonly considered
to be separated from Asia by the
watershed of the Ural Mountains,
the Ural River, the Caspian Sea,
the Greater Caucasus, the Black
Sea and the waterways of the
Turkish Straits.
• European literature refers to the literature of
Europe.
• It includes literature in many languages; among the
most important of the modern written works are
those in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish,
German, Italian, Modern Greek, Czech and
Russian and works by the Scandinavians and
Irish.
• Important classical and medieval traditions are
those in Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse ,
Medieval French and the Italian Tuscan dialect
of the renaissance.
• In colloquial speech, European Literature often
used as a synonym for Western Literature.
• European literature is a part of world literature.
Renaissance and
Reformation
England
• Prominent forms of literature which shaped and contributed
to this era of Reformation include significantly structured
prose and poetry, including the Spenserian stanza.
• Significant texts from the 16th century early modern
England were primarily religious in context and include:
1.The Great Bible, edited by Myles Coverdale.
2.The first Book of Common Prayer, published on January 15,
1549 after being accepted by the House of Lords.
• During this time, a prominent
Spanish poet arose
named Garcilaso de la Vega. He
utilized literary devices seen in
foreign nations within his work,
and was able to therefore, replace
the stanza forms originally used in
Spain with Italian meters and
stanza forms.
• European poetry during the 17th
Century tended to meditate on
or reference the scriptures and
teachings of the Bible, an
example being Orator George
Herbert’s “The Holy
Scriptures (II)”, in which
Herbert relies heavily on biblical
ligatures to create his sonnets.
• The Jacobean period of 17th Century England gave birth
to a group of Metaphysic literary figures.
• Metaphysical referring to a branch of philosophy which
tries to bring meaning to and explain reality using broader
and larger concepts.
• In order to do this, the use of literary features including
conceits was common, in which the writer makes obscure
comparisons in order to convey a message or persuade a
point.
•The term metaphysics was
coined by poet John Dryden,
and during 1779, its meaning
was extended to represent a
group of poets of the time,
then called “metaphysical
poets”
• Major poets of the time
included John Donne, Andrew
Marvell and George Herbert. These
poets used wit and high intellectual
standards while drawing from nature
to reveal insights about emotion and
rejected the romantic attributes of
the Elizabethan period to birth a
more analytical and introspective
form of writing.
• John Donne was a prominent metaphysical poet of the 17th
century.
• Donne was known for the metaphysical conceits integrated in
his poetry.
• He used themes of religion, death and love to inspire the
conceits he constructed.
• A famous conceit is observed in his well-known poem “The Flea”
in which the flea is utilized to describe the bond between Donne
and his lover, explaining how just as multiple bloods are within
one flea, their bond is inseparable.
• The Enlightenment Era was a
time of progression which spanned
over the 18th Century across
many western countries.
• Literature has been produced to
comment on the different versions
of “Enlightenment” that spawned
across Europe during the 18th
Century.
• Henry Farnham stated in his book,
The Enlightenment in America, that
the “Moderate Enlightenment”
preaches balance, order and
religious compromise.”
• Whereas the “Revolutionary
Enlightenment” attempted to
“construct a new heaven and earth
out of the destruction of the old.”
•Significant texts which shaped this
literary period include Tractatus
Theologico-Politicus, an
anonymously published treatise in
Amsterdam in which the
author, Spinoza, rejected the
Jewish and Christian religions for
their lack of depth in teaching.
• This text is one of many during this
period which attributed to the
increasing ‘anti-religious’ support
during the time of Enlightenment.
• Although the book held great
influence, other writers of the time
rejected Spinoza’s views, including
theologian, Lambert van Valthuysen.
•France was attempting to Improve the
education of young women and therefore have
this be seen as a reflection of the advancement
of society.
•This led to the emergence of a new genre of
literature in 18th Century France of books of
conduct for girls and unmarried women.
• Pieces by authors including
Marie-Antoinette
Lenoir, Louise
d’Epinay and Anne-Therese de
Lambert all shared the same
role of shaping young French
women to lead successful and
progressive lives.
•However, this form of
education for women
during the 18th century
has been observed to
be more oppressive
than empowering.
•The War of Spanish
Succession (1701-1714) led to the
French control over Spain. This
influenced their cultural identity,
and therefore, the Enlightenment
Period held an impact on Spanish
literature in the 18th Century.
• New takes on literature began to
emerge during this time, led by poets
including Ignacio de Luzan
Claramunt and Gaspar Melchor de
Jovellanos who contributed greatly
to the neoclassical movement of the
18th Century through drama and
poetic forms of literature.
•The Spanish Enlightenment held
impact on women in Spain, with
more women publishing literature,
becoming members as well as
subscribers to publications
including the ‘Semonario de
Salamanca’ and the ‘Diaro de
Madrid’.
•Numerous women who
contributed to the Spanish
Enlightenment period include
poet Margarita Hickey y
Pelizzoni, author Fradquita
Larrea y Aheran and
poet Maria Gertudis Hore.
•During the 18th Century, Russia
was experiencing expansions in
military and geographical
control, a key facet of the
Enlightenment period. This is
reflected in the literature of the
time period.
•Satire and the panegyric had
influenced the development of
Russian literature as seen in the
Russian literary figures of the
time including Feofan
Prokopovich, Kantemir,
Derzhavin and Karamzin.
• Spanish literature of the 18th century, apart from
being influenced by the Enlightenment Period, was
influenced by the literary concept of the ‘sublime’.
The ‘sublime’ was the linkage between Spanish
Neoclassical Poetry and Romantic poetry
prevalent during the 18th century and was a
concept of
literary, rhetorical and philosophical value.
•Longinus described the literary devices that
the sublime creates as those that allowed the
reader to experience something similar to the
speaker. He had created a style of language
that was not used to persuade, but merely to
transport the reader into the mind of the
speaker.
•The Romantic Era for
literature was at its
pinnacle during the 19th
century and was a period
which influenced western
literature.
• Italian writers of the 19th century,
including the likes
of Leopardi and Alessandro
Manzoni detested being grouped
into a ‘category’ of writing.
Therefore, Italy was home to many
isolated literary figures, with no
unambiguous meaning for the term
“Romanticism” itself.
•The poetry of the Romantic Era of Italy was
focused greatly on the motif of nature.
Romantic poets drew inspiration from ancient
Greek and Latin poetry and mythology, while
poets of this time period also sought to create a
sense of unity within the country with their
writings.
•Political disunity was prevalent in 19th
century Italy, reflected in
the Risorgimento. After the Neapolitan
Revolution of 1799, the term
“Risorgimento” was used in the context
of a movement of ‘national redemption’
as stated by Antonio Gramsci.
• The desire for freedom and the sense
of ‘national redemption’ is reflected
heavily in the works of Italian
romantics including Uno Foscolo who
wrote the story “The Last Letters of
Jacopo Ortis”, in which a man was
forced to commit suicide due to the
political persecutions of his country.
•Historical events including the European
revolution, within which the French
revolution is claimed to be most significant,
contributed to the development of 19th
Century British Romanticism. These
revolutions birthed a new genre of authors and
poets who used their literature to convey their
distaste for authority.
• This is seen in the works of poet and
artist William Blake, who used
primarily philosophical and biblical
themes in his poetry, and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge and William
Wordsworth, also known as the 'Lake
Poets', whose literature including
the Lyrical Ballads is claimed to have
"marked the beginning of the
Romantic Movement."
•Greek and Roman
mythology was
prevalent in the works of
Romantic poets including
the British poets Keats,
Byron and Shelley.
• British 19th century romanticism
developed literature which focused
on the ‘self-organisation of living
beings, their growth and
adaption into their environments
and the creative spark that
inspired the physical system to
perform complex functions.’
•Michelangelo’s artworks,
which ‘embodied the
sublime’, were reflected in the
literature
of Dante and Shakespeare,
with constant analogies being
made at the time comparing
the two.
• Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE–43
BCE) was the greatest Roman orator.
The first part of the Golden Age of Latin
Literature (70 BC–AD 18) is named
after him, the Ciceronian period (70–43
BC). Using Latin as a literary medium,
he was able to express abstract and
complicated thoughts clearly in his
speeches. One of his well-known
speeches is Pro Cluentio.
•Virgil (70 BCE–19 BCE),
the greatest Roman poet,
was known for Aeneid, an
epic poem. He wrote it
during the Augustan Age
(43 BC–AD 18), the second
part of the Golden Age.
•Homer is known for
the The Iliad and the The
Odyssey. These epics are
about the heroic
achievements of Achilles
and Odysseus,
respectively.
•Sophocles (496 BC–406
BC) was a tragic
playwright. He was known
for Oedipus the King,
which marks the highest
level of achievement of
Greek drama.
•Francesco Petrarca,
or Petrarch (1304–1374)
perfected the Italian sonnet, a
major influence on European
poetry. Written in the
vernacular, his sonnets were
published in the Canzoniere.
•Giovanni
Boccaccio (1313–1375) is
known for Decameron, a
classic Italian masterpiece.
The stories were written in
the vernacular.
• Two well-known Spanish writers of Siglo
De Oro (1500–1681) are Miguel de
Cervantes (1547–1616) and Lope de
Vega (1562–1635).
• Miguel de Cervantes was known for his
novel Don Quixote, one of the most
widely read works of Western Literature.
Its titular character’s name is the origin of
the word “quixotic,” meaning hopeful or
romantic in a way that is not practical.
•Lope de Vega, an outstanding
dramatist, wrote as many as
1800 plays during his lifetime,
including cloak and sword
drama, which are plays of upper
middle class manners and
intrigue.
•Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880),
a novelist, was a major influence
on the realist school. His
masterpiece, Madame
Bovary (1857), marked the
beginning of a new age of
realism.
•Guy de Maupassant (1850–
1893) is considered as the
greatest French short story
writer. A Naturalist, he wrote
objective stories which
present a real “slice of life.”
•Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) is
known for his novels War and
Peace (1865–1869) and Anna
Karenina (1875–1877). A
master of realistic fiction, he is
considered as one of the
world’s greatest novelists.
•Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)
is a master of the modern short
story and a Russian
playwright. His works such as,
"The Bet" and "The
Misfortune" reveal his clinical
approach to ordinary life.
BAUAN TECHNICAL INTEGRATED HIGH SCHOOL
Senior High School Department
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World