English Literature

Lecture 1
Anglo-Saxon Literature
Plan
1. General characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon literature.
2. Christianity and the spread of written culture.
3. OE poetry.
4. OE prose.
5. OE riddles.
6. The writers of Anglo-Saxon literature.
7. «Beowulf».

1. Literature began when Germanic tribes (450) began to come over from the continent and settle in
England (Angles, Saxons, Jutes).
The society was organized by families → clans → kingdoms.
The king was the best in everything (hero-king), loyalty towards the hero-king.
Thane (servant).
In cultures whose religion unlike Christianity offers that in afterlife a name of a hero will live long.
After the hero’s death – immortality.
A poet or a bard (scop) – valued member of the court.
Anglo-Saxons had songs, fairy tales, legends.
Runic inscriptions; runic alphabet substituted by Roman letters – coexisted well into the 8–12 th centuries.

2. AS came to Britain in 5th century – pagan religion and ancient folk traditions.
7th century – converted into Christianity.
Wrote everything down.
Not to write about the religion abandoned.
The poets tried to rework.
7th century – there appeared manuscripts.
New clergy brought everything with them (Latin language).
Attacked by the Vikings – libraries, schools were destroyed. It lasted until the reign of King Alfred.
10th century.
Genres: epic poetry, hagiography (life of saints), sermons, Bible translations, chronicles, riddles.
Epic: OE pagan poetry (oral), Engl. Christian poetry (language was introduced), OE prose.

3. Poetry was written in alliterative verse.

The themes: hero-king and his servants sitting in the mid-hall talking about war-related issues, eating a
lot, drinking cheerfully and ready to fight, the dominant mood – fatalism.
Epic literature: solemn dignity of tone, elevated style.
Poetry:
- national – Cefrer (uncertainty, misery) – the Battle of Maldon (991) – the battle is described in AS
chronicles composed at the end of 10 th century, lost in the fire in 1731, 325 lines survived about how the
Viking invaders attacked Maldon;
- Christian – the Dream of the Rood – the religious poem – not the biblical event itself but a vision of an
event narrated, the Rood appears as a towering tree, covered in gold, jewels and soaked in blood, it’s first
buried, then honored.

4. The amount of survived OE prose is greater than poetry.

The majority consists of servants.
OE first appears in the 9th century, recorded in the 12th.
The most widely known writer was King Alfred the Great. He translated the prose from Latin to OE.
Venerable Bede «Ecclesiastical History of English People» - father of English history.
Divided into 5 books; covers the period from the time of Julius Caesar (46) up to 741.

5. OE riddles are short, puzzle-like poems in which the reader is invited to object something in
mysterious or playful way. Themes: weaponry war-like matters.
The language: compound words (kennings) – hyphenated, representing a single noun, having
metaphorical function, e.g. whale-road = sea.

6. Writers:
- Caedmon – layman, abbey of North Umbria (kingdom in Britain)
- Venerable Bede – brought the monastery
731 – «Ecclesiastical History of English People» - written in Latin
Prolific writer (40 works)
Method of dating still in use today – starts from the birth of Julius Caesar.
- Cynewulf – the greatest poet of AS period
«The Christ», «Face of the Apostol», «Julian»
- King Alfred the Great – about eighth century
The Danes overran North Umbria (with fire and sword) – everything devastated.
King Alfred built libraries.
Translation from Latin into Anglo-Saxon.
Responsible for the restoration of learning England.
The southern kingdom of Wessex became (9th century) the political and literary center of England.
«Anglo-Saxon Chronicles» started by Alfred.
«The first history of English Britons»
Continued to 250 years after his death.

7. «Beowulf» - the longest surviving poem in OE that has come down in the only manuscript.
West-Saxon dialect (10th century).
Author is not known; the title given in 1805; printed only in 1815.
Unique manuscript survived the fire in 1731.
Some parts were spoilt → reconstructed.
Arrangement of the text in verse n the work of modern writers.
Type of literature – epic with features of eulogy (praising dead person).
Epics generally blend history, legend, myth.
- cultural centrality – it must speak across generations;
- themes: love, death, god;
- epics tend to be large and long (shortest 3000 lines, longest 30000+ lines);
- written in verse;
POV is the 3rd person from the Christian prospective. The unknown author could have been a bard of
Christian poet (monk) whose purpose is highly moral. The AS poet looks back from his Christian times
with different customs and beliefs. Traditions are combined.
- glory of the main character Beowulf
Life-death, evil-good, war-peace, society-individual.
The course of life can’t be predicted; submission to the fate.
Beowulf is an epic tale expressing Christian moral.
Transformation has added a new barrier to the plot, erased the pagan plot completely.
Original epic was pagan – dealt with the concept of higher being.
Structure: 3 major theories
1) bipartite – a poem is divided into two parts;
first – Beowulf as a young man; second – Beowulf as an old man
2) tripartite – a poem is divided into three parts;
first – Beowulf’s fight with the Grendel; second – fight with Grendel’s mother; third – fight with dragon.
3) interlace theory blends these 2 theories:
bipartite – chronological; tripartite – narration.
Literary devices:
Foreshadowing is used to undercut the themes of happiness and success, serves to remind that death
awaits us all.
Flashback is used to contrast events and people with other famous.
Digression.
Earliest figurative language.
Alliteration is a typical line consisting of 2 half-lines divided by a pause with forestressed syllables and
undetermined number of unstressed. 3rd – with the 1st, 2nd but NOT the 4th (alliterative verse).
Apart from alliteration there are compounds.
Kennings, e.g. widow-maker = gun, devil’s-helper – sinner.
Formulas – readymade phrases that fulfil metrical need of lines and half-lines.
Beowulf makes use of stock phrases.
Variation – the restatement of a concept of a term using different words.
Exaggeration.
Inversion.
The abundance of epithets.
 English Literature
Lecture 2
Medieval English Literature
Plan
1. Peculiarities of the development of the English literature in the IX-XIII centuries (new genres, subjects,
trialinguism)
2. The idea of knighthood.
3. Forms of literature.
3.1. Medieval romances.
3.2. Medieval lyrics.
3.3. Medieval drama.
3.4. Medieval ballads.

1. 1066 – warriors from Normandy came to the England’s shore.

The ruler of Normandy, Duke William, claimed to be the heir of the throne but the throne belonged to
Harold of Wessex. William led his army to England, defeated Anglo-Saxons, killed King Harold.
This event is called “Norman Conquest” – it changed the course of history, literature and language.
The Normans brought feudalism, French language. Their culture blended into the English culture.
King → Lords (fiefs) → Slaves (serfs) farmed the lands of the lords
The feudalism’s hierarchy.
Chivalry – a knight promised to be loyal to his lord, to protect the weak, to honor a woman, to defend the
Christian faith (the central plot).
William – the head of England and France. His people replaced Anglo-Saxons. London – capital city.
4 main changes:
1) England was saved from isolation (connection of the continent with England)
2) hostility between Anglo-Saxons and Normans made England for the 1 st time truly national
3) new ideas (knighthood) and new subject (courtly love) were brought by the Normans.
- New hero appeared (warrior).
- Began to sing about love.
- Romantic notion of fidelity.
- Feminine imagery of lady’s love (rose-symbol).
- Courtly love – unfulfilled desire for a female love object (she was married), sufferings, pain + pleasure
- Only by upper classes (aristocracy)
- Knight loves peasant woman and takes her by force
4) languages: French, Latin, Anglo-Saxon
A lot of English words were lost.
Poetry written in French, church and scholarship – in Latin, common people spoke Anglo-Saxon.
English as a literary language disappeared for 150 years.
Beginning of 14th century → Middle English.
Crusade – between 1095 and 1270 the church sponsored expeditions to the Middle East – to win land.
The crusade failed but indirectly contributed to the weakening of the power of the King and the barons.
The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
- France was victorious , England lost its territories on continental Europe
- new national identity
- English language was spoken by aristocracy
- in the Middle of War – an epidemic of plague
- “Black death” contributed to the rise of towns and cities
2. Every commoner could be knighted. Knighthood had to be earned.
Presented to a man by the King for extreme courage and proficiency with weapon.
Knights had to be baptized Christians with unquestioned belief in the principle of the Church.
Usually the 2nd son was knighted. Young men started training when they were 5-8 years old.
They were taught poetry, art, courtly manners.
When the young man turned 16 or 20, he would be knighted.
Dressed in white (white color symbolized purity).
He took his vows, was given his spurs, was given his sword.
The knights functioned as the King’s police, bound to protect the church.
If the knight disobeyed, he would be humiliated or executed.
Between 1170 and 1174 there appeared the art of courtly love. It embodied the idea of the loved of the
lady as the source of the knight’s strength.
Chivalry declined in the 12th century:
- the need for knights lessened (very expensive);
- plague;
- the change in warfare (gunpowder was introduced, professional armies assembled).

3. Forms of literature.
3.1. Medieval romances.
Historical elements were sometimes lost; made to entertain the public.
Epic poetry was popular (because of wars), heroes were realistic.
Their exploits treated realistically (with simplicity and naturalism).
Stories were life-like. Works based on French versions in order to entertain upper classes.
In a feudal society people’s lives were confined to castles → didn’t capture much interest.
Authors added novelty to the existent stories:
+ mystery
+ sensationalism
+ exaggeration
+ superstition
+ idealized behavior
+ focus on a hero who sought deadly adventure
+ chivalries’ behavior, Christian morals were a strong force within romances.
Romance plots always have a quest – a hero had to accomplish some tasks after which he establishes
himself as a knight.

Epic Romance
Stress strength, loyalty to one’s lord courtly manners
Focus war, on the fate of nation love, fate of individual hero
Plot simple, natural, straight-forward episodic, rambling (long and confused)
Hero static dynamic
Character through actions and dialogue through interior monologue

The earliest of romances – “King Horn” 1225.

2 themes: love and adventure.
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (in alliterative verse).
Beheading → temptation → exchange.

3.2. Lyrics fall into:

- religious (death, Christ passion, divine love, terrors of Hell, enjoys of Heaven)
- non-religious (spring and love)
Alliteration became looser.
Birds (lurks, nightingales).
After the Norman Conquest lyric poets absorbed from the continental chanson – topics and motifs.
National entrance regreeting (reappearance of spring after winter), openings of dream visions (“The
Canterbury Tales”)
4 features of dream vision:
1) framing prologue which consists of an account of events leading to dreamers having a dream provoked
by surrounding, setting or by the content
2) the main plot of the poem consists of account of events which took place in the dream
3) many dream visions include the appearance of a male or female authority figure who informs the
dreamer about some aspects of his life and teaches him some spiritual truth
4) framing epilogue – dreamer is awakening and trying to interpret the events.

3.3. Drama:
During the Middle Ages learning was confined to clergy; king and his nobles are unable to read services
conducted in Latin → unintelligible.
5th century: tableaux (living pictures) – to elucidate the stories, to clarify the service.
By the 10th century dialogue was chanted, accompanied by gestures and actions.
Drama had its beginning from religion (liturgical place).
By the 12th century liturgical drama grew in length and complexity.
Mystery (biblical place) – lyrical (lives of saints).
Secularization.
Drama – from the hands of the clerics – to the laymen
Instead of Latin – vernacular language.
Morality – focus on the psyche, life of an individual.
Physical world – individual soul.
Purpose: didactic and gravely serious but theatrical.

3.4. Ballads:
Folk songs transmitted orally among the common people written in Anglo-Saxon.
Simple, direct, focus on plot presenting only 1 single action beginning at a crucial point and moves the
plot to the disaster.
Action was presented dramatically and impersonally.
Stock epithets, parallelism, repetition, formulas.
Themes:
- desire for revenge;
- tragedy, sudden disasters;
- heroic deeds motivated by the quest of honor;
- jealous sweethearts and unrequired love.
Characteristic features:
1) dramatization
- the story begins abruptly
- little attention paid to the background
2) little reflection or expression
- focus on talent rather than on what people might have felt
3) dialogue of questions-answers advanced the story
4) strong simple beat, uncomplicated rhyme scheme
5) use of refrain
6) the tendency to suggest rather indirectly state
7) the stories were often based on actual events.

English Literature
 Lecture 3
The writers of Medieval English Literature
Plan
1. Geoffrey Chaucer – the father of Engl. poetry. 3 periods of his life.
2. «The Canterbury Tales»
2.1. Literary structure, role of prologue.
2.2. Generic complexity.
2.3. Class structure.
2.4. Frame characters.
2.5. Themes.
2.6. Symbols.
3. Chaucer and religion.
4. The function of allegory in Medieval Literature.

1. Chaucer was born in 1343. Family was prosperous of commercial class.

He attended the best school in London.
He was made a page [паж] → servant to Prince Lionel (3rd son of King Edward III).
He received a workplace and privileges from aristocracy.
He was a courtier, a politician and an official.
3 periods of his life:
1) French influence
He turned to French models, translated a lot. Dream vision – «The book of the Duchess» (1369)
2) Italian influence
Visited Italy (diplomatic business).
Was influenced by Dante and Boccaccio.
- «The House of Fame»
- «The Legend of Good Women»
- «Troilus and Criseyde» (love; agony of love; separation with the beloved person)
3) English influence (last 15 years)
Works independently.
«the period of his maturity»
Wrote «The Canterbury Tales» describing all the levels of society.
Time of tremendous change.
There were three classes (=estates): aristocracy, clergy and peasantry.
The merchants (new group of people) rise as the consequence of European contact during the crusades.
During the Middle Ages large groups of craftsmen and merchants form guilds – people of similar
occupation.
New symbol of military power → yeoman → independent small-land owner, farmer (replaced the
knight).

2. Prologue.
«The Canterbury Tales» composed in 1387, 17000 lines.
The framework is pilgrimage to Canterbury (near Chester) .
Biblical stories were performed in Chester, dramatized in church.
Pilgrimage towns were crowded with different people: rich and poor stopped at the same inns.

2.1. Literary structure

Originally planned 120 stories, only 24 completed.
2.2. Generic complexity:
1) romance
2) fabliaux – short frank story with cynical and sharp ending, grotesque
3) Breton lay – the form of Medieval romance literature – is a short tale of love and chivalry
4) saints’ life
5) moral tales
6) sermon
7) exemplum – a short Medieval sermon or anecdote
8) Medieval tragedy
9) fairy tale
10) fables
Written in Middle English (language used by commoners)
Prologue: a party of 28 pilgrims are assembled, they are about to travel to Canterbury.
Chaucer makes a prologue about every traveler.
Travel to the shrines of Thomas Becket.
After supper the host of inn proposes that they shorten the way by telling stories. The teller of the best story
will have the best supper. This offer is accepted.

Features:
1) estate satire – is a type of Medieval literature that pokes fun at the professions and the classes of society in
order to expose their floss (=disadvantages).
Analysis of society in terms of hierarchy, each class is described in order to show how it failed to be ideal,
implying a moral judgement.
2) traditional division of Medieval society – begins at the tops and moves downwards to the social spectrum.
3) the division of society into three orders: those who fight, those who pray, those who labor.

2.3. Class structure.

An absence of aristocracy in his groups of travelers.
Every phase of life except royalty is represented.
His intention is represented by the highest – knight and the lowest – ploughman.
Chaucer → critical of authority figures, wanted to heighten the nature of the common person.

Portraits.
First strata:
1) knight – the warrior, crusadian, the most noble, has excellent morals, well-travelled, honorable, modest
2) squire – the knight’s son – qualities of the typical romance hero; very much concerned
3) yeoman – well-armed, hunter, forester; description – external attributes
4) prioress – very educated, speaks 3 languages, very dainty, well-mannered
5) monk – extremely fat (=wealthy), enjoys hunting
6) friar – supposed to be poor and modest but he is wanton and merry
Second strata:
1) merchant – elegant appearance, businessman
2) clerk – student, pious, bookish, but skinny
3) sergeant of law – lawyer, ability with language
4) franklin – member of landed gentry, loves parties and food
Guildsmen:
1) haberdasher (makes clothes)
2) carpenter
3) dyer
4) weaver
5) cook
6) shipman
7) doctor – he knows the course of every ailment but knows the Bible
8) Wife of Bath – wears red (symbol of prostitution)
Lower class:
1) parson – holy man, idealized figure, pious, shepherd
2) ploughman – parson’s brother, helps people, good Christian
3) miller – very stout, red hair, large nostrils, thief
4) manciple – manages the accounts in the inns of the court
5) reeve – clean-shaven (sign of evil), rides apart from the group
6) summoner – non-pleasant-looking person, drunk, spoke Latin when drunk
7) pardoner – sells indulgencies.

2.4. Frame characters: the narrator and the host.

Chaucer believes in the church, makes a comedy of its abuses, he’s not a man to entertain.
Chaucer language → plenty of euphemisms.

2.5. Themes.
1) courtly love (the description of the squire)
2) the importance of company (=people to share your bread with)
Storytelling unites the pilgrims.
3) the corruption of the church
By the late 14th century Church (England, Ireland, Europe) had become wealthy.
- shrines were expensive to build;
- large amount of gold;
- the side of the church seemed hypocritical;
- the floss of the church;
- religious figures deviate from what was traditionally expected.
4) marriage (the description of the Wife of Bath).

2.6. Symbols
- spring time (fresh beginning)
- clothing (colors)
Great innovation is that attention is drawn to the tellers.
None of the tales can stand alone.
Chaucer’s position among the aristocracy led him to never pronounce
Cross-section of society
Maintains conservative and conventional new points
Never criticizes contemporaries and church doctrine
To show the floss he uses: allusions, satire, irony, allegory.

3. Chaucer and religion.

He was a good believer, pious.
Very far in satire of clerical ridicules abuses – had no rebellious mind.
Didn’t want to propose a new plan for ideal society.
Irony – literary technique that involves amusing, contradiction.
The pardoner talks about social problems, speaks about drunkenness while being drunk.

4. Allegory (from Lat. allegoria) – used to speak otherwise that other speakers do.
Extended metaphor.
The writers’ main interest – to absurd meaning.
Personification of certain abstractions.

H/t: to prepare a report about writers of Med. Engl. lit. (John Gower, John Wycliffe, William Langland)
 English Literature
Lecture 4
The literature of the 15th century
Plan
1. Peculiarities of the development of the English literature in the XV century.
2. William Caxton – the first printer.
3. Folk poetry and poets.
4. Fairy tales, tales.
5. Ballads.
6. Legends.

1. End of Medieval English Literature.

Wealthy literature (14th century) → poverty (15th century).
No one of Chaucer’s followers combined bourgeois and courtly love.
1453 – The end of the Hundred Years’ War
1455 – The War of Roses began
Feudal war between descendants of Edward III.
Red Rose – the party of Lancaster (Henry IV), White Rose – the party of York.
The feud turned into struggle, killing every possible heir to the throne.
No poetry and no prose were written at that time.
1476 – William Caxton set up first printing press.
The knowledge began to spread.

2. William Caxton
100 books translated from French, Latin.
Printed Chaucer’s poetry and English prose of Thomas Malory.
Aim – to raise the style of English literature and language.
He was deeply involved in the texts – therefore added prologues and epilogues.
Contributed to the development of new formation of 15th century prose.

3. Folklore – written literature of a nation expressed in fairy tales, poetry, songs, prose.
Poets:
John Lydgate
Thomas Hoccleve
Robert Henryson
William Dunbar
Until the 15th-16th century songs were preserved in oral.
There were several versions of the same songs.
A lot of allusions to the historical events earlier than 15th century.
Representatives of the whole Medieval Literature.
Poetry: repetitions, interjections, rephrase.
The verse was accommodated to the dance.
The refrains with the sentences in Latin and English.

4. Tales: fairy tales, domestic tales, tales about animals

Fairy tales:
1) struggle of evil and good
2) number of obstacles before finding the fortune
3) a lot of repetitions
4) special fairy time
5) indefinite place
6) fixed epithets (e.g. dark wood, glass castles)
Folklore creatures:
- black dog – spectral being, nocturnal ghost, its appearance was regarded as a premonition of death;
larger than a physical dog; associated with storms, places of executions;
- brownie – are said to inhabit houses;
- dwarf – short humanized creature in fairy tales; excellent warrior, defenders of strong policy; myths →
the ability to forge magical items;
- elf – creature of Germanic mythology (still survives in European culture), a race of minor nature and
fertility gods; possess magical power;
- ogre/ogress – large and hideous; depicted in fairy tales as feeding on the human beings; appeared in
many classic works of literature; depicted with large head, beard, huge belly, strong body;
- puck (=ghost) – favorite character in Shakespearean and medieval literature;
- robins – associated with both good and bad, life and death; a robin stepping on somebody’s meadow or
entering the house will bring death;
- hob – hairy and rough creatures, bring prosperity; first appeared in the 15 th century;
- dragon.

5. Ballads.
15th century – every short song was considered a ballad.
End of 17th century – broadside ballad (fierce a text).
By the 19th century ballad has come to refer to the sort of narrative verse we associate with a ballad today.
Ballad – a story told in a song.
Simple plot; simple sentence structure; simple metrical structure; impersonal tone.
Ballads are divided into stanzas (groups of lines forming a unity).
Francis James Child – collector and publisher of English and Scottish ballads (end of 19 th century).
305 groups of songs, every group accompanied by a short essay.
He managed to trace the roots of each ballad.
Characteristics:
1) the traditional ballad – the only form of Medieval vernacular poetry;
2) a ballad tells a story;
3) emphasis on an action, not description;
4) simple metrical and sentence structure;
5) derives from an oral tradition;
6) author is anonymous;
7) impersonal tone of narration.
Method of narration is unique.
Setting time, background, appearance of characters.
Can be indicated by hints.
Characters appear just at the moment when they are needed and suddenly disappear.
Dialogue in ballad is laconic.
Question and answer exchanges between the 2 characters – we find out about what happened.
Narrator is not touched by the story; sings without dramatization ;
A judgement is to be voiced, it comes from within a tale.
Ballads tend to be highly pressed.
Focus on a single action.
A language in ballads is formalized.
Limit stock of epithets, images, descriptive tones.
Stylistic devices – repetition, parallelism – to reinforce the emotional density and to aid to memorize.
Incremental repetitions (when a phrase or a stanza is repeated several times with the minor substitution
until it reaches a climax).
Use of hyperbole and understatement.
A lot of refrains → advanced the stories.
- nonsense refrains (unintelligible syllables);
- irrelevant refrains (sensible but have no connection with the story been told).
Balladic stanza consists of 4 lines: either 4 stresses per line or 4 stresses alternated with 3.
Ballad remained popular in 17-18th century.
Most popular ballads – about Robin Hood.

6. Legends.
13th-15th century – Arthurian legends (about King Arthur). His figure has some historical basis.
He was a chieftain (5-6th century).
First takes form as a romantic hero in the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth «History of Britannia» (12 th c.)
Further developed by Norman writer Wace – added a lot of facts.
Later developed in French – became the center in different cultures.
The most enduring tale.
From a literary point-of-view, the accounts of legendary exploits of Arthur reached its highest point in the
work of Thomas Malory.
The climax of tradition of writing bringing together the myth and history; emphasis on chivalry (coat of
honor). He arranged the stories in a series of stories → began with the verse of King Arthur → adventures
→ ended in his death.
«Le Morte d’Arthur» - written in English – published by Caxton in 1476.
Malory traced the stories – birth, education, assumption of power.
We begin with the optimism (the unknown prince who pulls the sword out of the stone) – we end with his
death.
Malory was composing a prose eulogy to the dying age of chivalry.
Camelot → ideal.
His rise is full of Christ imagery.
Reigning is linked to the government of Christian church.
Sanctioned by God, the sword test is the means by which Arthur is able to rise from obscurity and
darkness and to rule England.
Shown to be dipped in sin and violence, wanton, incest, political tactics involve some form of terror.
Arthur’s court is shown to be glorious yet deceased place.
Final battle against his own son.
Ultimately the kingdom is destroyed by Arthur’s own weakness.

H/t: to prepare a report about:

1) The War of Roses
2) Lydgate, Hoccleve, Henryson, Dunbar
 English Literature
Lecture 5
Renaissance Literature (1509-1660)
Plan
1. The history of the time.
2. Renaissance aspect: intellectual, cultural.
3. First period of English Renaissance.
3.1. The imposition of English language by Henry VIII.
3.2. Humanism.
4. Queen Elizabeth and the second period of English Renaissance.
4.1. Non-dramatic poetry.
4.2. Prose.
4.3. Drama.

1. The decline of feudalism.

Knights (vassals) defended the kings and lords in exchange for land (Middle Ages) – during Renaissance they
hired professional troops. Money is a source of power.
Protestant reformation.
1516 – the German monk Martin Luther protested against the sale of indulgencies.
Reformation led to Protestantism.
England’s rulers:
1) the Tudors: began with Henry VII (1485), his son Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 and his reign
covered several successful wars and 6 marriages.
1530 – he broke with Catholic church, established the first truly national church.
His kids Andrew IV and Mary I ruled briefly before his second daughter Elizabeth I came to the throne (1558).
The Golden Era. She turned England into a great sea power capable of defeating the Spanish armada.
2) the Stewarts: Elizabeth died in 1603, throne passed to her cousin, James, king of Scotland. He provoked
conflicts with the parliament. His son, Charles I, had conflicts which led to the Civil War.
1649 – Charles lost both his throne and life.
3) Cromwell: England became a commonwealth under the reign of Oliver Cromwell (puritan).
Severe regulations, closed theatres.
1658 – throne passed to Charles Stewart, son of Charles I. Monarchy was restored.
2 major groups of poets:
► metaphysical – highly intellectual poetry (John Donne);
- complex thought;
- paradox;
- lane language;
- conceit (sophisticated metaphor, farfetched comparison)
► cavalier (John Suckling);
- supporters of Charles I;
- English gentlemen, wrote about love, war, honor.
ME playwrights set the stage for Renaissance drama. Authors of Renaissance drama differed in their choice of
subject: comedies, tragedies, secular material.
First professional playhouse opened in 1576.
The theatres were closed in 1642.

2. Renaissance is great intellectual and cultural movement in classical culture that occurred in 14-16 centuries;
saw the transition from the Middle Ages to Modernity.
Penetration of Greek and Latin culture (extensive Latin domination) after the 4 th crusade can be regarded as the
basic condition of Renaissance. Renaissance began in Italy. It was a great revolt against intellectual stability
of Medieval period in favor of magnitude and richness of the pagan world.
First natural poet – Francesco Petrarch – he followed classical poetry, rediscovered Greek culture.
Outstanding Italian humanists visited Byzantium to buy old manuscripts – to get knowledge.
Second period – humanism – is the commitment to the dignity of individual growing concern with the secular
life as opposed to the religious focus on Medieval culture.
Thomas More and Erasmus – original humanists.
Were profoundly religious; argued for the freedom of individual.
Three periods of English Renaissance:
1) 1509-1558 «the beginning»
2) 1558-1603 «the highest period»
3) 1603-1660 «the fall»

3. 1509 – Henry VIII.

- the imposition of English language written and spoken in court;
- changed the status of Wales → from the occupied colony to that of an integral part of the realm;
- English customs and traditions were enforced in Wales and Ireland;
- act of 1537 ordered inhabitants of Ireland to speak the language of their rulers;
- broke with the Pope, there appeared national church in England;
- England was temporarily cut off from European mainstream;
- the ideas of Renaissance together with the ideas of reformation;
- many English scholars went to Italy to study Plato, Aristotle; when they returned, they adapted their classical
learning to the needs of the country;
- foreign scholars and teachers began to teach;
- English universities; grammar schools grew in number;
- Oxford University – center of humanism;
- Thomas More and Erasmus → a new type of Renaissance man → the warrior (lawyer), citizen of London
with high moral principles;
- the concept of beauty;
- both Thomas More and Erasmus took part in Christian humanism (philosophy of Plato + teaching of Christ);
- «Every man can become closer to the real Christian ideas and away from empty rituals of Catholic church» -
educates of individuality;
Thomas More wrote «Utopia» in 2 parts:
1) miserable conditions of England of that time;
- farmers suffered most of all → more profitable to grow grains;
- thousands died of hunger;
- farmers were allowed to be beaten;
- turn poor farmers into obedient cheap working force;
- T. More sharpened bloody laws;
- his criticism remained unparalleled in the English Literature;
2) the ideal society;
- male-dominated society, women have no political authority;
- restriction on political discussion;
- Utopia – federal republic with no king; all officials are elected by people;
- democracy with no private property;
- everybody works according to abilities; working day – 6 hours;
- all forms of worship are allowed;
- sanitation is exemplary; sick people are cared by the state;
- utopians care for their children; education is open to everyone;
- society is not free of exploitation.
4. Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603).
The beginning of Modern Era of English history.
England attained prosperity.
Business was growing; knowledge was increasing; growth of humanism.
England → in the center of the Universe.
Literature:
1) non-dramatic poetry
2) prose
3) dramatic literature

4.1. Non-dramatic poetry.

Edmund Spenser «The Shepherd’s Calendar».
The beginning of Modern English poetry.
Significant in English literature because it brought the pastoral form which was used in drama.
Sidney – the first to give distinction of the sonnet in English literature.
«Sonnet» in Italian means «little sound or a song». Consists of 14 lines; such issues as nature of love, aching
questions of mortality.
Types of sonnets:
- English (Shakespearean)
Consists of 14 lines; 3 quatrains (problem is presented) and 1 couplet (summary, solution)
- Italian (Petrarchian)
Consists of 14 lines; first 8 lines present a problem, last 6 lines present a solution
- Spenserian
Consists of 14 lines; 3 quatrains and 1 couplet, but it follows a different rhyme scheme.

4.2. Prose.
Translation of Greek into the vernacular.
Writers: John Lyly, Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, sir Walter Raleigh.

4.3. Dramatic literature.

Elizabeth was fond of plays, audience was unique.
Because of the fact that local classes were illiterate, plays appealed specially for them.
Obsesses with hard work and religion. Source of idleness.
Lower class skipped church – to secure good view of the stage.
Theatres are godless.
Thought the violence seen in Shakespearean works could twist the minds of the lower class – it could bring to
violence and vice.
Playwrights were writing for aristocracy and lower class.
Relatively unschooled people could appreciate.
Full of allusions and references to delight.
First theatre in England (Middlesex) – «The Theatre», closed in 1598 – reassembled in 1599 as «The Globe».
- no woman actresses;
- a lot of money for costumes;
- few stage crops, no stage sets;
- lack of stage sets allowed to create extremely rapid actions;
- scenes succeeded each other without interruption;
- «the theatre of imagination»
The Elizabethan Englishmen kept many superstitious beliefs (ghosts, creatures, magicians). Shakespeare used them
in «Julius Caesar», «Macbeth», «Richard III», «Hamlet».
Audience was cultivated and primitive – because of their liking for cruelty.
All London theatres had orchestras.

H/t: to prepare a report about: Sir Walter Raleigh / Christopher Marlowe / Thomas More.
 English Literature
Lecture 6
Four periods of Shakespeare’s career
Plan
1. Sources of his plays.
2. Themes.
3. The structure.
4. Scenic structure.
5. Scenic devices.
6. Comedies.
7. Historical cycles.
8. Tragedies.

1. He changed the beliefs of Elizabeth. The authenticity of Catholic Church had been challenged by
Martin Luther. The divine authenticity of the throne was challenged in parliament; economic and social
order was destroyed by the rise of capitalism, by the expansion of education.
It was typical to mix new ideas with the old ones. There was growing skepticism.
Shakespeare reflected general distrust, strict laws about the theatres, plays couldn’t deal with the state of
religion or state. The mayor of the town had to give his permission for a play to be formed. If a play
offended a Queen, the official sensor would arrest the actors for sedition, those convicted of sedition were
input to death.
Latin comedies.
There was a strong native drama tradition, medieval place during the time of Elizabeth.
English language was changing with the contribution of Italy and France.
Cheaper printed books helped the language to become more standard.
Shakespeare’s career:
- 2 narrative poems;
- 37 plays;
- 154 sonnets;
- a lot of songs dedicated to his place.

Well-educated family, 8 children. He was the first boy, attended local grammar school, studied Latin and
classical literature. When he was 14, his father lost social position; he didn’t finish school → worked as a
butcher. Got married at the age of 18, daughter Susanna and twins.
1585-1592 – he moved to London to make a career in theatre.
Gap years – no information.
He got a first job in the theatre as a reviser.
1592 – worked as an actor, playwright, producer, chief of the company.
«The Globe» theatre.
After 20 years Shakespeare retired and returned to Stratford-upon-Avon where died in 1616.
The first edition of his works was put together by his friends – «Folio».

Stratfordians: William Shakespeare was the author.

Antistratfordians: another person was the author.

Shakespeare’s working vocabulary consisted of 25000 words (Milton – well-educated – 12000 words).
The question still remained opened.

4 periods:
1) 1590-1595 – Shakespeare as apprentice
Theatre was in London, particular genres were developed; he resorted to popular arts.
Comedies, historical chronicles.
His plays are based on classical originals, some other places are very crude.
2) 1595-1600 – early maturity
«Midsummer Night’s Dream» ending with the 12th night.
Authentic style; produces rich serious plays (comedies + historical plays with 2 tragedies, «Romeo and
Juliet», «Julius Caesar»), many of his sonnets were written, he has understandable plot, he is interested in
depicting acting signs of life.
3) 1600-1608 – the period of tragic gloom
Starting with «Hamlet» (1601) until «Measure for measure» (1603-1604).
Full of harsh imagery.
Problem period, the most prolific period. William Shakespeare produced inequality in English literature.
The tragic understanding of the word, full maturity.
4) 1608-1616 - the period of serenity
The change of the style; comic vision of life, but new style of comedy, different themes; importance of
learning from the experience over time; importance of forgiving and faith.
Shakespeare borrowed from Seneca, Plutarch, Marlowe, Italian romances.
Characters are vivid. He used English Language.
«King Lear» - the play was based on the legend, he makes tragic ending.
Tragedies «Hamlet», «Othello», «Macbeth».
Lack of moral justice.
Music was an indication of emotional health of the characters.

2. Themes:
Shakespeare’s plays are all about disorder in society:
- what is general order of society;
- how was this order violated;
- how did the character respond;
- how is it restored;
- is it new or old;
- tension between ideal order and reality of disorder in society.

3. The structure is simple.

climax

rising falling
action action

exposition catastrophe

Exposition: introduces the setting, theme, characters, the situation, atmosphere; a dialogue or a
monologue; minor or major characters can explain exposition; normal order society is depicted.
Group theme – symbol of social unity which is about to be broken or disturbed and will not be restored
until the final act.
Complication and development or rising action: it begins with the point of attack; complication;
characters disrupt/violate the traditional social order; unexpected opposition to the plan or necessity to
make choice.
Climax: highest interest, a point when audience makes greatest emotional response to the play.
Falling action: it follows; parallel to rising action; increases dramatic intensity; accelerates quickness.
Catastrophe: the final act, conclusion.

Shakespeare doesn’t provide a moral end, didactic play, he tries to explore; the audience leaves place with
awareness about the problems. There are a lot of violent themes: suffocation, suicide.

4. The structure of the scene:

► segment of a talk (dialogue, monologue) – introduced by entrances of the characters;
► passing of time;
► every passage – to reveal information about the character; to advance the action;
► double development (when the character expresses idea).

5. Scenic devices:
Soliloquy (interior monologue) – speech of a character when the speaker is alone; the speech informs the
audience about his inner feelings.
Aside – some speech by actor intended to be heard by selected audience, but not to the characters.
Shift – from prose to poetry – indicates the change of attitude to avoid somebody.

6. Shakespeare’s comedies.
The terms «comedy» and «tragedy» refer to the ways in which dramatic conflicts are resolved. The
conflict ends when everybody recognizes what’s going on, reestablishes itself in a new social order.
Usually end with celebration, music and dancing, emphasis is on the reintegration of everybody.
The main character has the ability to adjust, to learn, to come up with the resource.
Shakespearean comedies – aristocratic young lovers who are later united. The comedies often satirized.

7. Shakespeare’s history cycles.

All Shakespeare’s historical plays change the chronology of events. Shakespeare created 2 cycles with 4
plays in which deals with the full story of «the War of the Roses». He understood well all the things in his
country. Plays are political and patriotic. He formed national consciousness.
The English historical plays consider how civil order is related to severe government.
King and his subject are lived together by mutual responsibilities.

8. Shakespeare’s tragedies.
The conflict is resolved by death.
The attempts to control a conflict and to make his way to it.
Tragic heroes are egocentric, no compromise.
Shakespearean tragedies deal with destinies, with King and Princes’ fortune.

H/t:
1) «Othello» - find devices, exposition, climax, catastrophe.
2) Shakespearean language and famous quotations.
3) Sonnets.
 English Literature
Lecture 7
Puritan Period. English Renaissance (1616-1660)

1. Puritanism is a religious movement, which began in mid-sixteenth century.

Focused on the reform of practices and services of the Church of England.
Eventually the movement grew up to the point where the puritans were able to control the parliament.
They dethroned the King and established puritan commonwealth.
Goal → to purify the Church of England by eliminative certain Roman Catholic traditions.
They objected to “top-to-the-bottom” structure and suggested “bottom-to-the-top” structure: common
people have power to choose ministers and bishops.
Charles I wanted to strengthen the power of bishops, wanted to restore the traditions of the Catholic
church. This conflict between Charles I and the puritans led to civil wars.
1649 – King was found guilty of treason and beheaded. New government was headed by O. Cromwell.
Oliver Cromwell was hailed as the savior of England.
Puritan influence:
1) forbade Christmas and Easter;
2) prohibited chess and dancing;
3) theatres were closed;
4) writers risked being censored until they support the puritan way of life.
1660 – unpopular commonwealth was dismissed, Cromwell died and Charles II was invited to be the king
of England. Monarchy was restored. Renaissance was pagan in the first and second period, it had no
concern with the moral nature of a man. Morality wasn’t given the first priority.
Puritanism was social and moral force. Puritans stood for resistance to despotism in Church and state.
The essence of Renaissance is beauty, the essence of Puritanism is honesty and integrity.
They condemned science and art, ignored the appreciation of beauty.
The poetry of this period is marked with sadness, darkness, obscurity.
The spirit of vitality, chivalry, romance vanished from English poetry of this period.
Shakespeare always stood for concrete realities of life, his works were full of vitality and thrill.
Poets like Milton were theorizing about life.
Elizabethan literature is marked with the spirit of unity – resulted in non-intense national patriotism.
Poets glorified England.

2. Genres:
1) in verse (maturity of formal satire):
- epigram – a short poem; a witty phrase
2) in drama:
- tragic comedy – tragic + comic elements; serious tragic tone that ends happily ;
- pastoral play – literary form idealizing the lives of shepherds;
- masque – entertainment that combined drama, poetry and music; structure – dancing of a group
of sophistically dresses members of aristocracy whose movements interfered with the poetry and music;
- antimasque – professional performers could act scenes of disorder
3) in prose:
- essay – a short piece of literature; writer gives his thoughts on a particular subject in a graceful,
pleasing style;
- paradox – a statement which is logically contradictory, turns out to be interpretable, makes sense
(debate traditions);
- autobiography – a story of a person’s life written by himself; forms – diaries, letters, memoirs.
3. Metaphysical poetry. It is a type of 17th century English poetry characterized by witty metaphors. John Donne was
the first in this genre. Poets focused on love and religious faith.
Differences between metaphysical poetry and Elizabethan poetry:
1) metaphysical poetry often takes form of an argument. It appeals to the intellect as well as emotions. Subject
matter is serious and complex. Poets wrote about death, relationship with a God, relationship between a husband and
a wife.
2) use of comparison
XVI c. – sophisticated metaphor;
metaphysical poets – conceit metaphor (2 dissimilar things)
e.g. tears on the man’s face – newly-made coins
3) language
XVI c. – poets wrote in a high style using poetic words and sophisticated metaphors.
Metaphysical poets wrote in a plain style
- simple conversational vocabulary but complex sentence patterns;
- metaphysical conceits;
- use of paradoxes;
- witty, imagined place of words.

4. John Donne.
Born in an affluent family, attended Oxford and Cambridge university, studied un London.
To prove his patriotism he joined Earl of Essex in 2 military expeditions against Spain.
When he returned, he launched government career.
He abandoned catholic church and joined the church of England.
He left a large body of works which were published only after his death.
He drew illustrations from science, theology, law, metaphysics; wrote satires, songs, eulogies, religious poems. His
poetry can be characterized as complexly obscure.

5. Cavalier poetry. Poets supported Charles I during the Civil War. Their opponents – roundheads.
Created sophisticated body of love lyrics. “Carpe diem” was the theme of their poetry.
Poets: Richard Lovelace, sir John Suckling, Robert Harry.
They wanted to entertain the audience. Used conversational style based on natural speech patterns.
Used regular rhythmic patterns, stanzas, simple but elegant language. Love was a popular theme.

6. John Bunyan “Pilgrims’ Progress”

Religious allegory is a work where characters and setting are symbol aimed at teaching a moral lesson or issue. It is
about a character named Christian, all the obstacles he must overcome during his pilgrimage, he meets Faithful in
the town of Vanity.

7. John Milton “Paradise Lost”

When puritan government was dissolved, he was arrested as a traitor. He rescued from execution but was forced to
pay heavy fines that left his penniless. He lost eyesight.
“Paradise Lost” – epic – about Adam and Eve’s fall from Grace.
He dictated “Paradise Regained” – Christ’s temptation.
Milton’s epic is a long epic narrative poem that consists of heroic exploits and dramatic events.
10565 lines. Milton wrote it in blank verse, explaining that “rhyme is not necessary of a good verse”.

8. Restoration (1660-1710)
Monarchy was restored. Charles II returned to England, brought French culture with him.
Neoclassical forms: heroic drama, epic, satire, restoration comedy. Notable contribution in prose.
1662 – Royal Society founded – group of people dedicated to studying of natural philosophy.
Aim → to make English prose simpler, clearer and closer to speech. Modern English prose was born.
Beginning of the new era free from Cromwell’s regulations and rules.
1685 – Charles II died; his brother James II took the throne. Charles’ daughter Mary and her husband William
replaced James in 1688. They took the throne with glorious revolution (without bloodshed).
They affirmed “Bill of Rights” – property classes to rule through the elected parliament.
England had the most representative government of its time.
 English Literature
Lecture 8
The analysis of a literary text

3 main genres of texts:

- prose (fiction);
- drama;
- poetry.

Text type – highly conventional written documents:

1) instruction material;
2) sermons;
3) advertising texts;
4) scientific writing.

Discourse – written and oral manifestations.

The novel emerged in Spain in XVII century, in England in XVIII.

D. Defoe “Robinson Crusoe”
H. Fielding “Tom Jones” first novels
S. Richardson “Pamela”

The newly established novel is characterized by the term “realism”.

Realism is XIX century literary movement that usually focused on everyday middle-class and working
class conditions and characters.
The forerunner of the novel is epic (had cosmic and allegorical dimension).
Modern novel grounds its plot in distinct historical and geographical reality.
The allegorical character of an epic turns into the real protagonist of a novel (realistic individual traits).

Subgenres of novel:
1) picaresque novel – the experiences of a vagrant scoundrel in his conflict with the norms of society;
tries to reveal social injustice in a satirical way (e.g. “Tom Jones” by H. Fielding);
2) bildungs roman (novel of education) – describes the development of protagonist from his/her
childhood to maturity (e.g. “Mill on the floss” by Mary Ann Evans);
3) epistolary novel – letters as means of first-person narration (e.g. “Pamela” by S. Richardson);
4) historical novel – actions take place within a realistic historical context (e.g. “Waverley” by W. Scott);
5) satirical novel – highlights weaknesses of society through the exaggeration of social norms;
6) utopian novel – creates alternative world as a means of criticizing real socio-political conditions (e.g.
“1984” by G. Orwell);
7) gothic novel;
8) detective novel.

The short story is a concise form of prose fiction. The forerunner of short story is narrative cycles.

Elements of the novel:

1) plot – is a sequence of events in a narrative work; the traditional plot comprises 4 levels:
- exposition is disturbed by a complication or a conflict which produces suspense and leads to a climax;
- complication;
- climax is followed by the resolution;
- resolution/denouement.
Flashbacks and foreshadowing introduce information concerning the past or the future (appear in linear
plot structure).
2) characters:
- dynamic – undergoes changes during the story; is influenced by other characters of experience;
- static;
- flat;
- round.
If the character is dominated by one specific feature or trait, he/she is called flat (typified) – reveals only
one personality. Round characters show varied and contradictory traits.
Modes of presentation (of characters):
□ telling (explanatory) describes a person through a narrator who is placed in the foreground and who is a
judgement mediator between action and narrating;
□ showing (dramatic) creates the impression on the reader that he/she is able to perceive the acting
without any intervening agency.
3) point of view:
- first-person POV;
- third-person POV - omniscient and limited;
- figural narrative situation (stream of consciousness) – the narrator moves in the background suggesting
that the plot is revealed through the actions of the characters of the text; purpose – to encourage readers to
judge the action without interfering commentator.
4) setting – location, historical period and social surroundings in which the action of the text develops.
5) author’s style:
- register;
- diction (author’s choice of words in order to convey a particular meaning);
- tone – is the reflection of the writer’s attitude towards a subject. Typical tones are: ironic, serious, witty,
humorous, pompous, sentimental.

Allusion – is a reference in a work of literature to a very well-known person, event, place, work of art.
Conflict – is a central struggle between 2 opposing forces in a story or a drama.
- external (a character struggles against outside force – nature, society, people, fate);
- internal (a struggle within the mind of a character).
Imagery – the word-pictures that writers create to help to evoke emotional discourse in a reader. Sensory
details are used (1-5 senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell).
Irony – a contrast between expectation and reality.
- verbal irony (character says one thing and means another);
- situational irony (outcome of the situation is opposite of what someone expected);
- dramatic irony (audience knows something that the character doesn’t know).
Mood – is emotional quality or atmosphere of the work of literature (writer’s choice of language, setting,
tone, rhyme, rhythm, meter).
Motive – is a significant phrase or image which is depicted throughout the work, is related to its theme.
Satire – literature that exposes to ridicule flaws of people (using exaggeration, understatement, irony).
Stream of consciousness – is a literary presentation of author’s or character’s free flowing thoughts.
Suspense – anticipation of the outcome of events, especially as they affect the character for whom one
has sympathy.
Symbol – any person, animal, place, object or event that exists on a literary level but has figurative level.
Theme – main idea of the text.
- stated (directly and explicitly expressed);
- implied (revealed gradually through other elements – plot, character, setting, POV, symbol).
 English Literature
Lecture 9
The literature of Early Enlightenment (1690-1740)
(the age of Pope; Augustan period; neoclassicism)

The beginning of modernity.

Early Enlightenment started in 1688 with the Glorious Revolution.
1689 – Bill of Rights – allowed the propertied class to rule.
Newton’s «Principia».
High Enlightenment (1730-1780) – most productive period.
American Revolution.
Late Enlightenment.
French Revolution.

Enlightenment is an intellectual movement in XVIII century movement celebrating human reason and
scientific thought as the instrument of emancipation.
«Reason must be our last judge and our guide» - John Locke.

The writers believed in future unlimited possibilities.

Ideas of progress, tolerance, human rights, scientific enquiry, skepticism.
Manifestations of Enlightenment were found not only in England and France.
Enlightenment writers aimed at destroying old structures, wanted to build new society, to provide them
with firm foundations.
Famous periodicals were «The Tattler» and «The Spectator» - writers shared their ideas.

Universities played minor role in England and France – in Scotland and Roman Empire universities were
very important centers. Scientific revolution of the 17 th century created the basic intellectual setting in
which Enlightenment was born.

2 major concepts – reason and nature.

Reason: intellectual tool for acquiring knowledge; analogy for an underlying order of the universe.
Nature: was to be analyzed, understood and imitated.
The concept of history appeared – the passage of time brings changes in result.

Enlighted intellectuals wanted to substitute religion; some turned to paganism; some adopted atheism.
Knowledge was expected to guild practical result.

Augustan period:
- the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus – Golden Age of Latin literature (Virgil, Horace).
The writers evoked a parallel with ancient Rome.
The development of the new neoclassical form – novel (appeared in England in XVIII century).
Augustan is a term often used to describe Queen Anne’s reign (1702-1714).

The 18th century witnessed the development of government by Prime Minister and his Cabinet who were
controlled by Parliament. Antagonism between the Tories and the Whigs.
Jonathan Swift supported Tories; Edison supported Whigs; Daniel Defoe was hesitating between parties.

The new constitutional monarchy began rebuilding of the empire – England enlarged her dominance by
getting control over India and all of North America.

18th century was influenced by Roman, Greek, Gothic, Oriental models.

Neoclassicism – is a style in European literature in which wit, reason, formal control and order took a
privilege. Neoclassicism was the later development of the rediscovery of great Greek and Latin classes in
the Renaissance. The emphasis is on the principles of rationality, order and logic. Neoclassicism is
conscious imitation of forms of classical literature. All Neoclassicism poets tried to formulate a theory of
literature. The certain concept of Neoclassicism theory of literature – imitation of human nature.

The 18th century had more prose than poetry. Society was growing more and more self-conscious.
London was the center of literary interest. The moral tone was low.
18th century writers used wit and satire, took part in looking at the world with sharp pen (describe floss of
the society). By the end of the 18th century writers turned to the emotions – end of the age of reason.

English literature of this period shows a brilliant picture of life and manners.
There were very few stories of romantic life; almost no beautiful heroines aged 20, little sentiment, few
thrills; doesn’t idealize a man and a woman; doesn’t display enthusiasm for anything.
Literature was accused of being cold, formal and prosaic.
Principles of literature were those of neoclassicism.
The aim – the reflection of life as perceived through reason under the guidance of the great models of the
classics.

Main literary genres: essay, philosophical poetry, novel.

Poetry – main representative – Alexander Pope.

- series of nature poems (pastorals);
- «Essay on criticism» - poem which expressed his literary principles, he attacked several critics and
writers;
- «The rape of the lock» - pokes fun at the vanity by describing a man’s theft of a woman’s lock of hair;
- «An essay on mam» - displayed his thoughtfulness.
He didn’t invent a new form of poetry; took satiric mode.
He was a polished writer, the only PERFECT English writer.

The language was called «petrification».

Heroic couplet – a pair of rhyming lines which are a self-contained unit that contains complete ideas.
Alexander Pope translated «Iliad» - seems more like a modern novel; his translation tells more about his
age and little about Homer’s age.

Prose – main representative – Jonathan Swift.

He was born in Dublin. At the age of 22 became a writer. William Temple helped him to get MA degree
in Oxford University. Then he was the priest of English church.
- «A tale of a tub» (about Anglican church)
- «A battle of the books» (mock-debate between ancient and modern writers).
At the age of 46 he was named a dean of cathedral, also wrote several political pamphlets where he
protested English policies against Ireland.
His major work – «Gulliver’s Travels» - consists of 4 parts:
1) island of Lilliputs whose traditions seemed trivial and petty that their English equivalents are silly;
2) island of Giants;
3) flying island of Lakota (the satire is more direct);
4) island inhabited by horses.

Parody – is humorous imitation of a literary work that aims to point out the words shortcomings, imitates
style exaggerating to comedy effect. «Gulliver’s Travels» is parody of 18 th century travelling books.

«The Holy Office» by J. Joyce and «Animal Farm» by G. Orwell.

H/t: report on Daniel Defoe.

 English Literature
Lecture 10
Literature in the 2nd half of 18th century
(the age of sensibility; the age of Johnson)

In 1742 the political administration of England changed. The policy was directed at colonial extension.
Austria, India, Canada became part of the British Empire. Industry developed gradually. The commercial
classes became active. People became more civilized and rational.
The literature can be characterized by:
1) further development of the novel;
2) the gradual transition from classicism to romanticism;
3) the appearance of sentimentalism.
Main authors: Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett – they revolutionized the art of
writing, in their novels the common man is installed as the central figure of literature.
In poetry: Robert Burns, Thomas Gray, William Blake – the movement towards nature and the power of
human mind.
In drama: the comedy of manners appeared and flourished in hands of Oliver Goldsmith and Richard
Sheridan.

□ Samuel Richardson (1689-1761)

In 1740 wrote the novel “Pamela” using epistolary technique. It is the story of a young servant girl whose
master assaulted and seduced her. Later she earned his respect and married him.

□ Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

The man of letters to his fingertips; innovator; used traditions of the past (Milton, Homer, Shakespeare).
“The history of Tom Jones, the foundling” – greatest book on the 18 th century.
The novel is divided into 18 books.
First 6 books reveal the story of Tom Jones, his education and fall from Grace.
Second 6 books depict his journey to London, also show his relationship with his beloved Sophia.
Last 6 books bring all the characters together in a suspicious metropolis.
Every detail is significant. Construction is carefully worked out.
Each book begins with an introductory chapter – the writer discusses moral or philosophical issues.
Depicting England of 18th century, Fielding shows all the professions, places, levels of society.
“Tom Jones” established a new standard of novel writing via combining strict, perfect structure of drama
with the variety of different genres of novel.
“Tom Jones” was a new kind of a hero.
Central problem of Enlightenment: evil and good; embodiment of harmony of flesh and spirit.

□ Tobias Smollett (1721-1771)

He was a surgeon. He was impressed by “Pamela”.
- “Roderick Randrom”
- “Humphrey Clinker”
Smollett carried on a form of picaresque novel. He was the first novelist to introduce real sailors, real
ships, real atmosphere of the sea. He also was the first to depict Welshmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen.

□ Lawrence Sterne (1713-1768)

Wrote autobiography “Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy” – the book is constructed with no definite
plan. Sterne also used “blank chapter” for readers to fill it in. His characters are depicted as real ones.

□ Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Critic, biographer, poet. In the age of transition from classicism to romanticism stood up for the age of
Pope. Principal works:
- “London”
- “The Vanity of Human Wishes”
- “The Dictionary of English language” (7 years of work) – the first comprehensive dictionary to give
good practical definitions.
The war left Johnson half-blind and half-deaf. At the age of 26 he married a widow and opened a school.
Success came after publishing the dictionary. He is also famous for his witty remarks.
“It matters not how a man dies but how he lives”.

Gothic romance – literary style of the last half of Enlightenment, associated with the periods of
explorations of the limits of human reason.
First novel – “Castle of Otranto” by Horace Walpole.
Gothic fiction explored the irrational and associated concepts of the family and the sublime (feelings of
terrified dread when meeting with powers of irrational). Gothic romance became part of the larger esthetic
movement of the sublime → combines both the culmination of Enlightenment and the beginning of
romanticism. It was popular in England.
Most popular novels:
- “Mystery of Udolpho” (by Ann Radcliffe)
- “The Monk” (by Matthew G. Lewis)
- “Frankenstein” (by Mary Shelley).
Gothic novel – stage of the development of the romantic novel; supernatural as the background. Writers
were attracted to the romance formula which revealed the imagination.
Heroine – image of idealized beauty and innocence.
Gothic villains – heroes showing unrestrained passion.
Moderated by the demand of Christian morality, the novel praises virtue.

The term “gothic” has 3 implications:

1) barbaric, primitive – came from East-Germanic tribes (goths);
2) medieval – ideas of knighthood and chivalry. Medieval and Renaissance setting was common. Action
took place in foreign (Catholic) countries.
3) supernatural, sublime, mysterious, unknown, fearful.
The plot of gothic novels depended on suspense and mystery.
The 18th century medievalism stand from the growing interest in the national culture of the Medieval past.

Characters:
1) innocent and virtuous young woman;
2) villain;
3) male hero;
4) talkative servant;
5) supernatural creature.

Atmosphere – combines the beautiful with the sublime. Sublime associated with solitude, emptiness,
darkness, terror – the fear of death is the main source of the ideas of sublime.

Historically, the goths were one of the several Germanic tribes, instrumental in the fall of Roman Empire.
They left no literature and no art. They were the invaders of Roman lands.
By the 18th century the goth – in terms of Johnson’s dictionary – became to be known as “one not
civilized, one deficient in general knowledge, a barbarian”.
“Gothic” stands for the old-fashioned as opposed to modern; the barbaric opposed to civilized; crudity
opposed to gentry.
Gothic elements include:
1) the setting in the castle – in or around an old castle, occupied or abandoned; the castle contains secret
passages, traps, hidden staircases;
2) atmosphere of mystery and suspense – often the plot is built around the mystery;
3) ancient prophecy – connected with the castle and its inhabitants;
4) omens and visions – dream vision can be used as foreshadowing;
5) supernatural and inexplicable events;
6) high emotion – narration may be highly sentimental; characters are overcome by anger, surprise, terror;
7) women under stress (central figure of the novel) – female characters are terrified, fainting, screaming;
8) women threatened by a powerful tragic man;
9) the diction.

Elements of romance include:

1) powerful love;
2) uncertainty of reciprocation;
3) unreturned love;
4) tension between true love and father’s control;
5) lovers’ portrait;
6) illegal love;
7) rival lovers.

H/t: report on Ann Radcliffe.

 English Literature
Lecture 11
Romantic Period (1780-1830)

King George III ruled for 50 years. He showed great concern. He suffered from bounds of porphyria.
What is more, he lost American colonies.
1811 – declared crazy, his con was made a ruler.
1820 – son – George IV – paid little attention to people. He died in 1830 and was followed by William
IV. His major contribution – passage of the Reformation Bill:
- extended the right to vote to middle class;
- encouraged political party organization.
Population was rising:
- fewer people were dying of infectious diseases;
- more people were marrying in the young age;
- mid-class values dominated the society.
18th – Enlightenment reason, rationality, science.

Industrial Revolution – approach to writ – «emotion over reason».

- individual person was valued over society;
- imagination → logic;
- natural → artificial;
- romantics found inspiration in nature: folk art;

William Wordsworth (common people in ordinary settings);

Samuel Coleridge (exotic supernatural themes).
Romantics watched as cities grew. In an effort to reclaim nature, the romantics made it the central theme.
Nature – source of delight, love, moral perfection.

Novels:
- gothic – «Frankenstein» by Mary Shelley;
- historical - «Ivanhoe» by Walter Scott;
Scott’s novels are about lives of ordinary people rather than nobility.
Language:
- beauty and truth in the ordinary;
- abandoned formal diction in favor of language;
- Enlighted minds → hopes for intellect → unrealized.

There were 3 outstanding events at the end of XVIII century:

1) Industrial Revolution;
2) French Revolution (1789);
3) American Revolution (Independence 1776).
French Revolution was an attempt to reconstruct the society on the basis of equality, liberty and
fraternity. People were disappointed by the outcome of French Revolution. The land owners were
alarmed, were in panic, tried to suppress revolution ideas.
Industrial Revolution in England was distorted, it couldn’t be stopped. In late XVII century machinery
and manufacture began to dominate over agriculture. Many people left to seek work in big cities.
- dehumanization of the workers;
- forced to work long hours for low wages.

Romanticism was named «age of revolution».

«Romantic» derives from roman word meaning vernacular romance languages developed from Latin. The
Medieval Romance came to mean tale of chivalry, written in one of these Roman languages, in form of a
verse, in form of a quest. Romantic movement developed as a reaction against the narrow rationalism.
First manifestations:
- in France – philosophical – ideas of J.J. Rousseau;
- in Germany – «storm and drive» movement;
- in England – the development of the cult of sensibility and the gothic novels.

Important historical rehearse was French Revolution, particularly in its emphasis on liberty and equality.
Central belief: in nature as the source of great inspiration.
For the romantics Shakespeare was the prototype of a natural genius.

Writers: William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Keats,
Sir Walter Scott.

In the later half of XVII century Romanticism was opposed by Realism.

Characteristics of poetry:
1) Romanticism is a rebellion against the mindset of Enlightenment, against its belief, faith in progress,
rationality and logic;
2) Romanticism is a rebellion against machine age and industrialization;
3) Romanticism embraced nature, supported the return to nature;
4) everything that is elevated and beautiful is very important;
5) revival of the interest in mystery, romance and picturesqueness of the Middle Ages;
6) Romanticism was obsessed with the self-actualization, individualism;
7) Romanticism became very interested in the sort and imagination of the Orient;
8) sympathy for the low and oppressed; high regard against the society;
9) revolt against the society;
10) romantic hero – solitary dreamer, egocentric character (guild and remorse);
11) a return to the Elizabethans for material and method;
Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton
12) old meters reappeared.

Genres of poetry:
1) sonnet;
2) ode;
3) allegorical romance;
4) lyrical poems;
5) lyrical ballads.

□ Lake Poets (friends who brought new emotionalism, introspection by the first romantic manufacture;
preface to the lyrical ballads) – William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Robert Southey.
Main features:
- very easy and clear speech;
- usage of Greek mythology;
- national folklore;
- focus on nature – they tried to find a balance between a man and a nature.

□ William Blake – visionary, mystic, revolutionary poet. He was considered to be insane. His books of
poetry were unique in combination of visual and literary art.
- «The Tyger» - long-flowing lines and violent energy.
□ Robert Burns – famous for songwriting and poetry (which flourished during a time when English
controlled British government, depriving Scots of civil liberties). Scots couldn’t wear tartans, were not
allowed to play bagpipes, standard English was allowed to be taught at school. Burns was called «the
protector of traditional Scottish language». He was for the embodiment of cultural identity of his people.
Burns wrote his most famous poems in Lowland Scots, wrote poems in standard English. He got
inspiration from the age. When writing in standard English, the poet catered to the tastes of the day.
Burns’ poems → familiarity with the Scottish peasant life; some of his poems celebrate simple pleasures
(e.g. love), other poems reflect respect for animals.

□ William Wordsworth – main principles:

1) language of his poetry was to consist of a selection of language really used by a man; elevated tone was
to be avoided;
2) the subject of poetry was to consist of situations of common life – humble life; attached great
importance to the imagination; poet is the one who has a greater knowledge, pure nature, etc.
- «An Evening Walk» (lyrical ballads), «The Excursion».

Enjambment – is the continuation of the sentence of a poem of one line by the next line. It is used to
emphasize rhyming words (conversational tone).

□ Samuel Coleridge – he was addicted to opium; studied in Cambridge University; he was inspired by
the ideas of the French Revolution. Turning point – meeting with W. Wordsworth (in 25 years).
- «Kubla Khan» (his masterpiece)
He was also the greatest literary critic, philosopher, journalist, theorist of literature.

□ Lord Byron – aristocrat, poet, member of Parliament.

- «Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage»
Byron drew inspiration from traditions of chivalry. He considered pilgrimage as search for a meaning.
Byronic hero is an antihero – difficult to portray, rather unpleasant.

H/t: report on Percy Shelley.

 English Literature
Lecture 12
Victorian Literature (1837-1901)
(the age of novel)

Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837. She ruled for more than 60 years. In 1840 she married Howard,
they had 9 children. Howard died in 1861, and Victoria fell into deep mourning.
In 1901 – the peak of her popularity.
Years of unprecedented economic, technological and political extension. Britain picked influence as a
world power. British Empire covered about 25% of world’s area (Canada, Australia, Africa, Asia).
- a strong middle class appeared;
- standards, high moral tone.
In 1901 Victoria died, Edward VII took the throne. Middle class dominated. Such virtues are character,
duty, hard work, respectability. Enormous servant class arose.

Romanticism that characterized XIX century continued but emergent concerns over working and living
conditions caused many writers to begin to focus on its topic. Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte
wrote novels that combined Romanticism and Realism.
There were distinctions in social, in language dialects. Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy used these
varieties in their writing to convey social distinctions between their characters.

Major novels:
- William Thackeray «Vanity Fair»;
- George Eliot «Middlemarch»;
- Charlotte Bronte «Jane Eyre»;
- Emily Bronte «Wuthering Heights»;
- Thomas Hardy «Tess of the D’Urbervilles».

Poetry:
- Alfred Lord Tennyson;
- Robert Browning;
- Matthew Arnold;
- William Yeats.

Characteristics:
A new period after romantic revival; expressed the fusion of pure romance and gross realism; the
discoveries of science had particular effects.
1) reflection of practical problems; literature becomes a powerful instrument of human progress;
2) literature differs art from the art safe;
3) moral purpose
- age of doubt and pessimism;
- idealism, justice, love, brotherhood are emphasized by poets and novelists.

Shift from Romanticism to Realism. Influence of Romanticism:

- not so much influence on style but on the ideas;
- poets ignored grim reality;
- focusing on poetic subjects, ancient legends, exotic foreign lands, love, beauty of nature.

Realism – art movement – aimed at depicting the life as usually experienced.

In a realistic text the emphasis is on the ordinary people. Realism is opposed to romance. In historical
sense, realism is a movement in 19 century led by Onoré de Balzac who set out to produce richly detailed
floss of the society.
Features:
1) emphasis on author’s objectivity;
2) determinism is the view that individual free will is limited by cultural, environmental or historical
forces.
Realism was replaced by Naturalism (led by Emile Zola). Naturalism proved to be oversimplified science.
Realism – dominant form of drama in XX century. Realistic novelists tried to capture everyday life. They
also focused on the facts of industrial revolution.
Romanticism didn’t disappear entirely. Authors combined elements of Romanticism and Realism.

Novels:
1) elaborately constructed;
2) complex storylines;
3) narrative pace.

Victorians were generalists, furious about all aspects in the world. Popular issues:
- science and religion;
- British imperialism;
- industrial revolution.

Poets of the last years of the 2 nd half on Victoria’s reign nearly contemplated life (pessimistic aims in
fiction). Thomas Hardy was the first to write in a new style – naturalism. Naturalist writers packed their
novels with harsh details of life. Late Victorians began to avoid serious literature, they found it
depressive.
- Rudyard Kipling;
- Oscar Wilde;
- Herbert Wells.

Victorian poetry:
1) Lord Tennyson. He was educated in Cambridge; took part in the idealist group «Apostles».
Major work - «The Idols of the King» (about King Arthur and the Knight of the Round Table).
2) Robert Browning. He was considered talent for his speech. The first to begin «dramatic monologue».
He portrayed historical or imaginary character.
Major work - «Men and Women».
Praise of his mastering of dramatic monologue – poetic form in which the speaker addresses a silent or
absent listener during a moment of high intensity or deep emotion.

Victorian novel. Novel – is an extended fictional narrative, written in prose. It depicts the development of
character or number of characters and revolves about plot and a theme which acts as its organizing
principle. The first novel - «Robinson Crusoe».

Emphasis falls on:

- a character – in a psychological novel;
- an action – in an adventure story;
- a social problem – in a sociological novel.

The novel developed from the prose romance and picaresque novel. In XIX century the novel became
extremely popular. In the early XX century there appeared innovations in interior monologue («stream of
consciousness» by James Joyce). In the aftermath of World War II new kinds of novel appeared (e.g.
graphic novel – peak of postmodernism).

Victorian writers emphasized lower classes. As Victorian Era continued, social concerns began to claim a
greater role in general society. Novel became a tool for exposing society.
Forms of novels:
1) historical novel – type of novel in which historical facts are combined with the fictional elements.
- Charles Dickens «A Tale of Two Cities» (based on French Revolution).
2) gothic novel
- Ann Radcliffe «Romance of the Forest».
3) detective novel
- Arthur Conan Doyle «Sherlock Holmes».
4) New Gate novels – stories focusing on criminals and their motives, exploring the nature of crime and
violence.
- Charles Dickens «Barnaby Rudge».

Themes:
1) morality
- exaggerated examples of good and evil;
- particularly judgmental of women who didn’t follow socially acceptable roles);
2) romance
- feeling of predestination;
3) treatment of children and childhood mortality
- corporal punishment was considered as a form of correction.
 English Literature
Lecture 13
Modernism

Modernism literature has its beginning in late 19 th century. It was a revolt against the conservative values of
realism. The most paradigmatic ___ is the rejection of ___
Ezra Pounds’ “Make it new” – tag words.
Modernism rejected the certainty of enlightened thinking, the concept of the God.
Modernistic artists were disgusted with banality and dehumanized quality of life. They responded to this
degradation by retreating into a nostalgia form capitalist-organic social order by embracing fascist leader by
seeking refuge in radical.
High modernist art features – fragmentation, destruction at the level of form.

James Joyce

1) Charles Darwin “Origin of Species” (1889)

2) Emergence of socialism and later communism (Karl Marks)
3) Sigmund Freud and his psycho-analyses theory
4) Theory of relativity
5) World War I

Features of modernism: determination to get rid of the past; the profound sense of intellectual crisis. One
consequence was a turn towards the inner self.
One of the most influential turns was James Joyce’s “Epiphany” which implied that truth was at best of
lighting and personal moment that the artist could strive to capture.
E. – appearance of DT.
James Joyce used the term _______ to describe artistic revelation.
Focus on literary symbol. Symbolism became major feature.

Modernism was spread by new ideas in anthropology, psychology, philosophy. At first optimistic as in the
work of images. The tone of the movement was changed by horrors to one of WWI disillusionment.
- Elliot “Wasteland”
Poets broke out of established meters to experiment with free verse. Prose writers incorporated new ideas of
psychology – stream of consciousness.
Writers were able to capture and express the soul of rapidly changing world.
SoC – uninterrupted, unhindered collection of thoughts and ideas in conscious mind. In literature – flow of
these thoughts with reference to particular characters’ thinking process by William James “Principles of
Psychology”, D. Richardson, J.J. Woolf

Subjective novel/psychological novel.

Novel uses “the technique of interior monologue”.
- James Joyce “Ulysses” – 6 characters – from childhood to old age.

Central contradiction: creative impulse to make it new through a determined break with artistic conventions of
the past and embrace of the modern.
Modernism – literature of crisis, dislocation.
Modernistic literature developed a style characteristic by:
- preoccupation with stylistic novel;
- formal fragmentation;
- multiple prospective;
- alternatives to traditional narrative forms.

Writers:
- Knut Hamsun, whose novel “Hunger” is considered to be the first.
- Virginia Woolf
- Gertrude Stein
- W. Faulkner
- E. Hemingway
- F. Fitzgerald
- K. Mansfield

Modernistic literature attempted to move away from the bonds of _____________, disjointed time lines.
Modernistic literary features marked pessimism. Modernistic works are marked with absence of central heroic
figure. Modernism as a literary movement is seen as reaction to city life (to industrialization).
Romanticism ↔ subjectivity; modernism ↔ objectivity.

Features:
- experimentation;
- antirealism;
- individualism;
- intellectualism.
Formal characteristics:
- free, indirect speech;
- stream of consciousness technique;
- juxtaposition of characters;
- wide use of classical allusions;
- intertextuality;
- unconventional use of metaphors;
- symbolic representation;
- psychoanalyses;
- multiple narrative points of view;
- use of personification, hyperbole, irony.
Thematic characteristics:
- realistic embodiment of ____________
- sense of spiritual loneliness;
- sense of alienation;
- rejection of history;
- sense of disillusionment;
- rejection of outdated social systems;
- rejection of traditional moralities, religious thoughts.

Attributes:
1) Prospectivism – process of requiring knowledge.
2) Impressionism – reality is a synthesis of sense experiences. Writers adopted the style that relied on
associations, focus on particular characters’ perception of events.
3) Modernistic literature is marked by a break with sequent development towards the presence of experiments
as led, allusive, discontinuous.
4) Experimentation in forms.
5) Interior monologue.
6) Ambiguous ending.
7) Symbolic landscape.

Post-modernism thought is an intentional departure of modernistic approaches. In 2 nd half of XX century post-

modernism is influenced by:
- genocide (WWII);
- soviet gulags;
- Chinese cultural revolution;
- destructions caused by atomic bombs;
- insecurity of Cold War era;
- post-industrialism;
- consumer culture.
Post-modernism had limited influence on modernistic drama “absurd theatre”. It had impact on fiction, novel.
It claims that search for reality is pointless. Features:
1) mixing of styles;
2) discontinuity of tone, point of view, logical sequence;
3) random unexpected intrusions in the text:
- deals with complex absurdity of contemporary literature; it employs black humor, parody, absurdity, travesty;

- boundaries between low and high ____________;

- lack of narration.
Post-modernistic literature celebrates discontinuity, parody, popular culture, metafiction – fiction which calls
attention to the work’s status as artefact: novels that examine the conventions using irony, self-reflection.

XX century drama
- Revolution in theatre. Dramatist H. Ibsen broke through the conventionalities of theatrical forms.
- social / moral prejudices of small town life;
- attack was widened into judgement of social structure.

George Bernard Shaw

- member of Fabian society (dedicated to establishing socialism);
- realistic works – “Pygmalion”, “Heartbreak house”
- 1925 – Nobel Prize

Harold Pinter
- “Birthday Party”, “Caretaker”, “Dumb Waiter”
- new conversational tonality;
- oncoming fidelity;
- label “Comedy of Menace”;
- character unable to communicate;
- small talk, vague language;
- understatement silence – characters’ disclose thoughts.

Poetry
Imagism – school of English and American poetry during WWI.
Goals:
- to treat the sin directly subjectively or objectively;
- to use no word that didn’t contribute;
- to compose a sequence of musical phrases;
- freedom of subject matter.
Origin of imagism is found in T.E. Hulme “Autumn”, 1909.
Features:
- technical innovations;
- move away (extensive) from romantic idea from poetic self;
- focus on surface.
Elliot, Gates.

Prose:
- Joseph Conrad;
- Herbert Wells;
- D. Lawrence.
 English Literature
Lecture 14
Postwar Literature. The history of decline

After the war Britain occupies only the secondary place.

Characteristics of literature (trends):
1) intensive _____________
2) the extension of literary criticism and literary theory
3) the popularization of audiovisual narrative media
4) the growth of literature written by women and by postcolonial writers → feminism and post-
colonialism.
Female writers – Angela Carter and Fay Weldon – based their literary careers on the ambiguity
concerning feminism. Postcolonialists – writers born in ex-colonies of the British Empire and writers of
another race within the UK. They used the English language to express their experience of colonization.

New national literatures in English have been born in the postwar period in Africa and Asia. Literature
became politically conscious. The 30s are characterized by a growing awareness of the coming political
crisis and of the fascist ideology. Literature of the 40s is dominated by the war. Literature reflected the
general atmosphere of terror. The decade after WWII displaced general disillusionment with any form of
philosophy, religion and secular ethics → existentialism was born.
Existentialism is the philosophical and literary movement that became popular after WWII and which
mirrored the spiritual crisis, alienation, the loss of religious beliefs, the sense of anxiety and guilty, the
growing conviction that life was meaningless. Central to existentialism is the critique of traditional idea
that within each human being there is an essence. Existentialism focuses on the fact that we create
ourselves through our choices, that one individual is not involved in sum total.
One of the forefathers of existentialism is Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard, the other – Friedrich
Nietzsche. The profit of existentialism and postmodernism – they represent the 2 types of the movement –
religious and humanistic. The religious type attempted to demythologize the New Testament while
humanistic type celebrated the strength of the human mind.
Literary existentialism was rooted in XIX century in works by F. Dostoyevsky «Notes from
Underground» (1864), L. Tolstoy «The death of Ivan Illich».

From 1945 to 1960 – the entrance of fantasy takes place. The novels preceded the new wave of fantasy
writers including J.G. Ballard, M. Moorcock, who questioned the boundaries between fantasy and the
mainstream of realistic novel.

Post-modernist novel.
After 1945 the novelists faced the task of explaining new historical reality, most realized that this entailed
making a choice between traditional and experimental. Postwar novelists cannot escape the shadow of
Victorianism.
Feature of English novel – its reluctance to total realism, its interest in creating the synthesis with other
modes such as fantasy, autobiography, historical book. The coexistence of widely divergent genres is the
main characteristic feature of postwar literature.
The major protagonist of the novels of 1950s is the antihero – angry young man of working class, who
undergoes a test of his intelligence, determined to conquer the world. He is smart enough to get to the top
and marry a good rich woman. His education creates a gulf between him and his parents, he shows
contempt for isolating. Such prose represents the voice of social criticism within the larger trend of the
angry young men – body of literature.
New element – characters are ordinary people in small towns, whose problems are particular to their
small communities. The term «angry young men» is applied to a group of writers whose novels in 1950s
featured protagonist correspondent with rage to the sickness that overwhelmed postwar England.
- J. Osbourne «Look Back in Anger» (1956)
- William Cooper «Scenes from provincial life», «Scenes from married life»

The first novelist of «angry-young-men» movement is J. Wain – «Hurry on down» (1953). The main
character is an Oxford graduate. The spirit of picaresque novel; manifestation of the spirit of the angry-
young-men.

□ George Orwell
□ Iris Murdoch – Irish writer and philosopher.
- «Under the net» (1954);
- «The Bell» (1958);
- «Black Prince» (1973);
- «The Sea» (1978);
- «The Good Acquaintance»;
- «The Message to the Planet» (1989);
- «The Green Knight» (1993).
Her novels often seem like dramatized on the conflict between good and evil, free will and determinism.
Her books have dreamlike quality – elaborate use of symbolism. The settings are contemporary.
Characters are from intelligentsia or from literary and artistic surface; they are eccentric – combination of
narrative abundance and philosophy.
Despite her preoccupation with macabre and extremes of human figures (suicide, jealousy, attempted
murder), the overall mood is comic, displaying amused tolerance towards the absurdities of sexual
relationship.
□ William Golding – worked as an actor and producer, joined the Royal Navy and became a lieutenant in
charge of a rocketship.
- «The Lord of the Flies» (1954) – a powerful narrative about a group of English people. Theme – the
harsh mortality of the man. It is a remake of «The Coral Island» by Ballantyne (1858) which describes
the adventure of 3 brave British boys who, after landing on a desert island, transform it into a little
Britain, rationally governed by British laws. Three young characters, deprived of adults’ supervision,
managed to maintain the civilized values.
Golding’s novel is a denial of superiority of those values which are presented in degenerate form. The
work is the vision of the inmate human aggression that can surface in extreme conditions. The novel sets
forth man’s sin for nature and lack of innocence.
- «The Inheritors» (1955) – denial of optimistic belief in the progress of revolution;
- «Darkness Visible» (1979) – proposes a solution to moral darkness;
- «The Spire» - concerns a dean who is obsessed with the great idea.
Also Golding published a play «Grass Butterfly» and 2 collections of essays.
In 1983 he got the Nobel Prize, in 1988 he was knighted (CBE).
□ John Fowles
- «The Collector» (1963)
- «The Magus» (1966) – different levels of intertextuality; the main text – Shakespeare’s «The Tempest»
- «The French Lieutenant’s Woman»
Intertextuality (a term appeared in 1966) expressed various relationships between a text and other texts
(which are called intertexts).

Drama – the theatre of absurd. Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter.

Origins of the theatre of absurd are rooted in avant-garde experiments in art of 1920-1930, strongly
influenced by dramatic experience of the chorus of the WWI. Theatre of absurd rebelled against
conventional theatre; it was surreal, illogical, plotless and conflictless. Primary aim of its plays – to point
out the absurdity of life. Truth becomes relative, life is reduced to an allusion – disillusioned picture of
the world – aims to shock the audience. Important aspect: distrust of language as a means of
communication, no dramatic conflict.
Absurd character is not formed by his surrounding, he is isolated, static and motionless, he has his own
picture of the world. Stage is a symbol showing the mental world of the characters. The language often
goes nowhere.

Poetry.
1) The Movement Poetry – written by few poets during the 1950s, it was very different from symbolists.
- John Wain
- Elizabeth Jennings
- Donald Davie
Their poetry is free from mystical and logical compulsions, it is empirical, rational, argumentative. It
employs traditional syntax and ordinary diction (colloquial style).
2) The Symbolists Poetry – they employed symbols. Poetry is vague, ambiguous in meaning, mystifies
the readers, has a great number of allusions, demands from the reader general knowledge and high degree
of intellectuality. Movement Poetry deals with other things; it mocked the accesses of new romanticism.
3) The Group (1950s) – had no common pattern, acted as an open form.
- Peter Porter
- Peter Redgrove
- George Macbeth