21 CENTURY

ST

LITERATURE FROM THE

PHILIPPINES AND THE
WORLD
ENGLISH LITERATURE
- started in the era of:
• bards
(tribal poet-singer skilled in composing and
reciting verses) and
• gleemen
(entertainers)
ANGLO-SAXONS
- Germanic people that invaded
England in 5 Century.
th

- from the tribes of ANGLES AND

SAXONS.
BEOWULF
- first recorded “FOLK EPIC”
which depicts the heroic effort of a
man against evil forces.
- a long narrative poem which tells
the deeds of a legendary hero.
THE FAR TRAVELER
- first recorded compilation of
songs and verses.
CHRISTIANITY
- brought by the Anglo-Saxons in
England.
- build monasteries (beginning of
ENGLISH LITERATURE).
NORTHUMBRIA
- the biggest monastery in
England.
- became the seat of learning for 2
century.
BEDE
- a historian and a monk.
- popular in writing prose.
 DEVELOPMENT OF
ENGLISH LITERATURE
OLD ENGLISH
PERIOD
KING ALFRED THE
GREAT
- most important person in the OLD ENG. Period.
- stopped the DANES from invading England in 9th
century.
- builds school for every freeborn child.
 ENGLAND

Whitby Winchester

- cradle of English - cradle of English

Poetry in the north Prose in the south
AELFRIC THE
GRAMMARIAN
BIBLE – best contribution in Old English
period. (translated in English from Latin)

He also wrote the “Lives of the Saints” in

prose using the English Language.
MIDDLE ENGLISH
PERIOD
(most literature that came out of this
century was almost entirely Latin and
French)
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
- father of English Literature. (his English became the
basis of the Modern English Language)
- a poet whose brilliant character portrayals made his
“Canterbury Tales” – an enduring literary legacy.
PRINTING PRESS
- most important contribution of Middle Eng. Period in
the development of literature.
- established by WILLIAM CAXTON.

DICTES and SAYING of the

PHILOSOPHERS
- first printed book in England.
 THE ELIZABETHANS
(the Renaissance and the Reformation period)
- Literature’s greatest intellectual age
(GOLDEN AGE in ENGLISH Lit.).
- name after the reigning ruler, Queen
Elizabeth.
Edmund Spenser
(the poet’s poet) Beginning of OTHER WRITERS produced
- paved the way for such poets as Byron, this period by this period:
Shelley and Keats.
• John Donne
Christopher Marlowe • John Webster
• Francis Beaumont
• John Fletcher
William Shakespeare
(the period’s superstar)
- uncanny perception of human nature Climax or
were carved in his immortal plays and peak of this
sonnet. period
- “the measure of his greatness is his Francis Bacon
universality” - published his volumes of Essays in
- “ He was not of an age, but for all time. 1597.

OFF STUDIES (a gem of

precision writing)
 PURITAN AGE
(sharply contrast with the Elizabethan Age)
• Queen Elizabeth (characterized by peace within the
realm, general prosperity, and much worldliness)
POETRY
• Stuart (marked by open conflict which caused Long
Civil War) PROSE
- presented the somber tone of the age – religious.
JOHN MILTON
- his works are considered perfect in lyric qualities,
beautiful imagery and truthful portrayals of emotions.
- dubbed as “the English Epic Poet”
Other writers of this period:
• SAMUEL BUNYAN
- prince of prose
- writer of English Allegory
(stories in which the characters and events
are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or
political or historical situation)
• EDWARD HYDE
- “History of great rebellion” – chief historical
work of the period.
THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY
JOHN DRYDEN
- the transition poet between the Puritan Age and 18 th

Century.
- considered the precursor of the new period.
- well known for his cynical attitude and epigrammatical
wit, political satire, criticisms and didactic poems.
Other writers of this period:
• Alexander Pope
- greatest poet of the period.
- wrote satires on political unrest and coarse of
social life.
• Jonathan Swift
• Joseph Addison
• Richard Steele
THE ROMANTIC AGE
WILLIAM BLAKE
- a visionary poet (Songs of Experience)(Songs of
Innocence)

Other writers:
• William Wordsworth
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
THE VICTORIAN AGE
- ascendancy of Queen Victoria (1873)
Writers of this period:
• ROBERT BROWNING
- perfected the dramatic monologue.
• WALTER SCOTT
- popular for his novels (Waverly – 1814)
(Ivanhoe – 1820)
• ALFRED LORD TENNYSON
- delved into the depths of human sorrow and
death.
 THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY
- background by two World Wars, tremendous
insights on Psychology, and the unbelievable
technological progress.
Writers of this period:
• ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Sherlock
Holmes) – great fiction detectives
• JOHN GALSWORTHY
- novelist and dramatist (A Man of Property –
novel)
• GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON
- paradox of life. (Fighting war for peace)
• JAMES JOYCE
- random style is known “the stream of
consciousness”. (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man – 1916/novel)
• ALDOUS HUXLEY
- themed the futuristic mind and the controlled
chaos brought by technological advancement.
- started the field of science fiction.
• FRANK O’CONNORS
- tackled the frailties of the human race.
• DYLAN THOMAS
- inspired by the individual struggle from
darkness toward some measure of light.
- “HOPE” his most used theme.