BRITISH LITERATURE. Old English Literature Celts arrived to Britain around 6th BC. Medieval Literature. Geoffrey Chaucer ( )

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1 BRITISH LITERATURE Timeline of British Literature Old English Literature Medieval Literature Renaissance and Reformation The English Revolution and Restoration 18th Century Literature Romanticism Victorian Era English Theatre 20th century Old English Literature Celts arrived to Britain around 6th BC Then there were Romans who inhabited Britain around 55 BC and from that time come Latin texts. Romans left in 410 AD ( Battle of Bath ) After Romans there were various German tribes Beowulf (8th 9th century) originally it was oral poem which was recited by Scop. Beowulf is a hero who came from Northern Germany but it was written down by somebody in England and the story originated in Dennmark, Southern Sweden. He was a legendary hero who kills powerful frightening creatures and becomes a king. Medieval Literature Geoffrey Chaucer ( ) The father of English poetry because he wrote in English rather than in French or Latin The Cantebury Tales is written in Middle English. It is a collection of 22 completed tales but it was originally meant to be 120 tales. General Prologe give us the introduction to these stories. At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a company of thirty pilgrims. They are travelling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Cantebury. For example there are: a Knight, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Carpenter, Physician, Wife,... and the narrator describes each of them. The plan was that each of travellers would tell 4 stories, two on the way to Canterbury and tow on the way back.

2 Renaissance - Elizabethan Age William Shakespeare He died on his birthday. He was born in Stratford upon Avon. His father was a tradesman. William went to local grammar school and when he was 14 he had to support his family. At the age of 18 he got married to Anne Hathaway who was 8 years older. They had 3 children. He wrote 37 plays (comedies, tragedies, historical plays) and many sonnets. He ignored the 3 units of the classic drama: place, time, action. The place of action changes from scene to scene, 2-3 plots, tragedy is mixed up with comedy, it s rhymed and he used blank verse and used prose in them. English revolution and restoration Classicism English revolution Charles I. dissolved parliament and ruled without it for 11 years. Sometimes it is called the time of tyranny. This led to Civil War and Charles was defeated and beheaded. In 1660 Charles II. returned from France and he opened theaters again, the monarch was restored and that is why it is called Restoration period. John Milton after the execution of Charles I he was appointed Latin secretary. At the restoration he was arrested and fined, but released and at that time he was blind. His masterpieces is Paradise Lost which deals with the bilbical theme of man s disobedience and the loss of Paradise when Satan who revolted against God is driven out of heaven. It is an epic poem. 18th century literature Jonathan Swift He used his black humour and irony in his satirical pamphlets. His most famous work is Gulliver s Travels. It is a satirical novel in which its hero visits 4 different parts of the world. Country called Lilliput (six inches tall people), Brobdingnag (giants), Laputa and Lagado (satire against philosophers and scientists), Houyhnhnms (horses and Yahoos). Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe - 1 st novel written in English. It is fictional work based on the actual experience of Alexander Selkirk.

3 Romanticism in English literature GOTHIC NOVEL in such a novel were medieval buildings, ruins, castles, dark battlements, hidden trapdoors. Marry Shelley wrote Frankenstein Bram Stoker wrote Dracula HISTORICAL NOVEL Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe, Waverly, Rob Roy... ROMANTICISM Lake Poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, John Keats George Gordon Byron: Child Harold s Pilgrimage Percy Bysshe Shelley: Prometheus Unbound

4 Victorian Era - Realism Charles Dickens his parents were middle-class. When Dickens was 12 years old his family financial bad situation forced him to quit school and work in a factory where shoe polish was made. His father was put in prison where his siblings and his mother joined him. Charles stayed on his own and continued to work at the factory for several months. His miserable childhood gave him the topics for his novels: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, The Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol... Bronte sisters: Charlotte: Jane Eyre, Emily: Wuthering Heights, Anne: Agnes Grey Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma... English theatre Some famous British play writers: Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. He wrote poetry, short stories, criticism and a novel. His first stage success came with Lady Windemere s Fan, followed up with A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Ernest his most famous one. His plays are known for their wit, issues around sexual and class roles and identity. George Bernard Shaw was active in socialist politics and he was influenced by Henrik Ibsen. He won Nobel Prize for Literature in His famous plays are Pygmalion, Saint Joan... Samuel Becket wrote Waiting for Godot, and got Nobel Prize in th century William Golding: Lord of the Flies George Orwell: Animal Farm, 1949 T.S.Elliot: The Waste Land J.K.Rowling: Harry Potter books J.R.R.Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

ISTITUTO NOSTRA SIGNORA vl. G. D Annunzio, Pescara tel fax

ISTITUTO NOSTRA SIGNORA vl. G. D Annunzio, Pescara tel fax LICEO LINGUISTICO EUROPEO PROGRAMMA A.S. 2011/2012 CLASSE III LETTERATURA E STORIA (testo: Thomson e Maglioni, Literary vol.i) Early Britain: a history of invasions The Celts,Celtic culture from Bronze