English Literature History

• Literature in English encompasses writings, including poetry, prose, and drama.
• Works are written in English across various countries and time periods.
• The origin traces back to the Anglo-Saxon period and continues to evolve.

Anglo-Saxon Period (c. 450-1066)

• Beowulf reflects the values and beliefs of the early Germanic peoples settling in England.
• Beowulf remains a foundational work as an epic poem.
• Caedmon's Hymn marks the appearance of Christian themes in Old English literature.
• King Alfred's prose translates and preserves vital Latin texts for a wider audience.

Medieval Period (1066-1485)

• The Norman Conquest in 1066 introduced French influence, which blended with English traditions.
• Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales provides insights into medieval society and character.
• The Canterbury Tales is a collection of diverse stories.
• Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur retells Arthurian legends, shaping chivalry and courtly love ideals.

Renaissance (1485-1660)

• The Renaissance saw renewed classical learning interest and creativity.
• William Shakespeare's plays, like Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, remain central to the literary canon.
• Christopher Marlowe's dramas, such as Doctor Faustus, explored ambitious characters and intellectual themes.
• Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene uses allegory to celebrate virtues and explore political ideas.
• The King James Bible (1611) influenced English language and literary style.

17th Century

• John Donne's metaphysical poetry used wit and ingenuity to explore emotions and concepts.
• John Milton's Paradise Lost retells the biblical Fall story, examining good, evil, freedom, and obedience.
• Francis Bacon's essays emphasized empirical observation and practical wisdom.

18th Century

• The Age of Enlightenment emphasized reason, order, and social progress.
• Alexander Pope's satirical poems, like The Rape of the Lock, mocked social follies.
• Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is a satirical critique of human nature and political institutions.
• Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language standardized English vocabulary and grammar.
• Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and Samuel Richardson (Pamela) pioneered the novel as a literary form.

Romantic Period (c. 1789-1837)

• The Romantic movement emphasized emotion, imagination, and the individual.
• William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Lyrical Ballads) celebrated nature and imagination.
• Lord Byron's narrative poems and rebellious persona captured Romanticism's spirit.
• Percy Bysshe Shelley's poems explored revolution, freedom, and ideal love.
• John Keats's odes focused on beauty, mortality, and art.
• Jane Austen's novels (Pride and Prejudice, Emma) commented on English society manners and relationships.

Victorian Period (1837-1901)

• The Victorian era was marked by social change, industrialization, and moral earnestness.
• Charles Dickens's novels (Oliver Twist, Great Expectations) depicted social problems and the lives of the poor.
• The Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, Anne) wrote novels exploring love, passion, and social constraints.
• George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) examined moral dilemmas and human relationships.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poetry reflected duty, patriotism, and melancholy ideals.
• Robert Browning's dramatic monologues explored psychological complexities and moral ambiguities.
• Thomas Hardy's novels (Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure) portrayed individuals' struggles against fate and social forces.

Modern Period (1901-1945)

• Modernism experimented, fragmented, and rejected traditional values.
• Joseph Conrad's novels (Heart of Darkness) explored imperialism, alienation, and human nature's dark side.
• James Joyce's Ulysses used stream-of-consciousness to portray people's inner lives.
• Virginia Woolf's novels (Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse) explored consciousness, memory, and subjective experience.
• T.S. Eliot's poetry (The Waste Land) reflected modern society's disillusionment and fragmentation.
• William Butler Yeats's poetry drew on Irish mythology and folklore to express personal and political concerns.
• George Orwell's novels (Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four) offered dystopian visions of totalitarianism and political power dangers.

Postmodern Period (1945-Present)

• Postmodernism challenges traditional notions of truth, meaning, and authority.
• Samuel Beckett's plays (Waiting for Godot) explored existential themes of absurdity and meaninglessness.
• Harold Pinter's plays used pauses and ambiguity to create unease and tension.
• Contemporary novelists like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Toni Morrison explore identity, globalization, and social justice.
• Postcolonial literature examines colonialism's impact on cultures and identities.
• Diverse voices and perspectives have broadened English literature.
• English literature evolves, reflecting contemporary social, cultural, and political concerns.

Poetry

• Poetry evokes meaning by using language's aesthetic and rhythmic qualities.
• Common elements include meter, rhyme, and figurative language.
• Forms include sonnets, ballads, epics, and free verse.

Prose

• Prose lacks metrical structure.
• Includes novels, short stories, essays, and biographies.
• Includes narrative, descriptive, expository, and argumentative modes.

Drama

• Drama is intended for performance.
• Includes tragedies, comedies, histories, and tragicomedies.
• Relies on dialogue, stage directions, and dramatic structure.

Literary Theory

• Literary theory provides frameworks for interpreting literature.
• Includes formalism, structuralism, post-structuralism, feminism, Marxism, and postcolonialism.
• Literary theory influences reading, analysis, and understanding.

Major Themes

• Love and relationships
• Identity and self-discovery
• Good versus evil
• Power and authority
• Social justice and inequality
• The human condition
• Nature and the environment
• Time and mortality
• Faith and doubt

Key Literary Devices

• Metaphor: comparing things without using "like" or "as."
• Simile: A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as".
• Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
• Irony: A contrast between what is said and what is meant (verbal), what is expected and what happens (situational), or what the audience knows and what a character knows (dramatic).
• Symbolism: Using objects, people, or ideas to represent something else.
• Allusion: A reference to a well-known person, event, or literary work.
• Imagery: Descriptive language creates a vivid picture.
• Theme: The central idea.