English Literature: Literary Movements

English Literature: Literary Movements

• Medieval Period (c. 1100-1485): Characterized by religious themes, chivalric romances, and allegorical poetry. Examples include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and works by Geoffrey Chaucer.
• Renaissance (c. 1485-1660): A period of rebirth in learning and arts. Influenced by classical Greek and Roman models. Focus on humanism and exploration of human potential. Examples include plays by William Shakespeare.
• Neoclassicism (c. 1660-1785): Emphasis on order, reason, and clarity in literature. Influenced by classical Greek and Roman ideals. Focus on satire and didactic poetry. Examples include works by Alexander Pope.
• Romanticism (c. 1785-1830): Characterized by a focus on emotion, imagination, and individualism. Reaction against the Enlightenment. Often explored themes of nature, beauty, and the supernatural. Examples include works by William Wordsworth and Lord Byron.
• Victorian Period (c. 1837-1901): Marked by social and industrial change. Themes often focused on social issues, morality, and realism. Examples include novels by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.
• Modernism (c. 1900-1945): Reaction against Victorian values. Experimentation in form and style is common. Focus on subjective experience and the fragmentation of reality. Examples include works by Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot.
• Postmodernism (c. 1945-present): Challenging traditional notions of truth, meaning, and authority. Often characterized by irony, skepticism, and a playful approach to language. Examples include works by Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut.

Poetic Devices

• Imagery: Description that appeals to the senses, creating vivid pictures in the reader's mind.
• Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as".
• Simile: A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as".
• Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things.
• Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
• Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within words.
• Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds within and at the end of words.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds.
• Symbolism: Using objects or characters to represent abstract ideas or qualities.
• Rhyme: Use of similar-sounding words in lines of poetry.
• Meter: The rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
• Repetition: Repeating words, phrases, or lines of poetry to create emphasis or effect.

Character Analysis

• Motivation: Understanding the reasons behind a character's actions.
• Conflict: The struggle or problem a character faces.
• Relationships: Exploring how characters interact with each other.
• Appearance vs Reality: Examining the discrepancies between how a character presents themselves and who they truly are.
• Development: Tracking the changes a character undergoes throughout the story.
• Archetypes: Recognizing universal character types (e.g., the hero, the villain).
• Character Traits: Determining the personality characteristics of the character (e.g., brave, cunning, honest).
• Foreshadowing: Hints or clues in the story that suggest future events.

Theme Exploration

• Definition: A central idea or message explored in a literary work.
• Examples: Love, loss, sacrifice, justice, identity, the passage of time, good vs evil.
• Identifying Themes: Look for recurring motifs, symbolic imagery, and character development to uncover themes.
• Connecting Themes to Historical Context: Analyzing how historical events and societal views influence the themes presented.

Historical Context

• Social Conditions: Examining the social issues prevalent during a specific historical period.
• Cultural Values: Analyzing the prevailing cultural values and beliefs.
• Political Events: Understanding how political events influence the themes and narrative in a literary work.
• Technological Advancements: How technology develops impacts culture and the arts.
• Religious Beliefs: Impact of prevailing religious beliefs and practices on society.
• Geographically Contextualizing Understanding the setting of a story within the geographical context of the time.