6 Questions
What is the approximate time period of the Anglo-Saxon period in English literature?
c. 450-1100
Who is considered the Father of English literature?
Geoffrey Chaucer
What literary movement emphasized emotion, nature, and imagination?
Romanticism
Who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein?
Mary Shelley
What literary movement experimented with form and style?
Modernism
What is the term for the literary response to colonialism and imperialism?
Postcolonialism
Study Notes
English Literature
Old English (c. 450-1100)
- Anglo-Saxon period
- Influenced by Germanic and Latin languages
- Epic poetry: Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Seafarer
- Caedmon's Hymn: earliest surviving English poem
Middle English (c. 1100-1500)
- Norman Conquest of 1066 introduced French influence
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Arthurian legend
- Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Father of English literature
- Development of alliterative verse and iambic pentameter
Renaissance (c. 1500-1660)
- Revival of classical Greek and Roman influences
- William Shakespeare: plays and sonnets
- Christopher Marlowe: plays and poetry
- John Donne: metaphysical poetry
18th and 19th Centuries
- Neoclassicism: revival of classical forms
- Romanticism: emphasis on emotion, nature, and imagination
- Major authors:
- Jane Austen: novels of social satire
- Mary Shelley: Gothic novel Frankenstein
- William Wordsworth: poet of nature
- John Keats: sensual and beautiful poetry
20th Century
- Modernism: experimentation with form and style
- Major authors:
- Virginia Woolf: stream-of-consciousness novels
- T.S. Eliot: modernist poetry
- James Joyce: experimental novels
- George Orwell: dystopian novels
Postcolonial Literature
- Response to colonialism and imperialism
- Major authors:
- Salman Rushdie: magical realism
- Toni Morrison: African American experience
- J.M. Coetzee: South African literature
- Zadie Smith: contemporary multicultural experience
This quiz covers the history of English literature, from Old English to Postcolonial Literature, including major authors and styles.
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