History of World Literature in Your Fist-1 PDF

WORLD LITERATURE IN YOUR FIST AN ASSORTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE First Edition PREM SHANKAR PANDEY UGC-NET BASED ON LATEST SYLLABUS OF UGC  RIGI PUBLICATION All right reserved...

WORLD LITERATURE IN YOUR FIST AN ASSORTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE First Edition PREM SHANKAR PANDEY UGC-NET BASED ON LATEST SYLLABUS OF UGC  RIGI PUBLICATION All right reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, xerography, or any other means or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner. WORLD LITERATURE IN YOUR FIST AN ASSORTMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE BY PREM SHANKAR PANDEY Copyright Prem Shankar Pandey 2019 Originally published in India ISBN: 978-93-88393-72-0 (Paperback) 978-93-88393-73-7 (eBook) Published by RIGI PUBLICATION 777, Street no.9, Krishna Nagar Khanna-141401 (Punjab), India Website: www.rigipublication.com Email: [email protected] Phone: +91-9357710014, +91-9465468291  Acknowledgement I feel immense pleasure for introducing this book in the field of English Literature. Completion of this book has only been possible with the blessings of almighty god who gave me vigorous strength to work hard with full dedication. He blessed me with the company of few excellent people who proves to be oceans in my desert life. I owe a lot to my parents, who encouraged and helped me at every stage of my personal and academic life. I am extremely grateful to my father Sri Gauri Shankar Pandey and mother Smt. Pratibha Pandey who not only shown me correct path but also always motivated me in every aspects of my life to achieve my goal. I am also obliged to my brother Mr. Jay Shankar Pandey and Sister-in-Law Mrs. Sangita Pandey who have always been standing beside me in every aspects of life and motivated me in achieving my destinies. I am always thankful to my better half, my beautiful wife Mrs. Sarita Pandey who always inspires me achieving my goal. I am also indebted to my son Amrit and daughter Swarnika who have sacrificed their mandatory paternal care for completion of this book, their sacrifice is stupendous. I also would like to pay special compliments to my typing team of this book especially Celma, Lilian and Nadia who worked day and night for typing my self-help notes and giving it shape of a book. I am quite grateful to publisher, Rigi Publication for accepting and publishing my book beautifully. Above all, I owe it all to Almighty God for granting me the wisdom, health and strength to undertake this task and enabling me for its completion. Prem Shankar Pandey  From Author to the Reader I apologize for calling me an author because a literature which is already written can’t be re-written; it can only be compiled in the best possible way according to requirement. Before you go for opening the chapters of this book for reading, I request you to read this preface. How and why this book is written? To qualify a competitive examination is the primary dream of every student, but when the matter of qualifying the examination which needs the extensive study of English Literature comes, then its syllabus seems like an ocean. This book is written or I should better say compiled keeping in view of the current competitive syllabus and scenario. In the Post- postmodern era in which we are living, doesn’t require hard work; but smart work, with the smart study material and smart planning by a smart human. If you are holding this book in your hand then you are the one who is very serious about his/her future and obviously a smart human being. This book is completely compiled and edited by myself and I have tried my level best to maintain the accuracy and authenticity of the content. The book is written in the bullet form for better apprehension, retention and recall which differentiate this book from others. Many patterns of the questions of UGC have been studied and critically analyzed before writing this book to make it competition friendly. What inspired me to write this book? In 2015, I decided to prepare for NET in English literature exactly after six years of completing my PG in distance mode in 2009. When I entered in this field I found the syllabus like an old banyan tree which has many branches with deep roots inside. I found no book of English literature available in the market which covers the entire world’s literature and provides a selective content which I suppose to read. I was totally confused and puzzled about from where to start the preparation?, which book to read?, what to read and what not to read?, how to memorize all the giant data. If you too feel the same then you are holding a right thing in your hand. There is a common phenomenon that whenever you are in trouble, hardly anyone comes to support and motivate you. Same was the case with me, I didn’t find any guidance in my preparation, and if at all some guidance was available, was only through coaching centres which were quite inconvenient for me to attend and also were demanding huge ransom for coaching. I bought various books of English Literature authored by various authors as RD Trivedi, WR Goodman, David Daiches, WJ Long, Andrew Sanders etc., but couldn’t concentrate on any one of them because while reading them I felt time consuming and boring and output was very less. That was the moment, when I decided to write such a book which covers everything what is required to qualify any competitive examination which is about English Literature and also makes the reading full of fun and interesting. After studying various question patterns of different examinations of English literature I started collecting important information from different books mentioned above and also online sources like Wikipedia, Spark Notes, enotes, Goodreads, Gradesaver, Shmoop etc. to make the data reliable and authentic and updated. It took me about two years to make self-help notes which were obviously even better than any coachings. At the end of 2017 the complete notes of World literature was in my hand. I studied them for six months and qualified the NET exam in July 2018 by only studying for two hours daily but regularly. The most important thing which I would like to reiterate here is that I have been an employee and was getting hardly two hours, that too after working for 10-12 hours in the office, for reading books and making notes. The same self-help notes are presented to you in the form of a book which you are holding in your hand, with the noble idea of more output in less time, selective and precise content and easy language in order to reduce your effort of study with better results of your choice. I have put my sweat and blood in preparation of this book in order to make you reach your destination without wasting your time and efforts. Reading Strategy If you are going to appear in any of the competitive examinations then first you need to decide your goal with specific timeframe and specific reason then only this book will work. Don’t read this book rather work with it. Here are the steps for working with this book: (i) Before you sit for study, decide how much time you are going to sit at a stretch for study like one hour, two hours etc. Close your eyes and give affirmation to your sub-conscious mind that you are going to fully concentrate on the study without any distraction. (ii) Make a survey of all the pages which you can finish in your decided time like 4 pages in one hour or 6 pages in two hours etc. During survey you need to look for headings and subheadings only so that while you start reading, you can relate and link the contents which are about to come. (iii) Now read this book by reciting in order to pay full attention and high degree of concentration in study. While you read this book always keep a text liner to mark important texts according to your requirement and also a pen so that you can put your own remarks, comments and views on the book, you can also add some more information if required on the book itself which is not there. (iv) When you sit the next time for study, it is reiterated that you must review the pages which you had studied in the last sitting. It will help you in better retention. You don’t need to memorize anything just follow these steps, everything will automatically be printed in your sub- conscious mind and you can easily recall them whenever required. (v) On the weekends, don’t read anything new, rather revise everything once again which have been studied in the entire week, for best retention. By this method you will be able to revise one text three times and it will ensure a better retention and recalling. When you read for the first time it may take more time but when you revise with important text highlighted, it will take much less time. I am sure you are excited to work with this book and achieve everything you want. I wish a very bright and successful future to you ahead. Prem Shankar Pandey E-Mail ID: [email protected] August, 2019  Index Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 1 Ancient Literature 1 Aeschylus 20 2 Sophocles 20 3 Euripides 21 4 Socrates 21 5 Ovid 22 6 Pindar 23 7 Virgil 23 8 Homer 24 2 British Literature 1 Geoffrey Chaucer 26 2 William Langland 41 3 John Wycliff 42 4 John Mandeville 43 5 Thomas Occleve 43 6 John Lydgate 43 7 Features of 15th Century Literature 44 8 Thomas Malory 45 9 William Caxton 46 10 John Skelton 47 11 Desiderius Erasmus 48 12 Stephen Hawes 48 13 Thomas More 48 14 Alexander Barclay 49 15 William Tyndale 49 16 Sir Thomas Wyatt 50 17 Earl of Surrey 50 18 Thomas Norton and Sackville 51 19 Roger Ascham 51 20 Beaumont and Fletcher 52 21 Ben Jonson 53 22 University Wits 59 23 John Lyly 59 24 Christopher Marlow 62 25 Robert Greene 68 26 George Peele 69 27 Thomas Lodge 70 28 Thomas Nashe 71 29 Thomas Kyd 71 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 30 Edmund Spenser 73 31 William Shakespeare 78 32 Sir Philip Sidney 125 33 Francis Bacon 128 34 Metaphysical Poets 130 35 John Donne 131 36 John Milton 137 37 Restoration Period 147 38 William Congreve 148 39 John Bunyan 151 40 George Etherege 154 41 Aphra Behn 154 42 William Wycherley 155 43 John Vanbrugh 156 44 Samuel Pepys 157 45 George Farquhar 157 46 Samuel Butler 157 47 Neo-Classical Period 158 48 Alexander Pope 159 49 Jonathan Swift 164 50 John Gay 168 51 John Arbuthnot 170 52 Colley Cibber 170 53 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 171 54 Daniel Defoe 171 55 Joseph Addison 174 56 Richard Steele 175 57 Nahum Tate 175 58 Nicholas Rowe 176 59 Thomas Parnell 177 60 Edward Young 177 61 Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea 178 62 Matthew Prior 178 63 Laurence Eusden 179 64 The Age of Johnson 179 65 Dr. Samuel Johnson 181 66 Oliver Goldsmith 184 67 Robert Burns 186 68 William Collins 187 69 Samuel Richardson 188 70 Henry Fielding 189 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 71 George Crabbe 192 72 Thomas Gray 193 73 William Cowper 194 74 James Boswell 195 75 Edmund Burke 196 76 Edward Gibbon 196 77 Tobias Smollett 197 78 Laurence Sterne 197 79 James Macpherson 198 80 Thomas Chatterton 198 81 Thomas Percy 199 82 James Thompson 199 83 Fanny Burney 200 84 R. B. Sheridan 200 85 Age of Romanticism 203 86 William Wordsworth 203 87 S. T. Coleridge 209 88 Charles Lamb 215 89 Leigh Hunt 217 90 Thomas De-Quincy 218 91 P. B. Shelley 220 92 Lord Byron 225 93 W. S. Landor 226 94 Marry Shelley 226 95 Anne Radcliffe 228 96 Maria Edgeworth 229 97 Sir Walter Scott 230 98 Robert Southey 231 99 William Blake 233 100 William Hazlitt 239 101 Jane Austen 241 102 John Keats 247 103 Thomas Love Peacock 251 104 Victorian Period 252 105 Charlotte Bronte 254 106 Emily Bronte 256 107 Anne Bronte 258 108 Walter Pater 258 109 R. L. Stevenson 259 110 Mathew Arnold 260 111 Elizabeth Barret Browning 266 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 112 Lord Alfred Tennyson 268 113 Thomas Carlyle 274 114 Charles Dickens 275 115 Lewis Carol 282 116 W. M. Thackeray 284 117 Robert Browning 285 118 Oscar Wilde 288 119 John Ruskin 289 120 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 291 121 George Eliot 292 122 G. M. Hopkins 295 123 Thomas Hardy 296 124 D. G. Rossetti 301 125 Christina Rossetti 302 126 Modern Period 303 127 Rudyard Kipling 305 128 Harold Pinter 308 129 H. G. Wells 310 130 Wilfred Owen 313 131 W. H. Auden 314 132 W. Somerset Maugham 316 133 W. B. Yeats 317 134 Joseph Conrad 322 135 Siegfried Loraine Sassoon 325 136 T. E. Hulme 326 137 Louis Mac Niece 327 138 Dylan Thomas 328 139 G. K. Chesterton 330 140 Sean O’Casey 331 141 Arnold Bennett 333 142 Virginia Woolf 334 143 T. S. Eliot 339 144 George Orwell 347 145 J. B. Pristley 351 146 Aldous Huxley 352 147 John Galsworthy 354 148 E. M. Forster 357 149 G. B. Shaw 361 150 James Joyce 365 151 Christopher Isherwood 369 152 D. H. Lawrence 370 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 153 John Drinkwater 375 154 Katherine Mansfield 376 155 Stephan Spender 377 156 Cecil Day Lewis 378 157 Dorothy Richardson 379 158 Graham Greene 380 159 Walter de la Mare 381 160 Lady Gregory 382 161 Post Modern Literature 383 162 William Golding 384 163 Martin Amis 386 164 John Osborne 387 165 Laurence Durrell 390 166 Eugene Ionesco 391 167 Carol Ann Duffy 392 168 Muriel Spark 393 169 Tom Stoppard 396 170 Doris Lessing 398 171 Kingsley Amis 401 172 Iris Murdoch 403 173 Christopher Fry 404 174 Joe Orton 405 175 Victor Rousseau Emanuel 406 176 Bertrand Russel 408 177 J.M. Keynes 409 178 Philip Larkin 409 179 Anthony Burgess 412 180 Alan Sillitoe 413 181 Evelyn Waugh 415 182 C.P. Snow 417 183 V.S. Naipaul 418 184 Norman Lewis 423 185 Samuel Beckett 424 186 Angela Carter 427 187 David Lodge 428 188 Zaidi Smith 430 189 Ted Hughes 432 190 Seamus Heaney 435 191 Julian Barnes 437 192 Margaret Drabble 439 193 Paul Beatty 441 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 3 American 1 American Romantic Period 444 Literature 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne 444 3 Hilda Doolittle 447 4 Herman Melville 448 5 Walt Whitman 449 6 Ezra Pound 451 7 Edgar Allen Poe 452 8 Mark Twain or Samuel Clemens 453 9 Eugene O’Neill 456 10 Robert Frost 456 11 Henry James 460 12 Tennessee Williams 461 13 Ernest Hemingway 463 14 William Faulkner 465 15 Toni Morrison 467 16 Harper Lee 469 17 Elaine Showalter 470 18 Sinclair Lewis 471 19 Ralph Ellison 472 20 John Steinbeck 473 21 Harold Bloom 474 22 Frederic Douglass 475 23 Stephan Crane 476 24 Stanley Fish 477 25 Harriet Beecher Stow 477 26 James Cooper 478 27 H. W. Longfellow 478 28 Pearl S. Buck 480 29 Ralph Waldo Emerson 481 30 William Carlos Williams 482 31 Sylvia Plath 483 32 Arthur Miller 485 33 Henry David Thoreau 488 34 Emily Dickinson 489 35 Philip Roth 489 36 Saul Bellow 492 37 Gertrude Stein 492 38 Thomas Paine 493 39 Benjamin Franklin 494 40 James Lowell 494 41 William Styron 495 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 42 F. Scott Fitzgerald 495 43 Edward Albee 496 44 Dylan Thomas 499 45 Gabriel Garcia Marquez 499 4 Australian 1 David Malaouf 502 Literature 2 Henry Lawson 503 3 Banjo Paterson 504 4 Patrick White 505 5 John Flanagan 507 6 Thomas Keneally 508 7 Peter Carey 509 8 Geraldine Brooks 510 9 Paul Jennings 511 5 German Literature 1 Hermann Hesse 514 2 Thomas Mann 515 3 Friedrich Schiller 516 4 Gunter Grass 517 5 Johann Wolfgang Goethe 518 6 Anne Frank 520 7 Franz Kafka 520 6 Indian Literature 1 Henry Derozio 524 2 R.K Narayan 524 3 Mulk Raj Anand 527 4 Raja Rao 528 5 Toru Dutt 530 6 Ruskin Bond 531 7 Micheal Madhusudan Dutt 531 8 Sri Aurbindo 532 9 Vikram Seth 533 10 Jhumpa Lahiri 534 11 Sarojini Naidu 535 12 Shobha De 536 13 Shashi Deshpande 537 14 Shashi Tharoor 538 15 Romesh Chander Dutt 538 16 Nissim Ezekiel 539 17 A.K Ramanujan 541 18 R Parthsarthy 542 19 Rohinton Mistry 542 20 Salman Rushdie 543 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 21 Arvind Adiga 546 22 Amitav Ghosh 547 23 Kiran Desai 548 24 Kamla Das 549 25 Kamla Markandaya 549 26 Arundhati Roy 550 27 U.R. Anathamurthy 551 28 Arun Kolatkar 551 29 Badal Sircar 552 30 Bhabani Bhattacharya 552 31 Jayant Mahapatra 553 32 G.V. Desani 554 33 Mahesh Dattani 554 34 Mahashweta Devi 556 35 Nirad C Chaudhury 557 36 Nayantara Sahgal 558 37 Manohar Malgaonkar 558 38 Arun Joshi 559 39 Meena Alexander 559 40 Ananda Coomaraswamy 561 41 Rabindra Nath Tagore 561 42 Anita Desai 562 43 Girish Karnad 563 44 Vijay Tendulkar 564 7 African Literature 1 J M Coetzee 568 2 Chinua Achebe 569 3 Wole Soyinka 571 4 Ken Saro Wiwa 574 5 Ben Okri 574 6 Buchi Emecheta 575 7 Ngugi wa Thiong’o 575 8 Derek Walcott 577 9 George Lamming 577 8 Canadian Literature 1 Margaret Atwood 580 2 Margaret Laurence 581 3 Alice Munro 582 9 Other Asian 1 Michael Ondaatje 584 Literature 2 Shyam Selvadurai 585 3 Monica Ali 586 4 Bapsi Sidhwa 587 5 Anton Chekov 587 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 6 Leo Tolstoy 589 7 Vladimir Nabokov 591 8 Alexander Pushkin 592 9 Fyodor Dostoevsky 593 10 Maxim Gorky 595 10 European 1 Petrarch 598 Literature 2 Dante Alighieri 598 3 Cervantes 600 4 Gustave Flaubert 600 5 Orhan Pamuk 602 6 Giovanni Boccaccio 602 7 Emile Zola 603 8 Jean Paul Sarte 604 9 Albert Camus 605 10 Milan Kundera 606 11 Henrik Ibsen 607 12 Gabriel Garcia Marquez 609 11 Cultural Studies 1 Archetypal or Myth Criticism 612 2 Northrop Frye 612 3 Russian Formalism 613 4 Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky 615 5 Marxist Criticism 616 6 Frederic Jameson 618 7 Terry Eagleton 618 8 Raymond Williams 619 9 Gyrogy Lukacs 620 10 Structuralism 621 11 Ferdinand de Saussure 622 12 Darwinian Theory 623 13 Roland Barthes 624 14 Aestheticism 625 15 De-construction 625 16 Jacques Derrida 627 17 Post Structuralsim 629 18 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak 629 19 New Historicism 631 20 Stephan Greenblatt 632 21 Reader Response Criticism 633 22 F R Leavis 634 23 Eco-Criticism 636 24 Post Modernism 636 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 25 Post Colonialism 637 26 Julia Kristeva 638 27 New Criticism 639 28 J C Ransom 640 29 Homi K Bhabha 640 30 Edward Said 641 31 Transcendentalism 642 32 Nationalism 643 33 Realism or Naturalism 643 34 The Enlightenment 644 35 Utilitarianism 644 36 Dark Romanticism 645 37 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 645 38 Oxford Movement 645 39 Dadaism 646 40 Surrealism 647 41 Imagism 647 42 Jindiworobak Movement 648 43 Frankfurt School 648 44 Beat Generation 649 45 Harlem Renaissance 650 46 Literary Realism in America 650 47 Naturalism in America 651 48 Holocaust Literature 651 12 Literary Theory and 1 Plato 654 Criticism 2 Aristotle 655 3 Longinus 657 4 Plotinus 658 5 Boethius 659 6 St. Augustine of Hippo 659 7 Horace 659 8 Indian Aesthetics 660 9 Semiotics 661 10 Mikhail Bakhtin 662 11 Feminist Criticism 663 12 Judith Butler 667 13 Simone de Beauvoir 667 14 Phenomenological Criticism 668 15 Psychoanalysis 669 16 Sigmund Freud 669 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 17 Jacques Lacan 671 18 Queer Theory 672 19 Michel Foucault 673 20 Cleanth Brooks 674 21 AC Bradley 675 22 Kenneth Burke 675 23 TE Hulme 676 24 Robert Graves 677 25 Sir Philip Sidney 678 26 John Dryden 679 27 William Wordsworth 682 28 PB Shelley 683 29 ST Coleridge 683 30 TS Eliot 684 31 Mathew Arnold 685 32 Thomas Bowdler 686 33 New Ethnicities 687 13 Basic Concepts and 1 Methods of Teaching Language 690 Theories in Linguistics 2 Noam Chomsky 692 3 Second Language Acquisition 694 4 IA Richards 694 5 Practical Criticism 695 6 WK Wimsatt 696 7 Vowels and Consonants 697 14 Research Methods 1 Research Methods and Materials in in English English 700 2 Linguistics Research 704 15 Miscellaneous 1 Periodicals 708 2 Avant Garde 709 3 The Chartist Movement 709 4 Reform Act 710 5 Bible 710 6 Types of Satire 711 7 Types of Rhyme 712 8 Types of Comedy 714 9 Types of Theatre 717 10 List of Important Odes 719 11 List of Important Sonnets 720 Unit Unit Name Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No 12 List of Important Booker Prize Winners 720 13 Man Booker International Prize 722 List of Important Nobel Prize Winners in 14 Literature 723 15 List of Important Pulitzer Prize Winners 724 16 List of Important Sahitya Akademy Award Winners 725 17 List of Important Partition Novels 726 18 List of Important Dystopian Novels 727 19 List of Important Picaresque Novels 727 20 List of Important Bildungsroman Novels 730 21 Important Literary Terms 735  Unit-1 Ancient Literature World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 19  Chapter-1 The father of Tragedy: Aeschylus (523 – 456 BC)  Aeschylus was an ancient Greek Tragedian.  He is also the first whose plays still survive; the others such are Sophocles and Euripides.  He is often described as “The Father of Tragedy”.  According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the plays to allow conflict among them, whereas characters previously had interacted along with the chorus.  Only seven of his estimated 70-90 plays survived and there is a longstanding debate regarding one of his plays “Prometheus Bound”, which some believe to be written by his son Euphorion.  He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy. His Oresteia is the only ancient example of this form that survives.  The Persians is the only surviving classical Greek tragedy concerned with contemporary events and useful source of information about its period.  Oresteia is acclaimed by today’s literary academics.  The inscription on his graveyard signifies the primary importance of “Belonging to the City”  His only seven tragedies are survived intact are: “The Persians” (472 BC), “Seven Against Thebes” (407 BC), “The Suppliants” (463 BC), “Oresteia” trilogy and “Prometheus Bound” (authorship is disputed).  Oresteia trilogy consists of three tragedies: “Agamemnon”, “The Libation Bearers” and “The Eumenides”, this trilogy tells the bloody story of the family of Agamemnon, King of Argos.  Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the Second actor (deuteragonist) to the Greek stage. Chapter-2 Sophocles (497 – 406 BC)  Sophocles is one of the ancient Greek Tragedians whose plays are survived.  Sophocles wrote 123 plays during the course of his life but only seven have survived in complete form, They are: 1. Ajax 2. Antigone 3. The Women of Trachis 4. Oedipus the King 5. Electra 6. Philoctetes and 7. Oedipus at Colonus  The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedipus (means- swollen foot) and also “Antigone”. They are generally known as the “Theban Plays”. Although each play was actually a part of a different tetralogy, the other members of which are now lost.  He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights such as Aeschylus.  Only two of seven surviving plays can be dated securely i.e. “Philoctetes” (409 BC) and “Oedipus at Colonus” (401 BC). World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 20   Theban Plays: It consists of three plays: “Oedipus the King (also called Oedipus Tyrannus or by its Latin title Oedipus Rex), “Oedipus at Colonus” and “Antigone”. All the three plays concern the fate of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus.  According to Aristotle, Sophocles is responsible for introducing the “Third Actor to Greek Stage” (Tritagonist). Chapter-3 Euripides (480 – 406 BC)  Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens.  According to Suda, out of 92 plays by him, 18 or 19 have survived more or less complete.  In the Hellenistic Age, he became Cornerstone of Ancient Literary education along with Homer, Demosthenes and Menander.  He also became “The most tragic of poets”. Notable Works 1- Alcestis (438 BC) 2- Medea (431 BC) 3- Heracleidae (430 BC) 4- The Bacchae (405 BC) 5- The Trojan Women (415 BC) 6- Hippolytus (428 BC) 7- Helen (412 BC) 8- Andromache (525 BC) 9- Hecuba (424 BC) 10- The Suppliants (423 BC) 11- Electra (420 BC) 12- Heracles (416 BC) 13- Phoenician Women (410 BC) 14- Orestes (408 BC) 15- Iphigenia at Aulis (405 BC) Chapter-4 Socrates (470 – 399 BC)  Socrates was a classical Greek Philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western Philosophy.  He is an enigmatic figure chiefly known through the accounts of classical writers especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes.  Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of Ethics and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concept of Socratic Irony and the Socratic Method. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 21   Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of Epistemology.  Socrates never individually wrote anything that remains extant. As a result, all first-hand information about him and his philosophies depend upon secondary sources. This issue is known as Socratic Problem or Socratic Question.  To understand Socrates one must turn primarily to the works of Plato, whose dialogues are thought the most informative source about Socrates’ life and philosophy and also Xenophon. These writings are the Socratikoilogoi or Socratic Dialogue which consists of reports of conversations apparently involving Socrates.  He was prominently lampooned in Aristophanes’ comedy “The Clouds”.  In comedy entitled “The Clouds” ancient Greek author Aristophanes pokes fun at Socrates. Chapter-5 Metamorphoses (imp work) Ovid (43 BC – AD 17)  He wrote witty and sophisticated love poems.  His full name was Publius Ovidius Naso known as Ovid in English speaking world.  He was a Roman Poet who lived during the reign of Augustus.  He was a contemporary of Virgil and Horace.  He is best known for Metamorphoses (AD 8), a 15 book continuous Mythological narrative written in the meter of Epic and for collections of love poetry in Elegiac Couplets, especially the Amores (Love Affairs) and Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love).  The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology.  He was the first major Roman poet to begin his career during the reign of Augustus.  The Fasti (Books of Days) is a six book Latin poem remained incomplete with Calendar structure. “Tristia” and “Epistulae Ci Ponto” are two collection of elegies in the form of complaining letters from his exile.  His shorter works include Remedia Amoris (Cure for Love), the Curse poem Ibis and an advice poem On Women’s Cosmetics.  He wrote a lost tragedy Medea.  The Heroides (Heroine) or Epistulae Heroidum is a collection of 21 poems in elegiac couplets.  Tristia (Sorrow) consists of five books written during Ovid’s exile in Tomis.  Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea) is a collection of four books.  Augustus Caesar banished Ovid to an isolated island and he died in exile. Metamorphoses  It is a narrative poem beginning with the creation of the world and ends in Ovid’s time.  It consists of adventures of love affairs of deities and heroes.  More than 200 tales are taken from Greek and Roman Mythology, and these were the greatest source of Mythology for Renaissance writers. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 22  Chapter-6 Pindar (522 – 443 BC)  Pindar was an ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes.  He was the first Greek poet to reflect on the nature of poetry and on the poet’s role.  His poetry illustrates the beliefs and values of Archaic Greece at the dawn of classical period.  About ten days before he died, the goddess Persephone appeared to him and complained that she was the only divinity to whom he never composed a rhyme.  He died around 440 BC while attending a festival at Argos.  Scholars at the Library of Alexandria collected his compositions in 17 books organized according to genre.  One book of humnoi “Hymns”, one book of Paines “Paeans” , two books of dithuramboi “Dithyrambs”, 2 books of Prosadia “Processionals”, 3 books of parthenia “Song for Light Dance” , 1 book of threnoi “Laments”, 4 books of epinikia “Victory odes” – above all Epinikia Odes written to commemorate athletic victories, survive in complete form.  His victory Odes are grouped in 4 books: Olympion, Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean Games.  Longinus likens to a vast fire and Athenaeus refers to him as a Great Voked Pindar.  Pindaric Ode – There are 3 types of stanza in each ode based on choral positions. Strophe (right to left), anti-strophe (left to right) and Epode (in a circle).  A variation of Pindaric ode called Irregular Ode was developed by Abraham Cowley (17th century). Chapter-7 Virgil (70 – 19 BC)  Publius Vergilius Maro usually called Virgil or Vergil in English, was an ancient Roman Poet of the Augustan period.  He is known for three major works of Latin Literature, The Eclogues, The Georges and the epic Aeneid.  A minor number of poems are collected in the Appendix Virgiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.  His “Aeneid” has been considered the national epic of Ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day.  It is modeled after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.  Virgil’s work has had wide and deep influence on western literature most notably on Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, in which Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory.  After considering briefly, a career in Rhetoric and Law, the young Virgil turned his talents to poetry.  He was nicknamed “Parlhenias” or “Maiden” because of his social aloofness.  The Augustan poet Ovid parodies the opening lines of “Aeneid in Amores” and his summary of The Aeneid story in book 14 of the Metamorphosis the so-called Mini – Aeneid.  Lucan’s epic The Bellum Olive has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic.  “The Aeneid” an epic poem written between 29 and 19 BC tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy where he became the ancestor of Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 23  Chapter-8 Homer (Probably between 12th and 8th centuries BC)  Homer is best known as the author of Iliad and Odyssey.  He was believed by the ancient Greek to have been the first and greatest of all the epic poets.  Author of the first known literature of Europe, he is central to the Western Canon.  The importance of Homer to the ancient Greeks is described in Plato’s Republic which portrays him as “first teacher” of tragedies and “Leader of Greek culture”.  The satirist Lucian in his “True History” describes him as Babylonian called Tigranos, who assumed the name Homer when taken “Hostage”. Notable works of Homer 1-Odysey  The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.  George Chapman (1616) translated it to English.  It is written in dactylic hexameter.  It is sequel to the Iliad. 2-Illiad  Referred as the Song of Ilion or Song of Ilium.  It is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, set during Trojan War between King Agamemnon and the Warrior Achilles (15,693 lines). 3-Homeric Hymn: A collection of 33 anonymous ancient Greek Hymns celebrating individual god in dactylic hexameter. 4-Epic Cycle: A collection of ancient Greek epic poems that related the story of Trojan War which includes the Cypria, the Aethiopes, the so called Little Iliad, Ilupersis, the Nostoi and the Telegoni in dactylic hexameter. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 24  Unit-2 British Literature World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 25  Chapter-1 Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)  He was born between 1340-1345 probably in London. His father was a prosperous wine merchant.  In 1357 he was a page in the household of Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Ulster (wife of Prince Lionel).  He was captured by the French during the Brittany Expedition of 1359 but was ransomed by the King.  Edward III later sent him to France on a diplomatic mission. He also travelled to Genoa and Florence.  Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, a lady in waiting in the Queen’s household.  Phillippa’s sister, Katherine Swynford later became the third wife of John of Gaunt (King’s fourth son and Chaucer’s patron).  In 1374 Chaucer was appointed Comptroller of the Lucrative London customs.  In 1386 he was elected Member of Parliament for Kent and also served as a justice of peace. In 1389, he was made clerk of the King’s works, overseeing loyal building projects.  He held a number of royal posts serving both Edward III and his successor Richard II.  Chaucer lived during Edward III – 1327-1377 Richard II – 1377 -1399 Henry IV – 1399 -1413  He was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey now known as “The Poets Corner.”  Arnold called him father of English poetry.  In the “Legends of Good Women”, the 9 legends are - Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermnestra.  Dryden re-wrote Canterbury Tales in Modern English.  He was the first national poet of England.  Dryden said about him – “Here is God’s plenty” and “A Rough diamond and must first be polished ere he shines”.  Boccacio exercised a deep influence on Chaucer. On diplomatic mission he was sent to Italy where he met Petrarch and Boccacio. He makes a clear reference of Petrarch in his Clerk’s tale.  He is called father of English poetry and Grandfather of English Novel.  He is called morning star of song, and morning star of Renaissance.  Arnold says about him – “Chaucer lacks not only the accent of Dante but also the high seriousness.”  He is the first one to use Ottava Rima in The Book of The Duchess. (Ottava Rima is the eight syllable line in couplet rhyming)  He first used heroic couplet in The Legends of Good Women. (Heroic couplet is ten syllable line rhyming in Couplets i.e. Decasyllabic Couplet)  He first used Rhyme Royal in Troilus and Cressida. Rhyme Royal is ten syllable line arranged in Seven line stanza (ABAB BCC)  Chaucer’s Troilus and Cressida is called novel in verse.  In The House of Fame, Chaucer resemblance closes to Dante’s Divine Comedy.  W. J. Long called the prologue to the Canterbury tales as “the prologue to modern fiction” because of its realism.  The general prologue of The Canterbury Tales contains 858 lines. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 26   The general plan of Canterbury tales is taken from Boccacio’s Decameron. In Canterbury the pilgrims could be seen going to Thomas a Beckett in the month of April. He gave pen picture of 21 pilgrims in this work.  “Had Chaucer written in prose it is possible his Troilus and Cressida and not Richardson’s “Pamela” would be celebrated as 1st English Novel” - by S. D. Neil.  Edmund Spenser in his “Faerie Queene” called – “Chaucer, well of English undefiled.”  Nevill Coghill interpreted Canterbury Tales in 20th Century English.  ‘Albert’ called Chaucer “The earliest of the great moderns.” and “the morning star of Renaissance.”  Dryden called Chaucer “The father of English poetry.”  “Chaucer found his native tongue a dialect and left it a language” - By Lowes  “Chaucer is the earliest of the great moderns”: By Mathew Arnold  “If Chaucer is the father of English poetry, he is the grandfather of English novel.” -By G.K. Chesterton.  “Here is God’s plenty.” By Dryden  Occleve wrote a famous poem “The Regiment of Princess” on the death of Chaucer.  Chaucer and Langland died in the same year (1400).  Chaucer has been criticised for presenting about courts and cultivated classes and neglect the suffering of the poor.  Although in Canterbury Tales 120 stories were planned but only 24 were completed.  Chaucer introduced ‘Felicity’ in English.  Longest tale of Canterbury Tales is Knight’s Tale.  Chaucer has been called the “Prince of Plagiarists.”  “Chaucer was not in any sense a poet of the people” – by Hudson  The works of his life can be divided into three periods French Period (1359-1372)  During this time, Chaucer translated the "Roman de la Rose," a French poem written during the 1200s.  He also wrote his "Book of the Duchess," an elegiac poem that shared much with contemporary French poetry of the time but also departed from that poetry in important ways.  Chaucer's extensive reading of Latin poets such as Boethius also influenced his own work.  He was influenced by French masters as Guillaume de Machaut, Jean de Meun and Guillaume de Lorris. The Romaunt of the Rose (1360)  This book was almost a translated version of French work “le Roman de la Rose” Jean de Meun and Guillaume de Lorris.  The story begins with an allegorical dream, in which the narrator receives advice from the god of love on gaining his lady's favour. Her love being symbolized by a rose, he is unable to get to the rose.  The second fragment is a satire on the mores of the time, with respect to courting, religious order, and religious hypocrisy. In the second fragment, the narrator is able to kiss the rose, but then the allegorical character Jealousy builds a fortress encircling it so that the narrator does not have access to it.  The third fragment of the translation takes up the poem 5,000 lines after the second fragment ends. At its beginning, the god of love is planning to attack the fortress of Jealousy with his barons. The rest of the fragment is a confession given by Fals-Semblant, or false-seeming, which is a treatise on the ways in which men are false to one another, especially the clergy to their parishioners.  The third fragment ends with Fals-Semblant going to the fortress of Jealousy in the disguise of a religious pilgrim. He speaks with Wikked-Tunge that is holding one of the gates of the fortress and convinces him to repent his sins. The poem ends with Fals-Semblant absolving Wikked-Tunge of his sins. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 27  The Book of the Duchess (1369)  This book was written on the death of the Dutchess Blenche, who was the wife of John of Gaunt ( Patron of Chaucer). She belongs to Lancester. This book is an elegy and allegory in nature. It comprises 1300 lines. In this book Chaucer used Ottava Rima for the first time.  'The Book of the Duchess' begins with a man who cannot sleep. His heavy thoughts and fantasies are so disturbing that he hasn't slept for eight years. He fears he will die of his insomnia, so he asks a servant to bring him a book to read, which he calls a romance, a medieval European genre of literature often about knights and their adventures and romances. He says that it's better to read than to play chess to try to fall asleep.  He reads about a fictional king, Ceyx, who sets sail for an adventure at sea and is drowned in a storm. The queen, Alcyone, waits for him to return and when he doesn't, she grieves inconsolably. She begs the goddess Juno to let her see what happened to her husband, if only in a dream. She vows to give her total devotion to the goddess if she grants her wish.  The goddess causes Alcyone to fall into a deep sleep and summons Morpheus, the god of sleep, to go find the king on the ocean floor, inhabit his body, and make him appear to Alcyone in a dream so that she sees that he has drowned. He does so, and Alcyone dies of grief three days later.  The narrator, or the speaker of the poem, figures that if a god helps Alcyone fall asleep and dream, maybe a god would do the same for him. He sends a plea up to the gods that he will reward them with the most luxurious gold-painted bedchamber, with a bed of the finest down, with covers embroidered with the finest threads of pure gold, if they will help him sleep. He immediately falls asleep and has a vivid dream.  First, the narrator hears the birds singing the sweetest symphony he's ever heard. He is lying in a room whose walls have pictures of all the characters of the great European epic poems.  'For the entire story of Troy was wrought in the glasswork thus: of Hector and of King Priam, of Achilles and of King Lamedon, and also of Medea and of Jason, of Paris, Helen, and of Lavinia. And on all the walls were painted with fine colours the entire Romance of the Rose, both text and gloss.'  Some of the other works of this period are:-  The ABC- It is written in eight line stanza.  The Complaint into Pity :- Chaucer has used first time a seven line stanza known as 'Rhyme Royal in this work.  The Complaint of Mars.  Queen Anelida. Italian Period (1372-85)  In 1372 Chaucer has been to Italy & came in personal contact with Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. The important works of this period are : Troilus and Criseyde, The Parlement of Foules, The House of Fame and The Legend of Good Women. Troilus and Criseyde  It is a tragic verse romance by Geoffrey Chaucer, composed in the 1380s and considered by some critics to be his finest work. The plot of this 8,239-line poem was taken largely from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il filostrato.  It recounts the love story of Troilus, son of the Trojan king Priam, and Criseyde, widowed daughter of the deserter priest Calchas.  The poem moves in leisurely fashion, with introspection and much of what would now be called psychological insight dominating many sections. Aided by Criseyde’s uncle Pandarus, Troilus and World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 28  Criseyde are united in love about halfway through the poem, but then she is sent to join her father in the Greek camp outside Troy.  Despite her promise to return, she is loved by the Greek warrior Diomedes and comes to love him. Troilus, left in despair, is killed in the Trojan War.  These events are interspersed with Boethian discussion of free will and determinism and the direct comments of the narrator.  At the end of the poem, when Troilus’s soul rises into the heavens, the folly of complete immersion in sexual love is contrasted with the eternal love of God. The Parliament of Foules (1382)  It is a 699-line poem in rhyme royal by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in 1380–90. Composed in the tradition of French romances.  This poem has been called one of the best occasional verses in the English language. Often thought to commemorate the marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia in 1382, it describes a conference of birds that meet to choose their mates on St. Valentine’s Day.  The narrator falls asleep and dreams of a beautiful garden in which Nature presides over a debate between three high-ranking eagles, all vying for the attentions of a beautiful female.  The other birds, each of which represents a different aspect of English society, are given a chance to express their opinions; Chaucer uses this device to gently satirize the tradition of courtly love. He handles the debate with humour and deftly characterizes the various birds.  Although the debate on love and marriage is never resolved, the poem is complete in itself and ends on a note of joy and satisfaction. The House of Fame (1380)  It was written after the influence of Dante. It has the resemblance to Dante’s Divine Comedy.  It is an unfinished dream‐ poem by Chaucer. There are three books, in 2,158 lines of Octosyllabics.  After the prologue on dreams and the invocation to the god of sleep, Book I says the poet fell asleep and dreamt that he was in a Temple of Glass where he saw depicted Aeneas and Dido; the dream moves on to deal more briefly with other parts of the Aeneid.  The poet sees an eagle that alights by him and is his guide through the House of Fame. The eagle explains, philosophically and at length, how Fame works in its arbitrary ways.  The eagle departs and Chaucer enters the Palace of Fame (Rumour) where he sees the famous of both classical and biblical lore. Eolus blows a trumpet to summon up the various celebrities who introduce themselves in categories reminiscent of the souls in Dante's Divina Commedia.  Towards the end of the poem comes a vision of bearers of false tidings: shipmen, pilgrims, pardoners, and messengers, whose confusion seems to be about to be resolved by the appearance of ‘A man of gret auctorite…’; but there the poem ends. The Legend of Good Women (1385)  It is written on Queen Bohemia’s bidding who asked him to write of good women. Much of this poem is devoted to the first use of the heroic couplet by Chaucer to retell in lyrical form the tragic love stories of Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermnestra.  It is a dream-vision by Geoffrey Chaucer. The fourth and final work of the genre that Chaucer composed, it presents a “Prologue” (existing in two versions) and nine stories. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 29   In the “Prologue” the god of love is angry at Chaucer for writing about so many women who betray men. As penance, Chaucer is instructed to write about good women.  The “Prologue” is noteworthy for the delightful humour of the narrator’s self-mockery and for the passages in praise of books and of the spring.  The stories—concerning such women of antiquity as Cleopatra, Dido, and Lucrece—are brief and rather mechanical, with the betrayal of women by wicked men as a regular theme. As a result, the whole becomes more a legend of bad men than of good women. English Period (1386-1400)  The famous work of this period is Canterbury Tales which was written after influence of Boccaccio’s ‘The Decameron’. The Canterbury Tales (contains 17000Lines)  In The Canterbury Tales, 32 characters make the trip to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury.  Although 29 characters are mentioned in line 24 of the “General Prologue.” The narrator joins this group (making 30). The host, Harry Bailey, makes 31. The Canon’s yeoman, who joins the group later, makes 32.  The narrator gives a description of 27 Pilgrims. (Except second Nun or Nun’s Priest).  This work remained unfinished at Chaucer’s death.  In Prologue to Canterbury Tales Chaucer employed the Heroic couplet.  There are four characters that are not criticised or satirised by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales – i) Knight ii) Parson iii) Clerk iv) Plowman  Clergymen in the Canterbury Tales are: 1. Prioress (Madam Eglantine) 2. Parson 3. Friar and 4. Monk  Canterbury Tales have the characters from three social groups or estates Viz. Nobility, Church and Commoners. Opinion of Chaucer about different Characters of Canterbury Tales in The Prologue  Plowman: He would help the poor for the love of Christ and never take a penny. About Plowman Chaucer says – “He would pay his taxes regularly.  Host: Bold in his speech, yet wise and full of tact no manly attribute he lacked, merry- hearted man.  Doctor (Physician): He was rather close to expenses and kept the gold he won in pestilence. Gold stimulated the heart or so we are told, had a special love for gold.  Reeve: He was under contract to present the accounts, right from his masters earliest years; no one ever caught him in arrears.  Miller: A wrangler and buffoon who had a store of tavern stories, filthy in the main, was a master-hand at stealing grain.  Summoner: Loved Garlic, Onion, leeks and drinking strong wine till he was hazy. Then he would shout and jabber as if crazy and wouldn’t speak a word except in Latin when he was drunk. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 30   Franklin: His house was never short of bake-meat pies of fish and flesh, and these in such supplies it positively snowed with meat and drink and all the dainties that a man could think.  Clerk of Oxford: His horse was thinner than a rake and he was not too fat, but had a hollow look, a sober stare; the thread upon his overcoat was bare.  Friar: Knew the taverns well in every town and every innkeeper and barmaid too; better than leapers, beggars, and the crew, kept his tippet stuffed with pins for curls and pocket-knives to give to pretty girls.  Merchant: Had set his wits to work, none knew he was in debt, was so stately in negotiation, loan, bargain and commercial obligation.  Wife of Bath: Liked to laugh and chat and knew the remedies of love’s mischances, an art in which she knew the oldest dances.  Cook: Had an ulcer on his knee, as for blancmange he made it with the best. Characters of The Canterbury Tales 1. The Knight  The Knight, a courtly medieval fighting man who has served king and religion all over the known world. Modest in dress and speech, though the highest in rank of the pilgrims to Canterbury, he rides with only his son and a yeoman in attendance. 2. The Squire  He is the Knight’s son. A young man of twenty years, he has fought in several battles. Like his father, he is full of knightly courtesy, but he also enjoys a good time. 3. The Yeoman  He is the Knight’s attendant, a forester who takes excellent care of his gear. He wears a St. Christopher medal on his breast. He does not tell a story. 4. The Prioress  The Prioress is Madame Eglentyn, who travels with another nun and three priests as her attendants to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury. A woman of conscience and sympathy, she wears a curious brooch on which appears the ambiguous statement, in Latin, “Love conquers all.” 5. The Second Nun  She accompanies the Prioress. 6. The Nun’s Priest  His name is John. 7. The Monk  He is a fat hedonist who prefers to be out of his cloister. No lover of books and learning, he prefers to hunt and eat. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 31  8. The Friar  The Friar’s name is Huberd. He is a merry chap who knows barmaids better than the sick. Having the reputation of being the best beggar in his house, he appears to be a venal, worldly man. 9. The Merchant  The Merchant is a tight-lipped man of business. Unhappily married, he tells a story of the evils of marriage between old men and young women. 10. The Clerk of Oxford  The Clerk of Oxford is a serious young scholar who heeds philosophy and prefers books to worldly pleasures. 11. The Sergeant of Law  The Sergeant of Law is a busy man who seems busier than he really is. He makes a great show of his learning; citing cases all the way back to William the Conqueror. 12. The Franklin  The Franklin is a rich landlord who loves to eat and keeps a ready table of dainties. He has been sheriff of his county. 13. The Haberdasher 14. The Carpenter 15. The Weaver 16. The Dyer 17. The Tapestry Maker 18. The Cook  The Cook is named Roger, who was hired by the master workmen to serve them during their journey. He is a rollicking fellow. Pleased by the bawdy tales of the Miller and the Reeve, he insists on telling a bawdy story of his own, one left unfinished. 19. The Shipman  The Shipman is the captain of the Maudelayne, of Dartmouth. He is a good skipper and a smuggler. 20. The Doctor of Physick  The Doctor of Physick is a materialistic man greatly interested in money. He knows all the great medical authorities, as well as his astrology, though he seldom reads the Bible. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 32  21. The Wife of Bath  The Wife of Bath is named Alice, a cloth maker and five times a widow. Apparently wealthy from her marriages, she has travelled a great deal, including three trips to Jerusalem. She is well versed in marriage and lovemaking. Her theory is that the woman must dominate in marriage. To make her point, she tells a tale of a loathsome lady who, when her husband is obedient, becomes fair. 22. The Parson  The Parson is a poor but loyal churchman who teaches his parishioners by his good example. Refusing to tell an idle tale to his fellow pilgrims, he tells what he terms a merry tale about the Seven Deadly Sins. 23. The Plowman  He is an honest man, the Parson’s brother. He tells no tale. 24. The Miller  The Miller is a jolly, drunken reveler who leads the company playing on his bagpipes. 25. The Reeve  The Reeve is a slender, choleric man named Oswald. 26. The Manciple  The Manciple is an uneducated man who is shrewd enough to steal a great deal from the learned lawyers who hire him to look after their establishments. 27. The Summoner  The Summoner is a lecherous, drunken fellow who loves food and strong drink. 28. The Pardoner  The Pardoner is a womanish man with long, blond hair. 29. Harry Bailey  Harry Bailey is the host at the Tabard Inn in Southwark. He organizes the storytelling among the pilgrims, with the winner to have a meal at his fellows’ cost upon the company’s return. He is a natural leader, as his words and actions shows. 30. Geoffrey Chaucer  Geoffrey Chaucer is the author, who put himself into his poem as a retiring, mild-mannered person. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 33  31. The Canon  The Canon is a traveller who joins the pilgrims briefly on the road to Canterbury. He leaves when it is hinted that he is a cheating alchemist. 32. The Canon’s Yeoman  The Canon’s Yeoman, remains with the pilgrim company and tells an anecdote about an alchemist, a canon like his master, who swindles a priest. Tales 1. The Knight’s Tale  It is based on Boccacio’s Teseida.  The story begins by “Theseus (duke of Athens) who just has conquered Amazon and married Hyppolyta and returning to Athens.  While returning he is encountered by grieving widows of Thebes whose husbands were killed in the war of Thebes by King Creon (King of Thebes)  King Creon refused to give them the dead bodies, so Theseus was touched by pathos and Kills Creon and destroys Thebes and restored the pile of bodies to the widows.  Two of them in the pile of bodies were alive. They were seriously injured but not dead. One is Palamon and another is Arcite, they are cousin brothers.  Duke Theseus orders to put them in prison. While in prison Palamon sees Emily, a charming, beautiful and attractive sister of Hyppolyta through back window and falls in love. Soon Arcite also got up and sees Emily and he also fell in love with her.  Arcite was ransomed by his friend and rescued. But Duke Theseus banished him from Athens, but he disguises as a page boy of Emily and walked in Emily’s chamber secretly.  Poor Palamon escapes from prison and they both (Palamon and Arcite) met in a forest. Duke Theseus caught them while going for hunting and commanded them to be killed, but kind Hyppolyta requests Duke not to do so.  A deal is made by Theseus - both the convict should collect 100 soldiers and fight. The winner will get Emily as wife.  Palamon prays to Venus (goddess of Love) and Arcite prays to Mars (god of war) while Emily prays to Diana (goddess of chastity and maidness).  The war begins and Mars gives victory to Arcite as he earlier whispered “victory”.  Goddess Venus cries to his father Saturn as she got defeated.  So Saturn ordered earth to shake the horse on which Arcite was riding and threw him away and Arcite died.  Now Venus won and Palamon got Emily’s hand as Arcite finally wished them to marry and they lived happily forever.  The knight is socially the most prominent person on the pilgrimage epitomizing chivalry, truth and honour. He stands apart from the other pilgrims because of his dignity and honour. 2. Miller’s Tale  The host asks Monk to tell the next tale but drunken Miller interrupts and insists that his tale should be the next.  Tale begins – There was a foolish carpenter named John who had a beautiful wife named Alison. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 34   Nicholas is a young scholar of Astrology. He is rusty and covets lovely Alison.  One day when John was not at home Nicholas seduced Alison, first she resisted but finally agreed. She worried that if her husband finds this out, he will kill her.  Nicholas made a plan for it. Nicholas lied John, that there will be great floods tomorrow (like Noah’s flood). So he ordered John to tie the three tubs to the beam of ceiling with rope and fill the tub with food so that they can escape when flood comes.  Foolish John did so, at night he climbs into the tub and falls dead asleep.  The two, Alison and Nicholas get out of the tub and spent the whole night together.  Absalom, a perish clerk also had been wooing Alison. While Nicholas and Alison were enjoying Absalom saw this and asks Alison to kiss him but she insulted him but when 2nd time he asked for a kiss Nicholas showed his back and Absalom got pissed and applied hot poker on Nicholas’s back and Nicholas shouted water, water.  Hearing of water, John got up and cut the rope of the tub and fell down and broke his legs. 3. The Reeve’s Tale  As Miller told the tale about a carpenter and as Reeve was also doing carpentry, so he takes Miller’s tale as offense and counters with his own tale of a dishonest Miller.  Reeve tells the story of two students John and Alayn. They go to the Miller to watch him grinding their corn, so that he can’t steal their corn with his golden thumb.  Miller unties their horse and while they chase it, he steals some of the flour he had just grinded for them.  By the time students catch the horse it becomes dusk and they spent the night in Millers house.  That night Alayn seduces Miller’s daughter while John seduces Miller’s wife.  When Miller woke up and found out what had happened. He tried to beat the students.  His wife thinking that her husband is actually one of the students, hits Miller over the head with a staff.  The students took back their corn and leaves. 4. The Cook’s Prologue and Tale  Cook’s name is Roger.  The cook enjoys the Reeve’s tale and offers to tell another funny tale.  The tale is about an apprentice named Perkyn who drinks and dances so much that he is called ‘Perkyn’s Reveller’.  Finally Perkyn’s master decides to leave the apprentice as he was corrupting other servants too.  Perkyn decides to stay with a friend who loves drinking and gambling and he had a wife who was a prostitute.  The tale brakes off after fifty eight lines (This story is unfinished.) 5. The Prologue and the Tale of Man of Law  The host Harry Baily reminds his fellow pilgrims to waste no time, because lost time cannot be regained. He asks the Man of law to tell the next tale.  The Man of Law apologises that he can’t tell any suitable tale that Chaucer had not already told. Chaucer may be unskilled as a poet, says the Man of Law, but he has told more stories of lovers than Ovid and he does not print tales of incest as John Gower does.  In the prologue, the Man of Law laments the miseries of poverty and remarks how fortunate merchants are and says that his tale is the one which is told to him by a merchant.  In the tale, the Muslim Sultan of Syria converts his entire Sultanate to Christianity in order to persuade the emperor of Rome to give him his daughter Custance in marriage.  The Sultan’s mother and her attendants remain faithful to Islam. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 35   The mother tells her son that she wishes to hold a banquet for him and all the Christians.  At the banquet she murders her son and all the Christians except, Custance who she sets adrift in a rudderless ship.  After years of floating, Custance runs ashore in Northumberland, where a constable and his wife Hermengyld offer her shelter. She converts them to Christianity.  One night Satan makes a young knight to sneak into Hermengyld’s chamber and murders her, and places the bloody knife next to Custance, who sleeps in the same chamber.  When the constable returns home accompanied by Alla, the King of Northumberland, he finds his slain wife.  He tells Alla the story of how Custance was found and Alla begins to pity Custance. He decides to look more deeply into the murder. Just as the Knight who murdered Hermengyld is swearing that Custance is the true murderer but he is stuck down and his eyes burst out of his face proving his guilty to Alla and the crowd.  The convict knight is executed; Alla and many others converted to Christianity, and Custance and Alla marry.  While Alla was away in Scotland, Custance gave birth to a baby boy named Mauricious.  Alla’s mother Donegild intercepts a letter from Custance to Alla and substitutes a counterfeit one that claims that the child is disfigured and bewitched.  She then intercepts Alla’s reply, which claims that the child should be kept and loved no matter how malformed. Donegild substitutes a letter saying that Custance and her son are banished and should be sent away on same ship on which Custance arrived.  Alla returns home and finds out what happened and kills his mother Donegild.  After many adventures at sea, including an attempted rape, Custance ends up back in Rome where she reunites with Alla who has made a pilgrimage there to atone for killing his mother. She also reunites with her father, the emperor.  Alla and Custance return to England but Alla dies after a year, so Custance returns to Rome once again. Mauricious becomes next Roman emperor. 6. Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale  The host asks the Parson to tell the next tale but Parson reproaches him for swearing and they fall to bickering.  Wife of Bath is characterised as gap toothed, somewhat deaf and wearing bright scarlet red stockings. Her last husband is half her age.  The wife of bath, Alisoun gives a lengthy account of her feelings about marriage. Quoting from the bible, the wife argues against those who believe that it is wrong to marry more than once, and she explains how she dominated and controlled each of her five husbands. She married her fifth husband Jankyn, for love instead of money.  After the wife has rambled on for a while, the friar butts in, to complain that she is taking too long, and Summoner retorts that friars are like flies always meddling.  The Friar promises to tell a tale about Summoner and Summoner promises to tell a tale about Friar.  The host cries to calm down and allow the wife to tell her tale.  Tale begins – In the court of King Arthur, young knight rapes a maiden; to atone for his crime Arthur’s queen sends him on a quest to discover what women want most.  An ugly old woman promises the knight that she will tell him the secret if he promises to do whatever she wants for saving his life. He agrees and she tells him that women want most “to control their husbands and their own lives”.  They go together to Queen Arthur and old woman’s answer turns out to be correct.  The old woman then tells the knight that he must marry her.  When the knight confesses later that he is repulsed by her appearance she give him a choice, she can either be faithful and ugly or beautiful and unfaithful. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 36   The knight tells her to make the choice herself and she rewards him for giving her control of the marriage by rendering herself both beautiful and faithful. 7. Friar’s Prologue and Tale  Huberd, the Friar is a sensual, licentious man who seduces young girls and then arranges their marriages. He loves money and knows the taverns better than the poor houses.  Friar’s scarf was stuffed full of knives and brooches to give to pretty women.  The Friar speaks approvingly of the Wife of Bath’s tale and offers to lighten things up for the company by telling a funny story about a lecherous Summoner.  Summoner does not reject but promises to pay the Friar back in his own tale.  The Friar tells of an archdeacon who carries out law without mercy, especially to lechers. The archdeacon has a Summoner, who has a network of spies working for him, to let him know who has been lecherous.  The Summoner extorts money from those he is sent to summon, charging them more money than he should for penance.  He tries to serve a summons on a Yeoman, who is actually a devil in disguise.  After comparing notes on their treachery and extortion the devil vanishes, but when Summoner tries to prosecute an old wealthy widow unfairly, she cries out that the Summoner should be taken to hell.  The devil follows the women’s instruction and lays the Summoner to hell. 8. Summoner’s Prologue and Tale  Summoner is an officer of the church who calls people for a church trial. He is as ugly as his profession, he frightens children with his red complexion, pimples and boils and skin infected with scales.  Summoner is furious at Friar’s tale and asks the company to let him tell the next tale.  First he tells the company that there is little difference between Friars and friends.  When an angel took a Friar down to hell to show him the torments there, the Friar asked why there were no Friars in hell, the angel then pulled up Satan’s tail and 20,000 Friars came out of his ass.  Tale begins: - A Friar begs for money from a dying man named Thomas and his wife who have recently lost their child.  The Friar shamelessly exploits the couple’s misfortunes to extract money from them, so Thomas tells Friar that he is working on something that he will bequeath to the Friar.  The Friar reaches for his bequest and Thomas lets out an enormous fart. The Friar complains to the lord of Manor, whose squire is required to promise to divide the feast evenly among all the Friars. Quote by Chaucer:- “Summoner would lend his concubine / lend his mistress to anyone for a quest of wine he loved garlic in special”. 9. Clerk’s Prologue and Tale  The host asks the Clerk to cheer up and tell a merry tale and Clerk agrees to tell a tale by the Italian Poet Petrarch.  The Clerk is a sincere, devoted student at Oxford University who loves learning and is respected by all pilgrims. He is poor because he spends all his money on books. He narrates the story of Griselde.  Griselde is a hard working peasant who marries into the aristocracy. Her husband tests her fortitude in several ways, including pretending to kill her children and divorcing her.  He punishes her one final time by forcing her to prepare for his wedding to a new wife.  She does all this dutifully. Her husband tells her that she has always been and will always be his wife and they lived happily ever after.  The true import of this tale is “that man must learn to endure adversity with courage and adversity”. World Literature in Your Fist: An Assortment of English Literature 37 10. Merchant’s Prologue and Tale  The merchant is a shrewd and intelligent man and the member of rich rising middle class who knows how to strike a good bargain.  The merchant reflects on the great difference between the patient Griselde of the clerk’s tale and the horrible shrew he has been married for the past two months.  The host asks him to tell a story of the evils of marriage and he compiles.  Story begins: - Against the advice of his friends, an old knight named January, married May, a beautiful young woman. She is less impressed by his enthusiastic sexual eff