Literature SE 1 Flashcards
Old English period
• transmitted orally (often recited/sung by
bards who travelled around the country)
• essentially Pagan (=heidens)
• the stories were written down by monks
who added Christian elements.
Beowulf
•Old English epic poem (Anglo-Saxon)
about a Swedish warrior who fights and beats Grendel, a terrible monster threatening Hrothgar’s tribe.
He also succeeds to beat Grendel’s mother who wants to revenge her son.
He lives a long and valiant life but in the end he cannot slay the dragon and he dies.
Theme: the story is focussed on typically Anglo-Saxon characteristics such as honour, loyalty, bravery and the readiness to fight till the end (=literally the end=death)
Epic
definition: a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero. E.g. Beowulf
Alliteration
Definition: the repetition of sounds at the beginning of words within one line of poetry. (see Rhyme&Reason p. 19)
eg. green grass
Anglo-Saxon: gomban gyldan
Anglo-Saxon poetry did not rhyme, it only used alliteration.
Anglo-Saxon chronicle
Historical account of what happened in Anglo-Saxon times. It was originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great in approximately A.D. 890, and subsequently maintained and added to by generations of anonymous scribes until the middle of the 12th Century.
It was written in Anglo-Saxon ( so not in Latin) first evidence of the Anglo-Saxon language.
Middle English period (+ historical outline)
1066 Battle of Hastings
William the Conqueror beats the Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson.
•Introduction of Norman French (this was the language + the culture of the new rulers)
•The influence of Anglo-Saxon culture was reduced to almost zero.
•Introduction of feudal system
•By means of marriages and other social and economic relationships the former Anglo-Saxon slowly mingled with the Norman French ruling classes.
•By the end of the 13th century there had arisen a middle class which could be labelled as British (they spoke a Middle English, a mixture of Norman French and Anglo-Saxon)
•15th century: gradual introduction of the Renaissance
Doomsday book
The Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror.
•One of the main purposes of the survey was to determine who held what and what taxes had to be paid. The judgment of the Domesday assessors was final—whatever the book said about who held the material wealth or what it was worth, was the law, and there was no appeal.
•It was written in Latin.
•The book is called Doomsday Book because its decisions, like those of the Last Judgement, are unalterable.
Feudal system
•The feudal system is a hierarchical system based on the ownership of land, and on rights and duties.
Lord
nobles+knights (clergy)
Farmers in their own right
serfs (Dutch:horigen)
- king
- tenants-in-chief
- knights (lords)
- paesants
Languages in the Middle Ages
1066: Norman French
•Late 12th + 13th century Middle English
a mixture of Norman French and Anglo-Saxon
* NB It was not one language but at least 4 major dialects existed side by side and were equally important. The variety written by Geoffrey Chaucer finally became the most important and is the basis of Modern English
Forms of literature
- Poetry
- Drama
(N.b there was prose as well but it was NOT used for fiction at that time)
Allegory
a story told by means of another story, usually containing a strong moral lesson.
An allegory can be read on two levels:
* a literal level = the actual story
* a symbolic level = the moral lesson
Examples: Everyman (a medieval play)
Animal FarmCourtly romances
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic poetry that was popular in the aristocratic circles of Medieval Europe. They were fantastic stories about the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often of super-human ability, who often goes on a quest
Example: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Courtly love
A philosophy of love, which originated in the south of France in the 11th and 12th century, and which had a lasting influence both on the literature of Western Europe and the place of women in society. Its main feature was the superior position in which the woman was placed and the loyalty and humility expected of the man
e.g. Lancelot and Guinevere
Ballad
a simple, narrative poem originally meant to be sung. The oldest ballads date from the Middle Ages and the authors are usually unknown.
The ballad stanza is commonly used in ballads rhyme scheme: a b c b
E.g. Sir Patrick Spense
Authors
William Laagland
Anonymous
- William Langland: Piers Plowman
2. Anonymous: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
How did the Renaissance start and end?
Start: around 1500
Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509
a great stimulator of the arts
End: 1642
the Civil War between the Oliver
Cromwell (the Roundheads) and the
Royalists (the Cavaliers) started in 1642
In 1648 Charles I was beheaded
Important Monarchs
2 Tudors and 1 Stuart
1.Henry VIII: 1509 -1542
Edward VI: 1547-1553 (he was 9 when he ascended the throne and 16 when he died)
- Lady Jane Grey: 1553 -1553 (she reigned 9 days and was then executed, she was 17)
- Mary I (aka Bloody Mary): 1553-1558
the daughter of Catherine of Aragone , Henry VIII’s first wife. Mary was a devout Catholic and many Anglicans burnt at the stake because of her.
She was married to Philips II of Spain
Mary l (bloody Mary)
she was married to Philip II of Spain
and a very devout Roman Catholic
1553-1558
Elisabeth l (1558-1603)
Elisabethan period: the period she was Queen of England
•She reinstated the Anglican Church
•Stimulated explorers such as Sir Francis Drake
(sailed around the world) and Sir Walter Raleigh (claimed land in America Virginia
named after the Virgin Queen (= Elisabeth)
•Defeated the Spanish Armada
•Stimulated the arts (e.g. by inviting artists to perform at her court)
•When she died she left a strong country
James l (1603-1625)
James I was not only King of England but he was also James VI, King of Scotland
(first time England and Scotland were ruled by
the same King)
•Religious tolerance until GUNPOWDER PLOT
in 1605 (still celebrated as Guy Fawkes on November 5th): a conspiracy of the Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament
* King James Bible: the first authorized version of the Bible in English (1611)
Renaissance
REBIRTH
Much later than in Italy where it started in about 1300 and even later than in Holland and France
•In England it started with the accession of the House of Tudor (1485). Politically this meant the end of the period of The War of the Roses
(the House of Lancaster House of York)
•During the reign of Henry VIII: a critical and emancipating spirit e.g. Thomas More, a humanist who wrote Utopia
This spirit influenced cultural life enormously
3 fundamental changes
*From a collective to an individual attitude
•From a theocentric (= God-centred) to an anthropocentric (man-centred) outlook
•From dogmatic belief to critical investigation
Dramatists Renaissance
- Christopher Marlowe
- Ben Jonson
Christopher Marlowe
Plays: Dr Faustus very much a play of the Renaissance (expand your knowledge) but also a reference to medieval drama (finally you end up facing God)
•Ben Jonson
Plays: The Alchemist very much Renaissance search for gold
Development of poetry in the Renaissance
•Very much influenced by the courtly love poetry of the Middle Ages •Beginning of the 16th century: - Introduction of the sonnet (a poetic form originating from Italy, Petrarch) - Lyrical love poetry •Beginning 17th centry: - Metaphysical poetry •Mid 17th century: - Cavalier poetry
Sonnet
A short poem of fourteen lines of Italian origin and introduced into English literature by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Sir Henry Howard Surrey
Thera are two types:
- Italian or Petrarchan sonnet
- English or Shakespearian sonnet
Italian/petrarchan sonnet
Two groups:
Octave - 8 lines
Sestet - 6 lines
14 lines total
The Octave typically introduces the theme or problem
The Sestet provides the resolution.
The Octave (the 1st 8 lines) with a rhyme scheme of abba abba
The Sestet (the last 6 lines) rhyming variously, but usually cdecde or cdccdc.
Shakespearean/English Sonnet
4 groups:
3 X 4 lines = quatrains
1 X 2 lines = couplet
Metrum: iambic pentameter
(= 5 x 2 syllables, pattern: unstressed – stressed)
Rhyme pattern:
abab cdcd efef gg
Neoclassical great age of classicism
Roman and Greek culture set the standard
of what was considered to be “real” art
and the way of thinking and writing of the classics was highly respected
2 other terms neoclassical period
- Augustan age refers to the Roman emperor Augustus who reigned when the Roman empire was at its peak. The English felt they were actually the true successors of the great Romans (august = verheven; groots).
- The Age of Reason
In this period reason (or: ratio) was very important.
Control your emotions and feelings and use your common sense, your reason, your intellect to understand the world around you.
Ideal: to live a calm civilised life governed by reason (ruled by the head, not by the heart)(n.b in order to understand the classics you really had to use your intellect because they were quite challenging)
Differences Renaissance and Neoclassical period
- Renaissance
Rebirth of classical Culture. It was new and fresh. Artists like Shakespeare, Marlowe and Spenser made free use of the new sources. No strict rules and regulations. - Neoclassical period
The influence of classical culture had become very strong and was growing into an authority. If you wanted to be a real artist you had to apply the rules in exactly the same way as the classics had done.
The aristocrasy
firmly established as the upper class but it was a relatively small group of people.
Rise of the middle classes
because of trade and industry the middle classes became richer and more prosperous (and hence more powerful)
Literature neoclassical period
poetry, especially satirical poetry (making fun of a subject by making it ridiculous, reasoning in verse) e.g. Alexander Pope: The Rape of the Lock (it ridicules women that pay more attention to their outward appearance than to things that really matter, such as their studies)
This kind of poetry lacks feeling, the poems are pure products of the intellect and they are strictly bound by rhyme schemes.
Heroic couplet
2 lines of poetry rhyming in pairs. aa bb cc iambic pentameter (v -)
Example
O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull;
Strong without rage, without o’erflowing full.
Rise of the novel neoclassical period
The Middle classes are getting more and more important (and influential)
They wanted art (and literature) they could identify themselves with (so stories about people that belong to the same classes as they did)
The first papers were published (The Spectator and The Tatler, 1711-1712)
The first novels were published in instalments
(so you could read one episode at the time and then you had to wait for the next paper to see what happens next)
Novelists neoclassical period
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
(1660-1731) Moll Flanders
Henry Fielding: Pamela
(1707-1754)
Epistolary novel
e.g. Fanny Burney: Evelina
- An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries are also used. The word epistolary comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter.
- The epistolary form can add greater realism to a story, because it mimics the workings of real life (hence its popularity in the 18th century)
- The structure is fixed (letters written by a number of people)
Other forms of Prose in neoclassical period (poetry and…..)
- Essays (Samuel Johnson)
he also edited the first dictionary)
•Diaries (Samuel Pepys)
•Prose satire : Gulliver’s travels by Jonathan Swift
The development of drama
- Drama developed from the religious rites
(= rituelen) that were performed in the churches. - These rites were originally all in Latin and the
“actors” were members of the clergy (priests etc). The priests acted out the scenes to put across the message (common people attended mass but did not understand Latin)
When & where? (The development of drama)
- In the early Middle Ages
* In the churches
Liturgical plays
elaboration of the Catholic mass (liturgie = tekst die gebruikt wordt in kerkdienst). In these liturgical plays the cruxification and the resurrection of Christ are central themes
location: within the church walls
actors: at first only priests, later also laymen (=lekebroeders)
language: at first only Latin, later also Middle English
From church to churchyard
From church to churchyard
In 1210 Pope Innocent III banishes drama from the church (it has become too wordly, too much sex, drugs and rock and roll to entertain the public)
So: the plays were performed in the grounds around the church they became even more wordly and eventually (end 13th century) the church severed all ties with drama and forbade alle drama on church grounds
From churchyard to village green and market place
From churchyard to village green and market place
The plays were still centred around Christian and religious themes but the actors were no longer clergymen but members of the various guilds. (e.g the carpenters, the woolmakers etc.)
Latin was completely replaced by Middle English
and more and more dramatic elements were added to entertain the public.
Cycle plays
series of miracle plays performed in succession by different people (usually belonging to different guilds) often showing important scenes from biblical history
E.g. - the story from the Creation of Man to the
Last Judgement
- The story of Adam and Eve
- Noah and the Flood
These cycle plays were performed at Christian feasts and holy days
(hence: holidays) e.g. Corpus Christi
Miracle play
dramatization of scenes from the Old and New Testament, or dramatizations of the lives of saints.
These miracle plays were often performed in cycles.
E.g. the cycle plays of York
Morality play
a late medieval type of play conveying a moral message in which the characters are personified abstractions.
E.g. Death, Good deeds in Everyman
Often allegories
From marketplace to inn and finally to playhouses (theatres)
In the late 15th and in the course of the16th century drama became more and more popular. The influence of the Renaissance was enormous (Greek and Latin plays )
Becoming an actor became a real profession and the actors could make a living (the more famous actors could make a rather decent living!)
They were often paid by a patron
E.g. Shakespeare was an actor in The Chamberlain’s Men
The plays became longer and more complex and could no longer be performed on waggons.
In the beginning there were no real playhouses, the plays were performed at court (for the Royal family and the aristocracy) and at inns (for the common people)
In 1576 the first real playhouse was built in London, it was called The Theatre, to be followed by The Globe Theatre, The Rose and many more.
Biography william shakespeare
- born in Stratford-upon - Avon
- attended local Grammar school (hence his knowledge of Greek and Latin, the classical plays)
- 1582: married Ann Hathaway
- 1582-1592: Lost Years (hardly any documented references to Shakespeare, only the fact that his children were born and baptised)
- 1592: shakespeare is mentioned in a public pamphlet (‘the upstart crow’)
The success of William Shakespeare
- by 1596 he was a real succes
- he had found a patron in the henry wriothesley who was the third earl of southampton.
- he belongs to the most important acting troupe in England, the Camberlain’s men.
- his stake in the Globe Theatre earned him 10% of the profits - given the number of productions and audience size this was a large amount of money.
- he acted in the presence of Queen Elisabeth l
- he had been granted permission to display a coat-of-arms and was entitled to put “gentleman” after his name.
- he worked as an actor, a playwright and poet - he became rich and successful
- in 1597 on may 4th he purchased New Place, the second largest house in Stratford for the sum of $60
- 1592-1610: period in which he wrote the famous plays
- 1610 retires and goes back to Stratford where he lives in New Place till his death in 1616.
Plays William Shakespeare
- History Plays
- the 10 that covered English history from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Each play is named after, and focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period. - Comedies
- plays full of fun, irony and dazzling worldplay. Sometimes with music and there are always disguises and mistaken identities with complex plots (difficult) e.g. A midsummer Night’s dream
There is always a happy ending! - Tragedies
- main character is someone of high estate, a prince or king
- the main character hast a ‘tragic flaw’ in his character which makes him contribute to his own destruction. The flaw is often part of his greatness but it also causes his downfall. It causes the main character to make mistakes and misjudgements.
- he starts to lose his support of his family and friends. He begins to fall from his high level. He struggles to regain his position but fails and comes crashing down.
- he recognises his mistakes, but too late. There is NOT a happy ending, the main character dies.
- BUT: at the end the air is cleared by the restoration of the order that existed before the events of the story
E.g: hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth
Historical outline old english period
- celts: arrived in Britain a long time before BC
- romans: 40 BC - 400 AD
- angles, saxons, jutes, frisians: 450 AD-700 AD
- vikings: 800 AD - 900 AD
Languages old english period
Celtic
Latin
Anglo-saxon + scandinavian influences.
The Danelaw
The area that was controlled by the Vikings - the area North East of London
(Scandinavian influences)
Alfred the Great
First Anglo-Saxon ruler who could unite forces against Vikings
King of Mercia
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
