Major Movement and Periods in Literature Flashcards
To know these.
Ancient and Classic
Ancient and classical literature included epics, lyric poetry, dramatic plays, comedies and tragedies and the origin of the novel. Literature from the ancient and classical past provides an element of stability, a standard of permanence. Proponents of the Ancients believed that the giants of Greece and Rome had not only established standards applicable to all subsequent accomplishments but provided models never to be excelled.
Medieval
In the West, strong Christian influence prompted the exploration of Biblical themes and stories and contributing to the development of hymns, mystery, plays, and religious poetry.
Numerous religious works were written by saints and clerics.
Secular literary genres included topics such as courtly love, fantastic about of travel to far away lands, goliard poetry (satirical Latin poetry written by clerics), and political poetry with social satire.
In the East, religious tests included historical narratives describing creation to destruction, and genealogies of kings, heroes, demigods. Clerics were also writing poems, stories, dramas, and puranas.
Renaissance
The Renaissance prompted renewed interest in classical antiquity; a rise in humanist philosophy including a belief in self, human worth, and individual dignity. Radical changes in ideas about science, religion, and politics were reflected in literacy topics - dramatic plays, poetry, and lyrical epics.
Milton, Paradise Lost
The plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare
Cervantes, Don Quixote
In Japan, the rise of linked poetry
Neoclassicism
Refers to the attitudes toward life and art that dominated literature during the 18th century. Neoclassicists repented order, reason, and rules. They also viewed humans as limited and imperfect. They valued intellect and considered it more important than emotions noting that society was more important than the individual. The neoclassicists admired classical literature.
Alexander Pope, An Essay of Man
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Romanticism
Romanticism refers to the literary period that dominated during the 19th century. Romantic writers looked to nature for their inspiration. They idealized the past and celebrated the individual. In reaction neoclassicism, their treatment of subjects was emotional rather than rational. They celebrated imagination.
Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe
Transcendentalism
Emerging from New England in the mid 19th century, transcendentalism is rooted in post-Kantian idealism philosophy and began as a protest against the culture and society. Transcendentalists believed that an ideal spiritual state that transcends the physical and empirical is realized only through the individuals intuition rather than through established religions.
Emerson and Thoreau
Realism
Realism also emerged during the 19th century. Realism authors based their writing on careful observations of ordinary life. They often focused on the middle and lower classes of society and attempted to present life objectively and honestly without idealism and sentimentality.
James Joyce, “Araby”
Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
Naturalism
Naturalism is characterized as an extreme form of realism. Naturalism in fiction involves the depiction of life objectively and precisely, without idealizing. The naturalist creates characters who are victims of environmental forces and internal drives that are beyond their comprehension and control.
Frank Norris, McTeague
Jack London
Surrealism
A movement that began in the 1920s. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions, and non sequitur. Surrealist writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement.
Modernism
Modernism emerged shortly after World War I. Modernism is marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political and social views. Modernists believe the world is created in the act of perceiving it and that the world is what we say it is. All things are relative and there is no absolute truth. Modernists feel no connection to history or institutions. Their experience is marked by alienation, loss, and despair. Modernists laude the individual and inner strength. They are also interested in the self conscious. The “Lost Generation” refers to the generations of young adults who lived following WWI, as reflected in the words of major writers of the period, including John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. The events surrounding the Great war led to much disillusionment. The term “lost” is also a metaphor for the questioning of the principles of their parents’ generation. The lack of certainty, direction, and purpose led many to search for deeper meanings and truths (as had happened in several other periods of human society). Tn addition, the Harlem Renaissance refers to an era of written and artistic creativity among African-Americas that occurred after WW! and lasted until the middle of the 1930s Depression.
