21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

LEARNING MODULE 2:
European Literature

Quarter: 2 Week: 2
Name:
Grade and Section: Score:
Teacher: Date:

Learning Competencies

Write a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts applying a reading
approach and doing an adaptation of these; thus, require the learner the ability
to identify representative texts and authors from Asia, Europe, Africa, North
America and Latin America. (EN12Lit-IIa-22)

Objectives:
• Characterize European Literature.

• Enumerate various European Literature.

• Identify the historical bases of the different literary text written in each literary
period.

Let’s Recall:
In five minutes, write everything you need to know about the rules and
strategies in playing chess. After five minutes, share your output with the
class. Answer the following questions after sharing:
1 How does the game of chess explain its social and political structure?
2 How does the game explain the way “a kingdom seizes another kingdom”?

Let’s Understand
European literature is as diverse as the European languages. European
literature is from a common heritage of different countries such as Greece, Rome,
France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Scandinavia, Norway, and Spain. Like any other
kinds of literature, it is divided into literary periods that are influenced by the
events and people of a specific time.

A. Ancient Literature and Medieval Literature (800 BC - 1500 AD)

Literature created in the ancient period (800 BC–500 AD) Literature during this period were
oral in nature. During this period, the Greeks were invaded by the Myceneans and the influence
of Myceneans to the Greeks were highly evident in the literary works during that period:
 • Iliad - is an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, which recounts some of the
significant events of the Trojan War.
• Odyssey - an epic poem in 24 books traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet
Homer. It is the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who wanders for 10 years trying to
get home after the Trojan War.

Medieval literature refers to works produced during the Middle Ages (500 AD– 1500). This
period marked the emergence of three dominant cultures: Christianity, Islam, and the
Germanic invaders. The literary forms dominant in this period are hymns, epic poems, elegies,
ballads, and narrative poems.
Noteworthy literary works during this medieval period are the following:
• Beowulf - the longest epic poem in Old English. It relates the exploits of
its eponymous hero, and his successive battles with a monster named Grendel,
with Grendel’s revengeful mother, and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard of
treasure.
• The Song of Roland – the earliest masterpiece of French literature. It centers on the
death of Charlemagne’s nephew Roland at the battle of Roncevaux.
• Nibelungenlied – is a German epic poem of the Middle Ages. It tells the story of
Siegfried (Sigurd), a German prince.

Renaissance and Enlightenment (1300 -1800)

The Renaissance period (1300–1600) was marked by the rebirth of the Greco Roman literary
tradition. The printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, is the greatest
innovation of the Renaissance era, which resulted in a more cost- and time-efficient production
of literature. This led to a higher percentage of literacy among the masses.
Notable literary texts during this period are the following:
• Divine Comedy – written by Dante Alighieri. It is a is a long Italian narrative poem.
• The Book of the City of Ladies – Written by Christine de Pizan in 1405. This
book shows importance of women’s past contributions to society.

The Age of Enlightenment (1600–1800) was a byproduct of the Renaissance that birthed
humanism. Thinking that they could be whatever they wanted to be, people paved the way
toward scientific and industrial progress. This period could be summed up as the celebration
of different ideas.
The following are examples of literature during this period:
• Much Ado About Nothing - a comedic play by William Shakespeare
about misunderstandings, love and deception.
 • Paradise Lost - an epic poem about the Fall of Man, where John Milton, the writer,
made Adam, Eve, Satan, and God his characters. It started with Satan’s realizing that
he was in hell, which prompted him to make a plan to spite God through Adam and
Eve.
• Gulliver’s Travels - a novel by Jonathan Swift. In this story, Gulliver traveled on four
separate voyages and encountered different types of societies each time. Each journey
is a metaphor for different aspects of British society that the author wanted to
criticize.

B. Romanticism and Realism (1800 – 1920)

Romanticism is a literary movement against the aristocratic culture that started in the late
18th century. Romanticism uplifts the characters from humble backgrounds or the common
man and places importance on imagination and emotion. The works of early Romantics were
seen as absurd and fantastic. It was the next generation of romantics who will prove creativity
and imagination can well blend with reality and composure.
Realism, in contrast with romanticism, was the representation of reality. While romanticism
beautifies the ugly, realism presents the truth with all its flaws. It strives to present things as
accurate and with the least subjectivity as possible. It greatly focused on the fidelity of facts.
The following are the texts from the Romanticism and Realism periods:
• Debit and Credit – a German novel by Gustav Freytag. The novel celebrates the solid
bourgeois qualities of the German merchants as well as the relationships between
the characters and their work.
• The World Is Too Much With Us - sonnet by the English Romantic poet William
Wordsworth.

C. Modernism and Postmodernism

Modernism began in the early 20th century through roughly 1965. This period was marked
by sudden changes in man’s perspective of the world. The First World War caused the
formation of a new literary movement. There was a greater demand for all sorts of literature
because of the higher literacy rate, which was quickly supplied by the popular press.
Postmodernism shows a crisis of identity of the human being in ethnicity and sexuality, as
well as the struggle for social and cultural acceptance in a hypocritical society. Postmodern
literary work does not pretend to be new and original; rather, it juxtaposes the old and the
new to contextualize it in the readers’ minds.
Literary works during the Modern and Postmodern periods include:
• In a Station of the Metro
• Waiting for Godot – written by Samuel Beckett. The main theme of this literary
piece is Humanity, Companionship, Suffering, and Dignity
 Let’s Apply
Direction: Identify the characteristic of each literary period on the right

Literary Period Characteristic

1. Ancient Period a. During this literary period, there was a high percentage of literacy
among the masses due to the invention of Johannes Gutenberg.

2. Age of b. During this literary period, most of the literary works were written
Enlightenment in Latin due to the domination of the Roman Catholic Church in the
Western and Central Europe.

3. Renaissance c. During this literary period, literary works were militaristic in nature
Period due to the invasion of the Myceneans.

4. Modernism d. This period could be summed up as the celebration of

different ideas.

5. Medieval e. During this literary period, a new literary movement was formed
Literature due to World War II.

Let’s Analyze
Direction: Identify the literary text referred to each statement below.

Song of Gulliver’s Travels Iliad

Roland Debit Much Ado About

1. A comedic play William Shakespeare about misunderstanding, love and deception. -

2. An epic poem which recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks of the
Trojan war and the siege of the city of Troy.
3. The lead character in this story travelled on four separate voyages and encountered
different types of societies each time. -
4. A German novel that celebrates the solid bourgeois qualities of the German merchants.
5. It centers on the death of Charlemagne’s nephew Roland at the battle of Roncevaux.

Let’s Try

On the next page is the complete text of the poem entitled “The World is
Too Much with Us” written by William Wordsworth. In the poem, the
speaker accuses the modern age of having lost its connection to nature
and to everything meaningful. Answer the questions that follow.
1 The world is too much with us; late and soon,
2 Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; —
3 Little we see in Nature that is ours;
4 We have given our hearts away,
a sordid boon! 5 This Sea that
bares her bosom to the moon;
6 The winds that will be howling at all hours,
7 And are up-gathered now like
sleeping flowers; 8 For this, for
everything, we are out of tune;
9 It moves us not. Great God!
I’d rather be 10 A pagan
suckled in a creed outworn;
11 So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
12 Have glimpses that would make
me less forlorn; 13 Have sight of
Proteus rising from the sea;
14 Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

1. Who is the author of the poem “The World Is Too Much With Us”?
a. William Wordsworth c. William Blake
b. Lory Byron d. Edgar Allan Poe
2. Who are the gods mentioned in the poem?
a. Aphrodite and Hestia c. Eros and Athena
b. Proteus and Triton d. Kronos and Dione
3. The author wishes to have what type of background?
a. Pagan c. Catholic
b. Greek d. Clear
4. Why does the speaker use different types of diction throughout the poem?
a. To highlight his desire for humans to be more focused on technology and
improving themselves, instead of going out to nature.
b. To question the students of students to take class that had
bees penetrating flowers and moons.
c. To emphasize the speakers desire for a time when mankind was much more
appreciative of nature and focused more on their surroundings than themselves.
d. To inspire people to develop themselves as a society and help other human
beings grow.
5. The poem takes place in the early 1800s during the and the desire to be the
first to develop new technology, create jobs, and make money.
a. Pandemic b. First Industrial Revolution c. World War

Let’s Create
Goal: Produce an essay regarding CHIVALRY IN 17TH CENTURY SPAIN after
reading the summary of the famous novel entitled “Don Quixote” written by
Miguel De Cervantes.
Role: You are a literary critic in your school’s literary magazine.
Audience: Your audience are the senior high school students of your school.
Situation: You will be representing your section in a school-based literary
festival. Your teacher in literature gave you the task of writing a historical
literary analysis focusing on the issue of chivalry in the 17th Century.
Product: An essay regarding chivalry in the 17th century Spain.

DON QUIXOTE is a Spanish novel written by Miguel de Cervantes. It was the story
of the idealistic lunatic Don Quixote, who fancies himself a medieval knight, and
his faithful, practical, down-to-earth squire, Sancho Panza. It is much more than
a series of comical adventures arising from the knight’s efforts to right wrongs and
 do good according to the code of chivalry he seeks to revive and impose upon
society. Read the summary of the story below and perform the task.

Don Quixote is a middle-aged gentleman from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. Obsessed
with the chivalrous ideals touted in books he has read; he decides to take up his lance and sword to
defend the helpless and destroy the wicked. After a first failed adventure, he sets out on a second
one with a somewhat befuddled laborer named Sancho Panza, whom he has persuaded to
accompany him as his faithful squire. In return for Sancho’s services, Don Quixote promises to
make Sancho the wealthy governor of an isle. On his horse, Rocinante, a barn nag well past his
prime, Don Quixote rides the roads of Spain in search of glory and grand adventure. He gives up
food, shelter, and comfort, all in the name of a peasant woman, Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he
envisions as a princess who has turned a princess and her lover into metal figurines and bearded
the princess’s female On his second expedition, Don Quixote becomes more of a bandit than a
savior, stealing from and hurting baffled and justifiably angry citizens while acting out against what
he perceives as threats to his knighthood or to the world. Don Quixote abandons a boy, leaving him
in the hands of an farmer simply because the farmer swears an oath that he will not harm the boy.
He steals a barber’s basin that he believes to be the mythic Mambrino’s helmet, and he becomes
convinced of the healing powers of the Balsam of Fierbras, an elixir that makes him so ill that, by
comparison, he later feels healed. Sancho stands by Don Quixote, often bearing the brunt of the
punishments that arise from Don Quixote’s behavior.
The story of Don Quixote’s deeds includes the stories of those he meets on his journey. Don
Quixote witnesses the funeral of a student who dies as a result of his love for a disdainful lady
turned shepherdess. He frees a wicked and devious galley slave, Gines de Pasamonte, and
unwittingly reunites two bereaved couples, Cardenio and Lucinda, and Ferdinand and Dorothea.
Torn apart by Ferdinand’s treachery, the four lovers finally come together at an inn where Don
Quixote sleeps, dreaming that he isbattling a giant.
Along the way, the simple Sancho plays the straight man to Don Quixote, trying his best to correct
his master’s outlandish fantasies. Two of Don Quixote’s friends, the priest and the barber, come to
drag him home. Believing that he is under the force of an enchantment, he accompanies them,
thus ending his second expedition and the First Part of the novel.
The Second Part of the novel begins with a passionate invective against a phony sequel of Don
Quixote that was published in the interim between Cervantes’s two parts. Everywhere Don
Quixote goes, his reputation—gleaned by others from both the real and the false versions of the
story—precedes him.
As the two embark on their journey, Sancho lies to Don Quixote, telling him that an evil enchanter
has transformed Dulcinea into a peasant girl. Undoing this enchantment, in which even Sancho
comes to believe, becomes Don Quixote’s chief goal.
Don Quixote meets a Duke and Duchess who conspire to play tricks on him. They make a servant
dress up as Merlin, for example, and tell Don Quixote that Dulcinea’s enchantment—which they
know to be ahoax—can be undone only if Sancho whips himself 3,300 times on his naked backside.
Under the watch of the Duke and Duchess, Don Quixote and Sancho undertake several
adventures. They set out on a flying wooden horse, hoping to slay a giant servants.
During his stay with the Duke, Sancho becomes governor of a fictitious isle. He rules for ten days
until he is wounded in an onslaught the Duke and Duchess sponsor for their entertainment.
Sancho reasonsthat it is better to be a happy laborer than a miserable governor.
A young maid at the Duchess’s home falls in love with Don Quixote, but he remains a staunch
worshipper of Dulcinea. Their never-consummated affair amuses the court to no end. Finally, Don
Quixote sets out again on his journey, but his demise comes quickly. Shortly after his arrival in
Barcelona, the Knight of the White Moon— actually an old friend in disguise—vanquishes him.
Cervantes relates the story of Don Quixote as a history, which he claims he has translated from a
manuscript written by a Moor named Cide Hamete Benengeli. Cervantes becomes a party to his
own fiction, even allowing Sancho and Don Quixote to modify their own histories and comment
negatively upon the false history published in their names.
In the end, the beaten and battered Don Quixote forswears all the chivalric truths he followed so
fervently and dies from a fever. With his death, knights-errant become extinct. Benengeli returns at
the end of the novel to tell us that illustrating the demise of chivalry was his main purpose in
writing the history of Don Quixote.