Tento text byl stažen ze serveru Seminárky.cz (www.seminarky.

cz)
Seminárky.cz – když máte něco do školy

English Literature

The oldest literary work of the English literature is Beowulf, an old English poem about
historical events in Denmark in the first half of the 6 th century. It is perhaps the earliest
considerable poem in any modern language. The manuscript of the last 10 th century is housed
in the British Museum.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, inspired by King Alfred the Great and compiled by monks
working in various places, is a chronological record of events in England from the Christian
era to the middle of the 12th century. A very important literary means of Old English literature
was alliteration.
After the Battle of Hastings in 1066 the development of Old English literature was interrupted
by the Normans. It took about 300 years for thee Anglo-Saxon and Norman cultures to blend.
The first important representative of the new Middle Ages literature was Geoffrey Chaucer,
the author of Canterbury Tales.
In the Middle Ages, more exactly since the 16 th century, there began a strong and flourishing
tradition of drama and theatre in England. This development culminated in the work of
William Shakespeare. Before Shakespeare there was Christopher Marlow and his play The
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, which inspired Goethe to write his Faust or his play The
Jew of Malta. William Shakespeare is known as the best representative of English drama of
all times.
Other significant English playwrights were e.g. Oscar Wilde (The Importance of being
Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan) or George Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion, Major Barbara. St.
Joan.)
England had many poets, too. Of all of them I would like to mention at least Lord Gordon
Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Robert Browning.
But it was perhaps English novels that made the most significant contribution to world
literature. There are many famous name among English novelists, e.g. Daniel Defoe who
wrote Robinson Crusoe, Jonathan Swift and his Gulliver’s Travels, Sir Walter Scott – famous
for his historical novels such as Ivanhoe, Waverley, Rob Roy, Kenilworth, Quentin Durward
and others, Robert Louis Stevenson with his Treasure Island or The Strange Case of Doctor
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Bronte sisters (Emily, Charlotte, Anne) with their romantic and
thrilling stories or novels (e.g. Jane Eyre, which is the best one), Charles Dickens, whose
books (e.g. Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Little Dorrit, Great Expectations) were made
into films, Rudyard Kipling – the author of the world famous Jungle Nook or Thomas Hardy
and his gloomy, sad novels from the English country, some of them were put on the screen
(Under the Greenwood Tree, Tess d’Urbervilles) or George Herbert Wells – the founder of
science fiction. English literature is known for excellent detective stories, too, e.g. by Agatha
Chrisite, Sir Conan Doyle, P.D.James or the thrilling stories written by Daphne de Maurier
(e.g. The Jamaice Inn), Dick Francis – he writes stories about horses.