An introduction to British

Literature through history

1. Old English Literature (450-1066)
2. Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
3. The Sixteenth century Period ( The Elizabethan
Period 1485 -1603)
4. The seventeenth century Period (1603-1660)
5. The restoration & The 18th Century Period (1660 –
1798)
6. The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
7. The 19th Century Period (The Victorian Period
1832-1901)
8. The 20th Century Period
9. The 21th Century Period
 Old English Literature (450-1006)
I. Historical background:
five invasions which contributed to the
development of the English language and
influenced the literature:
• the Roman invasion
• the Anglo-Saxon invasions
• the Christian “invasion”
• the Viking invasions
• the Norman French invasion
 Old English Literature (450-1006)
II. Language & Literature:
1. Old English was added with many words by
Christianity such as : angel, priest, martyr,
bishop , by the Vikings such as :sky, skin,
wagon.
2. Poetry: heroic literature
+ to be chanted with harp accompaniment.
+ bold and strong, but also mournful and elegiac
in spirit.
Viking harp
 Old English Literature (450-1006)
+ Beowulf:
• the first surviving epic in the English language
with 3182 verses. (late 10th cent).
• Large volume features stories involving mythical
creatures and people.
• Beowulf is about a king of Danes, Hrothgar and a
brave man, Beowulf, from southern Sweden, who
goes to help him fight against mythical and cruel
creatures.
2. Prose:
- Mainly religious works written in Latin.
 Beowulf Formula
ANAPHORA
• • in line 11, “Þæt wæs god cyning” [that was good king]
• • in line 170, “Þæt wæs wræc micel” [that was much misery]
• • in line 309 “Þæt wæs foremærost” [that was most famous {hall}]
• • in line 348 “Þæt wæs Wendla leod” [that was the Wendles’ (Vandals’)
• chieftain]
• • in line 705 “Þæt wæs yldum cuÞ“ [that was widely known]
• • in line 765 “Þæt wæs geocor sið“ [that was terrible journey]
• • in line 834 “Þæt wæs tacen sweotol” [that was clear symbol]
• • in line 1458 “Þæt wæs an foran” [that was of early times]
• • in line 1559 “Þæt wæs wæpna cyst” [that was choicest weapon]
• in line 348 “Wulfgar maÞelode” [Wulfgar spoke]
• • in line 371 “Hroðgar maÞelode” [ Hrothgar spoke]
• • in line 405 “Beowulf maÞelode” [Beowulf spoke]
 Literary Techniques

• cæsura and half lines

Old English verses are divided into two half lines
with a pause in themiddle of the line.
line 1 Hwæt! wē Gār-Dena /in geār-dagum
line 2 Þēod-cyninga /Þrym gefrūnon,
line 3 hū Þā æðelingas/ ellen fremedon.
line 4 Oft Scyld Scēfing/ sceaðena Þrēatum,
line 5 monegum mǣgðum/ meodo-setla oftēah.
line 6 Egsode eorl,/ syððan ǣrest wearð
line 7 fēa-sceaft funden: /hē Þæs frōfre gebād,
 Literary Techniques

• alliteration
Old English poetry does not use rhyme. Instead, it
uses alliteration, the repetition of initial sounds
of words in a line of poetry.
• kennings
Old English poetry is characterized by the use of
kennings compound metaphors used in place of a
simple noun. Examples include whale’s way for
ocean, heaven’s candle for the sun, ring-giver for
king.
 Literary Techniques

• Litotes
Old English poetry sometimes expresses ideas
with the use of litotes, a type of
understatement in which meaning is
expressed by negating its opposite. For
example, litotes may be found in the “that was
X Y” formula in statements such as “That was
not a good place” to mean it was a bad place.
Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
I. Historical background:
1066: The Norman Conquest led by William the
Conqueror.
1215: King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta.
1338: Hundred Years War with France began
1348 -1349: Black Death struck England
1381: Peasants’ Revolt
1453: Defeat in France to end Hundred Years War
1454: Wars of Roses began
1476: William Caxton set up first printing press in London
1492: Columbus sailed to America
Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
II. Language and Literature:
1. Language: the co-existence of Norman French and
the emerging English known as Middle English.
2. Society: - Great Chain of Being was used to describe
the social hierarchy believed to be created by God (3
estates: the clergy, the nobility and the commoners)
- Chaucer’s lifetime (late 14th cent): another social class:
merchant developed in the growing society.
- An important image: The Wheel of Fortune.
- Poverty and sickness.
Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
3. Philosophy : The Church and Chivalry
4. Literature: Religious Literature + Chivalric
Literature
a. Drama:
- Mystery plays: plays depicting events from the
Bible.
- Morality plays: plays, often allegories, intended
to teach a moral lesson.
- Famous play: Everyman
Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
b. Poetry:
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-
1400): - consist of 24 stories in rhymed couplets,
concerning a host of subjects: religious innocence,
married chastity, female volubility- all illumed by
great humour told by a group of 30 pilgrims who
set off from the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London
to visit the shine of St Thomas Becket.
- Brings a diversity of characters, social level,
attitudes and ways of life.
Middle English Literature (1066-1485)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (by
anonymous author): a romance of knightly
adventure and love of the general medieval
type introduced by the French.
c. Prose:
Morte D’Arthur (The Death of Arthur) by Sir
Thomas Malory
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- alliteration
SiÞen Þe sege and Þe assaut watz sesed at Troye,
Þe borʒ brittened and brent to brondeʒ and askez
-the ABABA rhyme scheme:
on sille A
Þe hapnest under heuen B
kyng hyʒest mon of wylle A
hit werere now gret nye to neuen B
so hardy ahere on hille A
 The concept of medieval chivalry was famously
described in 1891 by Leon Gautier, who listed ten rules of
chivalry from the 11th and 12th centuries:
1. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and shalt observe all its
directions.
2. Thou shalt defend the Church.
3. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses and shalt constitute thyself the defender
of them.
4. Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born.
5. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
6. Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation, and without
mercy.
7. Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary
to the laws of God.
8. Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.
9. Thou shalt be generous, and give largesse to everyone.
10. Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the
Good against Injustice and Evil.
 “Rules” governing the conduct of a
knight involved in courtly love
• 1. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.
• 2. He who is not jealous cannot love.
• 3. No one can be bound by a double love.
• 4. It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing.
• 5. That which a lover takes against his will of his beloved has no relish.
• 6. Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity.
• 7. When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the
• survivor.
• 8. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.
• 9. No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love.
• 10. Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice.
• 11. It is not proper to love any woman whom one should be ashamed to
• seek to marry.
• 12. A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his
• beloved.
• 13. When made public love rarely endures.
• 14. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of
• attainment makes it prized.
• 15. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved.
• 16. When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.
• 17. A new love puts to flight an old one.
• 18. Good character alone makes any man worthy of love.
• 19. If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives.
• 20. A man in love is always apprehensive.
• 21. Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love.
• 22. Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
A. Historical background:
1485: Henry Tudor became king as Henry VII
1509: The accession of Henry VIII
1534: Henry VIII became Supreme Head of the Anglican
Church.
1553-1558: The religious conflicts
1558: Elizabeth ascended the throne and maintained the
throne
1595: Sir Walter Raleigh’s first expedition to South America.
1603: Death of Elizabeth I; ascension of James I, the first
Stuart King.
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
B. Society: brash, exciting, bustling, expanding,
prosperous, dangerous, pricarious.
C. Literature:
- The preference of symmetry and order in
houses, gardens and literature reflected a
belief that art was nature improved by human
enhancement.
- Literature used structured forms and styles
such as the sonnet and the Spenserian stanza.
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
• The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by
Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene .
• Each stanza contains 9 lines in total: eight lines in
iambic pentameter.
• The rhyme scheme of these lines is "ab ab bc bcc”.
• The Spenserian stanza is influenced by:
- the Italian form(eight lines of iambic pentameter with
the rhyme scheme "ab ab ab cc.“)
- Another possible influence is rhyme royal by Geoffrey
Chaucer (seven lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme
"ab ab bcc”, or eight-line ballad stanza with the rhyme
scheme "ab ab bc bc“)
 The Faerie Queene(Edmund Spenser )
Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, A
As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, B
Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, A
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds, B
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds; B
Whose prayses having slept in silence long, C
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds B
To blazon broad emongst her learned throng:C
Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song C
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
• The sonnet: highly structured poetry, a poem of
14 lines in iambic pantameter and a set of rhyme
scheme.(divided into 3 quatrains and one ending
couplet, following the pattern of abab cdcd efef
gg
• The Pastoral mode: a type of literature that
portrays shepherds in an idealized rural setting,
engaging in contest of singing or poetry, flirting
with country maidens, watching their flocks in a
peaceful and beautiful natural world.
 Petrarchan sonnet vs English sonnet
• Petrarchan sonnet (Italian sonnet):developed by a
string of Renaissance poets.
- 14 lines, 2 parts: octave (ab ba ab ba) and sestet (cde
cde or cdc dcd /cdd cdd, cdd ece, or cdd ccd ).
- The octave: introduce a problem, express a desire,
reflect on reality, or otherwise present a situation that
causes doubt or a conflict within the speaker's soul and
inside an animal and object in the story.
- The sestet: make a comment on the problem or to
apply a solution to it.
 Petrarchan sonnet vs English sonnet
• In English, both the English or Shakespearean
sonnet, and the Italian Petrarchan sonnet are
traditionally written in iambic pentameter.
• WhileEnglish sonnets were introduced by
Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) in the early 16th
century, it was Surrey who developed the rhyme
scheme – abab cdcd efef gg – which now
characterizes the English sonnet.
• 14 lines, three quatrains and a couplet.
• Three quatrains: questions
• Couplet: solutions
 iambic pantameter (/aɪˈæmbɪk
pɛnˈtæmɪtər/ )
• The term describes the rhythm that the words
establish in that line in traditional English poetry
and verse drama which is measured in small
groups of syllables called "feet“.
• The word "iambic" refers to the type of foot that
is used, known as the iamb, which in English is an
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
• The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has
five of these "feet".
 iambic pantameter (/aɪˈæmbɪk
pɛnˈtæmɪtər/ )
• Examples:
× / × / × / × / × /
When I do count the clock that tells the time
× / × / × / × /× /
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
• Rhythmic variation:
41 1 4 3 4 1 4 1 2
/× × / × / × / × /
Batter my heart three-personed God, for you
1 3 2 4 3 4 1 4 1 4
× / × / × / × / × /
As yet but knock, breathe, shine and seek to mend.
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
D. Major Authors:
1. Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586): the Renaissance
man: a soldier, a respected nobleman, a patron
of art and a brilliant writer.
+ “Astrophil and Stella”: an example of a sonnet
sequence, a group of sonnets exploring all
aspects of sonnet.
108 sonnets describe all facets- the good times&
bad times, the ups & downs of the love that
“Astrophil” has for “ Stella”
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
b. William Shakespeare (1564-1616): playwright
and poet, recognized in much of the world as the
greatest of all the dramatists.
- The sonnets (154 sonnets): 5 key themes: time,
poetry, beauty, love, and friendship.
- The plays: divided into three categories: tragedies,
comedies, and history plays
c. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): the first great
English dramatist and most important Elizabethan
dramatist.
 The Elizabethan Period (1485-1603)
-The Tragedy of Dio, Queen of Carthage
- The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
- The Tragedy of Edward II
- The Passionate Shepherd to His Love : is one of
the most well-known examples of pastoral poetry.
d. Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)
e. Elizabeth I(1533-1603): “Speech to the Troop at
Tilbury”
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
A. Historical background:
1603: the accession of James Stuart.
1605: Guy Fawkes – Catholic extremist forming the
Gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament.
1620: The search for religious freedom in America and
Holland.
1625: The accession of Charles I
1630: The split between the King and Parliament
1642: Outbreak of English Civil War and the closing of all
theatres
1649: Civil War ended with Charles I beheaded
The beginning of Cromwellian Protectorate
1660: The end of the Protectorate and the accession of
Charles.
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
B. Language: the era of early modern English.
The works of Shakespeare and the publication of King James
Bible in 1611 helped standardize the language while at the
same time enriched it with increased vocabulary and
phrases now familiar to most English speaker.
C. Literature:
1. Metaphysical poetry: led by John Donne ,Andrew
Marvell, and other early 17th-century poets whose poetry
was characterized by elaborate, unusual metaphors and
philosophical speculations. The term “metaphysical”
refers to ideas beyond the physical, to ideas that pertain to
a world beyond the natural world. Metaphysical poetry
often is contrasted with cavalier poetry.
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
The metaphysical poetry shares the following characteristics:
• abrupt, dramatic openings, often with a vivid image or an exclamation
• an argumentative construction
• an introspective quality; an element of self-analysis
• use of the metaphysical conceit, an unusual, elaborate, and
unexpected comparison. For example, “The Baits”
• use of literary devices
- paradox —an apparently self-contradictory statement
- apostrophe —an address to an inanimate object or abstract
quality, for example speaking to the moon or to death
- allusion —a reference to something from history, literature, or
any other field that the writer assumes the reader will know; for
example, when Donne refers to those destroyed by “the flood,” he
assumes the reader will recognize the biblical allusion to Noah’s
flood
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
2. Cavalier poetry:
The Cavalier poets wrote light-hearted poetry
that seldom had the depth of philosophical
thought evident in metaphysical poetry.
3. Dramma:
Under Puritan influence, drama and the theaters
declined until in 1642 Parliament shut down the
theaters completely.
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
4. Prose:
-”King James Bible”
- Scientific and biological works: “ The Anatomy of
Melanchory” of Robert Burton (1577-1640)
D. Major Author:
1. Ben Jonson (1572-1637): cavalier and playwright with his
works such as : “Every Man in His Humour” and “The
Alchemist”.
2. John Donne (1572-1631): metaphysical poet, Anglican
priest and appointed dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. His
poetry demand imaginative effort of the readers. In his
love poetry, he broke all traditional rules to create a new
sensibility, a new kind of love poem. It is more intimate
and more personal than that of his predecessors.
 The 17th Century Period (1603-1660)
3. Robert Herrick (1591-1674): a clergyman. Many of his
poems such as: “To the Virgins”, “To the Daffodils”
present a sense of life, a freshness, a buoyancy closer
to the 16th than to the 17th century.
4. John Milton (1608-1674): his works fall into 3 groups:
poems, prose and epics.
5. Richard Lovelace (1618-1658): He fought on the side of
the King and was one of the most handsome and
talented of the ‘Cavalier poets’. His most popular
poem: “Lucasta, Going to the Wars”.
6. Francis Bacon (1561-1626): an essayist.
 The restoration and the 18th century
(1660-1798)
A. Historical background:
1660: Charles II came to the throne.
1665-1666: Great Plague in England
1666: Great Fire in London
1685: James II became king of England
1689: William of Orange and Anne reigned England.
1707: Scotland joined England & the UK was
formed
1751: The Enlightenment movement in France
1775: American Revolution
1789: French Revolution
 The restoration and the 18th century
(1660-1798)
B. Literature: - a period of novelty
- Concerned with civilization and social relationship.
- A literature ‘from the head, not the heart’
- Lyric becoming minor, reason is more important than
emotion.
- Appears as neoclassicism which emphasizes order,
symmetry, elegance, and structure in the arts & literature.
- A time of standardization of the English language:
Johnson’s dictionary aimed to help create rules of grammar,
usage, and spelling previously lacking in the English
language, an idea in line with the preference for structure
1. Restoration Drama:
- the restoration of theatre
- The comedy of manners
 The restoration and the 18th century
(1660-1798)
2. The novel: The 18 gave birth to the novel. Daniel
DeFoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders are
considered the first novels.
3. Diaries: well-known diarists: Samuel Perys, John
Evelyn & Celia Fiennes.
C. Major authors:
1. Daniel Defoe (1660-17310): creator of modern
novel.
2. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): satirist and poet.
 The restoration and the 18th century
(1660-1798)
His well-known works:
“A Modest Proposal”: solves a human problem by an
economic calculus which ignores human love and treats
the poor as cattle.
“Gulliver’s Travel” : Captain Gulliver records his voyages to the
lands of the tiny people, of the giants, of experimental
scientists and horses.
3. Alexander Pope (1688-1744): the leader of neoclassical
literature.
4. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761): a creator of modern novel.
His works are for and about women such as “Pamela”&
“Clarissa”
5. Samuel Johnson(1709-1784): poet, essayist& scholar.
He is remembered for his Dictionary of the English Language.
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
A. Historical background:
- The Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
- The coming of the new middle class.
1793-1815: The war between England and France.
1820: The long reign of George III ended
1832: The Reform Bill was carried out in Parliament.
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
B. Literature:
- Romanticism grew from a political and philosophical milieu which
promoted democracy, equated nature and spirit, and valued sensibility
over reason.
- Nature and people close to nature become the ideal for Romantic
writers. Nature is the source of human innocence and goodness
because nature is a manifestation of the Divine.
- Characteristics of Romantic Literature:
• Medievalism
• Mysticism
• Sensibility
• Primitivism and individualism
- Romanticism places the individual in the center of life and experience.
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
1. Lyrical Ballard: collection of poems written and
published by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
Coleridge in 1798. The poetry in LB marks a distinct
change in both subject matter and style.
• The pattern of an observation of nature that leads
into a meditation is a typical pattern in Romantic
poetry.
• Language should be real language
• Subject of poetry should be events from real life.
• Poetry is the overflow of powerful feeling
• A poet is “a man speaking to men”
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
2. Novels: The novel flourished in the Romantic
Period, encompassing novels previously listed by
Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë,
Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen’s
novels of manners.
3. Romantic Ode: As used in the Romantic Period,
the ode is a lyric poem longer than usual lyrics,
often on a more serious topic, usually meditative
and philosophic in tone and subject.
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
C. Major authors:
1. Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806): the first woman
Romantic writer.
2. William Blake (1757-1827): an artist and poet. Child labor
issues figure prominently in “Blake’s Songs of Innocence
and Experience”
3. Robert Burn (1759-1796): a national poet of Scotland.
Burns embodies the concept of Romantic primitivism, and
his poetry exemplifies the glorification of the common
man, the individual educated by life and nature. Both “To
a Mouse” and “To a Louse” have a moral to the story.
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
4. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797):
Because of the strictures of her society, Mary Wollstonecraft
was largely self-educated and forced to work in traditional”
women’s jobs which she disliked. Her most remarkable
works: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
5. William Wordsworth (1770-1850): -The work of
Wordsworth and Coleridge is considered the beginning of
the Romantic Period in British literature.
- The landscape of the Lake District influenced Wordsworth’s
poetry.
- “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” and “I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” published in Lyrical Ballads
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
6. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): a close
friend of Wordsworth He is a poet, literary critic,
translator and theologian. His well-known works:
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”and “This
Lime-tree Bower My Prison.”
7. Jane Austen (1775-1817): first important woman
English novelist. Her interest is people, and her
achievement lies in the presentation of human
situations. Her great works are: “Sense and
Sensibility”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “Emma”.
 The Romantic Period (1798-1832)
8. George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1817):
A romantic figure but his poetry is much influenced
by the classic form of Pope. He satirizes many
sides of English life.
- “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”.
- “Don Juan”
9. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822): a great poet.
He struggled against the causes of human misery
and against accepted religion. His important
works: The Necessity of Atheism, Queen Mab,
Ode to the West Wind, Adonais.
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
A. Historical background:
1833: Parliament abolished slavery in the Empire. Education & Factory
Acts were passed.
1837: Queen Victoria came to the throne
1845: Potato Famine in Ireland
1854: Crimean War against Russia
1867: Karl Marx’s Das Kapital
1871: Dawin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species”
1875: The growth of democracy and science.
The increasing unemployment
The rising of middle class and its values
A movement spread through the country to defend the poor
1901: Queen Victoria died
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
Victorian Era was a time of contrast:
• Conflict of morality: virtue, modesty, and honor
>< gambling &prostitution
• Conflict of Faith and Doubt
• Conflict over imperialism
• Conflict over women’s rights
B. Language: the introduction of vocabulary to
communicate new innovation, invention.
Language mirrored class distinctions in both
vocabulary and accents.
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
C. Literature:
- The trend to criticize the society and social evils.
- Primarily an age of prose rather than poetry.
- Many of greatest authors are women: The Brontë sisters,
George Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
* The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: a movement in art and
literature which sets about a revolution against the ugliness
of contemporary life.
* Aestheticism: the theory of “art for art’s sake” that places
the pursuit of beauty as the highest purpose of art.
Aestheticism, with its ideals of beauty and the belief that
art and morality are not connected, spread throughout
Europe in the late 19th century.
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
D. Major Authors:
1. Charles Dickens (1812-1870): his sense of humour, keen
observation and human sympathy could be found in his works
such as: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale of 2 cities, Bleak
House.
Dickens often makes his works memorable with the use of literary
devices:
• Anaphora : Lines which begin with the same word or phrase (it was,
it
was, it was…)
• Asyndeton: Deletion of conjunctions between sentences or clauses
• Parallelism: The use of the same grammatical structure for ideas of
equal importance
• Paradox: The juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory ideas
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
2. Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855): was brought up in poor
surroundings. Her finest novel Jane Eyre is very successful.
The dialogue is more realistic and less formal than in any
novels of the period.
3. Emily Brontë (1818-1848): her works Wuthering Heights is
considered one of the greatest English novels.
4. George Eliot (1819-1880): her first novel Adam Bede
influenced by memories of her childhood reveals her great
skills in characterizing and describing as well as her humour.
5. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): his novels mainly set in Wessex,
and are mostly pictures of human beings struggling against
fate and chance. “Far from the Madding Crowd”…
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
6. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861): one of
greatest English poetesses. Her well-known poetic
works:
-”The Cry of The Children”: is persuasive discourse. “The
Cry of the Children” drew on published government
documents inquiring into child labor abuses.
- “Sonnets from the Portuguese”: a sonnet sequence
showed her love to her husband.
7. Robert Browning (1812-1899): is known primarily for
his dramatic monologues. His well known works: “My
Last duchess” , “Men and Women”.
 The Victorian Period (1832-1901)
8. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): succeeds
Wordsworth as Poet Laureat in 1850. He is
mourned “the voice of England” after his
death. His important works: Poems, Chief
Lyrical, Ulysses…
9. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): the founder of
aesthetic movement. “The Importance of
Being Earnest” is a comedy of manner.
 The Twentieth Century Period
A. Historical background:
1902: Edward VII came to the throne
1910: George V reigned to 1936
1914-1918: The First World War
1916-1921: The struggle for independence of Ireland.
1923-1933: The Economic Depress.
1936: George VI reigned to 1952
1936-1945: The Second World War
*20th century is a time of uncertainty and lack of belief.
 The Twentieth Century Period
B. Literature:
- Modernism (key word in 20th cent)in literature is
characterized by a feeling of loss of any centering,
stabilizing factor in life, a break with tradition, and a
reaction against established society, religion, and
politics.
- Writers such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Virginia
Woolf experimented with new forms of literature and
new subject matter which explored and depicted
modernism as it affected individual lives.
- Modern novels attempt to present the reality of the
mind, not of the external world.
 The Twentieth Century Period
C. Language: English became global language.
D. Major Authors:
1. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): Hardy, instead, described
himself as a meliorist, a person who believes the world
and individuals have the potential for improvement.
Nonetheless, the pessimistic tone of modernism
permeates his work. His important works: Hap, The
darkling Thrush, The ruined Maid, Drummer Hodge.
2. Joseph Conrad (1857-1924): bridges the end of Victorian
Era and Modern Age. “Heart of Darkness” is one of his
famous novellas.
3. The War Poets:
a. Wolfred Owen (1893-1918)
b. Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)
c. Siegfried Sasson (1886-1967)
 The Twentieth Century Period
4. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941): like mary
Wollstonecraft over 130 years earlier,
avocated educational opportunities for
women. One of her famous works: “A Room of
One’s Own”.
5. T.S Eliot (1888-1965): one of greatest
modernism poets. He was awarded the Nobel
Prize in 1984
 The Twentieth Century Period
6. Philip Larkin (1922-1985): poet and novelist.
“Day”.
7. Carol Ann Duffy (1955- ): Scotland woman
poet.
8. James Joyce (1882-1941): using “stream of
conciousness”
9. William Sommerset Maugham (1874-1965)
 LITERARY DEVICES
Anaphora : Lines which begin with the same word or phrase (it was, it was, it
was…)
• Asyndeton: Deletion of conjunctions between sentences or clauses.
• Parallelism: The use of the same grammatical structure for ideas of equal
importance.
• Paradox: The juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory ideas.
• Hyperbole: the exagration for effect
• Irony: a word used that apparently means one thing but actually implies
another.
• Metaphor: an implied comparison.
• Personification: gives human characteristics to inhuman objects
• Repetition: aims at emphasis by repeating words, phrases.
• Simile: compares 2 things or 2 persons, gives the identity between the 2
terms of a comparison by the connectives like: as, like, such , thus or by
verbs like seems, appears, resembles, compares.