Europe and European

Literature
Europe is one of the seven traditional continents
of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is
the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of
Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the
Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean,
to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, to the
southeast by the Caucasus Mountains and the
Black Sea and the waterways connecting the
Black Sea to the Mediterranean. To the east,
Europe is generally divided from Asia by the
water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural
River, and by the Caspian Sea.
European literature refers to the literature of
Europe. It includes literature in many
languages; among the most important of the
modern written works are those in English,
Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian,
Modern Greek, Czech and Russian and works
by the Scandinavians and Irish. Important
classical and medieval traditions are those in
Ancient Greek, Latin, Old Norse, Medieval
French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of the
renaissance.
Diverse as they are, European literatures,
like Indo-European languages, are parts
of a common heritage belonging to a race
of proud nations which boast the likes of
Homer who wrote Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil
who wrote the Aeneid, Dante who wrote
Divine Comedy, Chaucer who wrote
Canterbury Tales. These, and other literary
masterpieces form part of what we call as
Western Canon.
The common literary heritage is essentially that
originating in ancient Greece and Rome. It was
preserved, transformed, and spread by Christianity and
thus transmitted to the vernacular languages of the
European Continent, the Western Hemisphere, and
other regions that were settled into by the Europeans.
To the present day, this body of writing displays a unity
in its main features that sets it apart from the
literatures of the rest of the world.
Periods of European
Literature
1. Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c. 450-1066)
- Encompasses the surviving literature written
in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the
Phase August September October November

period after the settlement of the Saxons and

other
Phase 2Germanic tribes in England c. 450 and

"ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in

1066
Phase 4
- Old English is directly related to modern
English (many of the modern words came from
old Phase
English) August September October November
- Strong belief in fate
- Admiration
Phase 2
of heroic warriors who prevail in
battle
- Express religious faith and give moral
Phase 4
instruction through literature
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:

Phase
epic August  chronicles
September October November

 sermons  riddles
Phase
Bible
2 translations

Phase 4
2. Middle English literature (1066–1500)
- Middle
Phase English
August literature
September was written
October Novemberin

many dialects that corresponded to the

region,
Phase 2 history, culture, and background
of individual writers.
Phase 4
- Medieval works of literature often center on
inevitability, sadness, change, loss, and death
- The greatest poet of that time was Geoffrey
Phase August September October November

Chaucer – “The General Prologue to the

Canterbury
Phase 2 Tales” has long been recognized
as one of the greatest masterpieces of English
literature
Phase 4
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:

Phase
allegorical
August  historiography
September October November

narrative poem  Bible translations

Phase
drama
2  Romances
 liturgy
 folk tales
Phase 4
3. Renaissance (1400–1600)
• The English Renaissance turns to be a
Phase August September October November
cultural and artistic movement.
• It was a period of transition that left
Phase 2
behind the medieval ways of the past
and launched society towards a
Phase 4
modern world.
• Many writers produced pieces that catered to
wealthy patrons who commissioned their work.
• Johannes
Phase Gutenberg
August created
September the printing
October press
November
in 1440, allowing for mass production of
pamphlets and novels.
• This gave people an increased opportunity to
Phase 2

read publications of various authors like

Petrarch
Phase 4 and Boccaccio.
 Renaissance Works of Note
• John Milton: Paradise Lost
Phase August • Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
September October November

• Dante Alighieri: Divina Commedia

Phase 2 • William Shakespeare: King Lear,
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
• Christopher Marlowe: Doctor
Phase 4
Faustus
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:

Phase
RomancesAugust  vernacular
September October November

 allegorical literature
narrative
Phase 2 poem  vernacular liturgy
 drama  sonnet
 folk tales  Bible translations
Phase 4
4. Elizabethan period (1558–1603)
• It saw a great flourishing of literature,
especially
Phase inAugust
the field of drama.
September October TheNovember
major
literary style was lyric poetry.
• Phase
William
2 Shakespeare stands out in this
period as a poet
• Renowned
Phase 4
Christopher Marlowe, and Ben
Jonson
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:
Phase
English August  epic
September
poems
October November
Renaissance  songs
theatre  romances
Phase 2
 Poetry  tragicomedies
 Tragedy
Phase 4
5. Age of Romanticism (1798–1837)
• The term, “Romanticism” was originally
used to describe literature in 17th
Phase August September October November

century Europe that writers saw as

unrealistic, filled with emotions, or
Phase 2

over the top in its stylistic tendencies.

Phase 4
- Many romantic novels delved into dramatic new
subject matter, often focusing on a character who
lived on the edge of, or outside of normal society.
Phase August September October November
- This genre disregarded previous rules for form
and technique, giving free reign to the reader’s
imagination
Phase 2
- English writers believed that their writing was
enhanced by following whatever whim their
Phase 4
creative impulses felt.
 Romanticism Works of Note
• Horace Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
• Victor
Phase
Hugo: Les
August
Miserables
September October November
• Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient
Phase 2
Mariner, Lyrical Ballads
• Lord Byron: Don Juan, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
Phase 4
• William Wordsworth: The Prelude
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:
 elegy  romantic poem
Phase
dramatic August  Sonnet
September October November

monologue  Lyrical Ballad

Phase
Romantic
2 novel
 historical novel
Phase
nature
4 poem
6. Victorian literature (1837–1901)
• the novel became the leading literary genre in
English
Phase August September October November

• Charles Dickens emerged on the literary scene

• Introduction
Phase 2 of detective novel in the English
language.
• Development of science fiction novels and
Phase 4
realistic fiction
 Victorian Works of Note
• William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair
• Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
Phase August September October November

• Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

• Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations
Phase 2

Phase 4
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:
 dramatic  realistic fiction
monologue
Phase August 
September Romanticism
October November

 musical burlesques  horror story

Phase
comic
2 operas
 novel
Phase
feminist
4 novels
 literary realism
7. Modernism (1901–2000)
• English literary modernism developed in the
early twentieth-century
Phase August September October November
• Modernism, like realism, provided critique of
morality of the middle-class society.
Phase 2
• Modernism focused on aesthetics, rather than
societal issues.
Phase 4
 Modernism Works of Note
• Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own, Mrs.
Dalloway
Phase August September October November
• James Joyce: Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake
• Marcel
Phase 2
Proust: Remembrance of Things Past
• George Orwell: Animal Farm
• Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The
Phase 4
Warden of the Tomb
Genre, elements, structures, traditions:
 Radio drama fiction
Phase
Fantasy August 
September Lyric poetry
October November

 Detective novels  Television plays

Phase
Comic2 science  Children’s novel

Phase 4
Phase August September October November

Phase 2

Phase 4
Thank You!