Lecture 9

Plan
1. British literature.
2. Music of the United Kingdom.
3. Cinema of the United Kingdom.
4. Art of the United Kingdom.
5. Architecture of the United Kingdom.
1. British literature.
Anglo-Saxon
literature includes
Beowulf, a national
epic, but literature in
Latin predominated
among educated
elites.
 Geoffrey Chaucer is the
first great identifiable
individual in English
literature: his Canterbury
Tales remains a popular
14th-century work which
readers still enjoy today.

William Shakespeare is
the greatest writer in the
English language (Hamlet,
King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo
and Juliet)
 The English novel became a popular form in the
18th century, with
-Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719)
- Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740)
-Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1745).
 After a period of decline, the
poetry of Robert Burns revived
interest in literature.
My heart's in the Highlands
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer –
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North
The birth place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with
snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forrests and wild-hanging woods;
Farwell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer
Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, whereever I go.
 In the early 19th century, the Romantic
period showed a flowering of poetry with
such poets as:
- William Blake

- John Keats

-Lord Byron
 The Victorian period was the golden age of the realistic English novel,
represented by

Jane Austen -

the Brontë sisters

Charlotte Emily Anne

Charles Dickens -

William
Thackeray –
George Eliot
 The English novel developed in the 20th century into
much greater variety and was greatly enriched by immigrant
writers. It remains today the dominant English literary form.

Other well-known novelists include:

Arthur Conan Doyle
D.H. Lawrence
Mary Shelley
J.R.R. Tolkien
Walter Scott
Agatha Christie
Robert Louis Stevenson
Graham Greene
Roald Dahl
J.K. Rowling
Etc…
Agatha Christie
 Arthur Conan
Doyle

W. Scott

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.K.
Rowling

Mary
Robert Louis Stevenson Shelley
Important poets include
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- T. S. Eliot
- Ted Hughes
- Philip Larkin
- John Milton
- Alfred Tennyson
- Rudyard Kipling
- Alexander Pope
2. Music of the United Kingdom.
Composers
William Byrd
Thomas Tallis
John Blow
Henry Purcell
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Oliver Knussen
John Rutter
Joby Talbot
David Arnold
James MacMillan
 The United Kingdom also supports a
number of major orchestras (e.g.the BBC
Symphony Orchestra, the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra etc).
London is one of the world's major
centres for classical music: it is home to
the Royal Opera House.
 The UK was one of the two main countries in
the development of rock music, and has
provided global acts including The Beatles, The
Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Elton John,
David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Status Quo, Van
Morrison, Duran Duran, Sting, Phil Collins,
George Michael, The Animals, Ozzy Osbourne,
UB40, Annie Lennox, Bonnie Tyler, Joe Cocker,
Depeche Mode, Roxy Music, The Jam etc.
The Beatles
 There are various forms of electronic dance
music including acid house, drum and bass and
trip hop.
Acclaimed British dance acts include
Underworld, Orbital, Massive Attack, The
Prodigy, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, The
Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada
etc.
3. Cinema of the United Kingdom.
Currently the main film production
centres are at Shepperton and
Pinewood Studios.
The British film industry has produced
some of the greatest actors, directors
and motion pictures of all time including
Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Laurence
Olivier, David Niven, Michael Caine,
Terry-Thomas, Ray Winstone, Sidney
James and Anthony Hopkins.
 MichaelCaine Alfred Hitchcock
David Niven (actor) (film director and
(actor) producer)
Hugh Laurie

CatherineZetaJone
s
4. Art of the United Kingdom.
Notable visual artists from the United
Kingdom include:
- John Constable
- Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Thomas Gainsborough
- William Blake
- J.M.W. Turner.
Deadham Vale. J. Constable
Chichester canal. J.M.W. Turner.
Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews
 In the 20th century, Francis Bacon, David
Hockney, Bridget Riley, and the pop artists Richard
Hamilton and Peter Blake were of note.

More recently, the Young British Artists have

gained some popularity, particularly Damien Hirst
and Tracey Emin.

Notable illustrators include Aubrey Beardsley,

Roger Hargreaves, and Beatrix Potter.

Notable arts institutions include the Allied Artists'

Association, Royal College of Art, Artists' Rifles,
Royal Society of Arts, New English Art Club, Slade
School of Art, Royal Academy, and the Tate Gallery.
Blake, On the Balcony
Emin. My-Bed
Man in a Cap. Francis Bacon.
5. Architecture of the United Kingdom.
The architecture of the United Kingdom has a
long and diverse history from beyond
Stonehenge to the designs of Norman Foster and
the present day.
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a
building or other structure officially designated as
being of special architectural, historical or cultural
significance.
About half a million buildings in the UK have
"listed" status.
 The Tower of London is a
historic fortress and
scheduled monument in
central London, England,
on the north bank of the
River Thames.
Caernarfon Castle
in Wales was
constructed at
Caernarfon in
Gwynedd, north-
west Wales, by
King Edward I of
England, following
his conquest of
Gwynedd in 1283.
St Paul's
Cathedral is the
Anglican
cathedral on
Ludgate Hill in
the City of
London and the
seat of the
Bishop of
London. The
present building
dates from the
17th century.
 The Millennium Dome, often referred to simply as The Dome, is the original
name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium
Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third

millennium . Located on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East London,

England
City Hall is the headquarters of
the Greater London Authority
(GLA) which comprises the
Mayor of London and London
Assembly. It is located in
Southwark, stands on the south
bank of the River Thames near
Tower Bridge. Designed by
Norman Foster, it opened in
July 2002.
The Forth Railway Bridge is
a cantilever bridge over the
Firth of Forth in the east of
Scotland. It was opened in
1890, and is designated as a
Category A listed building.
The Lloyd's building (also
sometimes known as The
Inside-Out Building) is the
home of the insurance
institution Lloyd's of
London, and is located at
One Lime Street, in the
City of London, England.
(Richard Rogers)
The most prominent architects are the following:
- Sir Christopher Wren (St Paul's Cathedral)
- Robert Adam
- Sir William Chambers
- Joseph Paxton (the Crystal Palace)
- Norman Foster (City Hall)
- Richard Rogers (Millennium Dome)
 HOMETASK
 Culture of the USA
 Culture of other English-speaking
countries