REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS

AND AUTHORS FROM

EUROPE
The history of European literature and of
each various periods is one of the prominent
figures among world literature. European
literature emerges from world literature
before the birth of Europe, whose classical
languages are the recipients to the complex
heritage of the Old World.
An additional unique feature is the global
expansion of Western Europe’s languages and
characteristic of its literary forms, especially the
novel, the poetry, the epic beginning in the
Renaissance
The literary prominence of Europe is
perceptibly known by its notable authors and
their significant works.
 What Is Latin American Literature?

Latin American literature refers to written and oral works

created by authors in parts of North America, South America,
and the Caribbean. Latin American authors usually write in
Spanish, Portuguese, English, or a language native to their
specific country.
Latin American literature has a rich history starting in the Pre-
Colombian period and working all the way up to modern day.
With each period of Latin American history, came a genre that
dominated the field.
Our next activity will now let you remember
the different representative literary texts from
the different regions in Europe, as well as the
authors whom have contributed in the
development of literature, ranging from the
notable classical writers up to the 21st
century authors.
 Literature
Literature broadly refers to any collection of written
or oral work, but it more commonly and narrowly
refers to writings specifically considered to be an
art form, especially prose (fiction, non-fiction), epic
drama, poetry forms and the like, in contrast to
academic writing and newspapers.
 Literature
Literature, as an art form, can also
include works in various non-fiction
genres, such as autobiography, diaries,
memoir, letters, and the essay, as well as
in the disciplines of history and
philosophy.
 Literature
The literatures of Europe are compiled in many
languages; among the most important of the modern
written works are those in English, Spanish, French,
Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Modern
Greek, Czech, Russian, Macedonian, the
Scandinavian languages, Gaelic and Turkish.
 Literature
Important classical and medieval
European literary traditions are those in
Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Bulgarian,
Macedonian, Old Norse, Medieval
French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of
the renaissance.
Periods of European Literature
 01
Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c.
450-1066)
 OLD ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON (C. 450-1066)
Encompasses the surviving literature written in
Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the
period after the settlement of the Saxons and
other Germanic tribes in England c. 450 and
"ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in
1066.
Old English or Anglo-Saxon (c. 450-1066)
 EPIC POETRY
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy
narrative poem typically about the
extraordinary deeds of extraordinary
characters who, in dealings with gods or other
superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal
universe for their descendants.
 EPIC POETRY
The literature of the Anglo-Saxons (c. 450–
1100) is abundant in heroic, or epic, poetry:
narrative poems which recount the deeds of
heroic figures who overcome significant
challenges in the pursuit of goals that were
deemed virtuous by the standards of the day.
 EPIC POETRY
 Beowulf, the longest surviving Old English
poem, is a good example of this in its own
right, but it also shows signs of the rich
tradition of heroic poetry that flourished after
the settlement of Germanic peoples in Britain
from the 5th century onwards.
 EPIC POETRY
Warriors riding back from Grendel’s lair,
following the bloody track left by the monster
after losing his arm, compare Beowulf with the
hero Sigemund, a dragon-slayer known to us from
other works of Germanic and Old Norse literature
such as the Vǫlsunga saga from Iceland.
 HAGIOGRAPHY
A hagiography is a biography of a saint or an
ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by
extension, an adulatory and idealized
biography of a preacher, priest, founder,
saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the
world's religions.
 HAGIOGRAPHY
A substantial corpus of hagiography survives from the Anglo-
Saxon period, composed between c. 700 and c. 1100. The texts are
in Latin or Old English, written anonymously or by a known
author. Indeed, some of the most famous Anglo-Saxon authors,
such as Ælfric (c. 950–c. 1010), Bede (c. 673–735) and Aldhelm
(d. c. 709–710) took a great interest in the hagiographical genre,
and Bede’s and Aldhelm’s Latin hagiography experienced an even
wider transmission on the Continent.
 HAGIOGRAPHY
The surviving texts belong to a diverse range of
subgenres, which include both hagiographical prose and
poetic works, ranging from sprawling encyclopedic
material (such as the Old English Martyrology or the
Cotton-Corpus Legendary) to more compact, free-
standing texts focusing on individual saints, such as
Felix’s Life of St. Guthlac, or the Old English Life of
Chad.
 SERMON
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher,
usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, 
theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type
of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present
contexts. Elements of the sermon often include exposition, 
exhortation, and practical application. The act of delivering
a sermon is called preaching.
 SERMON
Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham, was the greatest prose
stylist of the Old English period and the most
important theological figure of the late Anglo-
Saxon church. Among writers of Old English, only
Ælfric and King Alfred - the latter rather less
revealingly - speak about the purposes and methods
of their literary endeavour.
 SERMON
These personal revelations, combined
with what has been learned by inference
about the man from his work, must be
considered carefully before the
achievement of the homilist can be
appreciated.
 BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
The Bible has been translated into 
many languages from the biblical languages of 
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As of September
2022 all of the Bible has been translated into 724
languages, the New Testament has been
translated into an additional 1,617 languages,
 BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
and smaller portions of the Bible have been
translated into 1,248 other languages
according to Wycliffe Global Alliance.
Thus, at least some portions of the Bible
have been translated into 3,589 languages.
 BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
Alfred and the House of Wessex (875-999)

Alfred is also said to have directed the Book of

Psalms to have been translated into Old English,
though scholars are divided on Alfredian authorship
of the Paris Psalter collection of the first fifty
Psalms.
 CHRONICLES
A chronicle is a historical account of events
arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline.
Typically, equal weight is given for historically
important events and local events, the purpose
being the recording of events that occurred, seen
from the perspective of the chronicler
 CHRONICLES
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, chronological
account of events in Anglo-Saxon and
Norman England, a compilation of seven
surviving interrelated manuscript records
that is the primary source for the early
history of England.
 CHRONICLES
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a compilation
of annals telling the history of the Wessex
dynasty revealing the trials and tribulations of
kingship, the development of Christianity,
Anglo-Saxon culture and so much more
 RIDDLES
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double
or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved.
Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems
generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language
that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their
solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for
their effects on punning in either the question or the
answer.
 RIDDLES
Anglo-Saxon riddles are a significant genre of 
Anglo-Saxon literature. The riddle was a major, prestigious
literary form in early medieval England, and riddles were
written both in Latin and Old English verse. The pre-
eminent composer of Latin riddles in early medieval
England was Aldhelm (d. 709), while the Old English verse
riddles found in the tenth-century Exeter Book include
some of the most famous Old English poems.
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS
AND AUTHORS FROM
EUROPE
 02
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
(1066–1500)
 MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1066–1500)

Middle English literature was written

in many dialects that corresponded to
the region, history, culture, and
background of individual writers.
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1066–1500)
 ALLEGORICAL NARRATIVE POEM
Allegorical poems contain both a literal and a
symbolic meaning. The reader will have to
interpret the text's use of imagery and metaphor in
order to get the full meaning. Renowned poets
such as Dante, Poe, and Spenser all used allegory
to write a few of the most acclaimed poems ever
written.
 ALLEGORICAL NARRATIVE POEM

The Tortoise and the Hare

The story of the tortoise and the hare is deeply

allegorical. It tells of a prideful, overconfident
hare and a determined, wise tortoise and the race
the two engaged in.
 ALLEGORICAL NARRATIVE POEM
The Allegory of Love that medieval people
naturally thought in allegorical terms may be an
overstatement, it is certainly true that allegory was a
favorite literary form of the European Middle Ages,
beginning with Prudentius's fourth-century
poem Psychomachia. 
 DRAMA
A drama is a type of literature that is written
for the purpose of being performed in front of
an audience. This type of writing is written in
the form of a script, and the story is told
through the lines of the characters played by
actors.
 DRAMA
• The main writing of this period was in poetry, but the tradition of drama
was beginning in this time.
• The original medieval dramas were set in and around the church at
festival times, and they showed scenes from the Bible. The plays were
called mystery or miracle plays because they showed the mysterious
events of the Bible and the saints’ lives.
• They were long cyclic dramas of the Creation, Fall, and Redemption
of humankind. They usually included a selection of Old Testament
episodes (such as the stories of Cain and Abel and of Abraham and
Isaac) but concentrated mainly on the life and Passion of Jesus Christ.
They always ended with the Last Judgment.
 LITURGY
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by
a religious group. Liturgy can also be used to refer specifically
to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon,
liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in
the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving,
remembrance, supplication, or repentance. It forms a basis for
establishing a relationship with God.
 LITURGY
Although folktales are a common attribute of
every civilization, and such stories were being
told by cultures around the world during the
medieval period, the phrase “medieval
folklore” in the west almost always refers
to European tales.
 LITURGY
“Liturgy” refers to the totality of the public
worship of the Christian Church. It was the
authentic, authorized public expression of
the Church in the world, inseparable from all
aspects of life in the Middle Ages.
 FOLK TALES
Folk tales are fictional stories that are verbally been
passed through generations. The word “Folk” in
Folktales is derived from the German word “Volk”,
which means people. Therefore, it can be said that
folktales are the stories of all people. Folktale
stories are straightforward to understand
 HAGIOGRAPHY
A hagiography is a biography of a saint or an
ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by
extension, an adulatory and idealized
biography of a preacher, priest, founder,
saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the
world's religions.
 HAGIOGRAPHY
Medieval hagiography comprises narratives that
recount the saints' lives (vitae). Typically, these
texts include the deeds and miracles associated
with the saint, the conditions of their death (passio
or passion) and martyrdom.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
Historiography is the study of the
methods of historians in developing
history as an academic discipline, and by
extension is any body of historical work
on a particular subject.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
Medieval historiography is a branch of history
that deals with the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD).
The best chronicles from this time period come
from either scholars or religious figures as they
were generally literate. Some examples include
Islamic histories and monks from medieval
Europe.
 HISTORIOGRAPHY
The generic features of medieval historiography –
didactic moralism, a belief in divine providence as the
guiding hand of history, a ready acceptance of the
miraculous, a focus on warfare, politics, and the
Church to the exclusion of almost everything else –
have always posed a challenge to historians seeking to
write.
 BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
Middle English Bible translations (1066-1500) covers
the age of Middle English, beginning with the 
Norman conquest and ending about 1500. Aside from 
Wycliffe's Bible, this was not a fertile time for Bible 
translation. English literature was limited because French
 was the preferred language of the elite, and Latin was
the preferred literary language in Medieval 
Western Europe.
 BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
The Bible historiale wasn't the first or
the only medieval translation of the
Bible, but it was the most widely
copied and used French translation for
200 years.
 ROMANCES
Romances in Middle English begin to appear
regularly in the mid-14th century, and some of the
most famous English romances, Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight and the romances included in
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, for example,
are composed at the end of the 1300s.
 ROMANCES
English romance is usually written in verse
(not in prose) with over eighty verse
romances surviving in Middle English.
Vernacular prose romance arrives late in
England, only flourishing in the second half
of the 15th century. 
 03
English Renaissance (1500–
1660)