Lecture 1

Introduction. Old English Literature and Middle English Literature

(mid-5^th century – 15^th century)

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Introduction

English literature consists of the poetry, prose and drama written in the English language by authors from England, Scotland and Wales. As we know, these three countries have been politically united under the name of Great Britain in 18^th century. Each of the countries produced magnificent and outstanding writers. Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was born in Poland, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Vladimir Nabokov was Russian. English literature is as diverse as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the world.

The contribution of English literature to the world literature is magnificent. It is worth to mention just some names: Shakespeare who is ever alive and new, Richardson as the founder of sentimentalism, Byron and Scott, the most influential writers at the Romantic Age, Dickens, the founder of critical realism; Bernard Shaw who conquered the theatre everywhere, James Joyce, one of the fathers of modernism. Maybe we know a few English musicians or artists. But Literature is the art in which the English have greatly succeeded.

First of all I would like you to participate in a kind of a quiz. This quiz will help us to come closer to our discussion about English and American literature. I want you not to be shy and to remember everything you can concerning British History, language of Great Britain and literature of Great Britain and America.

1. What century can be considered the starting point of history of Great Britain? Why? Were there any inhabitants on the British Isles before?

2. What language was spoken in Great Britain at these times?

3. When did Norman invasion happen? What did it change?

4. What language was spoken after Norman invasion?

5. Do you know any Medieval Engish authors?

6. Continue the sentence: Renaissance in English literature was the golden age of… (prose, poetry, drama).

7. Who was the most outstanding playwright of this time?

8. Do you know any Renaissance authors besides Shakespeare?

9. Has Great Britain remained monarchy for years? When did it become republic and who was the head of this republic?

10. What French classicism writer influenced English literature in 18^th century?

11. Do you know what literary flows were developing in English and American literature in 19^th c.?

12. What events influenced literature in 20^th c.?

13.What newest flows appeared in 20^th century literature?

Please, remind the authors of these literary works and translate the titles from English into Russian:

1. “The Canterbury Tales”

2. “King Lear”

3. “Gulliver’s Travels”

4. “Child Harold’s Pilgrimage”

5. “Christmas Carol”

6. “Old Man and the Sea”

7. “Catcher in the Rye”

While answering the questions you probably have noticed that there are definite periods in the history of Great Britain and America, and these periods influence the development of literature greatly.

DICTATE

PERIODIZATION

The problem of defining periods in the History of English Literature is caused by different traditions of naming the periods, divergence between changes in social and political situation and literary process. Nevertheless, the following periodization is widely spread.

1. Old English

2. Middle English literature

3. Renaissance literature

4. Early Modern period

Elizabethan Era

Jacobean literature

Caroline and Cromwellian literature

Restoration literature

Augustan literature

5. 18th century

6. Romanticism

7. Victorian literature

8. English literature since 1900

Modernism

Post-modern literature

Post World War II

The pre-Renaissance period in the English Literature is usually divided into Old English Literature and Middle English Literature.

1. Old English Literature period begins in the middle of the 5^th century when Anglo-Saxon tribes invade the island. It ends in 1066 with the beginning of Norman colonization.

2. Middle English Literature period begins in 1066 after Norman colonization and is characterized as a period when English language, culture and literature were temporarily suppressed by French. The period lasts till the War of Roses between Lancasters and Yorks in 1485.

3. English Renaissance was a cultural movement in England dating from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. This era in English cultural history is sometimes referred to as "the age of Shakespeare" or "the Elizabethan era"

4. The 17th century literature is developed under the influence of Jacobean literature, continental Baroque, literature of Commonwealth and Restoration.

5. The 18^th century literature or Augustan age is sometimes called “the golden age of prose”. Literature reflected the worldview of the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason)

6. Nineteenth century literature gave the world representatives of two main flows: Romanticism and Realism.

7. It was in the Victorian era (1837–1901) that the novel became the leading form of literature in English. Late 19^th century and early 20^th century can also be named as a special period in English literature.

8. Literature of the 20^th century is characterised by new trendes and flows: war and postwar prose, Realism, Modernism and Postmodern literature.

9. American literature can be subdivided to colonial and puritan literature (16-18^th cent.) and to post-independence literature. Realism and Romanticism of 19^th, Modernism of 20^th.

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1066)

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HISTORY

People appeared in the British Isles since time immemorial, long before the first historical documents testifying about them. The first people, no doubt, crossed into the territory of the modern British Isles at a time when Britain was part of the continent. The climate was gradually changing. British Isles were inhabited by lions, elephants and rhinos on the one side, and by mammoths and reindeer on the other.