ENGLISHLITERATURE:

AN OVERVIEW OF THE FAMOUS WORKS OF ENGLISH AUTHORS THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF

GREAT BRITAIN

To start, a few details about the class…

Assignments this term

Author presentations-every week, one group will present with handouts from each member Details on pg. 4

Book report (and possibly drama)-more details to come Details on pg. 7

Weekly homework-assigned each class

Author presentation

Rubric: Typed grammar/spelling Notes required Source given Quality/ preparation Presentation skills

*Group 1-see me after class to see examples of handouts

These requirements are on pg. 4

Book Report

Over the course of the semester, each student will read one English book from the list on pg. 8-10. *note: there is an added book (13. ‘Sense and

Sensibility’ by Jane Austen) Each student will be required to answer

questions about their book (listed on pg. 11-13)

These questions will be completed as homework and will be checked three times throughout the semester (so you will have the whole semester to read the book)

*you will choose your book at the end of class

What’s important or helpful to know when reading a story or poem? Who? What? When? Where? Why?/How?

This is what we’ll talk about for each period

Major Periods•The Middle Ages (Chaucer)•The Renaissance (Shakespeare)•The Classical Literature + Age of

Enlightenment (Bunyan/ Defoe)•The 19th Century•The Twentieth Century•Focus of Poetry

Start taking

notes on pg.19

Literature of the Middle Ages 

Anglo- Saxon period (5th - 10th centuries)

Content:  • admiration of heroic warriors

who prevail in battle • express religious faith and give

moral instruction through literature    

Style/Genres: 1. oral tradition of  literature 2. poetry dominant genre 3. unique verse form

a. alliteration (repetition of same consonant in words or syllables.)

 

Then the baleful fiend its fire belched out,And bring home burned. The blaze stood high

And land folk fighting 

b. repetition (the repetition of these consonants gives the words rhyme)

c. double metaphor (sail-road =sea)

Effect:• Christianity helps literacy to spread • introduces Roman alphabet to Britain • oral tradition helps unite diverse peoples and their myths

•Historical Context: • life centered around ancestral tribes or clans that ruled themselves • at first the people were warriors from invading outlying areas: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and  Danes • later they were agricultural

How the Anglo-Saxons Lived

A sampling of key literature: Beowulf

First known masterpiece of English literature

An epic poem (a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation.)

Describes the historical past of the land from which the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came

Talks about the defeat of Grendel, the monster who was killed by Beowulf, a strong young Viking, who later becomes king of Norway

PlotTravels to help his kinsman

Hrothgar, king of the DanesKills the monster Grendel by

tearing off his armKills Grendel’s mother by

following her into a deep lakeBecomes king of the Geats, rules

for 50 yearsDies killing a dragon to save his

people and make them rich Qualities of an Anglo-Saxon hero:

Bravery, strength, seeking glory, boasting

Brainstorm with a partner

Talk about these Questions:

1. Who are heroes/heroines in Vietnam? What qualities do they possess?

2. Look at the characteristics of an epic listed on pg. 23. Which of those characteristics are shared by the stories of Vietnamese heroes?

3. Are courage, strength, and boldness qualities you look for in a modern hero? If not, what different qualities do you look for?

The Anglo-Norman Period

(11th-13th centuries) Content: chivalric code of honor/romances Style/Genres: oral tradition continues folk ballads popular poetry, funny stories about

townspeople (fabliaux) bestiaries-stories in which characters were

animals Effect: Expressed the values of knighthoodWhat is a knight? (in the Middle Ages) a man who served his

sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor.

Historical Context: 1066-Battle of Hastings-Anglo-Saxon army

defeated by William, Duke of Normandy Normans from north-west France 3 languages used, French (nobility), Latin

(clergy) , Anglo-Saxon (common people) Feudal system

A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Pre-Renaissance (14-15th centuries)

Content: plays that instruct the illiterate masses in

morals and religion religious devotionStyle/Genres: mystery and miracle plays morality plays Effect: church instructs its people through the

morality and miracle plays an illiterate population is able to hear and

see the literature

Mystery, Miracle, and Morality

Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays

The origin of formal drama in England was the Christian Church

Morality: Characters were qualities such as Sin, Grace, and Repentance to help Christians in England who could not read understand ideas from the Bible

Mystery: acted out Biblical events Miracle: acted out specific

miraculous events in Biblical record

Historical Context: Fight between English, Latin, and

French comes to an end. 1362-English is decided for court

1399, Henry IV, mother tongue was English comes to throne

War of Roses (1455-1485)

A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors: L’Morte de Arthur (The Death of King

Arthur) Geoffrey Chaucer –Canterbury Tales

L’Morte de Arthur (the death of King Arthur)

Let’s take a break

Geoffrey Chaucer& The Canterbury

Tales

Time Period 1066 – Norman Invasion

Northern France Last Successful invasion of England

Absentee kings French – Language of Nobility Less writing in English

1300’s – return to English literature

Facts on Chaucer… Birth in London, ?/?/1343 Author, poet, philosopher,

bureaucrat (courtier), diplomat Sometimes called the “Father of

English Literature” Author of Many works

“The Book of the Dutch”, “House of Fame”, etc

Best known for “The Canterbury Tales”

Facts on the tales… Collection of stories written by

Chaucer Popularized writing/reading in

English One frame tale; many short tales

within Stories within a story Talks about a pilgrimage: • a journey to

a place associated with someone or something well known or respected, often religious

Social Order during Chaucer’s time

Three EstatesThose who fight/rule (knights, nobles)

Those who pray (church leaders)Those who labor (commoners; everyone else)

Brainstorm with a Partner

In Vietnam, what places do people make pilgrimages to?

Why do people travel to these places?

From The Canterbury Tales:General Prologue

Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury       Whan that Aprill, with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the rooteAnd bathed every veyne in swich licour,Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,And smale foweles maken melodye,

10 That slepen al the nyght with open eye-(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimagesAnd palmeres for to seken straunge strondesTo ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;At nyght was come into that hostelryeWel nyne and twenty in a compaignye

The Canterbury Tales: The PrologueModern English Version 1 When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower,5 When also Zephyrus with his sweet breathExhales an air in every grove and heathUpon the tender shoots, and the young sunHis half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,And the small fowl are making melody10 That sleep away the night with open eye(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)Then people long to go on pilgrimagesAnd palmers long to seek the stranger strandsOf far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,

Pg. 28

Questions: What month is it?

April “Then people long to go on ______________”

pilgrimages Where are they traveling?

Canterbury How many are in the group?

29 Who does he describe first?

A knight

In a little more detail…

In Canterbury, they are going to visit the cathedral Specifically, the shrine of Archbishop Thomas A

Becket Why?

It is said to be a place of miracles Spring is the time to go seek a blessing major conflict  · The struggles between

characters, manifested in the links between tales, mostly involve clashes between social classes, differing tastes, and competing professions. There are also clashes between the sexes, and there is resistance to the Host's somewhat tyrannical leadership.

Homework for next class

Read pgs. 14-17 & answer questions A-C, pg. 17-18

(this is review of what we’ve covered in class today so it will be easy )

Read pgs. 32-33 & answer questions on pg.34

Group 1: prepare to tell us about William Shakespeare next class

Great job! You made it through day

1 of class and several centuries of English

literature!