Recap literatuur

• Engels
• WO
• Studiejaar 6

Literature & Culture

Metaphor

a word or phrase that refers to something else

• The pillow was a cloud
• Wings chased us through the night

Simile

a metaphor that uses the words like or as to describe someone or something by comparing it with someone or something else

• I wandered lonely as a cloud
• You look like hell

personification

ascribing human traits to objects

• the waves danced
• Trees stretched their arms

Oxymoron

combining words with opposite meanings (creates dramatic effect and makes readers wonder how the two could be combined)

• Pretty ugly
• Loving hate

Imagery

author provokes sensory details through the use of descriptive language

• The sunset was the most gorgeous they’d ever seen; the clouds were edged with pink and gold.
• The familiar tang of his grandmother’s cranberry sauce reminded him of his youth.

consonance

a series of words (or close together) that have the same consonant sound

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

assonance

a series of words (or close together) that have the same vowel sound

• I made my way to the lake

Note that these are sound techniques and therefore may not be reflected in spelling, i.e. “do you like blue” is also considered assonance

alliteration

:(specific form of consonance) a series of words (or close together) that have the same first consonant sound

• While I nodded, nearly napping
  
• With beaded bubbles winking at the brim
  

onomatopoeia

words that sound like their meaning

• Jingling bells
• Bees are buzzing

the Middle Ages

The six and a half centuries between the end of Roman rule and the Norman Conquest are among the most important in English history. This long period is also one of the most challenging to understand – which is why it has traditionally been labelled the ‘Dark Ages’. Yet a kingdom of England emerged in these centuries, and with it a new ‘English’ identity and language.

Timeline

55 BC - 450 AD: Great Britain under Roman rule

after 450 AD: Celts attack, Romans withdraw 

--> migration of the peoples --> Anglo-Saxon settlers --> 7th century turn to Christianity --> increase Latin & Old English literature --> 793 Vikings attack --> Viking settlers --> 8th - 11th century wars for the crown --> 1066 end of Anglo-Saxon era; beginning of Norman period

Beowulf

Anglo-Saxons brought language and oral traditions:

- tales (heroic deeds/warlike acts)

- passed orally or sung 

- half-rhyme/alliteration 

Beowulf

• Epic poem
• Surviving manuscript from c. 1000, original probably from the 8th century
• On of the first pieces of literature (that we know of) written in Great Britain
• Germanic virtues: courage in battle + obedience to king
• Strong belief in magic + demons

BEOWULF

EPIC POETRY

• Long narrative poem (but quite short)
• Written in England, setting Scandanivia
• Written in an elevated style, bombastic
• Celebrates deed of a legendary hero or God
  
• External Conflict, when a character struggles against some outside force person nature society or fate.
  
• Superficial characters
• Straight forward (monster-slay-treasure)

BEOWULF

REMARKABLE & SUCCESFULL - WHY?

• Being worthy of your father’s legacy
  
• Heroic deads (reprimand/debt/honour)
• Appealed to Anglo-Saxon warriors
  
• Tangibility of a hero compared to God
• 
  

What are important characteristics within Beowulf that make Beowulf an epic hero?

www.pbs.org

www.pbs.org

www.sparknotes.com

The Canterbury Tales

- One of the few well preserved works in Middle English
- Group of pilgrims from London to Canterbury
- Innkeeper: each pilgrim tells 2 stories to pass the time
- Best story: free supper 
- Chaucer as a narrator introduces each pilgrim

- Frame story 
- Various types: rude, moral, humorous, etc. 

Importance

1. Written in English instead of French
            - French was the language of those in power
            - English meant a larger audience
2. The work says a lot about the English medieval society
            - Description of the pilgrims
            - Customs and practices at the time 

Creation of The Canterbury Tales

- Started in 1387 until his death in 1400
- Original work doesn't exist anymore
- More than 80 copies survive
      --> Must have been very popular
- For many other texts only a couple of texts survive
- Story wasn't complete: only one group of pilgrims
- 30 pilgrims and tales

www.sparknotes.com

Henry VIII (1509–1547)

- famous for all the wrong reasons

- started the Church of England

Henry's wives 

Katharine Of Aragon (divorced)

Anne Boleyn (beheaded)

Jane Seymour (died (in childbirth))

Anne Of Cleves (divorced)

Catherine Howard (beheaded)

Katharine Parr (survived)

WHY?

Edward VI (1547–1553)

Edward VI (1547–1553)

Never actually ruled individually because of his age.

Didn't want Mary to succeed him.

Mary I (1553 – 1558)

Mary I (1553 – 1558)

Nicknamed "Bloody Mary" because of her execution of protestants

Died without an heir, so names half-sister as successor

Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603)

Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603)

No civil war during her reign.

Overturned the fortunes of England 

--> Elizabethan age 

 among other things, an incredibly creative time.

James VI/I (1603-1625)

James VI/I (1603-1625)

Was already king James VI of Scotland.

Marks the end of the Tudor Dynasty.

Henry VII (1485 – 1509)

Put an end to the civil war in England (war of the roses).

Last king to win the throne on the battle field.

Utopia

Thomas More’s “Utopia”

• Lawyer, sheriff, statesman
  
• Friend of Erasmus
  
• 1516 publishes Utopia
  
• A story about travel to an ideal society
  
• Not the first but the definition of the genre
  
• A commentary on British society
  

Recognizable

A utopia cannot be completely different from our society, it must resemble it, and appear to be a progression from or alternative version of our current society.

www.sparknotes.com

nosweatshakespeare.com

iambic pentameter

But soft! What light through yon-der win-dow breaks?

It is the East and Ju-liet is the sun!

A-rise fair sun and kill the en-vious moon,

Who is al-rea-dy sick and pale with grief

That though her maid art far more fair than she

Christopher Marlowe

Doctor Faustus

Elizabethan play

www.sparknotes.com

www.poetryfoundation.org

www.poetryfoundation.org

www.bl.uk

important names in poetry

first generation: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey

second generation: John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron

important names in prose

• Jane Austen
• Sir Walter Scott
• Mary Shelley
• Charlotte & Emily Brontë (officially Victorian Period)

British Romanticism in context

In no way can this Romantic revolution be seen as something typically British or as something that is restricted to poetry or to literature. The ideas and ideals of the few Romantic writers we shall discuss, were shared by millions, all over Europe. Artists, intellectuals, young and old, man and woman, the virus spared no one.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud" (p.18)

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

www.poetryfoundation.org

How can you recognize this poem as typically Romantic?

What is the theme of this poem?

www.poetryfoundation.org

interestingliterature.com

www.sparknotes.com

www.sparknotes.com

The Victorian Age 

1830-1900

The Victorian Age 

• Started around 1830 ended in early 20th century
• Named after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901)
• Britain: great economic and political power
• "The empire on which the sun never set"

General introduction

• Enormous changes occured in political and social life in England
• The scientific and technical innovations of the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of modern nationalism, and the European colonization of much of Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East changed most of Europe
  
• Far-reaching new ideas created the greatest outpouring of literary works the world has ever seen

Queen Victoria (1819-1901)  Reign: 1837-1901

She had the longest reign in British history after Queen Elizabeth II.

Became queen at the age of 18;

Queen Victoria restored people’s faith in the monarchy again after a series of horrible leaders

1840-Victoria married a German prince, Albert, who became Prince-consort

After he died in 1861, she sank into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of her life

Young Victoria

Elderly Victoria

The British Empire

where the sun never sets

• England grew to become the greatest nation on earth
  
• Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India
  
• England built a very large navy and merchant fleet (for trade and colonization)
  
• Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world

Downsides of the uprise of industry

• population increase 
• Search for employment
  
• Child Labour & Child crime
• Housing shortage
  
• Slum housing
  
• Poor sanitary conditions
  
• Destitution
  
• Homeless children
  
• Workhouses
  

The Great Exhibition

Victorian literature - Poetry

• A continuation of the Romantic period
• Themes: nature  / the past / the human spirit

• Important poets:

1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
2. Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

Victorian literature - the novel

• The age of the novel
• Growing audience for "true stories"
• Greater wealth (rise of the middle classes)
• Better education (rise in literacy)
• Instalment system (novels published in serial form)

Bildungsroman

A Bildungsroman is a literary term describing a formative novel about a protagonist’s psychological and moral growth from their youth into adulthood. Bildungsroman novels are generally written in the first-person and often feature the name of the protagonist directly in the title, such as Emma, Jane Eyre, and David Copperfield.

The Bildungsroman literary genre originated in Germany. The German word “bildung” means education” and the German word “roman” means “novel.” Thus, “Bildungsroman” translates to “a novel of education” or “a novel of formation.”

Gothic novel

The adjective gothic describes something that is characterized by mystery, horror, and gloom — especially in literature. Gothic literature combines the genres of romance and horror. Some famous writers of Gothic fiction include Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.