HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

 THIS SUBJECT IS DISCUSSING ABOUT

OUTLINES OF HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND
AMERICAN LITERATURE, AND A
BRIEFEXPLANATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE LITERARY THOUGHT
 LESSON PLAN
1 Introduction
2 Old English Period
3 Middle English Period
4 Time of Chaucer
5-6 The Renaissance
7 Classical Period
8 Midterm Test
9-10 Romantic Period
11 Victorian Period
12 Nineteenth Century Literature
13 Twentieth Century Literature
14-15 Modern Literature
16 Final Test
 REFERENCES
 Kooistra, J. and J.H.Schult. 1937. A Shirter History of
English Literature. Batavia: J.B.Wolters Nitgevers
Maatschapay NV
 Legouis, Emily. 1953. A Short History of English
Literature. London: Oxford University Press
 Rowse, A.L.. Nd. The Spirit of English History. London:
Longman Green and Co.
 Bakker, A., SVD. 1975. Outlines of English and American
Literature. Ende: SMA Syuradikara
 Gower, Roger. 1990. Past into Present. Italy: Longman
 Thornley, G.C. and G.Robert. 1993. An Outline of English
Literature. Hongkong: Longman
 OLD ENGLISH PERIOD
 THE FORMATION OF ENGLISH PEOPLE

ENGLAND

PALEOLITHIC NEOLITHIC
 Comparison of the PALEOLITHIC and
NEOLITHIC cultural components
CULTURAL PALEOLITHIC NEOLITHIC
COMPONEN
Politic Natural leadership Tribal leadership and
matriarchy
Sociology Parity of the sexes Social heterogenity
technology Elementary machine: The wheel, spindle,
bow, arrow p[low
Religion Sympathetic magic Votive right to the
ritual hunting fertility earth mother
fetishes
Art Naturalistic art, Sculpture of the earth
Invention of painting, mother
architecture

Science Knowledge basic Hybrid grains

 THE INVASION OF THE CELTS AND THE
ROMANS INTO BRITAIN

CELTS (between 6th and 4th century BC)

BRITAIN

ROMANS (55 BC – 410 AD / 4th century)

 LITERATURE

CELTIC
- a lively imagination
- true poetic feeling
- deep love of nature
- those heathen were very human
 ENGLISH LITERATURE

 Love till into death: TRISTAM AND ISOLDE

 Celtic origin: ARTHURIAN ROMANCES

THE CELT AND THE ROMANS

BRITON BRITAIN

ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Agriculture
Law
Religion
Language
Physical development
THE SETTLING OF THE ANGLO- SAXONS

In the 5th century

 Teutonic tribes (from Germany) settled Britain
 The Jutes
 The Anglo-Saxons

In 599 Briton Engla-land England

* Language: low Germanic dialect
 Anglo-Saxon Literature

 Poems Heroic Sagas:

- Nibelungen Lied
- Gundrum
- Wieland
- Beowulf
 Epics no love lyrics:
- The Battle of Maldon
 Prose
- the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
Bede (673 – 735): Ecclesiastical History
of the English People

- King Alfred:
translated Old English verses into Latin
translated Bede’s works from Latin into
English
Father of English Prose
Poetry
- Elegiac Poems:
. The Ruined Burg Mourns the vanished
glory of the ruined city,
victim of Fate (Wyrd)
. The Wife’s Complaint A young wife mourns
her separation
. The Wanderer A young man sighs for
his
dead liege-lord
. The Seafarer Nothing can destroy the
picture of those dark
Northern sea;
all misery is forgotten
when
the spring re
War Poems:
- Battle of Maldon : fought against the
Danes in 991

Christian poems:
- Genesis A
- Genesis B
- Exodus
- Daniel
- Christ and Satans
 Other old English poems
- Andreas
- Guthlac
- The Dream of The Rood (the best poem)

 Old English Lyrics

- Deor’s Complaint
- The Husband’s Messages

 Poems of Scholars:
- Caedman “Song of Creation” in Alliterative
Verse
- Cynewulf  “The Ascention”, “The Christ”
 The Outstanding Features of the Old English
Poem :

 The Alliterative verse

 Parallelism
 A great number of flowery, composite terms
 The musical accompaniment of a stringed instrument
 Language Spoken by the Anglo-Saxons

1. Low-German  Old English / Oldest English

 Differs from later English, is relatively full of
inflectional system and practically a unilingual
vocabulary.
2. Four main dialects :
a. Kentish : Kent and Surrey
b. West Saxon : Saxon ( South Territory of the
Thames )
c. Mercian/Midland : between the Thames & the
Humber ( Southern Angels )
d. Northumbrian : between the Humber &
Scotland
Religion of the Anglo-Saxons : Polytheism

1. Chief gods :
 Thor
 Loki Days of the week
 Tiw

2. The gods were subject to the decrees of the dread

goddess Wyrd or Fate
 Anglo Saxon Characteristics

1. Stern, barbarous life, subjected by nature to rude turmoil

2. Mixtures of savagery, sentiment and nobility
3. Religious feeling, its philosophy being instinct with
fatalism
4. Responsiveness to Nature, Particularly deep love of the
sea inspired their poetry
5. Common sense, power of endurance, and seriousness of
thought characterize the Anglo-Saxons
 Anglo Saxon Ideals

 Love of glory is the ruling motive of every noble life

 Allegiance to lord or king is the social virtue most
extolled
 Reference for womanhood higher than was usual even
among more enlightened people
 Love of personal freedom, did not conflict with the
fidelity, even unto death of thane to lord
 Open-handed hospitality of lord to thane
 Honoring of truth
 Repression of sentiment
 Mythological Basis of Beowulf

1. Beowulf is sun-god
2. Beowulf symbolizes mankind fighting
3. Beowulf is a culture hero
4. Epic is a possible amalgamation of the historical story
 Structure and Form

Beowulf is called a Popular Epic:

- Familiar traditions of people
- Long, dignified narrative poem
- Momentous actions of an heroic character
- Sustained majestic verse
- Exalted or supernatural personage of the past, or characters
of noble birth
- If at rare intervals one of low ranks is introduced that
person’s name goes unmentioned