English Literature Summary

Strongly influenced by conquest

Epic poems: tales joined by oral performances about legendary heroes

Most representative literary figure: Beowulf

Arcthurian Legend (fiction)

Historia Regum Britanniae (Geofrey of Monmotuh)

La mort d'Artur (Thomas Mallory)

Birth of theater by medieval drama

Liturgical tales about morality performed by bards

Literary genres: Mummers play & Morris Dance

Birth of shakespearean tragedy

Ploriferation of theater

Hamlet: what's goal of life and what's beyond death

Romeo and Juliet: the archetypical lovers

Literature makes people more conscious about their existence

Moral Drama: strongly influenced by Christianity

Christopher Marlow's play of Dr. Faustus: concecuences of dealing with the devil

The Authorized King's version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayers spread the early versions of modern English

Secular society

Sciencies flourished

Literature fosters self-awarness and rationalism

Poetry becomes complex and elaborated

Re-opening of theaters supported by Charles II

Theater tradition becomes avaliable for all the public

Heroic Drama: literature for men, focused on legendary heroes

Pathetic tragedy: amied at women, moral dramas of puritan ladies

Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe) & Gulliver's Travels (Johnathan Swift): the archetype of the English adventurer

Roots of romatiscim: authors tried to become more sensitive

Sentimental novel: literature based on emotional response and empathy

Graveyard poets: obscured mediations on death

Industrial revolutions turned the cities into crowed steamy places

The lake poets: authors detached from aesthetics

Thomas de Quincy: confessions of an English opium-eater

Mary Shelly & Frankenstein: birth of the gothic novel

Jane Austen & Pride and Prejudice: critiscim against gender roles and wealthy elites

Lord Byron & The byronic hero: brillant, passional, skillful and cast himself out of society

Times of social inequality and extreme poverty

Abraham Stoker & Dracula: the birth of vampiric literature

Conan Doyle creates the iconic decetive Sherlock Holmes

Archetype of the orphan boy

Literature for children

Portrayal of the working-class

Christmas Carol (1843)

Oliver Twist (1838)

Great expectations (1861)

A tale of two cities (18589)

Two World Wars strike and change every aspect of society

J. R. R. Tolkien & The Lord of the Rings saga: literature of escapism

J. K. Rowlling & The Harry Potter Saga: juvenile literature

George Orwell & 1984: Distopya, totalitarism, opression by fear and pain

Aldous Huxley & A Brave New World: Distopya, apathy, control by ignorance and pleasure

The Eisteddfod society

The Welsh Books Council

The Royal Society of Edinburgh 

Man Booker Prize

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

International Dublin Literary Award

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry

Beltran Russell (1950)

Wiston Churchil (1953)

Harold Pinter (2005)

Doris Lessing (2007)