British Literature

BRITISH LITERATURE
General features
◦ The most prestigious of arts.
◦ Illustrious authors: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane
Austen and Virginia Woolf
◦ Studied in schools, colleges and universities in Britain and
around the world
• Subject of frequent adaptations into films, television series and plays
for theatre and radio.
Old English Period

◦ Produced from the invasion of CelticEngland oy Germanic trides in
me Tirst halt of the tirth century to the conquest of Endland in 1066 by
villiam the Conqueror.
◦ One of the most well-known eighth-century old English pieces or
merature is Beowulf, a great Germanic epic poem.
• Two poets of Old English Period who wore on orolcarano relorous
memes were Caedmon and Cvnewulf.
The Middle English Period

◦ Produced in the four and a half centuries between the Norman
Conquest of 1066 and about 1500
The most widely known of these writings are Geoffrey Chaucer'sThe
Canterbury Tales.
The Elizabethan Age

◦ Coincides with the reign of Elizabeth I, 1558 - 1603.
◦ Medieval tradition blended with Renaissance optimism.
◦ Lyric poetry, prose, and drama: major styles of literature that
flowered during the Elizabethan Age.
Some important writers: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe,
Edmund Spenser, and Ben Jonson.
Shakespeare
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English playwright, poet
and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English
language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
• His main works: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and
Macbeth, considered to be among the finest works in the English
language.
The Jacobean Age

◦ The reign of James I, 1603 - 1625
◦ Literature: sophisticated, sombre, and conscious of social abuse
and rivalry.
◦ Rich prose and drama as well as The king James translation of the
Bible.
Shakespeare and Jonson wrote during the Jacobean Age, as well as
John Donne, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Middleton.
The Caroline Age

◦ The reign of Charles I, 1625 - 1649
◦ Writings with refinement and elegance
◦ A circle of poets known as the "Cavalier Poets"
The dramatists of this age were the last to write in the Elizabethan
tradition.
The Commonwealth Period

◦ Produced during the time of Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell
◦ Political writings of John Milton, Thomas Hobbes' political treatise
Leviathan, and the prose of Andrew Marvell.
◦ the Puritans closed theatres on moral and religious grounds. For
the next eighteen years, the theatres remained closed, accounting for
the lack of drama produced during this time period.
The Romantic Period

◦ Began in the late 18th century and lasted until approximately 1832
Characterized by its personal nature, its strong use of feeling, its
abundant use of symbolism, and its exploration of nature and the
supernatural.
◦ Spontaneous, imaginative, personal, and free.
Authors: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Jane Austen,
and Lord Byron.
The Victorian Period

◦ Began with the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837,
and lasted until her death in 1901.
◦ Themes: The social, economic, religious, and intellectual issues
and problems surrounding the Industrial Revolution
Authors: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew
Arnold, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Thomas
Hardy.
The Victorian Period

◦ Charles Dickens: "Great Expectations," "ATale of Two Cities," and
"Oliver Twist"
◦ Emily Bronte: "Wuthering Heights"
Oscar Wilde: "The Importance of BeingEarnest"; "The Picture of Dorian
Gray'
The Modern Period

Since the beginning of World War I in 1914
◦ Experimented with subject matter, form, and style and have
produced achievements in all literary genres.
◦ Poets of the period: Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Seamus
Heaney.
◦ Novelists: James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf.
Dramatists: Noel Coward and Samuel Beckett.
◦ Virginia Woolf: "Mrs. Dalloway," "To the Lighthouse," and "A Room
of One's Own."
◦ T.S. Eliot: "The Waste Land" and "Four Quartets"
W.B. Yeats: "The Tower," "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," and "Easter,
1916."
Conclusion
◦ Incredibly rich and diverse field,
◦ With a wide range of genres and styles.
◦ a lasting impact on the literary world.
Its contributions to poetry, drama, fiction, and more have shaped the
way we perceive and appreciate literature today.

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BRITISH LITERATURE

Old English Period

The Middle English Period

The Elizabethan Age

The Jacobean Age

The Caroline Age

The Commonwealth Period

The Romantic Period

The Victorian Period

The Victorian Period

The Modern Period

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