A COURSE OF a SURVEY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE (COLLEGE STUDENTS INTERNAL USE)

Division of English literature history - The Old English literature - The Middle English literature - The Modern English literature CHAPTER 2: THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE I.. Typical work

QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

  

A COURSE OF A SURVEY OF ENGLISH

AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

(COLLEGE STUDENTS - INTERNAL USE)

Compiled Vo Thi Dung, Ph.D

QUANG BINH 2016

PREFACE

A course of a Survey of English and American Literature is intended

chiefly for college students and the general reader who is interested in the history of literature

This course aims at encouraging students to gain an insight into, and broad awareness of, the development of English and American literature from its perceived origins in the beginning until the end of the twentieth century All the topics have been selected carefully from the different sources Some examples

of examination questions at the end of each chapter hopefully are helpful guide

We would be very happy if this material proved to be helpful for providing students with a door to your own research and study We highly appreciated to receive the ideas and comments from the readers so that it will be corrected and used in an effective way

The author

Vo Thi Dung, PhD

TABLE OF CONTENT Page Part 1:

CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

I Historical background

II The formation of the language

III Division of English literature history

- The Old English literature

- The Middle English literature

- The Modern English literature

CHAPTER 2: THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

I The making of England

II Features of the Old English literature

III Typical work: Beowulf

CHAPTER 3: THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE

I Language and literature

II Typical poet: George Chaucer

CHAPTER 4: MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE

I Periods of Modern English literature

II Typical authors:

- William Shakespeare

- John Milton

- Daniel Defoe

- Charles Dickens III English literature in the 20th century

Part 2:

CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN LITERATURE

I Historical background

II The literature of exploration

III Typical authors:

- William Byrd

- James Fennimore Cooper

CHAPTER 3: THE MODERN AMERICAN LITERATURE

Review

PART I

ENGLISH LITERATURE

After the Romans departed from the British Isles in 407 AD fighting continued between the Picts and the Scots who had lost their common enemy The fifth century also saw conquests and the gradual occupation by Germanic tribes - Angles, Jutes and Saxons - who had moved north to Scandinavia and from there to Britain Apart from making conquests, these tribes preferred agricultural life, had strong family and tribal ties, and were very loyal to their king or chief The legendary King Arthur defeated the Saxons in 490 AD and for about a decade halted their advance

At the end of the sixth century, the Anglo-Saxons accepted Christianity after Pope Gregory sent Saint Augustine to Britain in 597 AD (The Romans had introduced Christianity to the Celts centuries earlier.) This gave rise to some religious writings At the end of the eighth century the Vikings (also known as Norsemen or Danes) invaded the country, easily overcame the local inhabitants, and plundered their estates It was not until the reign of King Alfred the Great (871 - 900) that their advance was stopped With their acceptance of Christianity, the Danes partially blended in with the local people

Alfred's successors, Edgar and Ethelred II were in 1016 followed by Danish King Canute (reigned 1016-1035), after whose death the empire fell apart Alfred's great-grandson, Edward, son of the French Emma of Normandy, took over the throne The fact that Edward had no descendants led to a power struggle between his brother-in-law, Harold, and Emma's nephew, William of Normandy William's victory over Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 led

to the Norman conquest and occupation of England, which then opened a new chapter in British history The language of this whole period (500-1100) is known as Old English No exact date exists for its beginning The first written records of the language date from around 690 AD (however, people had spoken

the languages of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons Latin, however, also had a strong influence on early English Later, the Scandinavians (Vikings) contributed many words to Old English By the end of the Old English period (marked by the Norman Conquest), Old English had been established as a literary language with

a remarkable polish and versatility

Old English literature consists of poetry, prose, charms, riddles, maxims, proverbs, and various other wisdom sayings It is a mixture of pagan traditions, thoughts about life, the universe and nature, as well as Christian thought and moral values There is often no clea - cut delineation between religious and non-religious poetry or sometimes even between poetry and prose

The terms anno Domini (AD or A.D.) and before Christ (BC or B.C.) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin, which means in the year of the Lord but is often translated as in the year of our Lord It is occasionally set out more fully as anno Domini nostri Iesu (or Jesu) Christi ("in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ")

II THE FORMATION OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE COUNTRY

The first tribes inhabiting England were of Celtic and pre-Celtic stock

The Celts spoke the Celtic language The Roman invasion took place in 43

A.D The Romans came to stay until 410 A.D The language of the land then consisted of Latin and Celtic Latin was the language of the upper classes and the government, while Celtic remained that of the populace Today we can find the traces of Celtic language in many place-nations like London, Dover, York, Thames Avon, Severn, Trent The common nouns bin, crag, curse, dun are Celtic

After the Roman invasion came the invasion of many Germanic tribes in the fifth century Of these tribes the best known were the Angles and the Saxons The Angles and the Saxons displaced the Celtic-speaking inhabitants The dialect used by the Saxons became the dominant language However, because the Angles were more numerous than the Saxons, they gave their name

to that dominant language, which has been called English since

* The development of English language has gone through three periods:

a) The Old English period (c450 –c1066)

Specimen: Cwom ϸa to flode

(Came then to the flood)

b) The Middle English period (c1066 – c1500)

Specimen: Whan that April with his showres soote

The drought of March hath perced to the roote And bathe every veine in swich licour

Of which vertu engendred is the flowr (When that April with his showers swept The drought of March has pierced to the root And bathe every vein in such liquor

Of which virtue engendered is the flower)

c) The Modern English period (after c1500)

Specimen: When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

I all alone beweep my outcaste state And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries

(From sonnet xxix by William Shakespeare 1564-1616)

During the first five centuries of our era and long before that Britain was inhabited by a people called Kelts, who lived in tribes

Britain’s history is considered to begin in the 5th century, when it was invaded from the Continent by the fighting tribes of Angles, Saxon and Jutes At the very end of the 5th century they settle in Britain and began to call themselves English (after the principal tribe of settlers, called Englisc) Through the influence of the British Empire, the English language has spread around the world since the 17th century

* What is English literature?

English literature term is very popular that means writing in English language Formerly, it was meant to be British writing With the course of the time, the concept has changed and now it means writing produced in English language by any one at any place in the world There are countries such as India, Africa etc… have given great literature in English and continues to contribute to world literature

III THE DIVISION OF ENGLISH LITERARY HISTORY

The literary history of England may be divided into three periods:

a The Old English period 450 AD – 1066 (Anglo-Saxon)

The so-called "Dark Ages" (455 CE -799 CE) occur when Rome falls and barbarian tribes move into Europe Franks, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Goths settle in the ruins of Europe and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes migrate to

Britain, displacing native Celts into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Early Old English poems such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originate sometime late in the Anglo-Saxon period The Carolingian Renaissance (800-

850 CE) emerges in Europe In central Europe, texts include early medieval grammars, encyclopedias, etc In northern Europe, this time period marks the setting of Viking sagas

During this period the language of the country was called Old English (abbreviated OE), or Anglo – Saxon Its vocabulary was limited Old English was very different from the English we read and hear today However, we have

to remember that scholarly works during this period were written in Latin It was not until in the second half of the ninth century that there was a serious attempt

to establish a written prose literature in English

b The Middle English period 1066 – 1500 (c.1066-1500CE)

In 1066, Norman French armies invade and conquer England under William I This marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy and the emergence

of the Twelfth Century Renaissance (c 1100-1200 CE) French chivalric romances such as works by Chretien de Troyes and French fables such as the works of Marie de France and Jeun de Meun spread in popularity Abelard and other humanists produce great scholastic and theological works

Late or "High" Medieval Period (c 1200-1485 CE): This often tumultuous period is marked by the Middle English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Gawain" or "Pearl" Poet, the Wakefield Master, and William Langland Other writers include Italian and French authors like Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante, and Christine de Pisan

During this period the language of the country called Middle English Middle English was in a state of continuous change The vocabulary of the language was enriched borrowing many words from French and Latin

c The Modern English period after 1500

In this period, the English is substantially very much like the English used today It has been called Modern English But there is one thing we should know not until the 18th century did English spelling come to be standardized

Corresponding to these three periods, there are the Old English literature; the Middle English literature and the Modern English literature

Although we know very little of this period from literature some poems have nevertheless reached us In those early days songs called epics were created

in many countries The epics tells of some events from a people history, sings the heroic deeds of a man, his courage and his desire of justice, his love for his people and self-sacrifice for the sake of his country

IV PRACTICE

* For each statement, write T if the statement is true or F if it is false

1 English followed Latin usage by placing the "AD" abbreviation before the year number However, BC is placed after the year number (for example:

AD 2016, but 68 BC), which also preserves syntactic order

2 BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes incorrectly concluded that AD means After Death, i.e., after the death of Jesus

3 According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, usage of AD gradually became more common in Roman Catholic countries from the 15th to the 17th centuries

4 Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture Beowulf is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved national epic status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia

5 The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Middle English

6 Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses the surviving literature written in the period after the settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England (Jutes and the Angles) c. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in 1766

* Answer the following question

1 What is the epic?

2 When did Britain’s history begin?

3 How many periods can English literature be divided?

4 When was Anglo - Saxon language (Old English) brought to England?

5 What is English literature?

CHAPTER 2

THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

The Anglo-Saxons were a pagan society, but information about their lives and culture has been told by Christian writers The Anglo-Saxons maintained order in their society through social means Society was led by powerful leaders (a ring-giver, lord or lady) who rewarded their servants for various activities Anglo-Saxons enjoyed serving their lords and found it hard to survive if they were not supported by their lords

Songs and poetry were very important components of Anglo-Saxon society Poems were conveyed orally but started appearing in written form in

733 Archbishops were known to sing songs to attract crowds for their sermons One of the most valued members of Anglo-Saxon society was the scop, or poet, who discussed social and cultural values in his work Scops were responsible for maintaining a person's reputation through song after his or her death

In 313, Constantine legalized Christianity, and it became a central part of education in the Anglo-Saxon period But Christian concepts differed from traditional Germanic culture, which caused conflict in Germanic society Germanic culture emphasized materialism, honor and accomplishment in life, and other things that happen while a person is living Christianity placed an emphasis on peace rather than war, and life after death was the most important part of living To Christians, materialism was not important Christians believed

in praising God rather than praising themselves

I ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE MAKING (450 – 1066)

The expansion of the Anglo-Saxon period marked from the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic tribes in the first half of the 5th century to the conquest of England in 1066 by the Norman French under the leadership of William the conqueror After they had been converted into Christianity the Anglo-Saxons whose literature was in oral form, began to develop literature in written form Anglo-Saxon poetry emphasizes the negative aspects of life including the sorrows and senseless actions of human beings 'The Wanderer' and 'The Seafarer' are two of the most popular poems about the difficulties of life

This age gave "Beowulf" the greatest Germanic epic in the world of literature There were two major poets Caedmon and Cynewulf contributed to literary writing Moreover, the churchmen Bede and Alcuin were the leading scholars They wrote in Latin which was considered the standard language of international scholarship Alfred the Great, a West Saxon king, loved literature very much He translated various books of Latin prose into Old English and instituted the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as the contemporary record of important issues in England

II FEATURES OF THE OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE

There is not much to say about Old English literature Almost like the draw literature of any land, Old English literature has the following features:

1 The prevalence of poetry over prose

This is easy to understand The ear liked to hear rimes sung, which, thereby, could be memorized more easily

2 Oral

The songs and the stories of these early days were not written but completely oral They were composed, preserve, and sung by professional minstrels called Scops Scops were men of importance in society

3 Anonymous

The authors of any literature works in Old English are unknown The antiquity of the works, the manuscript origin, and the traditional nature of the dawn literature testify to this anonymity

4 Translation

Most literature works, poetry and prose, were translation from Latin models The Bible and the lives of saints were books that people liked to read most

5 Religious inclination

Nearly all the literature was religious in content Even the story of Beowulf, pre-Christian in its origin, also assumed a religious character Note also that this period is a period in which the monks were the only educated class This well explains the clerisy preponderance in literature activity

The most notable of the earliest English literature is BEOWULF This is

an old Christianity and Paganism The events of Beowulf took place in Denmark and Sweden, but the customs am manner those of the Anglo-Saxons people

III THE OLD ENGLISH POETRY

Old English poetry included long epic heroic poems, which drew on the Bible as well as on pagan sources for their content Some poetry was also based

on historical events With a history of invasions and occupations, many writings

of this era are chronicles, annals, and historical records Some are in the forms of poetry and describe various battles, for example, "The Battle of Maldon" and

"The Battle of Brunanburh" The themes are war, conquest and bravery Many eighth-century works depict Anglo-Saxon resistance against the Vikings Lament and melancholy are frequently present in describing man's struggles against his environment, life's difficulties, and the passage of time Life is fleeting Often a prologue and epilogue express hope in God's compassion and mercy Examples of such poems include "The Wanderer", "The Seafarer" and

"The Ruin" Other poems depict the separation of a man and a woman and the accompanying sadness, such as in "The Wife's Lament" and "The Husband's Message" In these types of poem the man may have been exiled and sometimes there is hope, sometimes not Collectively, Old English poems that lament the loss of worldly goods, glory, or human companionship are called elegies Beowulf is the best-known and best-preserved Old English verse Caedmon and Cynewulf were well-known Old English religious poets in the 7th and 9th century respectively Much Old English poetry is difficult to date and even

harder to assign to specific authors

* Typical Old English Verse: BEOWULF

Beowulf is an epic poem of over 3,000 verses, whose manuscript dates from about the 10th-century The poem is the only epic from the time that has been preserved as a whole Its author is unknown, but he seems to have had a good grasp of the Bible and other great epics, such as Homer's Odyssey The work glorifies a hero and the values of bravery and generosity The story is set

in Scandinavia around 500-600 AD - a time of battles and conquests by Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes in Denmark and southern Sweden Its sources are old legends of these tribes who had moved north from Germany over

Scandinavia and into Britain It also reflects the acceptance of Christianity by these new British settlers at the end of the sixth century

The first part of the story takes place in Denmark King Hrothgar is being pestered by a water monster, Grendel, who is killing his men Beowulf comes to his aid and kills Grendel and later, at the bottom of the lake, also Grendel's mother, who comes to avenge her son The second part happens in southern Sweden about fifty years later Beowulf himself is a king and has to fight a fire-breathing dragon

As with other Old English literature, this epic incorporates both pagan and Christian ideas The monster-slaying hero has his origin in two ancient fairy tales From the pagan traditions also come a love of war and the virtue of courage The biblical Old Testament supplies the idea about giants and monsters having descended from Cain's line The poem is sometimes seen as a conflict between good and evil From the Christian tradition, it incorporates morality, obedience to God, and avoidance of pride

There are many contrasts, for example, water and fire, youth and old age, life and death, rise and fall of nations and individuals, friendship and desertion, faithfulness and betrayal, heroism and cowardice, hope and resignation, good and evil, as well as the past, present and future

Elegy is apparent throughout - life is passing and is full of struggles and suffering, (This theme has an application also for modern life and the struggles

of mankind.) This is contrasted by the courage of the main hero, said to be the

"kindest and noblest of earthly kings and the most desirous of praise and glory" The poem begins and ends with the funeral of a king

The work, written in characteristic Old English verse style, has artistic maturity and unity It uses alliteration (words beginning with the same sound), kennings (metaphorical descriptive phrases or compound words), and internal rhyme (a word within a line rhyming with a word at the end of the line) Each line has two beats or stressed syllables The style of poetical descriptions and word pictures with much repetition makes the action move slowly

The poem is an important source of historical information which was later confirmed by archaeology The tone and descriptions capture the rough, cold and gloomy North Sea atmosphere, as well as life's struggles of the people of

that time who had to deal with many trials and obstacles The poem was originally recited by a court singer and poet called "scop", who accompanied it with music and made occasional changes according to the inspiration of the moment

* The story

Once upon a time, in the far north of what is now called Europe, there was

a kingdom known as Geatsiand, and its ruler was named Hygelac It was a harsh country, with high mountains and narrow stony valleys, and it had a long seacoast with many harbors and inlets, and the men who lived there were famous for their bravery on both sea and land

Now, for many years Hygelac ruled over his people with a stern but kind hand Beside him was his queen, named Hygd, and called the Wise and Fair About the king and queen were gathered the finest lords of the land All were valiant warriors whose courage had been proved

Among the number of youths who were in thrall to Hygelac was Beowulf, the son of the king’s sister As a small boy, Beowulf had shown such strength of body that Hygelac had early named him one of his thanes So his mother and father gave him up, and young Beowulf went to live with his uncle, to learn the arts of war and the handling of ships

For several years he led a lonely life, for so great was the strength of his limbs that even among those men of vast vigor he was a youth to be marveled at

As the years slipped by and he grew to manhood, he became more and more sullen in his strength, and his companions dubbed him “The Silent.” His movements were clumsy He tripped over his sword He broke whatever he touched The other youths laughed at him for his awkwardness, but in secret they envied the immense spread of his shoulders and the terrible swiftness of his stride

When Beowulf had at last reached the full tide of his manhood, a feast was held one night in the king’s drinking-hall From all over Geatsland famous warriors and earls gathered at the drinking-benches of their king to hear the songs of the minstrels and take part in games and feats of strength

At the feet of the royal couple sat Beowulf, at a table especially prepared for the king’s earls But Beowulf, unmindful of the talk about him, sat in gloomy silence, brooding

His strength was great, but there was no use for him to put it to, and he longed for wild adventure and the chance to stretch his muscles to the limit of their power

Then, at a signal from Hygelac, the minstrel came forward with his harp

He was a tall rugged man, with a beard streaked with gray He had the air of one who had traveled long distances, and his blue eyes were wide and fixed like one used to watching the far horizon

Around him was wrapped a cloak of deep blue, held together by a curious clasp of gold Beowulf, noting the clasp, thought it resembled a coiled snake, for there were two green stones set in it which glittered This man, Beowulf thought, has been in far-away places He will chant us a good song

Then the Wanderer (for so he was called) sat down upon a wooden stool, threw back the cloak from about his arms, and with long thin fingers struck the resounding strings of his harp

He sang in a sharp voice that was like the crying of birds on the gray sea, hut there was sweetness in it at the same time which held his hearers, and the lords of Geatsiand leaned forward on their benches in eagerness to catch every word

He sang of the vast and frozen North, where winter lay upon the land for many, many months, and men fight in the gloomy light of the night-burning sun

He sang of endless forests stretching black and forbidding in a sea of snow; of mountains higher and bleaker than the highest mountains of Geatsiand; of the strange and fearful demons that inhabited this ghostly region

Then the tune of the Wanderer changed His voice fell to a lower note, and he sang of Hrothgar who was king of the Danes, that country not far from Geatsiand, across the water

He told a sad story of desolation and despair in Hrothgar’s land, because

of a beast which had struck mortal fear into the hearts of the lords of Daneland For on one cruel night, twelve years before, there had come a monster, part animal, part man, part bird The lords of Daneland were sleeping soundly, and

the monster, who was called Grendel, had forced open the solid doors of the king’s ball and carried away in their sleep thirty of the greatest earls of the Danes

There had been lamentation throughout the land, and many were the attempts to slay Grendel, but none had succeeded And for twelve long years Grendel repeatedly visited the king’s hall and wrought destruction there Now the land was despoiled of its youthful strength, and there remained to the king only those fighters whose early vigor had long since passed, and Daneland had become a country of old men and defenseless women

Now, all the while that the Wanderer was singing, Beowulf sat as one bewitched

He leaned forward upon the table, his arms folded under his still beardless chin, his eyes fixed upon the minstrel Now and again he lifted his head and shook out the fair hair that hung beneath the golden band encircling his wide white forehead The huge bracelets that weighted his wrists gleamed like his eyes, and the jeweled collar about his throat was tight because of the swelling veins of his neck One thought possessed him:

He would seek out this monster, Grendel, and slay him - yes! slay him with bare hands!

He saw himself face to face with the monster Grendel, and suddenly a wild cry broke from his lips and he leaped from his seat

“Lords of Geatsiand and earls of Hygelac,” he shouted, as the minstrel finished the song, “I am the son of Ecgtheow and of Hygelac’s sister, and in olden times this Hrothgar was a war-brother of my father Therefore I claim kinship to him, and I will go to the land of the Danes and I will slay this Grendel!”

Then there was great confusion in the hail of Hygelac, and the earls called

to one another, and dogs barked But Hygd the queen stood up amid the turmoil, and holding a jeweled cup in her two hands because of its weight, stepped down

to where Beowulf was, and offered him the cup, and smiled at him in affection

Once again Hygelac commanded silence among the guests in the drinking-hall, and turning to Beowulf said: “The time has come, Beowulf, for you to prove your worth The gods have gifted you with the strength of thirty

men, and this strength you should use to the advantage of your fellows, our neighbor Hrothgar is in sore need Go forth, then, from Geatsland to the land of the Danes, and do mortal combat with this Grendel-fiend.”

For seven days and seven nights there were great preparations in the halls

of Hygelac the Great, that Beowulf might go on his adventure fully equipped for whatever a aited him in Daneland From the group of companions who had come to manhood at the same time as himself, Beowulf selected fourteen earls

to accompany him He had winched to go alone to the land of the Danes, but his uncle the king had commanded that he be suitably companioned on such a voyage, so that at the court of Hrothgar it could not be said that Hygelac had sent the, youth upon a fool’s errand and badly equipped

Special shields were made, of stout wood covered with thick hides and bound with iron and studded with golden nails Rich cloaks of scarlet and blue there were for the warriors, and massive bracelets of fine gold for their arms and wrists, and collars of gold wire

When at last they stood ready in the meadhall of Hygelac, they were a fine company of young men, whose like was not to be seen in all the countries

of the North Each stood well over six feet in height, with broad shoulders and sturdy legs; and each was swift as a deer

Then came the signal for the journey down to the beach whre a ship lay in readiness to receive Beowulf and his earls, and with torches flaming in the grayness of approaching dawn, they departed

They came at length to the coast of Daneland and the sea boiled white between them and the land, and the land itself was scarred and pitted with a thousand narrow inlets, which were treacherous to seafarers unfamiliar with them The forests that clung to the shore line were half hidden in gray mists that moved and twisted like smoke about the trees, but as the storm lessened, they beached their boat on a tiny strip of sand at the edge of a deep forest hung with gray fog and silent as death

That night, after Beowulf and his companions had rested, for the first time

in twelve years there was a great banquet in the hall of Hrothgar The place was decorated with fine hangings, the gold-bright roof burnished until it shone like the sun, and the benches had been scraped and polished by many willing hands

Huge fires were built on the hearths, and the smell of roasting meats pervaded the hall

The fires were burnt out on the hearths when the last of Hrothgar’s train had departed Then Beowulf and his companions set themselves to fastening tightly the door of the hall They secured it with wooden bolts and tied it with leathern thongs, and so strong was it that no mortal could have passed through

Then the warriors of Geatsland unfolded their cloaks upon the benches and laid themselves down to slumber, and Beowulf stretched his great length upon the dais of the king, and resolved that through the long night he would never once close his eyes Near the door lay the young Hondscio, Beowulf’s favorite earl, who swore that if anyone broke through the door he would be the first to give the intruder battle

Silence crept over the shrouded forms where they lay upon the floor and benches, and there was no sound save their steady breathing and the faint sighing of the night wind in the trees about the hall

Beowulf, upon his couch, lay still as death, but his eyes moved here and there in the deepening gloom of the hail

Outside, a fog was creeping up from the sea, obscuring the moon in milky eclipse, and at last there was not even the sound of the wind in the trees To Beowulf the deep silence seemed full of moving things invisible to human eyes Gradually there came over him a kind of drowsiness that he fought to ward off His eyelids fluttered against his eyes, and then he swooned with a sleep that lay upon his limbs like a heavy garment

But suddenly there was a rustling among the wet trees, and a noise like the deep grunt of a pig, but soft and low, startled the fog- bound night, and the drops of mist-water on the trees fell sharply to the ground like heavy rain Then the fog parted evenly, and in the wide path it made through the night a Shadow loomed gigantic in all that was left of moonlight

Slowly, slowly it neared the great hail and the night shuddered at its coming, and behind it, as it moved, the fog closed again with a sucking sound And the Shadow stood before the great door of the hail, and swayed hideously in the ghastly light

Within there was a deep stillness, and Beowulf and the Geatish earls slept soundly, with no knowledge of what stood so evilly beyond the door For the monstrous Shadow was the fiend Grendel, and standing there in the fog- strewn night he placed a spell upon those who slept to make them sleep more soundly But Beowulf hung between sleeping and waking, and while the spell did not completely deaden his senses, it so ensnared his waking dream that he fought desperately against it in his half-sleep and was not quite overpowered

Little by little the thongs that secured the door gave way, and the huge wooden bolts yielded under the pressure that was strained against them, but no sound broke upon the silent struggle that went on between Grendel and the door Beowulf tossed and turned in waking, but the other earls of Geatsiand fell deeper and deeper into the swooning sleep

Then with a rush, the door flew wide, and the fog and salt-smelling night swept in And in the doorway, swaying this way and that, stood Grendel, huge and dark against the dark night, the fog weaving about him in white veils, and the door of the hail limp on its hinges

And Beowulf came out of his dream-spell and saw what stood so vast and evil in the doorway But his eyes were heavy with the spell that clung to him as the wisps of fog clung about the body of Grendel, and only slowly was he able

to distinguish the monster Through his nightmare, now, there came the sense of what had befallen him, and he strove to cast the last remnant of the magic from him as he saw the great form of Grendel swoop down upon the innocent form of young Hondscio, catch him up in enormous hands, and tear him limb from sleeping limb And now at last Beowulf saw what manner of thing this Grendel was His legs were like the trunks of trees and they were covered with a kind of gray dry scale that made a noise like paper as the fiend moved this way and that The body of the beast was shaped like that of a man, but such a man as no mortal eyes had ever before beheld, and the size and shape of it were something

to be marveled at

The head was the head neither of beast or man, yet had something of the features of both, and the great jaw was filled with blunt fangs that ground the bones of the unhappy Hondscio to pulp Shaggy matted hair hung over the low forehead, and the eyes in the face of Grendel were the color of milk

Horror-struck upon his couch, Beowulf felt his limbs in thrall and could move neither leg nor arm to raise himself as Grendel devoured the body of the young Hondscio

And when Grendel had finished his horrid meal, the beast straightened a little his vast form and looked now to the left, now to the right, until his gaze fell upon the length of Beowulf Then the milk-white eyes burned with a dull light that was like the light of the moon, and slowly, slowly Grendel moved toward the dais But Beowulf, stung with loathing, leaped from his bed

Silently they fought in the fog-strewn hail Silently their bodies twisted and bent, this way and that, and Beowulf kept Grendel’s huge hands with their long claws of sharp bone from him, and Grendel in turn sought to tear apart the quick body that slipped so easily through his arms and legs

Their bodies wove in and out among the sleepers, and Beowulf felt the hot reek of Grendel’s breath upon his cheek, and the sweat stood out on Beowulf’s broad brow and ran down into his eyes and blinded him And Grendel’s huge hands sought over and over again to clasp his opponent’s head, to crush it in their grip

Then the fight became a deadly struggle in one far corner of the hall, and neither one gained any advantage over the other Then Beowulf slipped On the earthen floor they fell together and the force of their fall made the earth tremble But Grendel’s hold lessened, and fear smote the heart of the fiend He strove only to free himself from Beowulf’s grasp and flee into the night away from this white youth whose strength was the strength of thirty men

And now Beowulf had the upper hand, and flew at the giant’s throat But here his hands clutched at thick scales upon which he could get no grip Grendel nearly took the advantage, but before he could seize Beowulf, the lord of Geatsiand had fastened both mighty hands upon the monster’s arm, and with a sudden twist that forced a groan of agony from Grendel’s lips, leaped behind him

Now came the final struggle, and sweat poured from Beowulf, while from Grendel there oozed a slimy sap that smelled like vinegar, and sickened Beowulf But he clung to the monster’s arm, and slowly, slowly he felt its great muscles and sinews give way, and as his foot found Grendel’s neck, he prayed

to all the gods for help, and called upon his father Ecgtheow for strength to sustain him in this desperate effort

And the mighty arm of Grendel gave way in the terrible hands of Beowulf, and, with a piercing shriek that shook the gilded rafters, Grendel stumbled forward, leaving in Beowulf’s hands the gory arm

Beowulf fell back upon the dais, the bleeding arm of Grendel in his hands And Grendel, with a prolonged and ghastly wail, his blunt fangs gnashing together in dumb fury, stumbled toward the door, and before Beowulf could recover, the fiend was away into the fog which swallowed him as surely and completely as though he had plunged into the everlasting sea

IV THE OLD ENGLISH PROSE

Prose developed later than poetry - in the ninth century - but sometimes it also partly contained the characteristics of poetry It was influenced by Latin, the language of the church and the educated It consisted of factual, historical, and religious writings

4.1 King Alfred's Works

King Alfred the Great (reigned 871-900), one of the most significant rulers of the first millennium, after making peace with the Vikings, made his kingdom into a cultural centre He translated many works from Latin, especially

in the areas of religion, history and philosophy This was the foundation of the written national language The first translated works included The Pastor's Book, containing ideals for a pastor, with which Alfred as a secular ruler identified He also translated Baede 's Church History and other historical accounts In addition, Alfred compiled medical information, annals, chronicles, and information for law books His works lacked originality, and were more instructive and educational than artistic and beautiful

4.2 Later Annals and Religious Writings

The first half of the tenth century saw Alfred's successors expand politically and militarily, but not culturally due to exhaustion from frequent battles with the Vikings Only the annals continued and some poetry about victories over the Vikings The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the best-known work

of historical records spanning even beyond the Norman conquest It contains both prose and poetry In the second half of the tenth century came cultural

enlivenment through the Benedictian reform, a monastic reform which resulted

in a religious revival The main literary styles included homilies, sermons, stories of saints' lives, and Bible translations The chief authors were Aelfric and Wulfstan

4.3 Aelfric and Wulfstan

Aelfric, abbot of Eynsham, wrote three cycles of forty homilies each (two volumes of Catholic Homilies and Lives of the Saints), as well as other homilies, pastoral letters, and several translations His writings were clear to understand and beautiful in style His alliterative prose, which loosely imitated the rhythms of Old English poetry, influenced writers long after the Norman conquest Wulfstan, the archbishop of York, wrote civil and church-related legal codes as well as homilies He denounced the morals of his time and exhorted people to repentance The belief was that the Viking occupation and the resulting oppression and suffering were the result of sin, and that the end of the

world was at hand

V THE OLD ENGLSIH DRAMA

The origin of drama goes back to brief scenes that monks acted out in churches to illustrate Bible stories These later developed into full-length plays Sources of drama were primarily Catholic traditions and ceremonies that were gradually becoming worldlier The Catholic Church throughout Europe controlled almost the entire ideological sphere, including literary art Drama was developing in churches where the whole society from the king to the lowest citizen gathered It therefore had to cater to the broadest audience; hence its tendency toward secularity and language understood by the masses Two strong undercurrents influenced early drama: Folk plays based on ancient nature culls and pagan traditions; and classic Greek and Latin drama which were preserved,

at least in rudimentary form, throughout the Dark Ages Catholic services were often in the form of drama- with colorful robes, recitation, singing and acting Easter and Christmas ceremonies developed into major dramas in the ninth and tenth centuries Herod's murderous acts often became a focal point of Christmas

plays with horror and violence

VI PRACTICE

* For each statement, write T if the statement is true or F if it is false

1 The Anglo-Saxons worshipped pagan/heathen Gods like earth, heaven and powers of nature The doings of these powers were made into mythical stories and when a great hero arose This was the origin of the old stories

2 The Old English Period or the Anglo-Saxon Period (450-1066) produced from the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic tribes in the first half of the fifth century to the conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror

3 One of the most well-known eighth century Old English pieces of

literature is Beowulf, a great Celtic epic poem

4 Old English literature started with the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century, and it provides the foundation for all English literature

5 The Anglo-Saxons formed the basis of English culture, religion, and language and ruled England for 600 years The term Anglo-Saxon refers to a group of settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony who took over England after the fall of the Roman Empire

6 Much of the literature of medieval times is written in either totally incomprehensible Old English, or slightly less incomprehensible Middle English It kind of seems foreign to modern readers, and it can

be hard to really access it

* Choose the word or phrase which best completes each sentence Circle A, B,

C, D to indicate the correct answer

1 When did Old English literature become popular?

a In the fourth century c In the seventh century

b In the fifth century d In the eleventh century

2 What is one of the most popular books in Old English literature, containing 131 stories?

a The Wanderer b The Seafarer c Beowulf d Exeter Book

3 What is a good example of a poetry piece from Old English literature?

a Beowulf b The Wanderer

c The Seafarer d The Wife's Lament

4 Two old English authors that are known by are ………, the author of a short hymn, and ………, the author of four long poems

a Caedmon/Cynwulf c Caedmon/Aelfric

b Cynwulf/ Wulfstan d.Bede/Alfred the Great

* Answer these questions

1 What is Old English language also known as?

2 How many features are there in the Old English literature? Give some remarks

3 What three influences shaped the Old English language?

4 How did the invasions and occupations of Britain influence Old English

literature?

5 Find out as many as possible old English words remained today

6 What does the story of English literature begins with the Germanic tradition of the Anglo - Saxon settlers? Why?

7 After the Norman Conquest, what language influences subsequently compete for the mainstream role in English literature?

8 What is a lyric?

9 Why Beowulf is regarded as a hero?

10 When is The Anglo-Saxon period generally considered to date from?

11 Summarize the story of Beowulf and what it tells about (not more than

100 words)

12 What were the origin and the sources of Old English drama?

CHAPTER 3

THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE

The four and a half century between the Norman Conquest in 1600, which became the cause for radical changes in the language, life and culture of England, and about 1500, when the standard literary language has become

"modern English" that is similar to the language of ours The period from 1100

to 1350 is sometimes called the Anglo-Norman Period because the non-Latin literature of the era was written in Anglo-Norman Among the important works

of the period were Marie de France's "Lais" and Jean de Meun's "Roman de La Rose" when the native vernacular - descended from Anglo-Saxon period

The native vernacular descended from Anglo-Saxon with widespread syntactic and lexical elements assimilated from Anglo-Norman which was later called "Middle English" came into literary application Therefore, it became primarily the medium of homiletic and religious writings

The second half of the 14th century produced secular kind of literature along with native English literature This was the age of Chaucer and John Gower which gave great kind of religious and satirical poems like "Piers Plowman" There was the most famous prose romance written by Thomas Malory called "Morte d' Arthur"

The 15th century was known by what was called "Scottish Chaucerian’s"

It was important more for popular literature than the artful sorts of literature normally addressed to the upper class It was the age of excellent songs, secular and folk ballads

I LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

1.1 The Middle English language

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 traditionally signifies the beginning of 200 years of the domination of French in English letters French cultural dominance, moreover, was general in Europe at this time French language and culture replaced English in polite court society and had lasting effects on English culture But the native tradition survived, although little 13th-century, and even less 12th-century, vernacular literature is extant, since most of

it was transmitted orally Anglo-Saxon fragmented into several dialects and

is unquestionably English By the mid-14th cent., Middle English had become the literary as well as the spoken language of England

During the early years of the Normans occupation, three languages were used at the same time in England: French was the language of the nobility and of the government, the court, and the school; English was clung stubbornly by the Anglo-Saxon commoners; and Latin maintained its position as the language of scholars and the church

In 1204, England’s ties with Normandy were broken, and French influence in government began to wane One of the results of this political change was the gradual reestablishment of the English language By 1300 English was again known by all classes in English though it did not become the official language of the courts until 1362, and the language of the schools – in place of French – until 1385 But English then was very different from the English spoken by Bede or Alfred the Great English was assimilating the Latin-based French vocabulary, and the complicated inflections of the Anglo-Saxon language were disappearing

Middle English short forms ME, M.E Three features of ME contrasted with OE: a greatly reduced system of grammatical inflections; greatly increased lexical borrowing from other languages, in particular FRENCH and LATIN; and

a highly varied and volatile ORTHOGRAPHY Surviving texts indicate that there was no uniform way of writing ME, and as a result texts are sometimes easy to read without much help, sometimes more difficult, and sometimes well-nigh impossible The following sentence, from CHAUCER'S late 14c translation

of Boethius (On the Consolation of Philosophy: opening, Book I, prose VI), is representative:

“First woltow suffre me to touche and assaye the estat of thy thought by a fewe demaundes, so that I may understonde what be the manere of thy curacioun?”

In more relaxed modern usage still, it might be:

“First will you let my try the state of your thinking by asking a few questions, so that I can understand the way you cure people?”

In the original sentence, many words have the same spelling (but generally not the same pronunciation) as ModE, and their meaning is often the

same (first, me, and, the, of, thy, thought, by, a, so, that, I, may, what, be), some

have a similar spelling (but not pronunciation) to present day usage, and much

the same meaning (touche, estat, fewe, understonde, manere), or similar spellings but rather different meanings and uses (suffre, demaundes), and some are variously alien at first encounter yet become less so after translation (woltow,

assaye, curacioun)

Middle language was a language of constant change, varying from year to year and from country to country Because it was so unstable, it is possible to describe it only in a very general way as a language of dying inflections

Out of the tangle of local dialects, one finally emerged as the standard for English speech and writing: the East Midlands dialect East Midland dialect was accepted as the standard language because: the East midlands was the largest and most populous of the language area; the East midlands dialect was spoken

by Londoners; the great universities of Oxford and Cambridge were in the East midlands area

1.2 Middle English literature

1.2.1 New forms of literature

During the Middle English period, the literature of England underwent a change as dramatic as that of England’s language As a result of the contact with Continental writing, new forms of writing appeared in England: The Romance, the Religious Drama and the Ballad

The Romance was a story describing the marvelous exploits of some heroes of chivalry The first romances were written in verse, some later ones were written in a combination of verse and prose or in prose alone Originally a French import, the Romance quickly seized on the Celtic legends of Wales and Cornwall Myth and Magic, and some small histories were woven into a fascinating series of tales about the legendary king Arthur and his court These Celtic inspired romances were as popular on the Continent as they were in Britain

The Religious Drama was at first closely associated with the church In time, plays were more and more secular and started to move out of the church and became very popular The most popular form of drama of that time was miracle plays, mystery plays and morality plays: these popular plays can be

considered the beginnings of a native English drama, which paved the way for the magnificent secular theatre of the 16th and early 17th century

A new form of verse, the Ballad, was welcomed Lyrical poetry based on continental models appeared side by side with the older Anglo-Saxon metrical forms: ballad became very popular, especially with the common people The ballad properly an anonymous dance-song, a song accompanying a dance with joined hands, probably sung at social gatherings These familiar ballads of this period were “the wife of Usher’s well” (48 lines), “Sir Patric Spens” (44 lines), and “Robin hood and guy of Gibson” (234 lines)

1.2.2 The spirit of Middle English literature

The Middle English period was also Catholic England’s Great Age of Faith Religion was greatly integrated into English life Man lived his life in awareness of the presence of God, with a clear understanding of the facts of judgment eternity Even the secular writing of the time accepted the idea of a God-centered universe – the idea that was at the heart of medieval thinking

This was also the era of “Merry England” Cheerful optimism pervaded the writing of this period The authors of this period often wrote about the beauty of human soul and of nature

Many of the works of literature from the Middle English period are

anonymous Some works are to be found, e.g The Owl and the Nightingale, The

Fox and the Wolf (both poems in the popular ‘debate’ genre), The Bestiary, Poema Morale, King Horn, The Lay of Havelock the Dane…

II TYPICAL AUTHOR: Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)

Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest writer of the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London, probably 1343 in the family of a wine merchant From the age of 18 he was connected with the Court of the King of England Geoffrey Chaucer was well off, working in senior government and as a diplomat, going on various European trips In Italy, he got acquainted with the works of Danes, Petrarch and Boccaccio Certainly, his renowned Canterbury Tales seems to betray elements of Boccaccio in its earthiness and methodology

He wrote several works, including Troilus and Cressida, and The Legend of

Good Women What they wrote was full of new, optimistic ideas and loves of

life and had a great influence on his future works, the most importance of which

was the Canterbury Tales It's a favorite of people who study literature - they love this stuff It's full of things - styles, forms - that come to fruition much later Chaucer was really a pioneer in a lot of ways Chaucer died in London in October 25, 1400 He was the first writer to be buried in the Poet’s Conner of Westminster Abbey

“The Canterbury Tales” is Chaucer’s masterpiece designed about 1387 The original plans for this work project about 120 stories Actually Chaucer completed 22 and 2 more were left unfinished

In “The Canterbury Tales”, the stories are told by persons of all ranks and conditions Pilgrimages were at the end of the 14th century very popular, and no shrine in England was an object of greater worship than that of Saint Thomas Without questioning the devoutness of the good folk who took part in such pilgrimages, we may surmise that the spirit of “holiday-making” was pleasantly mingled with the earnestness of their religious pursuits

“The Canterbury Tales” was probably first sketched out in 1386, while Chaucer was living in Greenwich, some miles have been able to see the pilgrim road that led towards the shrine of the famous English Saint Thomas of Becker, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in his cathedral in 1170

Chaucer’s narrative gives us a picture of a spring pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral It also presents a vivid panorama of the contemporary life and people A party of 29 pilgrims gathered one April evening at the Tabard Inn

in Southward, just outside London They were on their way to the Cathedral of Saint Thomas à Becker After supper, aiming at reducing the tedium of the long journey, the inn-keeper proposes a plan: each pilgrim would tell 2 stories on the way to Canterbury and 2 more the way back The best story-teller of all would

be offered a free supper at the Tabard Inn The owner of the Inn, Harry Baily, of course, would act as the judge himself

III PRACTICE

* Answer these questions

1 What is the spirit of Middle English literature?

2 Why was East Midlands dialect accepted as the standard language?

3 What are the main topics that authors often wrote in the Middle English literature?

4 What kinds of tales were told by the pilgrims?

5 What was Chaucer’s contribution to England literature?

6 Summarize “The Canterbury Tales” and what it tells about (more than

100 words)

* Choose the word/phrase from the box to fill in the gaps in the following sentences

1 Boccaccio's Decameron is the best-known example before Chaucer's time, but Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales ………his predecessors

2 Of this ………of 120 stories, Chaucer completes only 24 by the time

of his death

3 The pilgrims for the most part tell tales closely related to their

………….in life or to their personal character

4 Shakespeare, influenced by classical Greece and Rome (as were many before and after) invented thousands of new words and phrases such as

‘tower of strength’ and ‘……… ’

5 Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a true intellectual, translating Thucydides’ Peloponnesian Wars, and the Iliad and Odyssey Like so many English literary people, he was almost ………influenced by Greece

6 In theory, literature reflects the …………of its time, so that might be why it's important It's a window into a different world that might reveal truths that ………… or historical stuff might miss

7 Beowulf is considered to be the first ……… work of English literature that exists

8 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories - some kind of …… ,

some kind of - told by pilgrims who were traveling to a cathedral

9 Norman French and Old English brought ……… to the language that we now refer to as Middle English Thousands of French words permanently became a part of the English language, such as the word 'mansion,' for example

10 Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), was …………., working in senior government and as a diplomat, going on various European trips

CHAPTER 4

THE MODERN ENGISH LITERATURE

I SOME PERIODS OF MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE

Modern English literature can be divided as follow:

1 The 16th century English literature: The Renaissance (1500-1603)

2 The 17th century English literature: The classic literature (1603-1689)

3 The 18th century English literature: The Age of Enlightenment (1689-1798)

4 The 19th century English literature: (1798-1901)

- 1st period (1798-1832): The Romanticism

- 2nd period (1832-1901): The Critical Realism

5 The 20th century English literature (1901-now)

- The Imperialist trend

- The Progressive realistic trend

- The Decadent trend

- The Socialist realistic trend

II LITERATURE AND TYPICAL WRITIERS

2.1 Literature of the Renaissance (End of the 15th-beginning of the 17thcentury)

Speaking of Renaissance William T Moniff in his book “The beginnings

of English literature” wrote: “The renaissance was marked by an increasing shift

in the basic religious outlook of the West The thought of the Middle Ages had been essentially God-centered But humanism by its very nature placed a new importance on created things Humanism came to look on the world as a good thing in itself not merely a place to win salvation At first, this shift in values was neither startling nor open to challenge But with increasing rapidly, this emphasis on the importance of temporal things led to a de-emphasis of God and the eternal destiny of man The final result of this was to be reached in the irrational agnosticism of the 18th century “enlightenment”, which accepted direct experience as the only basis for knowledge, and looked on theology as an equivalent of superstition”

The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th to the 17th century It is associated with the pan-

14th century Like most of northern Europe, England saw little of these developments until more than a century later Renaissance style and ideas were slow in penetrating England, and the Elizabethan era in the second half of the 16th century is usually regarded as the height of the English Renaissance

The word “Renaissance” was first used by Jules Michelet, a French historian (1780-1874) First of all, “Renaissance” means not only “the revived interest in Greek and Romans literatures” but also “the discovery of the world and the human beings” More than that, it implies “the awakening of men’s mind, the awakening of individual spirit and secularism” Major Writers of the Renaissance Period are Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Campion, Thomas (1567-1620), Donne, John (1572-1631), Jonson, Ben (1572-1637), Shakespeare, William (1564-1616), Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593), Milton, John (1608-1674), Spenser, Edmund (1552-1599), Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586), Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-1542), Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), Calvin, John (1509-1564), Wroth, Mary (ca 1587-

ca 1651) Typical author of the Renaissance is William Shakespeare 1616)

(1564-The great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare was born on April 23rd, 1564 in the small town of Stratford-on-Avon about seventy miles from London Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, was a well-to-do merchant and responsible citizen The dramatist’s mother, Mary Arden, was a daughter of a distinguished family

William had a good grammar school education Adversity, however, fell upon John Shakespeare, his fortunes declined, and in 1577 the boy was removed from school, either to be apprentice to his father’s business, or to earn an independent living Five year later, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway,

by whom he had three children: Susan (1583), and the twins Hemet and Judith (1585) Hemet, only his son, died and was buried at Stratford in 1596

In 1587, we found Shakespeare in London where he soon became connected with the stage His first work appeared in 1590’s He wrote for the company of actors who played at the theatre Then the new Globe Theatre was built where Shakespeare’s played were staged

In 1611, Shakespeare retired to Stratford, where, as early as 1597, he had purchased one of the largest and finest houses: Newplace There he spent the last years of his life he died on April 23rd, 1616 and was buried in the church of Stratford

In 1714, a monument was erected in his memory in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey The house in which he was born was acquired by public subscription in 1846 and it has become a place of pilgrimage and a centre of tourism Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays and 154 sonnets Scholars distinguished three periods in Shakespeare’s works:

 The early period (roughly from 1590 to 1600), during which he wrote mainly gay comedies and dramatic histories This is the period of optimism of William Shakespeare

 The middle period (roughly from 1600 to 1608), during which he wrote great tragedies and bitter comedies This is the period of maturity of William Shakespeare

 The late period (roughly from 1609 to 1612), during which he wrote legendary and lyrical plays and tragic comedies

Shakespeare was a great humanist He was the enemy of medieval ideas, religious racial discrimination In his work, he affirmed the principle of equality, the equal moral value of people of all classes all races

Shakespeare was neither a purely tragic nor a purely comic writer; he dealt with both the tragic and comic sides of life, because in actual life, these two sides are closely connected There was a drama in England before Shakespeare, but it was he who created a real drama, and it was he who raises the English theatre to the height it has never since reached

More than four centuries have passed since Shakespeare’s death, but scholars in different countries continue to study his works, and his plays are still performed and will be performed for many years to come He had a great tolerance, sympathy and love for all people His plays and his characters remind the audience that this world can be a gentle and lovable place For all this, Shakespeare still leaves on as a superb playwright and poet not only of England but also of the world

* Shakespeare’s sonnet

The sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines divided into two quatrains and two tercets (Italian sonnet) or into three quatrains and a final couplet (English sonnet) The so-called Shakespearean sonnet has the following thyme scheme: abab, eded, efef…The sonnet brought to England at the beginning of the 16th century The English poets-humanists Thomas Wyant, Philip Sydney, Edmund Spenser made it very popular with the British public Thousands of sonnets were written and published during the 1590s In those years the poets considered Love to be the only suitable theme for the sonnets

His work: Titus Andronicus (may be written in the early 1590s), The Two

Noble Kinsmen (a Jacobean comedy, first published in 1634), Richard III

(written in 1591), The Comedy of Errors (written between 1592 and 1594), The

Taming of the Shrew (written between 1590 and 1594, published in 1623), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1590 or 1591) Shakespeare used the revised second

edition of the Chronicles (published in 1587) as the source for most of his history plays, the plot of Macbeth, and for portions of King Lear and Cymbeline

- Poems: In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague,

Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece

- Sonnets: Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's

non-dramatic works to be printed 154 sonnets was composed and Shakespeare wrote them throughout his career for a private readership

* Further reading:

Sonnet 66: To be, or not to be

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds

Or bends with the remover to remove

Oh, no, it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempestd and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand’sing bark, Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom

If this be error, and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved

PRACTICE

* Choose the word/phrase from the box to fill in the gaps in the following sentences

1 The Renaissance in Europe was in one sense an awakening from the long slumber of the ………

2 One of the greatest …… blocks for artists and writers during the English Renaissance was the ever-present need to somehow eke a living out of their craft

3 The ………… of English literature during the Renaissance were the poem and the drama Among the many varieties of poetry one might have found

in sixteenth century England were the lyric, the elegy, the tragedy, and the pastoral

4 In the area of drama, no one matched William Shakespeare in terms of variety, ………., and ……… use of language His subject matter ran the gamut, from classical Greco-Roman stories to contemporary tales of unrequited love

5 The great age of English poetry opened with the ………… of Spenser's Shepheard's Calendar, in 1579, and closed with the printing of Milton's Samson Agonistes, in 1671

6 Shakespeare is known for his ability to shift between comedy and tragedy, from complex character study to ……… farce He is likewise highly regarded for the exquisite formal structure which all of his plays demonstrate

7 The earliest of Shakespeare's tragedies, unless Titus Andronicus be his,

was, doubtless, Romeo and Juliet, which is full of the ………… of youth and of first love

* Answer the following questions

1 What did “renaissance” mean?

2 How could the Elizabethan drama effect on William Shakespeare?

3 What are the names of William Shakespeare’s works?

4 What is the main idea of the sonnet 66?

5 What is the main idea of the sonnet 116?

6 What is the sonnet?

7 When did sonnet bring to England?

2.2 The Classic literature (1603 -1700) (Restoration Age)

Briefly speaking, the 17th-century England was a time of conflicts between the king and the Parliament, between English Protestants and Puritans The division was between the old and the new way of life These conflicts became so acute under the reign of King Charles I that they led to the Civil War, followed by the Restoration of the Monarchy and the “Glorious Revolution”

The changes that took place in political and religious life of England were truthful reflected in the literature of the 17th century There was a dark period for the development of stage in England During the Puritan rule, theatres were closed because pleasure was regarded as sinful and stage was thought t be the world devils After the downfall of the absolute monarchy in England, the Cavalier has immigrated to France, mostly to Paris, where, playgoers, they had attended the performances given at the Hotel de Bourgogne and the Palais Royal: this was the very moment when the masterpieces of exiles were conquered by the orderly pomp, noble pathos and psychological depth of the French “classical drama”, and naturally desired, when the Restoration had brought them back to England, to have performances of a similar kind However, the plays written under Charles II were quite different from those written under Elizabeth: they were written in service of the king and his court, not in service of the public

John Dryen (1631-1700), the most distinguished cavalier poet and playwright, accordingly out heroic dramas written in conformity to the French pattern His tragedy “All for love” (1678) at that time was considered as fine as Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” But, as a tragic writer, Dryen was