11-2-11 Literature Outline (English).docVIP

Every work of literature has a generic context. In addition, every work has a historical context. That is, it belongs to a particular historical period. 1. Old English or Anglo-Saxon period · It mainly belongs to the period before the Norman Conquest in 1066. · The language in which it is written is more like German than modern English. · The greatest single poem is Beowulf (probably written around 700). It is either an epic or tragic poem. · The other works: the prose Chronicles, Christian poem such as The Dream of the Rood and The Battle of Malden. · The major made in Old English is sort of narrative poem and deals with the desire for order in a savage and unruly world 2. Middle English or Medieval period · It belongs to approximately the 1065 to 1550. · The outstanding writer is Chaucer who wrote The Canterbury Tales. · In this period, there are narrative poems, lyric poetry, and drama. · The most distinctive feature of the literature of this period is that it is markedly Christian. A familiar pattern is the gap between the Christian ideal and the reality of life in this imperfect world. (Faery Queen). Morality plays. 3. Renaissance period (The Seventeenth Century) · Approximately dates are 1550 to 1660. · It is considered as one of the richest eras in English literature, because society was changing in such a fundamental way; the world was becoming much more complex, with the whole economic and social fabric of society changing. · Like medieval writers, renaissance writer still recognize God as the only source of order, even though so much of their attention is on how man distracted and tempted by worldly ambition and secular concerns. (“Morally Ordered Universe”) · There was attention between a traditional order and disruption of this order. We can see this in Shakespeares work, Hamlet (1600), and King Lear (1605). · The central historical event is the Civil War of 1642-1651. It embodies a similar conflict between the kings traditional status and authority an