TIMELINE
1. THE MIDDLE AGES
a. Anglo-Saxon literature: Beowulf
b. Anglo Norman literature: Sir Garwain and the Green knights
c. Middle English period: The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer
2. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 1
Modern period for English literature:
a. They flee from me – Thomas WyaQ
b. Sonnet 75 – Edmund Spencer
c. Sonnet 18 - Shakespeare
3. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 2
Shakespeare
The twelVh night - Shakespeare
4. THE EARLY SVENTEENTH CENTURY
a. The Sun Rising – John Donne
b. Easter Wings – George Herbert
c. To His Coy mistress – Andrew Marvell
5. RESTORATION AND EIGHTEEN-CENTURY LITERATURE 1
- Aphra Ben
- John Milton
6. RESTORATION AND EIGHTEEN-CENTURY LITERATURE 2
a. A modest proposal – Jonathan SwiV
b. Gulliver’s travels – Jonathan SwiV
c. Elegy wriQen in a country Churchyard – Thomas Gray
7. ROMANTIC PERIOD 1: POETRY
- William Blake
- William Wordsworth
8. ROMANTIC PERIOD 2: IDEAS
- Mary WollstonecraV
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- John Keats
9. ROMANTIC PERIOD 3: AMERICAN ROMANTICISM
a. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
b. Wild Nights – Wild nights! – Emily Dickinson
10. THE VICTORIAN AGE
- Early Victorian
- Mid Victorian: Daisy Miller: A study – Henry James, Charge of the light Brigade – Alfred Lord
Tennyson & Dover beach – MaQhew Arnold
- Late Victorian: The importance of being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
11. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND AFTER
- High modernism: Modern Ficfon, Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf, Easter 1916, The second
coming– W.B. Yeats, Araby – James Joyce & The Waste Land – T.S. Eliot
- American modernism: Hemmingway, Wallace Stevens, The Harlem Renaissance, Langston
Hughes
- Late modernism/post: W.H. Auden, Samuel BeckeQ
- Post modernism: Allen Ginsberg & Maxine Hong Kingston
12. SEMINARS
a. Walker Brother’s Cowboy
b. Brown Girl Dreaming
c. On earth we’re briefly gorgeous
d. Never Let me Go
, 1. The middle ages 1- Anglo Saxon literature
àWork: Beowulf
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
o Beginning of the period: is defined by the invasions of the Angles and the Saxons (ca.
450 C.E.)
o Language (spoken then): Early version of what we now call old Englishà resembling
a lot of old Germanic Languages (Dutch & German)
à state of Heptarchy= state or region consisUng of seven autonomous regions SO
seven different dialects prone to their own region.
à The Danelaw: Danish invasion of England (ca. 9th-10th century C.E.), Northern
Anglo-Saxons were aYacked by the Danes but the aYack was stopped by King Amfred
for a while
DANELAW DEFINES mingling and co-exis@ng of Danish and Anglo-Saxon tradi@ons,
England became unified with Scandinavian lands which led to a more consistent
version of the old English language.
o Religion: return of ChrisUanity in England (ca. 7th century C.E.) with St. AugusUne
arriving in Kent. à ChrisUanity was already present during roman empire but
influence of monasteries became smaller. àIMPORTANT SOURCE: book by Bede on
ChrisUanity. WITH Chris@anity came La@n language.
BEOWULF:
1. LANGUAGE
àLanguage of Beowulf is determined old English = Anglo – Saxon language, which mostly
has a LaUn alphabet (due to its Chris@an influences)à pronouns, conjuncUons and adverbs
are Danish influences ( because of the Danelaw).
àBeowulf was wriYen during Heptarchy and falls under West-Saxon dialect of Mercia.
2. MANUSCRIPT
à Beowulf has over 400 manuscripts because before the conversion of ChrisUanity nothing
was wriYen down SO CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED the produc@on of manuscripts.
à was first performed orally; oral poetry which sees the text rhythmically sung by a bard
(professional storyteller) or scup (cultural group in middle ages)
àonly four of the manuscripts are wriYen in the Old English Poetry form
Cædmon’s Hymn = short old English poem aYributed to Cædmon, a supposed illiterate and
unmusical cow-herder who was, according to monk Brede, miraculous empowered to sing in
honor of God the creator.
àoral tradiUon was a means to call aYenUon and/or digression (uitweiding); gave he
opportunity to deviate from main topic to describe details or thoughts, giving the listener a
perspecUve to the story. It uses foreshadowing = telling what will happen in the end
3. CHARACTERISTICS
àMeaning of Hweat= is translated differently; Northern Anthology defines it as so. And
other translators define it as listen.
1
,THIS IS BASED on the manuscript, wriYen in 700-900 C.E. now the only copy that sUll exists
can be found in the BriUsh Library. The manuscript is made out of parchment made of animal
skin (lasts longer)
àLanguage can be split in 2 versions: 1. Old English (consisUng of Heptarchy and Old
English) AND 2. modern versions.
1. Old English verse:
o Has a Saw allitera@ve verse: a verse that uses alliteraUon as the principal device to
indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other structures such as
rhyme (more than 50% of the text can be defined as alliteraUons)
o Accent/stress: 4 stresses per line
o Also has a saw caesura: pause inside a line, which makes it two half lines (= a
hemisUch). This offers an opportunity for the reader to reflect and look back.
o
2. Modern Version of Beowulf
o Two transla@ons: 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien (professor Anglo-Saxon) and another by Seamus
Heaney (Nobel prize winner literature and Norton version 2004.
o Character Shield Sheafson (In transla@on): the character expanded his territory,
health and kingdom and his power is symbolized through his mead hall (feasUng hall
in large building with one room).
4. CONTENT
à split up in five categories: sekng, situaUon, narrator, storyline and stylisUc features.
1. SeZng = Long ago in Denmark, at Heorot, King Hrothgar’s mead-hall
2. Situa@on = Every night, Grendel (the monster) comes to Heorot and aYacks people,
Grendel even eats his vicUms. Beowulf (the hero) comes to rescue people and
succeeds his quest.
3. Narrator = A scop: A ChrisUan Bard or poet. References (in the story) to a Chris@an
God only happen in the @me of the narrator; in the Ume of the story, there is no
expression of ChrisUanity BUT only expressions of a heroic code. SO narrator lives in a
Ume aner Beowulf, and tells the story about a Ume before ChrisUanity.
(Example in the text that expresses heroic code and gives readers foreshadowing:
Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, spoke:
“Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death.”)
4. Storyline: can be divided in 3 main event
a. Beowulf defeats Grendel
b. Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother
c. Beowulf defeats the dragon, but succumbs to a heroic death, with his funeral – a
funeral fire, where they lay his body on a boat filled with treasure and burn it –
concluding the poem.
5. Stylis@c features: divided in five subgroups
a. An epic = shows a violent but not tragic death of the hero, which can be seen as
the hero’s fulfilment of his glory.
2
, b. An elegiac = Sad poem commemoraUng death
c. Narra@ve perspec@ve = is Germanic Heroic poetry, which shows a true story that
is all about how the story is/has been told.
d. Story has A circular structure = we can find in the ending with Beowulf’s death ,
but also in the beginning with the death of a hero whose death leads toa funeral
scene, hence the circle
e. Litotes = are ironic statements (most prominent example is funeral of Shield
Sheafson compared to Beowulf’s funeral)
f. Other stylis@c features = (1) A kenning: compound noun consisUng of two nouns
put together with each having meaning individually (example: ring-river = ‘king’
and treasure-minder = ‘dragon’), (2) a synecdoche: figure of speech in which part
is made to represent the whole or vice versa – pars pro toto, (3) the form is
structured by commas, each clauye being an elaboraUon. There are six detzails in
six hemisUches (=two half lines), across three lines. (see V4.6. Beowulf Nortorn
Anthology for example)
2. The middle ages 2- Anglo Norman period
àwork: Sir Garwain and the Green Knight
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
o Language: New king came to England in this period and brought his own culture (he
spoke French and conUnued to speak French) SO mul@ple languages spoken in
England at this Ume. French à language of upper-class, Anglo-Saxonà language of
lower class.
o Culture: storytelling flourished further but now became a mix between Anglo-Saxon
roots (Heptarchy) and Old English roots (aner Danelaw).
ànew genre in storytelling developed; Arthurian Legends = stories centering King
Arthur and his knights with a ChrisUan moral code – nobility and gentleness. ONE OF
THE FIRST STORIES of this genre was Sir Garwain and the green knights.
SIR GARWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHTS:
1. GENRE
à (1) Arthurian Legend: Sir Garwain being one of the earliest of this genre, king Arthur also
makes a short appearance. It’s simultaneously (2) a quest = story where the protagonist
embarks on a mission or journey. It’s also (3) Chivalric Romance = type of prose and verse
narraUve that tells fantasUc stories about marvel-filled adventures, onen a chivalric knight-
errant portrayed as having heroic qualiUes, who goes on a quest (genres of quest and
chivalric romance can be seen as genres who onen both appear together in texts)
2. CHIVLARIC ROMANCE
Chivalric romance àpart of medieval French literature à is part of the English-language
literary- and oral tradiUons
à basic plot structure of chivalric romance:
o Integra@on (the knight in his own culture)
o Disintegra@on (the knight goes somewhere else, goes on adventures)
o Reintegra@on (the knight returns to his culture with a lot of honor to his name
3
1. THE MIDDLE AGES
a. Anglo-Saxon literature: Beowulf
b. Anglo Norman literature: Sir Garwain and the Green knights
c. Middle English period: The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer
2. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 1
Modern period for English literature:
a. They flee from me – Thomas WyaQ
b. Sonnet 75 – Edmund Spencer
c. Sonnet 18 - Shakespeare
3. THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 2
Shakespeare
The twelVh night - Shakespeare
4. THE EARLY SVENTEENTH CENTURY
a. The Sun Rising – John Donne
b. Easter Wings – George Herbert
c. To His Coy mistress – Andrew Marvell
5. RESTORATION AND EIGHTEEN-CENTURY LITERATURE 1
- Aphra Ben
- John Milton
6. RESTORATION AND EIGHTEEN-CENTURY LITERATURE 2
a. A modest proposal – Jonathan SwiV
b. Gulliver’s travels – Jonathan SwiV
c. Elegy wriQen in a country Churchyard – Thomas Gray
7. ROMANTIC PERIOD 1: POETRY
- William Blake
- William Wordsworth
8. ROMANTIC PERIOD 2: IDEAS
- Mary WollstonecraV
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- John Keats
9. ROMANTIC PERIOD 3: AMERICAN ROMANTICISM
a. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
b. Wild Nights – Wild nights! – Emily Dickinson
10. THE VICTORIAN AGE
- Early Victorian
- Mid Victorian: Daisy Miller: A study – Henry James, Charge of the light Brigade – Alfred Lord
Tennyson & Dover beach – MaQhew Arnold
- Late Victorian: The importance of being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
11. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND AFTER
- High modernism: Modern Ficfon, Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf, Easter 1916, The second
coming– W.B. Yeats, Araby – James Joyce & The Waste Land – T.S. Eliot
- American modernism: Hemmingway, Wallace Stevens, The Harlem Renaissance, Langston
Hughes
- Late modernism/post: W.H. Auden, Samuel BeckeQ
- Post modernism: Allen Ginsberg & Maxine Hong Kingston
12. SEMINARS
a. Walker Brother’s Cowboy
b. Brown Girl Dreaming
c. On earth we’re briefly gorgeous
d. Never Let me Go
, 1. The middle ages 1- Anglo Saxon literature
àWork: Beowulf
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
o Beginning of the period: is defined by the invasions of the Angles and the Saxons (ca.
450 C.E.)
o Language (spoken then): Early version of what we now call old Englishà resembling
a lot of old Germanic Languages (Dutch & German)
à state of Heptarchy= state or region consisUng of seven autonomous regions SO
seven different dialects prone to their own region.
à The Danelaw: Danish invasion of England (ca. 9th-10th century C.E.), Northern
Anglo-Saxons were aYacked by the Danes but the aYack was stopped by King Amfred
for a while
DANELAW DEFINES mingling and co-exis@ng of Danish and Anglo-Saxon tradi@ons,
England became unified with Scandinavian lands which led to a more consistent
version of the old English language.
o Religion: return of ChrisUanity in England (ca. 7th century C.E.) with St. AugusUne
arriving in Kent. à ChrisUanity was already present during roman empire but
influence of monasteries became smaller. àIMPORTANT SOURCE: book by Bede on
ChrisUanity. WITH Chris@anity came La@n language.
BEOWULF:
1. LANGUAGE
àLanguage of Beowulf is determined old English = Anglo – Saxon language, which mostly
has a LaUn alphabet (due to its Chris@an influences)à pronouns, conjuncUons and adverbs
are Danish influences ( because of the Danelaw).
àBeowulf was wriYen during Heptarchy and falls under West-Saxon dialect of Mercia.
2. MANUSCRIPT
à Beowulf has over 400 manuscripts because before the conversion of ChrisUanity nothing
was wriYen down SO CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED the produc@on of manuscripts.
à was first performed orally; oral poetry which sees the text rhythmically sung by a bard
(professional storyteller) or scup (cultural group in middle ages)
àonly four of the manuscripts are wriYen in the Old English Poetry form
Cædmon’s Hymn = short old English poem aYributed to Cædmon, a supposed illiterate and
unmusical cow-herder who was, according to monk Brede, miraculous empowered to sing in
honor of God the creator.
àoral tradiUon was a means to call aYenUon and/or digression (uitweiding); gave he
opportunity to deviate from main topic to describe details or thoughts, giving the listener a
perspecUve to the story. It uses foreshadowing = telling what will happen in the end
3. CHARACTERISTICS
àMeaning of Hweat= is translated differently; Northern Anthology defines it as so. And
other translators define it as listen.
1
,THIS IS BASED on the manuscript, wriYen in 700-900 C.E. now the only copy that sUll exists
can be found in the BriUsh Library. The manuscript is made out of parchment made of animal
skin (lasts longer)
àLanguage can be split in 2 versions: 1. Old English (consisUng of Heptarchy and Old
English) AND 2. modern versions.
1. Old English verse:
o Has a Saw allitera@ve verse: a verse that uses alliteraUon as the principal device to
indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other structures such as
rhyme (more than 50% of the text can be defined as alliteraUons)
o Accent/stress: 4 stresses per line
o Also has a saw caesura: pause inside a line, which makes it two half lines (= a
hemisUch). This offers an opportunity for the reader to reflect and look back.
o
2. Modern Version of Beowulf
o Two transla@ons: 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien (professor Anglo-Saxon) and another by Seamus
Heaney (Nobel prize winner literature and Norton version 2004.
o Character Shield Sheafson (In transla@on): the character expanded his territory,
health and kingdom and his power is symbolized through his mead hall (feasUng hall
in large building with one room).
4. CONTENT
à split up in five categories: sekng, situaUon, narrator, storyline and stylisUc features.
1. SeZng = Long ago in Denmark, at Heorot, King Hrothgar’s mead-hall
2. Situa@on = Every night, Grendel (the monster) comes to Heorot and aYacks people,
Grendel even eats his vicUms. Beowulf (the hero) comes to rescue people and
succeeds his quest.
3. Narrator = A scop: A ChrisUan Bard or poet. References (in the story) to a Chris@an
God only happen in the @me of the narrator; in the Ume of the story, there is no
expression of ChrisUanity BUT only expressions of a heroic code. SO narrator lives in a
Ume aner Beowulf, and tells the story about a Ume before ChrisUanity.
(Example in the text that expresses heroic code and gives readers foreshadowing:
Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, spoke:
“Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death.”)
4. Storyline: can be divided in 3 main event
a. Beowulf defeats Grendel
b. Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother
c. Beowulf defeats the dragon, but succumbs to a heroic death, with his funeral – a
funeral fire, where they lay his body on a boat filled with treasure and burn it –
concluding the poem.
5. Stylis@c features: divided in five subgroups
a. An epic = shows a violent but not tragic death of the hero, which can be seen as
the hero’s fulfilment of his glory.
2
, b. An elegiac = Sad poem commemoraUng death
c. Narra@ve perspec@ve = is Germanic Heroic poetry, which shows a true story that
is all about how the story is/has been told.
d. Story has A circular structure = we can find in the ending with Beowulf’s death ,
but also in the beginning with the death of a hero whose death leads toa funeral
scene, hence the circle
e. Litotes = are ironic statements (most prominent example is funeral of Shield
Sheafson compared to Beowulf’s funeral)
f. Other stylis@c features = (1) A kenning: compound noun consisUng of two nouns
put together with each having meaning individually (example: ring-river = ‘king’
and treasure-minder = ‘dragon’), (2) a synecdoche: figure of speech in which part
is made to represent the whole or vice versa – pars pro toto, (3) the form is
structured by commas, each clauye being an elaboraUon. There are six detzails in
six hemisUches (=two half lines), across three lines. (see V4.6. Beowulf Nortorn
Anthology for example)
2. The middle ages 2- Anglo Norman period
àwork: Sir Garwain and the Green Knight
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
o Language: New king came to England in this period and brought his own culture (he
spoke French and conUnued to speak French) SO mul@ple languages spoken in
England at this Ume. French à language of upper-class, Anglo-Saxonà language of
lower class.
o Culture: storytelling flourished further but now became a mix between Anglo-Saxon
roots (Heptarchy) and Old English roots (aner Danelaw).
ànew genre in storytelling developed; Arthurian Legends = stories centering King
Arthur and his knights with a ChrisUan moral code – nobility and gentleness. ONE OF
THE FIRST STORIES of this genre was Sir Garwain and the green knights.
SIR GARWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHTS:
1. GENRE
à (1) Arthurian Legend: Sir Garwain being one of the earliest of this genre, king Arthur also
makes a short appearance. It’s simultaneously (2) a quest = story where the protagonist
embarks on a mission or journey. It’s also (3) Chivalric Romance = type of prose and verse
narraUve that tells fantasUc stories about marvel-filled adventures, onen a chivalric knight-
errant portrayed as having heroic qualiUes, who goes on a quest (genres of quest and
chivalric romance can be seen as genres who onen both appear together in texts)
2. CHIVLARIC ROMANCE
Chivalric romance àpart of medieval French literature à is part of the English-language
literary- and oral tradiUons
à basic plot structure of chivalric romance:
o Integra@on (the knight in his own culture)
o Disintegra@on (the knight goes somewhere else, goes on adventures)
o Reintegra@on (the knight returns to his culture with a lot of honor to his name
3
