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British Literature: A Concept Map by Adalei Stevens, :arrow_up_down:,…
British Literature
: A Concept Map by Adalei Stevens
Poetry
The Medieval Era can be broken down into three periods:
Anglo-Norman Era (1066 through the 13th c)
A time when the French language dominated, and when Arthurian legends made up the most popular literature
Lanval
by Marie de France is from the Anglo-Norman period, and true to its time, this poem is about Camelot and King Arthur. While the subject of the story wasn't something new, Marie managed to add a surprising twist: the maiden saves the brave knight.
In this poem, women are portrayed as active characters
involved
in the plot, versus advisors or lovers from afar.
A
couplet
is a pair of lines of verse that rhyme
Lanval
was written in couplets, making is easier to remember, similar to alliteration, for storytellers.
Romance
originally meant exciting adventures, like
Lanval
which is also a
"
lay
," which is a short, rhythmed tale of chivalry and love.
Sonnets
were a major innovation in poetry during the Renaissance. There are two major types: Petrarchan (Italian) and Shakespearean (English)
The Italian sonnet AKA Petrarchan sonnet contain and
octave
and a
sestet
(eight and six lines, respectively). The rhyme scheme changes after the first set of octave.
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Shakespeare modified the sonnet to better accommodate rhyming in the English language. Without being limited to an octave and sestet, the
volta
and general configuration had more freedom to play with rhythm and meter.
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14-15 C. (from 14th c through ~1485)
Chaucer writes in English, marking English as a language of expressing literary ideas. Mind you, this is Middle English- still recognizably English, but not what we're used to.
This is also when the printing press makes it to England.
Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the "father of English literature", wrote the
Canterbury Tales
in the late 1300s, intending for the final product to include 120 stories, but he passed after completing 22 full stories and 2 half stories.
Frame narration
is seen throughout Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales
, which is a story within a story. This allows the host (the person who arranges the pilgrimage) to have other pilgrims tell a story within the main story.
One especially perfect example of a
fablieu
(silly story) within frame narration is
The Miller's Prologue and Tale
. A short, typically comedic, often cynical story told in verse, fablieu are characterized by a couple conventions:
"
Second Flood
" when a character believes a second Great Flood is coming, they had no casual knowledge of the Bible and were therefore foolish, naïve characters.
"
Misdirected kiss
" where a person goes to kiss lips (as one normally does) and ends up kissing not lips or not the person whose lips they were expecting.
Anglo-Saxon Era (~450 AD through 1066 [Norman Invasion])
The dominant language is Old English, which is most similar to modern German.
Beowulf
was originally told orally, eventually written down to be remembered for centuries.
While the story is about Scandinavian heroes and warriors, 19th Century Britain adopted the poem as a point of pride.
Beowulf
uses lots of
alliteration
(repeated initial consonant sounds in neighboring words), which made it easy for listeners and tellers to remember it.
Blake's
Songs of Innocence and Experience
explore humanity and karma.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Milton would say it's our fault, but Blake introduced ideas of what
should
or
could
be vs. what
is
.
Milton and Wordsworth revived Italian sonnets in England
Deviation from the formulaic sonnet indicates something of significance is being said.
William Wordsworth, much like Milton, explored humanity and our purpose.
"
The World is too much with us"
is an Italian sonnet, but unlike Milton, Wordsworth writes against monotheism and Christian ideology.
"Surprised by Joy"
contains lots of both enjambment and caesura, structuring the poem to reflect the hardship of grief and death.
“Steamboats, Viaducts, and Railways”
explore the art that man created in machines.
"The world is too much"
criticizes the results of misuse of this art, but
"Steamboats"
applauds the efficiency achieved by man, even at the expense of nature.
The Romantic Era (1789-1847):
French and American Revolutions
The beginning of the "novel"
The Industrial Revolution made Britain
the
industrial powerhouse of Europe (=child labor)
Wordsworth and Coleridge co-wrote
Lyrical Ballads
which was a book of poems. A
ballad
is a narrative poem, often of folk origin, intended to be sung.
Lyric
is a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings.
Romantic poetry is nearly always lyrical.
Coleridge's
"Kubla Khan"
is unique as a Romantic-era poem. Both rhythm and rhyme are inconsistent and unpredictable.
A commentary on human nature, fueled by opioids, Coleridge managed to produce a deeply thought-provoking poem whose structure reflects its equally complex narrative.
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
by John Keats tells the obsessive story of a "woman without mercy" who leaves her lovers to die. Whether physically or spiritually, it is unclear.
Much like Sidney's Astrophil and his obsessive love for Stella, his driving force is his downfall.
The Victorian Era (1832-1901)
The Age of Reform
The Age of Imperialism
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Coverture: the idea that women don't need rights because they're "covered" by men.
Charles Dickens popularized the serialized novel
Dramatic monologue
: a Victorian poetic form, developed as a reaction against intense Romantic subjectivity. The "I" is a character, not the poet, revealing themselves through what they say and how they say it.
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"Goblin Market"
by Christina Rossetti, again like Milton's
Paradise Lost
, explores the religious/biblical fallen woman who eats the forbidden fruit, but instead of blaming women for the downfall of humanity, Rossetti opens a new dialogue.
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Like Coleridge's
"Kubla Khan"
, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's
"Cry of the Children"
has a rapid and inconsistent meter, like a nonstop engine. Reflecting on the conditions of child labor and the abuse endured by children in the workforce, Browning's poem details the lack of education ("We know no other words, except 'Our Father' ") and hellish conditions that forced children to wish for death as a release from work.
Elizabeth was the more famous poet during her lifetime with her husband, Robert Browning. Her poem
"How do I love thee?"
is referenced today.
Sonnets from the Portuguese #43
is very different from the chugging
"Cry of the Children"
, with a consistent rhythm and predictable rhyme scheme.
Blake's "
The Lamb
" is much softer (using rounded vowels and words) and easier to read than
"
The Tiger
"
which has harsh, complex language. Innocence vs Experience
Repition is used with variation:
Ex. "Who could do this?" at the beginning of the poem, ending with "Who dares?"
Is it better to be innocent or more experienced?
Drama
The Sixteenth Century AKA "The Tudor Reign" (1485-1603)
William Caxton brought the printing press with a moveable type to England, sending us into the Renaissance.
The moveable type printing press created a more accessible way for people to learn how to read, increasing not only literacy rates but revolutionizing The Church through pamphlets.
During this time, there is more leisure and money, which is the perfect combination for creating art. More art and more peace create space for philosophical revolution. Martin Luther and the 95 Theses mark the Reformation, encouraging change within the Church.
Henry VIII was famous for many, many wives. He inaugurated the Reformation in England, but for his own needs: money, power, and a male heir. Refusal from the Pope to annul his marriage provided Henry with the opportunity to form the Protestant Church.
As more people moved to London (the population grew six times during the Tudor Reign), the theater became more popular and was integral to the culture of the city.
The theater allowed even common people to experience the entertainment, as it was affordable and aplenty with four large theaters in London at the time. and it was presented in a way that people could remember the many characters and stories (and seeing it multiple times didn't hurt either).
Shakespeare's influence on literature is immeasurable. He wrote some of the funniest and most recognizable plays and beautiful poetry in the English language.
Henry IV, Part 1
is part of a tetralogy of plays by Shakespeare (including Richard and Henry IV, Part 2) that details the reign of King Henry IV.
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Prose
The Restoration Period + the 18th Century (1660-1785 ish)
Charles II is king, and the Test Act marginalizes Catholics. King James suspended the Test Act and we enter the Age of Enlightenment.
The Scientific Method is the name and rationality is the game. "Prove to me that this is the right way to do things."
Swift's "
Modest Proposal
" is a satirical work of
prose
which is unmetered literary work.
Satire
seeks to expose or ridicule the absurdity of everyday life.
Swift modestly proposes that the starving people of Ireland eat babies, which considering the buying and selling of people like cattle in the colonies at the time, his proposal isn't too detached from reality.
Swift mocks the seriousness of the Restoration's attitude of reason and rationale above all, parodying a metaphor, making it something literal to highlight the issues in the country at the time.
The first English novel is credited to Aphra Behn who wrote
Oroonoko
. The novel was first developed towards the end of the 17th century, which usually depicted ordinary life about relatable individuals versus nobility or monarchs. The focus is on the individual, not the status of their family.
Novel
: prose fiction of significant length; Behn is writing without a set of rules. Using
realism
, a literary technique that becomes dominant convention in the 19th century, to immerse the reader in the fictional world.
Oroonoko: The Royal Slave
, first published in 1688, was not initially well received, but gained popularity once it was turned into a stage play around 1700. Behn has always been well-known for having her finger on England's cultural pulse.
Due to the descriptive nature of this work, it's thought that Behn was personally connected to elements of the story in some way.
Innocence is equated with ignorance, like in
Oroonoko
, when Native Americans are compared to our "First Parents" in the Garden of Eden. They are innocent, like children.
Innocence is what allows one to be exploited.
"Youth"
by Joseph Conrad is a short story that explores innocence and the loss of it and optimism as we get older. Thought to be metaphorical for Conrad's own loss of youth, Blake's
Songs of Innocence and Experience
allows us to further explore these ideas: Is the end of innocence the end of joy?
This suspenseful short story exemplifies Conrad's ability to weave rationale and romanticism into a perfect narrative.
"A White Night"
by Charlotte Mew tactfully tackles misogyny without having to explicitly call it out. The men are bystanders, incapable of making decisions, other than holding the women back and preventing action from happening. Women are the driving force, which is a stark contrast from the innocent and pure or fallen woman that is most often seen in most literary works. However, this proves to be futile and we end up asking ourselves: This is the way it's always been, so why change it?
Misogyny is nothing new, so between the 1880s-1920s, the New Woman appeared, and Caird's
"Does Marriage Hinder a Woman's Self-Development?"
seeks to answer the question: Can marriage be successful?
The answer is still unknown.
World War I was thought to be the "war to end all wars" because of its complete obliteration of millions of civilians and the development of technology was unprecedented. Unfortunately, all it seemed to do was rob young men on the battlefield of their innocence.
Early WWI poetry can be seen as propaganda:
"In Flanders Fields"
by John McRae and
"The Soldier"
by Rupert Brook romanticize dying for your country, being a part of something bigger than yourself.
In the middle of the war, W.B. Yeats published
"Easter, 1916"
, a bleak poem about Irish rebels executed at the Easter Rising and the permanence of injustice. Heroism is not portrayed the way we've seen before. Their downfall is not brought on by ignorance or stubbornness but by abuse of power.
By the end of the war,
"The One-Legged Man"
by Siegfried Sassoon is published and details a man grateful for losing his leg, meaning he no longer had to fight this war. This wartime anxiety affected the world and was immediately followed by the Spanish Flu which killed even more (a LOT more) people, seemingly neverending suffering was reflected in the literary world almost exclusively.
"In Memory of W.B. Yeats"
acknowledges the immortality of Yeats' words, forever memorialized in his work. Auden marks Yeats as a person who is a poet and reminds the audience that poetry is a lens through which we can see the world differently.
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