1. Survey of British Literature
And other lesser known literary facts

2. The Anglo Saxon Period 449-1066
Britons – Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles
Picts- Remnants of a pre-Celtic civilization
Gaels – Celtic speaking people in Ireland
Druids – Class of Celtic Priests who preserved the oral literature traditions
Angles and Saxons from Germany invaded Briton and eventually Celtic culture all but disappeared
Early Anglo-Saxon settlers were seafaring wanderers who brought their pagan religion with a strong belief in fate and the admiration of heroes to prevail in battle

3. Growth of Christianity
Romanized Briton named Patrick converted Ireland’s Gaels too Christianity
Missionaries spread the faith among the Picts and Angles in the north
In 597, a Roman missionary named St. Augustine and arrived in Kent and established a monastery at Canterbury
By 690 all of Briton was at least nominally Christian
The spread of Christianity was accompanied by the spread of literacy and the introduction of the Roman alphabet in place of the runic alphabet
In the 790’s the Vikings invaded and Alfred the Great forced a truce and converted them to Christianity

4. Anglo-Saxon Literature
Epic Poems about Heroes – Most famous is Beowulf originally told by oral poets , or scops, and later writtten down
Most Old English poems are anonymous such as “The Seafarer” and “The Wife’s Lament”
Known poets were Caedmon, a monk
The Venerable Bede wrote an 8th century history of England
Alfred the Great compiled the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

5. The Medieval Period
William the Conqueror invaded Briton from Normandy and brought French practices to England
He introduced feudalism based on the premise that the king owned all the land – He granted a 4th to the king, a 4th to the church, and the rest he doled out to loyal nobles who supplied him with knights who swore their allegiance to the nobles and the king.
The Anglo-Saxons ended up at the bottom of the ladder as serfs
After William died the nobles and barons vied for power until Henry II reformed the judicial system and created English common law

6. Henry II was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine form France who brought the ideals of chivalry and encouraged the Crusades
Their son Richard I, called Richard the Lionhearted, spent his 10-year reign fighting in the Crusades
While he was gone his brother John plotted against him
In 1215, John was forced to sigh the Magna Carta which limited royal authority
John’s son, Henry III established what is now Parliament
Feudalism declined, towns grew up and became centers of commerce, and universities like Oxford became England’s chief centers of learning
The Hundred Years’ War between England and France, the Black Plague, the Peasant’s Revolt and the takeover by the Tudor’s ended this period of English History

7. Medieval Literature
Religious faith was a vital element of medieval life and literature
Romances-tales of chivalrous knights, many of which featured King Arthur-were especially popular
Around 1175 an anonymous poet produced Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and a century later Mallory wrote Le Morte d’Arthur
Around 1387, Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales which was the first work to show that English could be a respectable literary language
Ballads like “Barbara Allen” and “Get Up and Bar the Door” continued the oral tradition

8. The English Renaissance 1485-1660
Renaissance means rebirth – the worldview changed from focus on religion and the afterlife to human life here on earth
Europeans delighted in the arts and literature, in the beauty of nature, and a new sense of mastery over the world
The War of the Roses brought Henry VII to the throne and then his son Henry VIII succeeded him
He was a true renaissance prince who was well educated in music, poetry, and languages
His daughter Elizabeth succeeded him and during her reign the English Renaissance reached full flower

9. Renaissance Poetry Pastoral Verse – Praises simple joys of rural life
Ex. Christopher Marlowe – “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
Sir Walter Raleigh – “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
The Metaphysical Poets – Employs unusual imagery and elaborate meaphors
Ex. Ben Johnson – “On My First Son”
John Donne – from “Meditation 17”

10. Sonnet- A fourteen line poem with a specific rhyme scheme
Edmond Spenser and William Shakespeare
Francesco Petrarch – The Petrarchan or Italian Sonnet
Epic Poems – The Renaissance was a high point for epic poetry
Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
John Milton’s – Paradise Lost

11. Shakespearean Drama
Tragedies – Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Julius Caesar
Comedies – The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors
The History Plays – Henry IV, Part I and II, Henry V, Richard II, Richard III
Written in blank verse and iambic pentameter

12. Restoration and Enlightenment 1660-1798
England restored the monarchy with Charles II and the Stuart court. He had been exiled in France and tried to emulate the French court’s sophistication and splendor
He was succeeded by his Catholic brother James who wanted to restore Catholicism
The Age of Reason was a philosophical movement inspired by the works of John Locke and Sir Isaac Newton-The methods of scientific inquiry were applied to everything
The 18th century saw the birth of the novel as we know them Ex. Defoes’s Robinson Crusoe

13. 18th Century Writers Samuel Pepys – The Diary of Samuel Pepys
Alexander Pope – “Essay on Man”, “An Essay on Criticism”, “The Rape of the Lock”
Jonathan Swift – “A Modest Proposal” and Gulliver’s Travels
Voltaire – Candide
Mary Wollstonecraft – “A Vindication on the Rights of Women”
Samuel Johnson – “On Spring”, “On Idleness”
Thomas Gray – “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”

14. Romanticism
In Britain, revolutions in industry and agriculture rocked the social and economic structure of the nation
Rousseau’s idea of the “noble savage” said that in his natural state man is essentially good and happy
The Five Features of English Romanticism
A New Concept of Poetry that started with Wordsworth
A New Spontaneity and Freedom
Love of Nature
The Importance of the Commonplace
Fascination With the Supernatural and the Exotic

15. Romantic Poets William Wordsworth William Blake
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats

16. Romantic Novels
Jane Austin – Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
Mary Shelly was the daughter of a feminist mother and a liberal, philosopher father. She published the novel when she was 20 years old. She was married to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and supported herself through writing after his death when she was 24.
Considered a Romantic as well as Gothic piece of literature