1. English Literature (16th – 20th century)
doc. Jana Javorčíková, PhD.
PhDr. Martin Kubuš, PhD.
English Literature (16th – 20th century)

2. Lecture no. 1 What is English literature?
literature written in English
i. e. “English” of “English literature” refers not to a nation but to a language (see Burgess, 1974, p. 9).
the literature produced in the British Isles, because the ‘international’ concept of English Literature “belongs to the present and the future, and our main concern is with the past.” (ibid.)

3. Periodization of English Literature
428 – 1100 – Old English Period 1100 – 1350 – Anglo-Norman Period 1350 – 1500 – Middle English Period 1500 – 1660 Renaissance Period 1500 – 1557 –Early Tudor Age 1558 – 1603 – Elizabethan Age 1603 – 1625 – Jacobean Age 1625 – 1649 – Caroline Age 1649 – 1660 – Commonwealth Interregnum

4. Periodization of English Literature
1660 – 1789 – Neoclassical Period 1660 – 1700 Restoration Age 1700 – 1750 – Augustan Age 1750 – 1789 – Age of Johnson 1789 – 1870 – Romantic Period 1789 – 1832 – Age of the Romantic Movement 1832 – 1870 – Early Victorian Age 1870 – 1914 – Realistic Period 1870 – 1901 – Late Victorian Period 1901 – 1914 – Edwardian Age 1914 – 1965 – Modern or Modernistic Period 1965 – Contemporary Period and Post-Modernism

5. Romans arrived in 43 AD and left in 409 AD

6. Historical review
600 BC – Celts dominated Britain 43 AD – Roman invasion, 409 AD – Romans left Britain 597 – Christianity in Britain (c. 432 Patrick came to Ireland again and converted the Irish) 8th – 9th – Scandinavian expansion

7. Old English Period (428 – 1100) and its literature (names and titles)
̶ written in the Anglo-Saxon Language, a. k. a. Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc, or Anglo-Saxon (between the mid-5th and the mid-12th century) ̶ a west Germanic Language, now a foreign one, ̶ a dead language, and yet a part of the curriculum at prestigious universities focusing on English studies (Beowulf, Caedmon’s Hymn, Judith etc.) ̶ therefore, we read so-called “intralingual translations“ (see R. Jakobson, 1958)

8. First traces of literature
̶ prose usually concerned theology, biographies, historical documents, letters... ̶ Their authors predominantly found in the circles of clergy (e. g. Bede, Ælfric the Grammarian, Ceadmon, Cynewulf) ̶ oral poetry tradition was very rich ̶ the authors usually unknown ̶ poems were passed, learnt and recited, authors forgotten

9. Beowulf – origins
a warrior epic, a poem of more than three thousand lines (31861)
in a West-Saxon dialect
Some lines lost or damaged, modern scholars had to infer details
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton’s ( ) collection damaged by a fire in 1731
by 1814 virtually unknown, first modern edition by John Josias Conybeare (1779 –1824), an Oxford professor of poetry
and Anglo-Saxon,
– now exists in many Modern-English translations, e. g. Donaldson, Childe, Tolkien (in prose + The Sallic Spell), Kennedy, Heaney, (in verse)
[1] according to: Baštín, Š., Olexa, J., Studená, Z., Dejiny anglickej a americkej literatúry, yet in Heaney’s translation we find 318 2

10. Beowulf – style
Works in OE had one specific feature – so called head rhyme (alliteration)

11. And the result? Compounds, aka kennings
it was difficult to find words beginning with the same letters, so there was a tendency to link existing words and creating compounded neologisms
For example
– rod-fasten – “to fix to a tree”, – later substituted by “crucify” which came into existence in English later
– bone-house (body), joy-wood (harp), battle-play (fight or war)

12. Christian Writings: Caedmon’s Hymn Caedmon († in cca 680)
(/ˈkædmən/ or /ˈkædmɒn/) - the earliest English poet whose name is known - An Anglo-Saxon who cared for cattle and was attached to the double monastery of Streonæshalch (older name for Whitby Abbey) on the Yorkshire coast during the abbacy (657 – 680) of St. Hilda. - was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in a dream, according to the 8th-century monk Bede the Venerable – later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational religious poet

13. Caedmon’s Hymn
– “One night, at a feast, when songs were called for, he stole out quietly, ashamed that he could contribute nothing to the amateur entertainment. He lay down in the cow-shed and slept. In his sleep he heard a voice asking him to sing…’I cannot sing,’ he said, ‘and that’s why I left the feast and came here.’ ‘Nevertheless,’ said the mysterious voice, ‘you shall sing to me.’ ‘What shall I sing?’ asked Caedmon. ‘Sing me the Song of Creation,’ was the answer.” (Burgess, 19-20)

14. Caedmon’s Hymn
Now we must praise heaven-kingdom’s Guardian, the Measurer’s might and his mind-plans, the work of the Glory Father, when he of wonders of every one, eternal Lord, the beginning established. He first created for men’s sons heaven as a roof, holy Creator; then middle-earth mankind’s Guardian, eternal Lord, afterwards made – for men earth, Master almighty.

15. Historical Writings Beda Venerabilis (673 – 735)
­ – Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum)
– written in Latin and completed in 731, “perhaps at the very time the poet of Beowulf was working on his epic.” 1
– first English historian (his Historia is the first account of the Anglo-Saxon England
– internationally recognised scholar, wrote dozens of books
– based in Wearmouth-Jarrow, a double monastery (with a vast library), the place sacked by Vikings in 794

16. Ecclesiastical History of the English People, topics
­­­­— geography (humorous references to snakes, e. g.) — The Roman background — the Anglo-Saxon invasion — Augustine’s mission, reached Kent in 597 — first converts (Ethelbert) — Synod of Whitby, 664

17. Alfred the Great (849 – 899), during his reign:
̶ the Danelaw was formed ̶ OE was authorized as a language for written texts ̶ a programme of education in the vernacular was initiated ̶ he summoned scholars to translate the most influential books known in Christendom — he became a scholar himself

18. Alfred the Great (849 – 899)
— The West Saxon or Wessex English finally became the main English dialect – i. e. the southern dialect — the manuscripts were retained, that is why we know Bede and Beowulf (to name a few) — his successors united England (his daughter Aethelflaed and his grandson Aethelstan) — Anglo-Saxon Chronicle iniciated by Alfred the Great back in 891 (last entry 1154, from the longest lasting Peterborough Chronicle)

19. Anglo-Norman Period 1100 – 1350 Harold vs. William
̶ contacts with Normandy rather close even during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066), Edward was brought up in Normandy by his mother Emma who was a Norman herself ̶ Edward’s burial service took place the same day (at the same place, January 1066, Westminster Abbey) as Harold’s coronation ̶ “Harold had allegedly pledged his support some years earlier to William in his claim on the throne, and thus William attacked to regain his crown.” (Treharne, p. XVIII)

20. Normans win in 1966, see Bayeux Tapestry
̶ 1066 A-Ss battle-weary from the battle against Harold Hardrada (25th September, only 20 ships out of 300 returned) ̶ 14th October, Battle of Hastings, ̶ 700 ships/7000 men incl. horses, Harold II was killed in the battle — legend has it that he was shot through the eye with an arrow, then mutilated beyond recognition ̶ thus the year 1066 marks the end of the Viking age and the beginning of The Norman age ̶ William crowned on Christmas Day 1066

21. So-called „Phase of Transition“
̶ the phase when Middle English was spoken (i. e. between the Norman invasion of 1066 and about 1470, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English. ̶ a specific period because many, if not all, dialects had their own literatures (and spellings).

22. New Language, New Genres, New Inventions etc.
̶ new genres become favourite – drama and romance ̶ the first play in Anglo-Norman dialect of French produced in England is The Play of Adam (stage directions in Latin) ̶ the Anglo Norman aristocracy fond of Celtic legends and tales known for centuries (e. g. King Arthur, Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory, 8 books in prose, written in 1450) ̶ the word “roman” initially applied in French to a work written in the French vernacular, i. e. Roman de Troie would mean a long poem about the Trojan War in French, romances included love stories, later the term “romance” used to denote a story about love and adventure

23. Middle English Period (1350 – 1500) Most Important Representatives
̶ Geoffrey Chaucer (1342 – 1400) – The Canterbury Tales (started1386, unfinished) William Langland (1330 – c. 1400) – The Vision of Piers Plowman (1377/79), an epic allegorical poem, a dream vision, criticism of society, church ̶ William Caxton (1422 – 1491),Le Morte d'Arthur printed by Caxton in In Westminster, he set up his printing-press in 1476 (printed e. g. Geoffrey Chaucer’s poetry), he printed cca. 108 books.

24. Geoffrey Chaucer (1342 – 1400)
̶ learned a lot about the aristocracy being a page to the Countess of Ulster, later to a wife of Lionel (the 3rd son of king Edward III.) ̶ for patriotis reasons he wrote in English of London, and for the English people it is relatively easy to understand since the dialect became Modern-English spoken today ̶ the opus is a great collection of stories written predominantly in verse,

25. From the Prologue (in Middle-English)
Whan that April with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flowr; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth Tendre croppes, and the yonge sunne Hath in the Ram his halve course y-runne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (So pricketh hem nature in hir corages) Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, …

26. Watch: The Adventure of English DVD
Disc 1, Episode 2 – 37’ – 39.40 or
35.29 on…

27. Bibliography
Baštín, Š., Olexa, J., Studená, Z., Dejiny anglickej a americkej literatúry. Bratislava: Obzor, 1993, ISBN Burgess, A. English literature. Harlow : Longman Group Ltd. 1974, ISBN Chaucer, G. The Canterbury Tales. (Translated into modern English by Nevill Coghill): London : Penguin Books, 1977, ISBN Greenblatt, S. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Volume 1 : W. W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2006, ISBN Jacobson, R. On Linguistic Aspects of Translation, IN: Biloveský, V., Djovčoš, M. Vybrané kapitoly z translatológie 1. Banská Bystrica : UMB FHV BB, 2010, ISBN Javorčíková, J. A Compendium of English Literature (An Annotated Companion to English Literature and Literary Theory). Banská Bystrica: Belianum, 2015, ISBN