British Literature A SNAPSHOT OF HISTORY. Unit 1 Old English/Medieval Times ( A.D. 449-1485) What...

British LiteratureA SNAPSHOT OF HISTORY

Unit 1 Old English/Medieval Times (A.D. 449-1485)

What important historical events happened during this time period?

Around the World?

449 Fall of Rome

552 Buddhism

591 China book printing

597 St. Augustine introduces Christianity

1020 Vikings invaded America

1066 Normandy invasion-Feudalism

1291 End of Crusades (wars in Europe)

1381 Bible translated to English

1450 Printing press invented-revolutionized world

1455 War of Roses begins

Unit 1 Old English/Medieval Times (A.D. 449-1485)

Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

In Anglo Saxon times stories were passed down orally

Beowulf – no author, translated by the Monks

The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer

What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

Hierarchy structure-male dominated

Anglos-Saxon -- tribes/families

Middle Ages -- Kings/Lords/Knights/Peasants (FEUDALISM)

Depend on leader-gained wealth by being loyal to leaders

Middle class began to exist and gain wealth in LATE MIDDLE AGES

Unit 1 Old English/Medieval Times (A.D. 449-1485)What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Invasions, wars, and spread of Christianity

The Sea, Heros, Exile

How did writers change how things were written?

Stories may have changed over time because only told orally

Stories stayed the same once they were written down

What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

Groups of people going on trips

Frame stories-story within a story

The idea of a Hero

Unit 2 Renaissance (1485-1625)

What important historical events happened during this time period? Around the World?

1485 Henry VII first Tudor king-ended War of Roses

1492 Columbus lands in Western Hemisphere

1503 Italy: Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa

1509 Italy: Michelangelo paints ceiling of Sistine Chapel

1513 North America: Ponce de Leon explores Florida

1534 Henry VIII named Head of English Church (broke away from Catholic Church)

1563 Plague kills 20,000 Londoners

1564 William Shakespeare born

1582 New calendar introduced

1588 English Navy defeats Spanish Armada

1594 Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet

1599 Globe Theatre opens

1603 Elizabeth I dies

1607 North America: Jamestown established

1609 James I dies

Unit 2 Renaissance (1485-1625)


William Shakespeare – MacBeth

King James Bible – translated by committee of scholars


Changes in the Church – people became less religious

Writers flourished with invention of printing press

Renaissance- “rebirth” revive learning of ancient Greece and Rome

Reformation-Martin Luther, return Catholic church to original principles broke (PROTESTANTS)

Ruled by a King

Rise of Middle Class and Explorers

Trade-West India Company

Unit 2 Renaissance (1485-1625)What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Classical authors were inspiration

Science was encouraged

Politics

Illusion and reality


Humanism – emphasis on what it like to be human (tried to harmonize Bible w/classics)

Shakespeare expanded our vocabulary with his invented words


Translations of older works to reach broader audiences

Bible translated into English

New form of drama combined classical models of comedy and tragedy Shakespeare made drama secular (non-religious)(1st dramas were church based)

Unit 3 Seventieth and Eighteenth Century (1625-1798)

What important historical events happened during this time period?

Around the World?

1642 English Civil War begins

1649 Charles I beheaded

1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector

1666 Great Fire of London

1685 James II becomes king

1689 Bill of Rights becomes law

1702 First daily newspaper begins publication

1707 Great Britain created by Act of Union

1714 George I becomes king

1752 North America-Benjamin Franklin invents lightning rod

1773 North America-Boston Tea Party

1776 North America-American Revolution begins

1789 French Revolution

Unit 3 Seventieth and Eighteenth Century (1625-1798)


John Donne – “Song”

Samuel Johnson – Dictionary of English Language

John Milton – Paradise Lost

Daniel Defoe – (journalist) Journal of the Plague Year

Samuel Pepys – The Diary of Samuel Pepys


Separation of Church and State

Cavaliers (aristocrats) vs Roundheads (class lower than aristocrats)

Behavior of children

Deism

London Fire-caused money problems

Industrial Revolution

Agricultural Revolution

Unit 3 Seventieth and Eighteenth Century (1625-1798)What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Love and religion

Sonnets given tone and scope

Revolution

Distrust of government


Novels, journals, and newspapers were written

Nonfiction was introduced


Many works in similar format to the classics

Essay and Novel introduced

Middle class audience

Read about themselves and people they would like to be

Unit 4 Romantics (1798-1832)


1801 Act of Union joins Great Britain and Ireland

1804 Napoleon crowns himself emperor

1812 War with United States

1813 Jane Austin publishes Pride and Prejudice

1799 Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt (key to deciphering heiroglyphics)

1814 1st successful steamboat and locomotive (train)

1819 Trans-Atlantic steamboat

1827 Water purification system in London

1829 Metropolitan Police established in London

1831 United States-Edgar Allen Poe

1832 First Reform Act (England) extends voting rights



Blake – “The Chimney Sweeper”

Wordsworth – Lyrical Ballads, “The Prelude”

PB Shelley – “Ode to the West Wind”

Keats – “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein


Industrial Revolution created slums and poverty

People began to be upset with what progress and science did to society (pollution, etc.)

Steamboats and railroads revolutionized trade

Spinning jenny and power loom invented-replaced the weaver

Wealth no longer depended on land


What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Political oppression vs. political reform

European rulers tried to roll back revolutionary ideas

Reform Bill of 1832 extended the right to vote but not to the working class

Seeking the faraway-distant lands or supernatural

Nature seen as refuge-something to be worshipped

Youth best time of one’s life

Power of individual freedoms



Writers tried to change politics by exposing issues

British ships traveled throughout the world and adopted words from other languages


Romantic refers to the faraway and exotic not love stories

Rebellion against traditional literary forms and subjects

Revealed personal thoughts and feelings in writings

Revived the Sonnet and the Ode Sonnet- “little song”

Ode- serious poem/praising/expresses deep feeling

Comic Novel-Jane Austen

Historical Novel-Sir Walter Scott

Gothic Novel-Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Unit 5 Victorian (1833-1901)


1832 Slavery abolished in British Empire

1837 Queen Victoria crowned

1845 Irish potato famine begins

1848 Women began attending University of London

1859 Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species (evolution theory)

1836 United States-Texas Alamo falls to Mexican army

1839 Michael Faraday, general theory of electricity

1844 Morse code over long distance telegraph

1861 United States – Civil War begins

1876 Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone

Unit 5 Victorian (1833-1901)


Tennyson – “Ulysses”

Charles Dickens – Hard Times, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities

Elizabeth Barrett Browning – “Sonnet 43”

Marx – Communist Manifesto


Optimistic spirit despite war, revolutions, and assassinations

Problems with faith in God-Darwin (evolution) Newton (universe)

Irish potato famine- 2 million people starved to death

Territories and trade increased

Unit 5 Victorian (1833-1901)What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Britain celebrated progress, prosperity, and peace

Darker stories associated with the potato famine-poverty

Spirit of exploration


Reminded readers that empires crumble, individuals are fragile and vulnerable, and death awaits us


Elegy and sonnet used to address contemporary questions of belief and doubt

Dramatic monologue-Robert Browning

Melancholy poems- very sad, despairing

Unit 6 Modern & Post Modern (1901-present)What important historical events happened during this time period? Around the World?

1903 Wright Brother-first successful airplane

1914 England declared war on Germany, entering into World War I

1939 Hitler invaded Poland: World War II begins-Britain enters

1940 Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister

1941 United States enters WWII when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor

1945 United States drops atomic bomb on Japan; WWII ends

1948 Israel established

1952 Queen Elizabeth II crowned

1955 United States-Martin Luther King, Jr leads civil rights bus boycott

1961 Berlin Wall built

1963 United Stated-JFK assassinated

1965 Vietnam War

1967 Beatles

Unit 6 Modern & Post Modern (1901-present)


1929 Great Depression

1969 United States-Apollo 11 lands on the moon

1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman prime minister

1986 Soviet Union-nuclear accident in Chernobyl

Germany-Berlin Wall torn down-unification of East and West Germany

1991 Soviet Union dissolved

1994 Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa

1997 Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister

2001 United States-planes crash into World Trade Center in NYC, PA, WDC

Unit 6 Modern & Post Modern (1901-present)


D.H. Lawrence – “Rocking Horse Winner”

Elizabeth Bowen – “Demon Lover”

William Butler Yeats – “The Second Coming”

T.S. Elliot

James Joyce Ulysses

Sigmund Freud (Psychology)


Women gained social freedom-limited right to vote and change in dress

Ordinary people gained access to higher education, healthcare, home ownership

Fewer servants-men and woman began working in new industries

Unit 6 Modern & Post Modern (1901-present)What are some reoccurring historical and literary themes from this time period?

Conflicts and loss of Empire-England weakened from WWI and WWII

Poems of war by “soldier poets”

Poems about the true cost of war-blood and tears

Materialistic attitude-automobile and stylish home


Recorded the cost of conflict during the war

Celebrated Diversity


Renewed poet as prophet

Sonnets-radical change in subject matter and tone

Short stories became global genre with diverse subjects and settings

Writing more accessible through inexpensive books and internet

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