History of English Literature UNIT 1

History of English Literature: UNIT I

Part 1: The Anglo-Saxon Period (c. 450-1066)

(Your syllabus note: The 14th century date on your syllabus is an error; that is the age of Chaucer. The Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, period ends with the Norman Conquest in 1066.)

The Spirit of the Age

This is the literature of a Germanic warrior society transplanted to a new land. The spirit is stern, somber, and fatalistic. It is a world of hardship, long winters, and loyalty to one's lord (comitatus). The dominant mood is elegiac—a sense of loss for a golden past. Two forces are in tension: the pagan belief in "Wyrd" (an impersonal, all-powerful fate) and the new, hopeful framework of Christianity.

Key Literary Characteristics

Oral Tradition: Poems were not read, but performed in mead-halls by a poet-storyteller called a scop.

Verse Form: The poetry is alliterative, not rhymed. It relies on the repetition of initial consonant sounds within a line (e.g., "In a dark dale, down a deep..." ). Each line is divided by a caesura (a pause).

Key Term: Kenning: A compound metaphorical expression used in place of a simple noun. This is the hallmark of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

   * hron-rād ("whale-road") = the sea

   * bān-hūs ("bone-house") = the body

   * heofones candel ("heaven's candle") = the sun

The Great Manuscripts (The "Four Great Codices")

Almost all Old English poetry survives in just four manuscripts:

The Junius Manuscript (or Caedmon Manuscript): Contains biblical poems, such as Genesis and Exodus.

 The Exeter Book: An anthology of poems, riddles, and elegies, including The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and The Wife's Lament.

 The Vercelli Book: Contains sermons and, most importantly, the poem The Dream of the Rood.

 The Nowell Codex (The Beowulf Manuscript): Contains the great epic Beowulf and the poem Judith.

Major Works and Authors

Beowulf (Anonymous, c. 700-1000): The masterpiece of the age and the first epic in English.

Story: The hero Beowulf, a Geat, travels to Denmark to save King Hrothgar from the monster Grendel. He kills Grendel, then kills Grendel's Mother in her underwater lair. He returns home, rules for 50 years, and dies killing a dragon to save his own people.

Themes: Heroic code, loyalty, comitatus, the conflict between pagan fate and Christian providence.

The Dream of the Rood (Anonymous, c. 8th Century): One of the most brilliant poems of the period, found in the Vercelli Book.

   Content: A masterpiece of prosopopoeia (personification), where the poet dreams that the cross ("rood") itself is speaking. The Rood tells the story of the crucifixion from its own perspective, describing itself as a loyal warrior forced to participate in its lord's (Christ's) execution. It is a perfect fusion of the heroic warrior code and the new Christian faith.

The Elegies (Anonymous): Short, somber poems from the Exeter Book, all sharing themes of exile, loss, and the passage of time.

The Wanderer: The last survivor of a warrior band laments the loss of his lord and companions.

The Seafarer: An old sailor describes the harsh, lonely life at sea, which he nevertheless endures as a path to God.

Known Poets: We know almost no names, with two exceptions:

Caedmon (c. 670): An illiterate herdsman who, according to the historian Bede, was given the divine gift of song and became the first English Christian poet.

Cynewulf (c. 9th Century): A poet who signed his name in runes in the margins of his poems.

Prose: The "father of English prose" is King Alfred the Great (r. 871-899), who translated or commissioned translations of Latin works into Old English to educate his people and began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a year-by-year history).

Part 2: The Medieval Period / Middle English (c. 1066-1485)

The Spirit of the Age

The Norman Conquest of 1066 changed England forever. The harsh Anglo-Saxon spirit was overlaid with the culture of Norman-France. This created a new social structure and a new language (Middle English). The age is defined by the Church (its power and its corruption), Chivalry (the code of the knight), and Courtly Love (a new, romantic, and often adulterous code of behavior).

Key Literary Characteristics

New Language: Middle English—a fusion of Old English grammar and French/Latin vocabulary.

 New Genres:

   The Romance: The dominant genre. Tales of knights, chivalry, and adventure (e.g., King Arthur). Replaced the epic.

   Allegory: Using symbolic characters and events to represent abstract ideas (e.g., Piers Plowman).

   Fabliau: A short, bawdy, humorous tale, popular in France and mastered by Chaucer.

   Drama: The birth of drama in Miracle and Mystery Plays (acting out Bible stories) and Morality Plays (allegories of salvation).

 New Verse: The alliterative verse of the Anglo-Saxons was replaced by rhyme and stanzaic forms (e.g., the rhyming couplet).

Major Works and Authors (The 14th Century)

The 14th century was the pinnacle of medieval literature, producing four great works.

 Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400): The "Father of English Poetry." A public servant, diplomat, and poet, he was the first to show that English could be as beautiful and complex as French or Italian.

   The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387): His unfinished masterpiece.

      Structure: A frame narrative where 29 pilgrims meet at an inn, agreeing to a storytelling contest on their way to Canterbury.

     Significance: It is an "estates satire," a perfect portrait of 14th-century society. We meet the Knight (ideal), the Squire (youth), the Prioress (false piety), the Monk (corrupt), the Miller (bawdy), and the Wife of Bath (a brilliant, proto-feminist character). He masters every genre, from romance to fabliau.

   Troilus and Criseyde: A profound psychological novel in verse, a tragic romance set during the Trojan War.

 William Langland (c. 1330-1386):

   Piers Plowman: A vast, complex social and religious allegory. It uses the older alliterative verse (an "alliterative revival"). The poem is a series of dreams in which the narrator, Will, searches for "Truth" and "Dowel" (Do-Well) in a corrupt society.

 The "Pearl Poet" (Anonymous):

   Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The single greatest Arthurian romance in English. It combines chivalric ideals (courage, purity) with a tense psychological test of the hero, Gawain.

 John Gower: A friend of Chaucer. Wrote major poems in three languages, including Confessio Amantis in English.

Major Works (The 15th Century)

 Sir Thomas Malory: Le Morte d'Arthur (1485): A massive prose compilation of the entire King Arthur story. It was one of the first and most important books printed by William Caxton (who introduced the printing press to England), and it preserved the Arthurian legends for all future generations.

 Everyman (c. 1495): The most famous Morality Play, an allegory where the hero, Everyman, is summoned by Death and finds that all his friends (Fellowship, Kindred, Worldly Goods) will abandon him. Only Good Deeds will go with him to the grave.

Part 3: The Renaissance and Reformation (1485-1660)

This is the great umbrella period for the rest of your unit, marking the end of the Middle Ages and the birth of the modern world. The Renaissance ("rebirth") was a flood of Humanism (a new focus on human potential and classical Greek/Roman learning). The Reformation was the religious movement that split the Church, creating Protestantism. The Printing Press made all of this possible.

3A. The Early Tudor Period (1485-1558)

The Spirit of the Age: This was an age of transition and preparation. Humanism arrived in England, and the English Reformation began under Henry VIII.

 Sir Thomas More: Utopia (1516): A Latin prose work of humanist philosophy, critiquing society by describing a fictional, "perfect" island.

 The "Courtly Makers" (Poets):

   Sir Thomas Wyatt: Imported the Italian sonnet form (Petrarchan) into English.

   Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: A brilliant innovator. He adapted Wyatt's sonnet into the form Shakespeare would later use (three quatrains and a couplet) and, most importantly, he invented blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) in his translation of The Aeneid. This would become the verse of Shakespeare.

 Prose: William Tyndale's translation of the Bible (1526) was a heroic act (for which he was executed) and its simple, powerful prose would form the basis of the King James Version.

3B. The Elizabethan Period (1558-1603)

The Spirit of the Age: The "Golden Age" of English literature. The reign of Queen Elizabeth I brought stability, national pride (especially after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588), and a boundless creative optimism. This was the age of drama and poetry.

 Poetry:

   Edmund Spenser: The greatest non-dramatic poet. The Faerie Queene (1590) is his vast, unfinished epic-romance, an allegory praising Elizabeth I (as Gloriana). The Shepheardes Calender (1579) announced the arrival of a "New Poet."

   Sir Philip Sidney: The ideal Renaissance man. Astrophel and Stella (1E_1) is the first great English sonnet sequence. His An Apology for Poetry is the most important work of literary criticism from the period.

 Prose: Francis Bacon published the first edition of his Essays (1597).

 Drama: The supreme achievement of the age.

   The "University Wits": The men who created the stage for Shakespeare.

     Christopher Marlowe: The greatest of the group. His "mighty line" of blank verse set the standard. His major plays are Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus (the ultimate Renaissance man, who sells his soul for knowledge), and The Jew of Malta.

     Thomas Kyd: His The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587) invented the revenge tragedy, a genre that would be perfected in Hamlet.

   William Shakespeare: Began his career in this period. (See full list below).

3C. The Jacobean Period (1603-1625)

The Spirit of the Age: Named for King James I. The creative energy continued, but the mood darkened. The optimism of the Elizabethan era gave way to cynicism, satire, and disillusionment.

 Drama:

   William Shakespeare: Wrote his greatest tragedies (Othello, King Lear, Macbeth) and his late "Romances."

   Ben Jonson: The great classicist and satirist, master of the "Comedy of Humours." Major works: Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610).

   Revenge Tragedy (Darkened): John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1613) shows the genre at its most dark and poetic. Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy (1606).

 Poetry:

   John Donne: The leading figure of the "Metaphysical Poets." They rejected the smooth, sweet poetry of the Elizabethans for a style that was intellectual, witty, and argumentative.

   Key Term: Conceit: The Metaphysical conceit is a complex, far-fetched, and intellectual metaphor (e.g., in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," Donne compares two lovers' souls to the two legs of a draftsman's compass).

   Ben Jonson: Also a major poet, who led the "Cavalier" or "Tribe of Ben" tradition, which valued classical clarity and form.

 Prose:

   The King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible (1611): The single most important and influential book in the history of the English language. A monumental work of collaborative prose.

   Francis Bacon: Published his major philosophical works, The Advancement of Learning (1605) and Novum Organum (1620).

3D. The Caroline Age (1625-1649)

The Spirit of the Age: Named for King Charles I. This period is defined by the growing, bitter conflict between the King (supported by his "Cavaliers") and Parliament (supported by the "Puritans". This tension led directly to the Civil War (1642-1649).

 Poetry: The divide is clear in the poetry.

   The Cavalier Poets ("Sons of Ben"): Wrote light, elegant, secular poetry about love, honor, and loyalty to the king. Theme: Carpe Diem ("seize the day").

     Robert Herrick: Hesperides ("To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time").

     Richard Lovelace: ("To Althea, from Prison").

      Sir John Suckling.

    The Metaphysical Poets (Continued): Wrote more complex, often religious poetry.

     George Herbert: The Temple (1633). Pious, perfectly crafted devotional poems.

     Richard Crashaw: Wrote with a passionate, Catholic, "Baroque" style.

  John Milton (Early Career): The greatest poet of the age, a staunch Puritan. He wrote his early poems during this period, including Lycidas (1637), a brilliant pastoral elegy.

3E. The Puritan Interregnum (Commonwealth) (1649-1660)

The Spirit of the Age: King Charles I was executed in 1649. England was a "Commonwealth" (a republic) led by the Puritan Oliver Cromwell. The theaters were officially closed in 1642 by the Puritans, ending the greatest age of English drama. The literature was serious, moral, political, and religious.

 Major Authors & Works:

    John Milton: The dominant figure. He stopped writing poetry for 20 years to serve the new government as its "Latin Secretary." He wrote powerful prose pamphlets defending the revolution.

     Areopagitica (1644): The greatest defense of freedom of the press in the English language.

   Andrew Marvell: A brilliant poet who navigated both worlds.

     "To His Coy Mistress": The perfect Carpe Diem poem, but with metaphysical wit.

      "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return...": A complex, balanced political poem.

    Prose: Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan (1651), the great work of political philosophy arguing for an absolute sovereign.

 Post-Script (Milton): After the monarchy was restored in 1660, the blind, defeated, and politically disgraced John Milton wrote his masterpiece, Paradise Lost (1667), the greatest epic in English and the ultimate monument of the Puritan spirit.

Important Note: The Plays of William Shakespeare (c. 1590-1613)

List of his works, which span the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

Comedies

 * The Comedy of Errors

 * The Taming of the Shrew

 * The Two Gentlemen of Verona

 * Love's Labour's Lost

 * A Midsummer Night's Dream

 * The Merchant of Venice

 * Much Ado About Nothing

 * As You Like It

 * Twelfth Night

 * The Merry Wives of Windsor

 * All's Well That Ends Well (Often called a "Problem Play")

 * Measure for Measure (Often called a "Problem Play")

Histories

 * Henry VI, Part 1

 * Henry VI, Part 2

 * Henry VI, Part 3

 * Richard III

 * King John

 * Richard II

 * Henry IV, Part 1

 * Henry IV, Part 2

 * Henry V

 * Henry VIII

Tragedies

 * Titus Andronicus

 * Romeo and Juliet

 * Julius Caesar

 * Hamlet

 * Othello

 * King Lear

 * Macbeth

 * Antony and Cleopatra

 * Coriolanus

 * Timon of Athens

The Romances (Late Plays)

 * Pericles, Prince of Tyre

 * Cymbeline

 * The Winter's Tale

 * The Tempest