British Literature
A 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)
Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

William Shakespeare – MacBeth

King James Bible – translated by committee of scholars
What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

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
How did writers change how things were written?

Humanism – emphasis on what it like to be human (tried to harmonize Bible w/classics)

Shakespeare expanded our vocabulary with his invented words
What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

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)
Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

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
What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

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
How did writers change how things were written?

Novels, journals, and newspapers were written

Nonfiction was introduced
What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

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)
What important historical events happened during this time period? Around the World?

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
Unit 4
Romantics (1798-1832)
Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

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
What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

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
Unit 4
Romantics (1798-1832)
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
Unit 4
Romantics (1798-1832)
How did writers change how things were written?

Writers tried to change politics by exposing issues

British ships traveled throughout the world and adopted words from other
languages
What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

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)
What important historical events happened during this time period? Around the World?

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)
Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

Tennyson – Ulysses

Charles Dickens – Hard Times, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities

Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Sonnet 43
What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

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
How did writers change how things were written?

Reminded readers that empires crumble, individuals are fragile and
vulnerable, and death awaits us
What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

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

1929 Great Depression

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)
What important historical events happened during this time period? Around the World?

1969 United States-Apollo 11 lands on the moon

1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes first woman prime minister

1986 Soviet Union-nuclear accident in Chernobyl

1989 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)
Who are some of the notable authors and what are they famous for writing?

D.H. Lawrence – “Rocking Horse Winner”

Elizabeth Bowen – “Demon Lover”

William Butler Yeats – “The Second Coming

T.S. Elliot
What social and economic characteristics were unique to this time period?

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
How did writers change how things were written?

Recorded the cost of conflict during the war

Celebrated Diversity
What are some key British literary traditions from this time period?

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