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3rd Year 1st Semester
LITERATURE
Module 2:
Divisions of Literature
Historical Divisions of Literature
Ancient
Middle-Ages
Classical Era
Renaissance
Early Modern
Modern, and
Contemporary
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the
learners are expected to:
explain the Historical Divisions
of Literature
describe the characteristics of
literature during the period:
Ancient; Medieval;
Renaissance; Modern, and
Contemporary period.
deduce the message of a text
Sources and References:
Ovid https://www.thoughtco.com
Virgil https://www.biography.com/writer/virgil
Divisions of literature https://www.slideshare.net
Iliad https://www.ancient-literature.com
Odyssey https://www.britannica.com/topic
https://www.ancient.eu/Medieval_Literature
https://www.history.com/topics/renaissance/renaissance
https://www.slideshare.net/sparky
https://slideplayer.com/slide
REVIEW:
Directions: Read the sentences carefully. Write the literary standard
described in each item.
1. The literature appeals to everyone regardless of culture, race, sex,
and time which are considered significant. This literary standard
describes a piece of writing that appeals to the hearts and minds of
almost any reader.
2. The literature has an aesthetic appeal to everyone and thus
possesses a sense of beauty. This standard describes literature that
is aesthetically appealing and reveals or conveys hidden truth and
beauty.
3. The literature stimulates critical thinking that enriches the mental
processes of abstract and reasoning, making man realizes the
fundamental truths of life and its nature.
4. It unravels and conjures man’s emotional power to define
symbolism, nuances, implied meanings, images and message, giving
and evoking visions above and beyond the plane of ordinary life and
experiences. This piece of literature relies on emotional power to
convey nuances, symbolism, implied meanings, imagery and
messages.
5. It elevates the spirit and the soul and thus have the power to
motivate and inspire, drawn from the suggested morals or lessons
of the different literary genres. This literature lifts up the inner spirit
and soul and has the power to motivate and inspire readers.
6. It endures across time and draws out the time factor: TIMELINESS,
occurring at a particular time, and TIMELESSNESS, remaining
invariably throughout time. This standard is determined by a written
work’s ability to stand the test of time, which makes it impossible to
determine at the moment of writing. Novels that continue to be read
over and over again across decades, either for enjoyment or for
fresh insights and ideas, meet this criterion.
7. This literary standard refers to the distinct way the author expresses
his or her thoughts. Words can be used in unique, creative and
entertaining ways that make the work memorable.
Write the Critical Approaches to Literature being described in each
item.
8. This approach “rejects the traditional assumption that language
can accurately represent reality.” It regards language as a
fundamentally unstable medium.
9. This approach “examines literature in the cultural, economic and
political context in which it is written or received,” exploring the
relationships between the artist and society.
https://www.slideshare.net/yabaleh/renaissance
https://penandthepad.com/differences-betweenromanticism-victorianism
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10. This approach “begins with the simple but central insight that literature is written by actual
people and that understanding an author’s life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend
the work.
World literature is used to refer to the total of the world's national literature and the circulation of works into
the wider world beyond their country of origin. It has a deep and rich history that has shaped the contemporary
world today.
Historical Divisions of Literature
Ancient Period
This period started from the Sumerian Civilization
of Mesopotamia. This is followed by conquest of various
peoples from Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian,
Persian and Greek empires. It started from Epic of
Gilgamesh up to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Cuneiform tablet
The Sumerians
The Sumerians, being the oldest civilization were credited to have
started a first system of writing called cuneiform on clay tablets using the stylus
as their pen. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written down in cuneiform is the
world’s oldest epic as significant.
Early Sumerian writing used pictographs, or picture symbols. Each
pictograph represented either an object, such as a tree, or a syllable. Reading
a cuneiform inscription can teach us a great deal about the Sumerians.
Sumerian civilization produced the first writing system. With the ability to write down events,
humankind moved from prehistory into the historical age.
Sumerian writing is called cuneiform. To produce this writing, Sumerians used sharp tools called
styluses to make wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets. Sumerians first used cuneiform to keep business
accounts and other records. Sumerians paid scribes, or writers, to create written documents.
In time, they put their writing skills to new uses. They wrote works on law and grammar as well as
works of literature, such as stories, poems, and songs. The best-known work of Sumerian literature is the Epic
of Gilgamesh, the story of a legendary king. Becoming a scribe required years of schooling but was a way to
move up in social class. Most scribes were men, but some upper-class women also learned to write.
The Sumerians developed a math system based on the number 60. Because of their system we still
divide an hour into 60 minutes and a circle into 360 degrees.
The Sumerians also learned to use geometry, which was necessary to build elaborate structures and irrigation
systems.
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Epic of Gilgamesh is the most important of all the Babylonian epics. Gilgamesh is a two-thirds god and one third human.
The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to stop him
oppressing the people of Uruk. After an initial fight, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become close friends. Together, they journey
to the Cedar Mountain and defeat Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. Later they kill the bull of heaven, which the goddess
Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for these actions, the gods sentence Enkidu
to death. In the second half of the epic, Gilgamesh's distress at Enkidu's death causes him to undertake a long and perilous
journey to discover the secret of eternal life. He eventually learns that "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For
when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands". However, because of his
great building projects, his account of Siduri's advice, and what the immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the Great
Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived his death. His story has been translated into many languages, and in recent years has
featured in works of popular fiction. The epic ends on a tragic note. Utnapishtim, the ancestor he consulted, was the
Babylonian Noah, and in telling his experiences he gave us a version of the DELUGE which resembles in many of its details
that of the Bible.
The story of the deluge
Based from tablet XI of the epic. This story is actually a
narration of Utnapishtim to Gilgamesh of how he
became immortal. He tells first that after the gods have
decided to send a flood to the earth, Ea, one of the
leaders of the gods, mysteriously conveys to the mind of
the mortal the coming event and instructs him to save
himself and all life in a ship which he is to build according
to the god’s instructions.
Babylonian Deities
Enlil or Ashur
Adad or Ishkur
god of the wind and divine ruler of the earth and its human inhabitants, head
of the Assyrian pantheon.
god of storms, venerated as a supreme power especially in Syria and Lebanon.
Inanna or Ishtar
Ereshkigal
Enki or Ea
Anu or An
Nabu
Marduk
goddess of fertility, love, and war
goddess of Irkalla, the underworld
god of the Abzu, crafts, water, intelligence, mischief and creation
god of heaven and the sky, lord of constellations, and father of the gods
god of wisdom and writing
patron deity of Babylon who eventually became regarded as the head of the
Babylonian pantheon
Tammuz or Dumuzi
god of food and vegetation
Sin or Nanna
god of the moon
Shamash or Utu
god of the sun, arbiter of justice and patron of travellers
Ninurta
champion of the gods, the epitome of youthful vigour, and god of agriculture
Ninlil
goddess of the air; consort of Enlil
Ninhursag or Mami, Belet- earth and mother goddess
Ili, Ki, Ninmah, Nintu, or
Aruru
Nergal
god of plague, war, and the sun in its destructive capacity; later husband of
Ereshkigal
Nanshe
goddess of social justice, prophecy, fertility and fishing
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TASK 1. Read the excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh. Based on the passage, prepare a 3-5 paragraph
essay depicting what can you infer about the Sumerians view of death.
Bitterly, Gilgamesh wept for his friend Enkidu; he wandered over the wilderness as a hunter, he
roamed over the plains; in his bitterness he cried, “How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my
heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death, I will go as
best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods.”
So, Gilgamesh travelled over the wilderness, he wandered over the grasslands, a long journey, in search of
Utnapishtim, whom the gods took after the deluge; and they set him to live in the land of Dilmun, in the
garden of the sun; and to him alone of men they gave everlasting life.
At night when he came to the mountain passes Gilgamesh prayed: “In these mountain passes long
ago I saw lions, I was afraid and I lifted my eyes to the moon; prayed and my prayers wend up to the gods,
so now, O moon god sin, protect me” When he had prayed, he lay down to sleep, until he was woken from
out of a dream. He saw the lions around him glorifying in life; then he took his axe in his hand, he drew hos
sword from his belt, and he fell upon them like an arrow from the string, and struck and destroyed, and
scattered them.
The Egyptians
.
Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from Ancient Egypt's pharaonic
period until the end of Roman domination. Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's
earliest literature. The earliest remains are those carved on the durable stone of monuments. Had it not
been for the importance attached by the Egyptians to a life after death, the most ancient literature would
never have been studied
The hieroglyphics, the system of Egyptian writing produced the Book of the Dead. Using ink from
plant and animal pigments and Papyrus papers, Egyptian Scribes contributed significantly to World
Literature.
The Royal Library of Alexandria
The City of Alexandria, Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great. It housed the greatest
collection of literary works in antiquity
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The Hebrews
The Hebrews, using their own system of writing,
contributed the Torah or the First Five Books (Pentateuch)
of the Prophet Moses.
The Torah tells the Israelites’ year of bitter toil as
slaves in Egypt. Moses arose as the leader among them.
According to the Torah, Moses had been born an Israelite
but raised in the Pharaoh’s palace. One day, God spoke to
him and told him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses
went to the Pharaoh and demanded the freedom of the Israelites. But the Pharaoh refused. God responded
by raining down a series of terrible plagues or disaster on Egypt. These plagues so terrified the Pharaoh that
he agreed to free the Israelites. In a journey called Exodus, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. The
Israelites believed that these events proved that God loved them and was watching over them.
Ancient Indian Literature
The Indo- Aryans, who later on became Indians, wrote a collection of their Hymns and Prayers
called Vedas. The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic
Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
Prose commentaries such as the Brahmanas and the Upanishads were added to the Vedas.
There are four Indo-Aryan Vedas:
1) The Rig Veda contains hymns about their mythology; the
2) Sama Veda consists mainly of hymns about religious rituals; the
3) Yajur Veda contains instructions for religious rituals; and the
4) Atharva Veda consists of spells against enemies, sorcerers, and diseases.
Interesting Facts
• The Vedas, meaning “knowledge,” are the oldest texts of Hinduism.
• They are derived from the ancient Indo-Aryan culture of the Indian Subcontinent and began as an
oral tradition that was passed down through generations before finally being written in Vedic
Sanskrit between 1500 and 500 BCE (Before Common Era).
• The Vedas are structured in four different collections containing hymns, poems, prayers, and
religious instruction.
• The Indian caste system is based on a fable from the Vedas about the sacrifice of the deity
Purusha.
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Hindu Literature
The Hindu sage Vyasa is said to have
written the Mahabharata, the World’s Longest Epic
depicting Hinduism Pantheon. Mahabharata,
Sanskrit for Great Story, is one of the great epic
poems of ancient India. It was written between 300
BC and AD. 300. The story is about the battle of
one family over a kingdom in northern India.
The Bhagavad Gita (Song of God) is
contained in the Mahabharata. It is dialogue between Krishna and the hero Arjuna on the meaning of
life.
Valmiki, the Hindu sage wrote the Epic Ramayana.
It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters
like the ideal father, ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife
and the ideal king.
Ramayana was written in 3rd century BC, and tells story
of Rama, and his wife, Sita. Rama and Sita are generally seen as
ideal examples of great manly heroism and wifely devotion.
Reciting the Ramayana is considered a religious act, and scenes
from the epic are portrayed throughout India and Southeast Asia.
Hinduism is about the sort of life one should lead in
order to be born into a better life next time and ultimately
achieve liberation. There are 4 legitimate goals in life:
1) dharma (appropriate living);
2) artha (the pursuit of material gain by lawful means);
3) kama (delight of the senses); and
4) moksha (release from rebirth)
Hindu Duties
Each Hindu has 4 daily duties:
1) Revere the deities
2) Respect ancestors
3) Respect all beings
4) Honor all humankind
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The Classical Antiquity (Classical Era)
Classical antiquity, also called the classical
period or classical age, is the period of cultural
history between the 8th century BC and the 6th
century AD centered on the Mediterranean Sea,
comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient
Greece and ancient Rome known as the GrecoRoman world. It is the period in which both Greek
and Roman societies flourished and wielded great
influence throughout much of Europe, Northern
Africa, and Western Asia.
The Parthenon is one of the most recognizable
symbols of the classical era, exemplifying
ancient Greek culture.
Conventionally, it is taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Epic Greek poetry of Homer (8th–7thcentury BC), and continues through the emergence of Christianity (1st-century AD) and the fall of the
Western Roman Empire (5th-century AD). It ends with the decline of classical culture during Late antiquity
(250–750), a period overlapping with the Early Middle Ages (600–1000). Such a wide span of history and
territory covers many disparate cultures and periods. Classical antiquity may also refer to an idealized vision
among later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, "the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur
that was Rome".
It began with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Rome’s contributions
up to India’s Religious Text. Homer is a Greek whose works, Iliad and
Odyssey, rank as two of the World Literary Masterpieces. The culture
of the ancient Greeks, together with some influences from the ancient
Near East, was the basis of European art, philosophy, society, and
education, until the Roman imperial period. The Romans preserved,
imitated, and spread this culture over Europe, until they themselves
were able to compete with it, and the classical world began to speak
Latin as well as Greek. This Greco-Roman cultural foundation has been
immensely influential on the language, politics, law, educational
systems, philosophy, science, warfare, poetry, historiography, ethics,
rhetoric, art and architecture of the modern world. Surviving fragments
of classical culture led to a revival beginning in the 14th century which
later came to be known as the Renaissance, and various neo-classical
revivals occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Homer's Iliad recounts the famous ten-year war between the
Greeks and the Trojans. It was written in the mid-8th Century BCE,
and is considered to be the earliest work in the whole Western literary
tradition, and one of the best known and loved stories of all time.
Through its portrayal of the epic subject matter of the Trojan War, the
stirring scenes of bloody battle, the wrath of Achilles and the constant
interventions of the gods, it explores themes of glory, wrath,
homecoming and fate, and has provided subjects and stories for many
other later Greek, Roman and Renaissance writings.
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Odyssey tells of the great hero Odysseus's journey back home after the war to his beloved wife Penelope of
Ithaca and this, like the other works mentioned, reinforced cultural values without a concern for what may or
may not have happened concerning the war with Troy. Odyssey is an epic poem in 24 books attributed to the
ancient Greek poet Homer.
The poem is the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who
wanders for 10 years (although the action of the poem covers
only the final six weeks) trying to get home after the Trojan
War. On his return, he is recognized only by his faithful dog
and a nurse. With the help of his son, Telemachus, Odysseus
destroys the insistent suitors of his faithful wife, Penelope,
and several of her maids who had fraternized with the suitors
and reestablishes himself in his kingdom.
“THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE, THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME "
Greece was renowned for putting up a good fight against much bigger enemies during its history and,
quite often, it won. However, the glory (of the Athenian people at least) lay not with the creation of new and
sprawling monuments. Instead, they maintained those built on the Acropolis, preferring to honor their
ancestors and thus confirm the special status of their descendants as having the longest and most glorious
history.
By contrast, the Romans indulged in conspicuous consumption in all aspects of life, not least their
architecture wherein a lot of which survives today. Every battle, victory, general was commemorated in
marble. All of which made for a city that shone like marble.
Just think of what remains. Rome is a city of marble, and Athens merely an Acropolis. The Greeks
preferred to remember their glory through epic poetry, think of Homer, and literature (all those plays) than
to create new buildings.
The Grandeur of Rome
In many respects, the writers of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire chose to avoid innovation in
favor of imitating the great Greek authors. Virgil for instance duplicated Iliad with his Aenid.
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro)
(70 BCE–19 BCE)
Virgil's last and most notable work was the epic poem the Aeneid, where he
strove to exemplify what he positioned as Rome’s divine destiny.
Publius Ovidius Naso
(43 BCE — CE 17)
Ovid, a Roman writer, imitated the Greek gods and goddesses, giving them
Roman names; the entire Roman Mythology from the Creation onwards in
his book Metamorphoses.
He was a prolific Roman poet whose writing influenced Chaucer,
Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton. As those men knew, to understand the
corpus of Greco-Roman mythology requires familiarity with Ovid's
Metamorphoses.
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Medieval Ages (The Dark Ages)
This period began after the Fall of Western Roman Empire until the Renaissance Period. The
literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.
Medieval literature refers to all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle
Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning
of the Renaissance in the 14th, 15th or 16th century).
Also known as the “Dark Ages,” the era is often branded as a time of war, ignorance, famine and
pandemics such as the Black Death.
During the 14th century, a cultural movement called humanism began to gain momentum in Italy.
Among its many principles, humanism promoted the idea that man was the center of his own universe, and
people should embrace human achievements in education, classical arts, literature and science.
Works during the Medieval Ages (Europe)
Writer
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey Chaucer
Venerable Bede
Dante Alighieri
Anglo-Saxon Tradition
Norse/Danish Tradition
Works
King Arthur
Canterbury Tales
History of British People
Divine Comedy
Beowulf
Norse Saga
Works during the Medieval Ages
Source
Islamic
Persian
Chinese
Japan
Writer
Princess Scheherazade
Firdausi
Omar Khayyam
Luo Guanzhong
Shen Kuo
Murasaki Shikibu
Sei Shonagon
Works
Arabian Nights
Shahnameh
Rubaiyat
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Dream Pool Essays
Tales of Genji
The Pillow Book
Renaissance Period (From Darkness to Light: The Renaissance Begins)
Renaissance Literature refers to the period in European literature that began in Italy during the 14th
century and spread around Europe through the 17th century. The creation of the Printing Press by Johannes
Gutenberg encouraged authors to write in the local vernacular rather than in Greek or Latin classical
languages, widening the reading audience and promoting the spread of Renaissance ideas.
It was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the
Middle Ages. Renaissance promoted the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art. It is credited
with bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and modern-day civilization.
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Interesting Facts
• In the 13th century, Italian authors began writing in their native vernacular language rather than in
Latin, French, or Provençal. The earliest Renaissance literature appeared in 14th century Italy;
Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli are notable examples of Italian Renaissance writers.
• From Italy the influence of the Renaissance spread across Europe; the scholarly writings of Erasmus
and the plays of Shakespeare can be considered Renaissance in character.
Renaissance literature is characterized by the adoption of a Humanist philosophy and the recovery of the
classical literature of Antiquity, and benefited from the spread of printing in the latter part of the 15th
century.
Key Terms
1) Spenserian stanza
Fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem “The Faerie Queene.”
Each stanza contains nine lines in total; the rhyme scheme of these lines is “ababbcbcc. “
2) Vernacular
The native language or native dialect of a specific population, especially as distinguished from a
literary, national, or standard variety of the language.
3) Anthropocentric
Believing human beings to be the central or most significant species on the planet, or
the assessing reality through an exclusively human perspective.
Works during Renaissance
Source
Writer
British
Sir Thomas Malory
Sir Francis Bacon
Italian
Francesco Petrarch
Giovanni Boccacio
French
Francois Rebelais
Michel de Montaigne
Works
Le Morte d’Arthur
Essays
Sonnet to Laura
Decameron
Gargantua and Pantagruelh
Essais
Renaissance Geniuses
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): English philosopher and author of “Leviathan.”
Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400): English poet and author of “The Canterbury Tales.”
Dante (1265–1321): Italian philosopher, poet, writer and political thinker who authored “The Divine
Comedy.”
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527): Italian diplomat and philosopher famous for writing “The Prince” and
“The Discourses on Livy.”
William Tyndale (1494–1536): English biblical translator, humanist and scholar burned at the stake for
translating the Bible into English
John Milton (1608–1674): English poet and historian who wrote the epic poem “Paradise Lost.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616): England’s “national poet” and the most famous playwright of all time,
celebrated for his sonnets and plays like “Romeo and Juliet.
Early Modern Period
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The Early Modern period precedes the development of the modern novel in the 18th century. During this
time, the transition between the epic poem and a new novel form emerges in the plays of William Shakespeare,
Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson.
Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen is one of the most important epic Elizabethan poems to come from
this period. In poetry, a metaphysical movement focused on the investigation of the spiritual prevailed. Poets
such as John Donne, George Herbert, and Andrew Marvell all wrote in this vein while John Milton, whose epic
poem Paradise Lost was also written at this time, falls outside of the metaphysical movement. Another pivotal
work during the Early Modern period is John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
In Europe, the Early Modern period lasts roughly from 1550 to 1750, spanning the Baroque period and
ending with the Age of Enlightenment and the wars of the French Revolution.
Works during the Early Modern Period
Source
Writer
Britain
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe
Edmund Spencer
John Donne
John Milton
John Bunyan
Jonathan Swift
Daniel Defoe
Spain
Miguel dela Mancha
Works
Sonnets and Plays
Faust
Faerie Queene
Poems
Paradise Lost
The Pilgrim’s Progress
Gulliver’s Travels
Robinson Crusoe
Don Quixote
Modern Period
Modernism is a period in literary history which started around the early 1900s and continued
until the early 1940s. Modernist writers in general rebelled against clear-cut storytelling and formulaic
verse from the 19th century. Many Modernists wrote in free verse and they included many countries
and cultures in their poems. Some wrote using numerous points-of-view or even used a “stream-ofconsciousness” style. These writing styles further demonstrate the way the scattered state of society
affected the work of writes at that time.
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are thought to be the mother and father of the
movement because they had the most direct influence on early Modernists.
Modernist authors published as early as the 1880s and into the mid-1940s. During this
period, society at every level underwent profound changes. War and industrialization seemed to
devalue the individual. Global communication made the world a smaller place. The pace of change was
dizzying. Writers responded to this new world in a variety of ways.
The inner workings of consciousness were a common subject for modernists. This
preoccupation led to a form of narration called stream of consciousness, where the point of view of the
novel meanders in a pattern resembling human thought. The authors James Joyce and Virginia Woolf,
along with poets T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, are well known for their experimental Modernist works.
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The Main Characteristics of Modernist Literature
1) Individualism
In Modernist literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Specifically, modernist writers
were fascinated with how the individual adapted to the changing world. Ernest Hemingway is
especially remembered for vivid characters who accepted their circumstances at face value and
persevered.
5) Experimentation
Modernist writers broke free of old forms and techniques. Poets abandoned traditional rhyme
schemes and wrote in free verse. Novelists defied all expectations. Writers mixed images from the
past with modern languages and themes, creating a collage of styles.
6) Absurdity
The carnage of two World Wars profoundly affected writers of the period. Several great English poets
died or were wounded in WWI. The mysteriousness of life was being lost in the rush of daily life. The
senseless violence of WWII was yet more evidence that humanity had lost its way. Modernist authors
depicted this absurdity in their works. Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," in which a traveling
salesman is transformed into an insect-like creature, is an example of modern absurdism.
7) Symbolism
The Modernist writers infused objects, people, places and events with significant meanings. They
imagined a reality with multiple layers, many of them hidden or in a sort of code. The idea of a poem
as a riddle to be cracked had its beginnings in the Modernist period. Symbolism was not a new concept
in literature, but the Modernists' particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more
to the reader's imagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended narratives with multiple
interpretations. For example, James Joyce's "Ulysses" incorporates distinctive, open-ended symbols
in each chapter.
8) Formalism
Writers of the Modernist period saw literature more as a craft than a flowering of creativity. They
believed that poems and novels were constructed from smaller parts instead of the organic, internal
process that earlier generations had described. The idea of literature as craft fed the Modernists'
desire for creativity and originality. Modernist poetry often includes foreign languages, dense
vocabulary and invented words.
Major Modernist Writers
Works
Writer
Writer
Hilda Doolittle HD
Oread (1935)
Thomas Stearns Eliot Four Quartets
D. H. Lawrence
Amy Lowell
William Faulkner
Ezra Pound
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sound and the Fury (1929),
As I Lay Dying (1930)
The Great Gatsby (1925)
Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea (1952).
Wallace Stevens
Langston Hughes
“Dreams” (1922)
“Mother to Son” (1922)
“In the Waiting Room,”
“Crusoe in England
The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
The Bostonians (1886)
Tennessee Williams
Elizabeth Bishop
Henry James
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George Bernard Shaw
Virginia Woolf
William Butler Yeats
Works
Lady Chatterley's Lover
What's O’clock (1925), East Wind
(1926)
Homage to Sextus Propertius
Quia Pauper Amavi (1919)
Pygmalion (1912)
Androcles and the Lion (1912)
"The Auroras of Autumn",
"Anecdote of the Jar"
The Glass Menagerie (1944)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
To the Lighthouse (1927)
In the Seven Woods (1903)
Responsibilities and Other Poems
(1916)
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Contemporary Period
Contemporary literature is fiction and poetry written after 1946. It is the more modernized
literature that you read today.
The term contemporary literature refers to a vast group of written works produced from a specific
time in history through the current age. This literary era defines a time period, but it also describes a particular
style and quality of writing. Some see this period as an extension of postmodern literature, but most refer to
it as a literary era of its own. The era of contemporary literature began in the 1960s. A few scholars claim
this period started at the end of World War II, and this is where the pairing with postmodern literature comes
in. The postmodern era began after WWII, in the 1940s, and lasted through the 1960s. The contemporary
literature period extends to the current day.
The Contemporary Period of literature occurred directly after the Modernist period. In fact, it is
often referred to as the "Postmodern" period. The events that brought this era about were the realization of
the holocaust and the power of the atomic bomb, the wars America had with Korea, Vietnam, and the USSR,
and the Civil Rights Movement. "Postmodernism" signals work that were created after Modernism and were
characterized by multiple qualities. Contemporary works often featured ordinary places and dealt with an
awareness of itself, a release from meaning, an interest in process, a desire to revise the past, and a desire
to have fun.
With the end of World War II and the discovery of the holocaust and the atomic bomb, the American
society became more abstract towards reality. Art displayed this new mindset as much as the literature of the
time period did. There was also a desire to revise the past and the atrocities that occurred during both of the
World Wars. It was ultimately the advancement of technology that led Americans to searching again for their
identity and wondering if there was any good left in humanity.
As technology continuously advanced, the American society could better define who they were.
With the dropping of the atom bombs, Americans now saw themselves as a major world power. Along with
society as a whole, women and African Americans also began developing a voice and identity distinct in
American culture. With people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X leading the Civil Rights Movement, the
African American identity started becoming recognized by society. Even though Americans started recognizing
the blacks as a culture, not everyone liked with them. Racism also became another important theme of the
Contemporary era.
These events in society shaped the writing of this ongoing era so that it would display the
multiculturalism of the country and also the materialism and commercialism of the country. The writing
started describing everyday family life around the new electronic inventions of the era. The Contemporary
Era focused on what was going on now and even the future. It was and is an ongoing period of literature
where literature itself is evolving.
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Short Stories
“House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar
The house was old and spacious with the memories of their great-grandparents and their childhood.
Irene is the narrator’s sister. They clean the house every day and they both have certain parts that they clean
in the house. They did the cleaning at 7 a.m. Neither of them had married because they saw no need for it
since they were happy just living with each other. Irene always knits after she’s done cleaning. The narrator
always reads books to pass time by after he is done cleaning. The house was separated by a big massive oak
door. One night the narrator went to the kitchen and heard noises coming through the other side of the oak
door. He locked the door and moved to the other side of the door to those rooms and never went back to the
other side of the door. The noises kept getting closer and closer to their bedrooms and they couldn’t sleep.
The noises kept getting closer and closer until they ran out of the house and never came back. They locked
the house and threw the key down the drain so nobody else would go in the house. Irene and the narrator
were both scared of the noises that were in the house and that is why they ran away. People can go through
things that will mess with their minds and don’t know what to do, so they ran away from their fears and don’t
ever look back.
“Marriage is a Private Affair” by Chinua Achebe
The story is about a discussion between a young woman named Nene and Nnaemeka. They live in
Lagos, Nigeria; they are in love and want to get married. Nene wants Nnaemeka to tell his father. He is nervous
and his father is a member of the Ibo tribe who lives to rural Nigeria. Nnaemeke is afraid that he won’t approve
because Nene is not in culture. The father receives a letter from Nnaemeke begging him to accept a visit from
her son and two grandsons. She will stay away in the city if he will only let the grandsons come visit him.
"The Jay" by Yasunari Kawabata
The story is about a girl named Yoshiko and her brother and they live with their blind grandmother.
Yoshiko has to go through with an arranged marriage. From mid 1800s until the end of World War II were
common in Japanese society. Marital partners were chosen by one's parents and even relatives. Yoshiko's
father failed his arranged marriage with their mother and she is with another man. Yoshiko looks back at her
father's past with her mother and is afraid that the marriage will become broken. In the beginning Yoshiko's
grandmother is suffering from cataracts, but there is always this jay around her garden and it's like she can
see it in her mind and give a complete description of the bird. Yoshiko is amazed by her grandmother's
abilities. Her grandmother can sense her worrying about the marriage and her grandmother believes that
this is the right man for her. Her grandmother ends up being right all along which brings Yoshiko happiness.
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Key Authors:
John Hershey: Author of Hiroshima, The Wall, A Single Pebble, The War Lover, and Fling and Other Stories
Randall Jarrell: Author of "The Death of the Bell Turret Gunner," Poetry and the Age, Losses
Flannery O'Connor: Author of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," "Geranium," and Wise Blood
Bernard Malamud: Author of "The First Seven Years," The Natural, The Fixer, The Tenants
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Author of "Constantly Risking Absurdity," City Lights, Howl and Other Poems
Sylvia Plath: Author of "Mirror," Christian Science Monitor, The Colossus and Other Poems, and The Bell Jar
Anne Sexton: Author of "Courage," and To Bedlam and Part Way Back
Theodore Roethke: Author of "Cuttings," Open House, The Waking, The Far Field, The Lost Son
Gwendolyn Brooks: Author of "The Explorer," "Eventide," A Street in Bronzeville, and Annie Allen
Robert Hayden: Author of "Frederick Douglass," and A Ballad of Remembrance
Elizabeth Bishop: Author of "One Art," "Filling Station," and North and South
James Baldwin: Author of "The Rockpile," and Go Tell It on the Mountain
Toni Morrison: Author of "Life in His Language," The Bluest Eye, Sula, The Song of Solomon, Beloved and Jazz
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Author of his Inaugural Address
Martin Luther King Jr.: Author of "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"
Arthur Miller: Author of All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and The Last Yankee
Julia Alvarez: Author of "Antojos," Homecoming, The Other Side, The Woman I Kept to Myself
Alice Walker: Author of "Everyday Use," Once, and The Color Purple
Raymond Carver: Author of "Everything Stuck to Him," and "Will You Be Quiet, Please?"
William Stafford: Author of "Traveling Through the Dark," Down in My Heart, West of Your City
Denise Levertov: Author of "The Secret," "The Man," and The Freeing of the Dust
Li-Young Lee: Author of "The Gift"
Martín Espada: Author of "Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper," and The Immigrant Iceboy's Bolero
Yusef Komunyakaa: Author of "Camouflaging the Chimera," Dien Cai Dau, and Neon Vernacular
Naomi Shihab Nye: Author of "Streets"
Stanley Kunitz: Author of "Halley's Comet," Intellectual Things, Passport to the War, and Selected Poems
Judith Ortiz Cofer: Author of "The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica," and The Line of the Sun
Harper Lee: Author of To Kill A Mockingbird
William Safire: Author of "Onomatopoeia"
Ian Frazier: Author of "Coyote v. Acme," Dating Your Mom, Family, On the Rez, and The Fish's Eye
Anna Quindlen: Author of "One Day, Now Broken in Two," Object Lessons, Black and Blue, One True Thing
Amy Tan: Author of "Mother Tongue," The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses,
Rita Dove: Author of "For the Love of Books," Thomas and Beulah, On the Bus with Rosa Parks
Maxine Hong Kingston: Author of The Woman Warrior, China Men, and Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace
N. Scott Momaday: Author of The Names, House Made of Dawn, and The Way to Rainy Mountain
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Name of Student:
SCORE/REMARKS
Date & Time
Received:
Instructor:
Date of Submission:
Email add:
Module #
September 9, 2023
Module 2, Week 3-4
Task 1.
Read the excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh. Based on the passage, prepare a three-paragraph essay
depicting what can you infer about the Sumerians view of death.
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TASK 2. In 3-5 paragraph essay, discuss the importance of learning the historical divisions of
literature in your academic growth and future profession.
Your essay must include:
1. introduction that presents your topic and the. Introduce the topic with necessary
background information;
2. A body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments. You should clearly present my
main point or argument; and
3. A conclusion which wrap up your ideas.
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