1. 1. Definition of Literature
Literature (from Latin litterae
(plural); letter) is the art of written work,
and is not confined to published sources (although, under circumstances
unpublished sources can be exempt). The word literature literally means
"acquaintance with letters" and the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify
"literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." The four major classifications of literature are poetry and prose, and fiction and non-fiction. Texts based on factual rather than
original or imaginative content, such as informative and polemical works and autobiography, are often denied literary status, but reflective essays or belles-lettres are accepted. In imaginative literature criticism
traditionally excluded genres such as romance, crime and mystery and the various branches of fantastic fiction like science fiction and horror, along
with mainstream fiction with insufficiently elevated style, but the idea of
genre has broadened and is now harder to apply as a border-line.
2.
English
Literature
English
literature is the literature written in the English language, including
literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for
example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was
Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J. R. R. Tolkien
was born in the Orange Free State, V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and
Vladimir Nabokov was Russian, but all are considered important writers in the
history of English literature. In other words, English literature is as diverse
as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the world. In academia,
the term often labels departments and programs practicing English studies in
secondary and tertiary educational systems. Despite the variety of authors of
English literature, the works of William Shakespeare remain paramount throughout
the English-speaking world.
3.
The
Period of English Literature
Historians
have divided English literature into periods for convenience. The numbers,
dates or the names of the periods sometimes vary. The following list follows
the prevalent practice of listing:
·
450-1066 Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
Period
(From
the invasion of the Celtic England by Germanic tribes to the conquest of
England in 1066 by the Norman French) Anglo Saxon Period- Chronology Literature:
Poetry was written in the vernacular – Anglo Saxon – called Old English
Poetry was written in the vernacular – Anglo Saxon – called Old English
Beowulf
– the greatest of Germanic epics
Caedmon
and Cynewulf wrote on religious and biblical themes
Alfred
the Great translated several books of Latin prose into Old English, and also
recorded the important events in England.
·
1066-1500 Middle English Period
About
1500 – the standard literary language took the form of “modern English”
1100-1350
– the non-Latin literature was produced in the French dialect (by the invades
who were then the ruling class of England)
The
important work of this period was Guillaume de Lorris’ and Jean de Meun’s Roman
de la Rose
Later
on, the narrative vernacular – middle English – became the literary language
especially for religious writings
The
secular literature became more popular in the second half of the 14th century.
This was the age of Chaucer and John Gower. Remarkable works of this time were
William Langland’s great religious and satirical poem Piers Plowmen, and
Thomas Malory’s the famous prose romance called Morte d’ Arthur.
The
15th century poets: “Scottish Chaucerians”
King
James I and Robert Henryson occupied chief position.
15th
century was remarkable for popular literature addressed to the upper class. It
was the age of excellent songs and of folk ballads, and was the time of the
miracle and morality plays.
·
1500-1600 The Renaissance (Early
Modern) Period
1558-1603 Elizabethan Age1603-1625 Jacobean Age
1625-1649 Caroline Age
1649-1660 Commonwealth Period
1600-1785 The Neo-classical Period
1660-1700 Restoration Period
1700-1745 The Augustan Age
1745-1783 The Age Of Sensibility
1785-1830 The Romantic Period
1832-1901 The Victorian Period
1848-1860 The Pre-Raphaelites
1880-1901 Aestheticism and Decadence
1901-1910 The Edwardian Period
1910-1914 The Georgian Period
1914- The Modern Period
1945- Post Modernism
1558-1603 Elizabethan Age1603-1625 Jacobean Age
1625-1649 Caroline Age
1649-1660 Commonwealth Period
1600-1785 The Neo-classical Period
1660-1700 Restoration Period
1700-1745 The Augustan Age
1745-1783 The Age Of Sensibility
1785-1830 The Romantic Period
1832-1901 The Victorian Period
1848-1860 The Pre-Raphaelites
1880-1901 Aestheticism and Decadence
1901-1910 The Edwardian Period
1910-1914 The Georgian Period
1914- The Modern Period
1945- Post Modernism
4. Literature Characteritics
LITERARY
PERIODS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
PERIODS
|
Genre/Style
|
Effect/ Aspects
|
Historical
Context
|
Examples
|
PURITAN/COLONIAL
1650-1750
|
Sermons, diaries, personal
narratives
Written
in plain style
|
Instructive
Reinforces
authority of the Bible and church
|
A person’s fate is determined by
God
All
people are corrupt and must be saved by Christ
|
Bradford's Of Plymouth
Plantation
Rowlandson's
"A Narrative of the Captivity"
Edward's
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Though
not written during Puritan times, The Crucible & The Scarlet
Letter depict life during the time when Puritan theocracy prevailed.
|
REVOLUTIONARY/AGE
OF REASON
1750-1800
|
Political
pamphlets
Travel
writing
Highly
ornate style
Persuasive
writing
|
Patriotism grows
Instills
pride
Creates
common agreement about issues
National
mission and the American character
|
Tells readers how to interpret
what they are reading to encourage Revolutionary War support
Instructive
in values
|
Writings of Jefferson, Paine,
Henry
Franklin's
Poor Richard's Almanac
Franklin's
"The Autobiography"
|
ROMANTICISM
1800-1860
|
Character
sketches
Slave
narratives
Poetry
Short
stories
|
Value feeling and intuition over
reasoning
Journey
away from corruption of civilization and limits of rational thought toward
the integrity of nature and freedom of the imagination
Helped
instill proper gender behavior for men and women
Allowed
people to re-imagine the American past
|
Expansion of magazines,
newspapers, and book publishing
Slavery
debates
Industrial
revolution brings ideas that the "old ways" of doing things are now
irrelevant
|
Washington Irving's "Rip Van
Winkle"
William
Cullen Bryant's "Thanatopsis"
Dunbar's
"We Wear the Mask"
Poems
of Emily Dickinson
Poems
of Walt Whitman
|
AMERICAN
RENAISSANCE/
TRANSCENDENTALISM
1840-1860
(Note
overlap in time period with Romanticism -- some consider the
anti-transcendentalists to be the "dark" romantics or gothic)
|
Poetry
Short
Stories
Novels
Anti-Transcendentalists
*Hold
readers’ attention through dread of a series of terrible possibilities
*Feature
landscapes of dark forests, extreme vegetation, concealed ruins with horrific
rooms, depressed characters
|
Transcendentalists:
*True
reality is spiritual
*Comes
from18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant
*
Idealists
*
Self-reliance & individualism
*
Emerson & Thoreau
Anti-Transcendentalists:
*
Used symbolism to great effect
*Sin,
pain, & evil exist
*
Poe, Hawthorne, & Melville
|
Today in literature we still see
portrayals of alluring antagonists whose evil characteristics appeal to one’s
sense of awe
Today
in literature we still see stories of the persecuted young girl forced apart
from her true love
Today
in literature we still read of people seeking the true beauty in life and in
nature … a belief in true love and contentment
|
Poems and essays of Emerson &
Thoreau
Thoreau's
Walden
Aphorisms
of Emerson and Thoreau
Nathaniel
Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
Poe's
"The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Black Cat"
|
REALISM
1855-1900
(Period
of Civil War and Postwar period)
|
Novels and short stories
Objective
narrator
Does
not tell reader how to interpret story
Dialogue
includes voices from around the country
|
Social realism: aims to change a
specific social problem
Aesthetic
realism: art that insists on detailing the world as one sees it
|
Civil
War brings demand for a "truer" type of literature that does not
idealize people or places
|
Writings of Twain, Bierce, Crane
The
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(some say 1st modern novel)
Regional
works like: The Awakening. Ethan Frome, and My Antonia (some
say modern)
|
THE
MODERNS
1900-1950
|
Novels
Plays
Poetry
(a great resurgence after deaths of Whitman & Dickinson)
Highly
experimental as writers seek a unique style
Use
of interior monologue & stream of consciousness
|
In
Pursuit of the American Dream--
*Admiration
for America as land of Eden
*Optimism
*Importance
of the Individual
|
Writers reflect the ideas of
Darwin (survival of the fittest) and Karl Marx (how money and class structure
control a nation)
Overwhelming
technological changes of the 20th Century
Rise
of the youth culture
WWI
and WWII
Harlem
Renaissance
|
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Poetry
of Jeffers, Williams, Cummings, Frost, Eliot, Sandburg, Pound, Robinson,
Stevens
Rand's
Anthem
Short
stories and novels of Steinbeck, Hemingway, Thurber, Welty, and Faulkner
Hansberry's
A Raisin in the Sun & Wright's Native Son (an outgrowth of
Harlem Renaissance-- see below)
Miller's
The Death of a Salesman (some consider Postmodern)
|
HARLEM
RENAISSANCE
(Parallel
to modernism)
1920s
|
Allusions to African-American
spirituals
Uses
structure of blues songs in poetry (repetition)
Superficial
stereotypes revealed to be complex characters
|
Gave birth to "gospel
music"
Blues
and jazz transmitted across American via radio and phonographs
|
Mass African-American migration to
Northern urban centers
African-Americans
have more access to media and publishing outlets after they move north
|
Essays & Poetry of W.E.B.
DuBois
Poetry
of McKay, Toomer, Cullen
Poetry,
short stories and novels of Hurston and Hughes
Their
Eyes Were Watching God
|
POSTMODERNISM
1950
to present
Note:
Many critics extend this to present and merge with Contemporary -- see below)
|
Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction;
blurs lines of reality for reader
No
heroes
Concern
with individual in isolation
Social
issues as writers align with feminist & ethnic groups
Usually
humorless
Narratives
Metafiction
Present
tense
Magic
realism
|
Erodes distinctions between
classes of people
Insists
that values are not permanent but only "local" or
"historical"
|
Post-World War II prosperity
Media
culture interprets values
|
Mailer's The Naked and the Dead
and The Executioner's Song
Feminist
& Social Issue poets: Plath, Rich, Sexton, Levertov, Baraka, Cleaver,
Morrison, Walker & Giovanni
Miller's
The Death of a Salesman & The Crucible (some consider
Modern)
Lawrence
& Lee's Inherit the Wind
Capote's
In Cold Blood
Stories
& novels of Vonnegut
Salinger's
Catcher in the Rye
Beat
Poets: Kerouac, Burroughs, & Ginsberg
Kesey's
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
|
CONTEMPORARY
1970s-Present
(Continuation of postmodernism)
|
Narratives: both fiction and
nonfiction
Anti-heroes
Concern
with connections between people
Emotion-provoking
Humorous
irony
Storytelling
emphasized
Autobiographical
essays
|
Too
soon to tell
|
People beginning a new century and
a new millennium
Media
culture interprets values
|
Poetry of Dove, Cisneros, Soto,
Alexie
Writings
of Angelou, Baldwin, Allende, Tan, Kingsolver, Kingston, Grisham, Crichton,
Clancy
Walker's
The Color Purple & Haley's Roots
Butler's
Kindred
Guest's
Ordinary People
Card's
Ender's Game
O'Brien
The Things They Carried
Frazier's
Cold Mountain
|
5. The Benefits Literature for
Teachers
·
It
increases our reading ability, widens our vocabulary, broadends our knowledge
about somethings, develops our writing ability, and so much more.
·
We
learn books and literature, we enjoy reading books, comedian, stories, poem,
etc until we feel to feeling the books. May I can say literature is the basic
of knowing English, anything about it.
·
To
be an English professional teacher who knows many thing about English.
Literature not only explains us about
novel, culture, tradition, but also introduces us to new world experiences.
It increase our
vocabulary and often times we can learn about places and things that we wouldn't
ordinarily know about.