Unit 1 Old English Literature & Medieval Literature

Introduction to AngloAmerican Literature

Course introduction

Course outline Course requirement Homework Final exam

Course Schedule

Week 1: The Old and Medieval Literature (Beowulf, Romance and Chaucer) Week 2: Renaissance (Edmund Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare’s Sonnets) Week 3: Shakespeare’s Play ( The Merchant of Venice), Bacon

Week 4: Metaphysical Poets, Cavalier Poets, John MiltonWeek 5: The Neoclassical Period (Alexander Poe, Thomas Gray, Rise of Fiction) Week 6: The Romantic Period (Wordsworth, Coleridge,Byron, Shelley, Keats)

Week 7: The Victorian Period (Dickens, Brontë, Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy)Week 8: The Modern Period (Yeats, Eliot, Joyce, Beckett) Week 9: American Literature: the Romantic Period (Poe, Whitman, Dickinson)

Week 10: American Realistic Period (Twain, James, Dreiser, Frost)Week 11: American Modernist Period (Pound, Williams, Hemingway) Week 12: American Modernist Period (Fitzgerald, Faulkner, O’Neill)

General Outline of English Literature

Old English Literature (450-1066) Medieval Literature (1066-1500) Renaissance Literature (1550-1642) Revolution & Restoration Period (1642-1688) Neoclassic Literature (1688-1798) Romantic Literature (1798-1832) Victorian Age (1832-1901) Modernist Literature (1920s-1940s) Post-war Literature (since 1940s)

Old English Literature: Anglo-Saxon Period

Beowulf, national epic of Anglo-Saxons 3183 lines, with Scandinavian island as setting; created in the 6th century, written down in the 8th century; What is epic? long narrative in grand style about heroic adventures of national hero.

National epics

Greece: Iliad & Odyssey by Homer France: Chanson de Roland Germany: Niberlungenleid Spain: El Poema del Cid Finland: Kalevala India: Mahabharata & Ramayana Chinese: King Gasar (Tibetan people)

Beowulf

The code of heroism The symbol of dragon Patriarchal culture: man’s story Christian culture: odd blending of Christian culture elements and pagan elements

“Grendel stalking, God’s brand is on him.”

Aesthetic value

early making of English history

Aborigines: Celts Roman Conquest (55 B. C – 407): Latin, Christianity, highways, towns English Conquest (450-1066): English, Beowulf French Conquest (11th century ): French, Catholic Church, Feudal system, Romance

Medieval period: 1066-1550

Dark Age? Domination of Christianity, asceticism Religious literature Secular literature: romance, town lit., folk lit.

Romance

F

eudal social structure Aristocratic ideals Features of romance:

courtly love code of chivalry (loyalty, piety, chastity and bravery) Christian faith supernatural elements

feudal and patriarchal nature of romance

image of woman: virtuous, feminine, idolized and idealized image of man: active, heroic, adventurous, masculine, man of honor and glory

The matter of Romance

France: Charlemagne the Great, Rome: Alexander the Great & the fall of Troy, Britain: King Arthur’s tales

Romance: moral quest or test

Sir Gawain and Green Knight: the best medieval romance test of Christian faith, code of chivalry ethical exploration: man’s moral failure artistic features:

complex plot, fine psychological analysis, subtle symbol, alliterative and rhymed stanza, the use of the improbable, suspense building, moral exploration

Medieval Literature (1066-1550): Chaucer

Norman Period: 1066-1350 High Medieval Literature: 1350-1400, Chaucer’s Age Chaucer’s contemporaries: William Langland (Pierce Plowman)

The Rise of Vernacular Language and Literature

Hundred Years’ War with France: “a literature of their own” John Wycliff’s translation of the Bible into English Italian Renaissance Influence: Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch

Chaucer’s Contribution to English Literature

the first one to use English as literary language; introduce French rhymed stanza; introduce iambic pentameter; use heroic couplet; start the realistic tradition; a transitionary writer between the Middle Ages and Renaissance; introduce tragedy into English literature; pave the way for modern fiction.

Early Story Telling

dream vision; story collection; allegory;

Criticism of Poetry

poetic device; diction; literary or rhetoric devices: image, metaphor, symbol; theme; various perspectives (feminist, psychoanalytic, ethical, historical, cultural, postcolonial, etc.)