English Enlightenment. The birth of the English novel, its development. D. Defoe, J. Swift.
The Renaissance. W. Shakespeare. His life and literary work. Chronicles, sonnets, comedies and tragedies.
In 1485 the War of the White & Red Roses ended with the victory of Henry Tudor over Richard II. The new king Henry VII tried to put down the resistance of the feudals & to unite the country under his power. And his son Henry VIII and his granddaughter Elizabeth I completed this process of the centralization of royal power. So, by the end of the 16th century an absolute monarchy was established in England. But the reign of these monarchs was full of political intrigues & riots. The 16th century was also the time of Reformation. And a number of Protestant churches appeared in various countries. It was Henry VIII who broke with the Pope of Rome & declared himself Head of the Anglican Church. After Henry VIII was queen Mary. Mary's reign was terrible for England.
So, Elizabeth became the Queen of England - Elizabeth I
As a monarch Elizabeth inherited a very troublesome country. That is why the age of Elizabeth is remembered as one of a great development. During her reign there was a religious compromise in the country (though the Church of England dominated) and certainly she played a great part in it herself.
The 16th century was the time of flourishing of poetry and drama. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 -1542) and the Earl of Surrey (1517 - 1547) are often mentioned together, but there are many differences in their work. Both wrote sonnets, which they learned to do from the Italians; but it was Wyatt who first brought the sonnet to England. The Elizabethan age produced a surprising flow of lyrics. Lyric poetry gives expression to the poet's own thoughts and feelings. Sidney's book of sonnets "Astrophel and Stella" was printed in 1591 after his death. Christopher Marlowe, the famous dramatist, was also a fine lyric writer.
The chief literary glory of the great Elizabethan Age was its d r a m a. The real drama of the period starts with the literary work of the dramatists who are often called "University Wits": John Lyly (Джон Лили); Robert Green (Роберт Грин); Thomas Kyd (Томас Кид); Christopher Marlowe (Кристофер Марло)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564- 1616): So we may say that the "University Wits" lay the foundation for the literary work of the greatest writer of the Elizabethan period - William Shakespeare(l 564 - 1616). William was almost certainly educated at the local grammar school, where he studied Latin authors and dramatists, grammar, rhetoric, and logic. in November William Shakespeare married Anna Hathaway; a daughter Susanna was born;
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1592 - Shakespeare's growing reputation as an actor and playwright.
Shakespeare's canon - literary heritage - consists of 2 long poems, several short ones, 154 sonnets and 37 plays. There is a tradition to divide his work into three periods:
1) 1590 - 1600 - the period was marked by Shakespeare's optimism and cheerfulness which are best felt and revealed in his 9 comedies of this period. In this decade he also wrote most of his historical chronicles and s о n n e t s , the romantic drama "The Merchant of Venice" and the two early tragedies "Romeo and Juliet" and "Julius Caesar" were also written in the 1590s and they show the playwright's outlook which becomes more pessimistic;
2) 1601 - 1608 - Shakespeare's gradual loss of optimism, because he began to realize how deep and insoluble were life conflicts and contradictions. His great tragedies were created in this period: "Hamlet", "King Lear", "Macbeth" and "Othello";
3) 1609 - 1612 - in this period Shakespeare seeks the solutions to life problems and sometimes he proposes rather improbable.
SONNETS: The traditional form of a love song was filled by Shakespeare with such a wealth of feelings, emotions, thoughts that his sonnets surpassed all the numerous creations of his predecessors and contemporaries. Speaking about Shakespeare's language in sonnets we can't but mention the following characteristic features in them: the author often resorts to bright contrasts, antitheses. Besides, there are quite many aphorisms in Shakespeare's sonnets
COMEDIES: Nine of them were written in his early period: "The Comedy of Errors"; "The Taming of the Shrew", "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"; "Love's Labour's Lost"; "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Much Ado About Nothing"; "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (" Виндзорские кумушки "); "As You Like It" ("Как вам это понравиться"); "Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will" ("Двенадцатая ночь, или Что вам угодно").
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HISTORICAL CHRONICLES: Nine out of ten of them were written in the first period: "King Henry VI" (part 2); "King Henry VI"; "King Henry VI" (part 1); "The Tragedy of King Richard III"; "The Tragedy of King Richard II"; "The Life and Death of King John"; "King Henry IV" (part 1); "King Henry IV"; "The Life ofKing Henry V". The tenth chronicle "Henry VIII" appeared only in 1605.
TRAGEDIES Most of them were written in the second period of his literary work: "Hamlet; Prince of Denmark"; "Othello, the Moor of Venice"; "King Lear"; "Macbeth.
4. Literature of the 17 th century. John Milton: “Paradise lost”. “Paradise regained”
The English Bourgeois Revolution took place in 1640-1660. So it happened much earlier than in all the other European countries The 40-60ss of the 17th century were the years of civil wars They ended in 1649 with the creation of the bourgeois republic in England King Charles 1 was beheaded in 1649 and Oliver Cromwell became the leader of the new government But the republic did not last long. In 1660, shortly after Cromwell's death, the dynasty of the Stuarts was restored
In English literature the main representatives of this period are the following ones: John Milton (Джон Мильтон) (1608-1674); John Bunyan (Джон Беньян) (1628-1688); John Dryden (Джон Драйден) (1631-1700).
It is generally agreed that the English poet second after Shakespeare is John Milton. He was born in London and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge At college he was known as The Lady of Christ's
Milton wrote different kinds of works. His prose works were mainly concerned with church affairs, divorce and freedom. His great epic poem, "Paradise Lost" ("Потерянный рай") (first printed in 1667 and sold for 10 pounds), was planned in ten books, but written in twelve. The scene is the whole universe, including Heaven and Hell. The poem is written in a splendid blank verse. Milton's other great poem, "Paradise Regained”.
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English Enlightenment. The birth of the English novel, its development. D. Defoe, J. Swift.
The 18" century saw Great Britain's rapid growing into a strong capitalist country industry was developing intensively, small towns were turning into large cities, new plants, factories and mills were appearing; new machinery was invented, etc. After the English Bourgeois Revolution the class of bourgeoisie obtained much more political power. The 18 century also saw the developing of culture and science: Isaac Newton was making his discoveries; In this period the English painting was developing too, and the English portrait painting reached its heights in the works of William Hogarth The epoch of the I8lh century is usually called the epoch of Enlightenment or the Augustus Age The central philosophical problem of the Enlightenment was the problem of m a n and his nature The Enlighteners believed in reason And sometimes this epoch is even called the A g e о f Reason Besides the Enlighteners (unlike the Christian moralists of the Middle Ages) believed in man's inborn goodness and rejected the original sin. The English Enlighteners can be divided into the following groups, according to their political views: moderates, who spoke in defense of the existing order and thought that a few reforms were enough to improve the situation in the country (Daniel Defoe, Joseph Addison, Richard Steel, Samuel Richardson); radicals who wanted more democracy in the running of the country and defended the interests of the exploited masses (Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard В Sheridan).
The Enlightenment was the time when the realistic didactic novel as a genre was born. Adventure, satirical, family novels became the most popular genre of the time. The most famous novelists of that time are the following ones: Daniel Defoe; Jonathan Swift; Samuel Richardson; Henry Fielding;
The Enlightenment epoch can be divided into three subperiods:
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1.Early Enlightenment (Раннее Просвещение) (1688 - 1740); Daniel Defoe is considered to be the father of the English realistic novel. He wrote mainly adventure, picaresque (плутовской) novels .Jonathan Swift is a famous satirist, whose traditions of satirical writing were followed by a great number of writers all over the world.
6. The Mature and Late Enlightenment.
The genre of realistic didactic novel was born and was the most popular genre. It was repres by the works of Samuel Richardson,Tobias Smollet and Henry Fielding.Samuel Richar-dson is considered to be the creator of the family psycologic novel. Among his most famous are:
“Pamela; or Vertiew rewarded”. This book was written when the author was already 50 years old. This novel was written in the form of letters-epistle form. Fielding.His anonymously-published The Female Husband .His greatest work was Tom Jones, a meticulo-usly constructed picaresque novel. Fielding never stopped writing political satire.His Tragedy of Tragedies of Tom Thumb was, for example, quite successful as a printed play. He also contributed a number of works to journals of the day. Henry Fielding had combined the satirical portrayal of contempo-rary manners with elaborate and carefully worked-out plots. Lauren-ce Sterne, however, published the single most idiosyncratic novel of the century, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. Sterne's irascibility and bawdy humor were well known to his congregations and to the English public.
Romanticism.
Pre-romantacism. Gothic novel appeared.Gothic novels are characterized by the interest in the past and in the folklore.The father of the Gothic novel is considered to be Horace Walpole(
“The Castle of Otranto”).Mrs Redcliff had a real feeling for nature(“The Misteries of Adolfo”).
The late 18th cent was known as Romanticism.It coincides with a very turbulent perod in English history:1)revolutions,2)the war with Napoleon,3)liberation war flared up in Ireland,4)Silent revolution,5)The British Navy was developing,6)the policy of enclosures went on.The main represent-s of pre-romant were Robert Burns,William Blake-the father of Engl Romanticism.19th cent-Realistic novel(Jane Oustin “Pride and Prejudice”). Romanticism.Was a complex phenomenon involving wide range of philosophic, aesthet, polit and moral issues.The basic feat-s of Romant were rejection of the reality. The genre of historic novel was born. Love for the works of folklore.Interest to nature.Liter dealt with the inner world of the person.3 different groups of authors:1)Revolutionary Romantasists,2)Conservative3)Intermediate.
Critical realism.
Victorian novel.The period got its name because of the Queen Victoria
Class contradict-s.Chartist movement.Slavery was denounced.19th cent-the period of stabiliz-n. 3 categ-s of bourgeousee:
1)upper,2)middle,3)lower. Darwin’s theory of evolution. Materialism(denied the existence of everyth except matter.Marx “Das Capital”. An age of progress and doubt.The writers turned to day-to-day realities.The personages of the realistic works were social types.Realists stressed the link between man and the social envir. Victorian novelists: Ch. Dickens,Will. Thakeroway, Charlotte Amily Anne Bronte. Revolutionary writ-s:Robert Browning,Alfred Tennison, A. Swinburne. Charles Dickens.In his childhood he worked hard,his father was a clerk.His family moved to London.When his father was taken into prison he started to work in a blacking factory.Then he found himself as a reporter in a daily paper.He wrote articles,short tales,sketches.His 1st book-“Scetches by Boz”.The stories”The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick club”.He started a magazine too.He was the 1st to found 1-actor theatre.Most of his novels had a happy end.His char-s:1)heroes,2)villains,3)quaint people
Aestheticism O.Wilde
The various non-real. Trends which came into being in the last decades of the 19th cent got the name of Decadence:symbolism,surrealism,imagism,aestheticism.Aesthet and neo-romant were widely spread.Aesth was partia;yy prep by the ideas of Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.The cult of beauty.The motto “Art for Art’s sake”.Oskar Wilde is cons to be the lead of Engl aesthetis.2 periods of his lit work:1)up to 1896 he wrote mainly fairy tales,essays on liter and art,comedies”An Ideal Husband”,long stories. Wilde was proponent of the idea of Pure Art.
10. Critic real of the 20th cent.
Realist writers of the 20th cent:1)John Galsworthy,2)Bernard Shaw,3)George Herbert Wells,4)William Somerset Maugham. John Galsworthy came from the upper middle class.His major works are 3 thriligies:1)The Forsyte Saga,2)A Modern Comedy,3)End of the Chapter.The thrilogies are often autobiographic.
Bernard Shaw made a rev-n in Engl theater,because he came out against entertaining “weel-made” plays and proclaimed that dramat should deal with serious social and moral issues.Shaw called his 1st plays “Plays Unpleasant”.
11.Modernism in English literature.J.Joyce, V. Woolf, D.H. Lawrence`s work
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