Research: The Age of Chaucer

Research: The Age of Chaucer: Geoffrey Chaucer (1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. The fourteenth century was a time of much political, religious, and industrial discontent in England. All this was reflected in the literature of the time. The people of England became one people, and the English tongue came into common use. 1362: English was made the language of the law courts 1386: English displaced French in schools 1390: The Knights’ Tale (from the Canterbury Tales): story introduces various typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas. One of the reasons Chaucer is so important is that he made the decision to write in English and not French. In the centuries following the Norman invasion, French was the language spoken by those in power. 1400: When The Canterbury Tales was finished: one of Chaucer’s first major works written in English. It tells the story of a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury who engage in a tale-telling contest to pass the time. With him the old alliterative poetry died. In most of his poems he used the heroic couplet, which is a verse having five accents with the lines rhyming in pairs Other Writers: Sir John Mandeville (1300-1371?) was an English prose-writer of the fourteenth century. He has been called the "Father of English Prose." 1322: He was a physician; but set out on a journey to the East. He was away from home for more than thirty years. He probably wrote his travels first in Latin, next in French, and then turned them into English. 1371: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville was completed: it was much admired, read, and copied; indeed, hundreds of manuscript copies of his book were made. There are nineteen still in the British Museum. John Wyclif (1327-1384) was the most influential prose writer of the fourteenth century. His fame rests upon his complete translation of the Bible. 1383: finished his work on the translation of the Bible, a year before his death Wyclif's New Testament was printed in 1731, and the Old Testament not until the year 1850. But the words and the style of his translation, which was read and re-read by hundreds of thoughtful men, were of real and permanent service in fixing the form of the English language. Restoration: (1660-1785) 1660: The Restoration period begun the year in which King Charles II (the exiled Stuart king) was restored to the English throne. 1662: Charles II approved the Royal Society for London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge. The Royal Society revolutionized scientific method and the dispersal of knowledge. The heart of this literature is the attempt to come to terms with the political events that had occurred in previous decades. The writings of this time are both innovative and varied; the style and subject matter of the literature produced during the Restoration period spanned the spectrum from definitively religious to satirical and risqué. Restoration poetry focused more on the glory and powerful potential of human beings to understand and improve the world. Many poets attempted to outline ways to live and write and praised the importance of thinking for oneself. One of the most important formal aspects of Restoration poetry was the use of heroic couplets, which are rhyming lines of iambic pentameter. This form allowed writers to produce lofty and philosophical poetry; in a famous poem titled Absalom and Achitophel, for example, John Dryden uses heroic couplets. The court of King Charles II championed the right of England's social elite to pursue pleasure and libertinism. Literature from 1660 to 1785 divides into three shorter periods of 40 years each, which can be characterized as shown below: 1660-1700 (death of John Dryden): emphasis on "decorum," or critical principles based on what is elegant, fit, and right. 1700-1745 (deaths of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope in 1744): emphasis on satire and on a wider public readership.  1745-1784 (death of Samuel Johnson): emphasis on revolutionary ideas. Dryden was the most influential writer of the Restoration, for he wrote in every form important to the period―occasional verse, comedy, tragedy, heroic plays, odes, satires, translations of classical works—and produced influential critical essays concerning how one ought to write these forms. Restoration prose style grew more like witty, urbane conversation and less like the intricate, rhetorical style of previous writers like John Milton and John Donne. Romanticism: (1800-1850) The Romantic period was largely a reaction against the ideology of the Enlightenment period that dominated much of European philosophy, politics, and art from the mid-17th century until the close of the 18th century. Famous Romantic Writers: William Blake (1757 – 1827): Blake’s personal spirituality and his views of theological issues frequently filter into his work, perhaps most famously in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and in Jerusalem.  His most famous works are likely those in Songs of Innocence and of Experience.  The poems often function in pairs, one from the perspective of childlike “innocence,” the other from the perspective of disillusioned “experience.” William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850): Wordsworth is one of the domineering figures of British Romanticism. He was good friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the two of them settled in the Lake District in north-western England.  The group is often referred to as “the Lake Poets.”  Lord Byron (1788 – 1824): Byron is one of the few British Romantic writers to achieve widespread fame during his lifetime.  Byron was good friends with Percy Shelley, but very much disliked (and was disliked by) Wordsworth and Coleridge. His contribution to the period comes in the form of the Byronic hero, a “boldly defiant but bitterly self-tormenting outcast, proudly contemptuous of social norms but suffering for some unnamed sin” John Keats: (1795 – 1821): He is best known for his sonnets and odes, particularly "Ode to a Nightingale" and Ode on a Grecian Urn." He is also well-known for his love of the classics of antiquity, which often filters into his poetry. In contrast to Germany, Romanticism in English literature had little connection with nationalism, and the Romantics were often regarded with suspicion for the sympathy many felt for the ideals of the French Revolution Renaissance Period – 17th Century The period of European history referred to as the Renaissance was a time of great social and cultural change in Europe. The word 'renaissance' is derived from a French word meaning rebirth. It essentially means to revive, revisit or reinvigorate and could therefore be applied to many societies, to describe different stages of their histories. Much of the art, architecture, literature, science and philosophy that surfaced during the Renaissance was so reminiscent of this ancient past, that it seemed as though Europe was indeed reborn during the late middle Ages. What was the Renaissance? The Renaissance was a time of great social and cultural change in Europe. It was a period characterized by innovation, imagination and creativity. The Renaissance was also a time during which Europe's classical past was revisited and reinvigorated. Much of the inspiration behind cultural movements of the Renaissance came from people's attempts to emulate (imitate and improve) the legacies of classical European societies, such as Ancient Rome and Greece. What changes did the Renaissance bring? The 14th through to the 16th centuries in Europe were a period of questioning and discovery. People started to think independently and experiment with new ideas and concepts. As more and more advancements were made in the arts and sciences, the Catholic Church began to lose the overwhelming power and influence it had once held over people's beliefs about the world. The most notable changes experienced during the Renaissance were in the fields of art and architecture, literature, philosophy and science. In was in these disciplines that new trends and fresh styles emerged, inspired by Europe's ancient history. Art Unlike the artistic styles of the earlier Middle Ages, which placed more importance on symbolism than reality, renaissance art was more life-like and contained perspective. Painters began to depict the human form with increasing accuracy, which was enabled by a better understanding of human anatomy. This anatomical knowledge was gained from advances made in the field of medicine during the Renaissance period. Much of this new knowledge can be attributed to the pioneering Renaissance figure, Leonardo da Vinci. Literature The Renaissance was also a time of great literary change. Writers and poets looked back to the poems and texts of Ancient Greece and Rome. Renaissance literature dealt much more with human characteristics and behaviors, shifting away from the religious and metaphysical subjects of earlier medieval books, poems and plays. With the invention of the printing press in the 1440s, information suddenly became much more accessible to the general public, which had a huge impact on the field of education. Metaphysical Poetry - lyrical poems, intense mediations (negotiation to solve differences), wit, irony, play on words, love, science, geology, romance, sensuality Renaissance Literature - influenced by movements of Courtly Love, personal poetry which reveal feelings to those they love. Influenced by art and literature of Italian renaissance. Courtly Love - highly conventionalized code that prescribed the behaviour of ladies and their lovers popular chiefly from the 12th to the 14th century that prescribed the rules of conduct between lovers, advocating idealized but illicit love, and which fostered an extensive medieval literature based on this tradition. Main Writers William Shakespeare - (Stratford-upon-Avon, England, April 1564 -greatest dramatist of all time. He started his acting career with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, but later, along with his friend, the playwright Richard Burbage, he founded the Globe Theatre. His comedies are usually idyllic romances; his history plays successfully integrate political elements with individual characterization, his tragedies are symbolic, involving a serious study of politics and social history as well as the psychology of individuals. The latest works, tragicomedies, are marked by a harmonious resolution achieved through magic, with all its divine, humanistic, and artistic implications. Shakespeare’s best known non-dramatic poetry, the sonnets, deal with beauty, youthful beauty ravaged by time, and the ability of love and art to transcend time and even death. He was known for his rich vocabulary, as well, having used about 29000 different words in his plays. John Donne - (London, England, between January 23 and June 19 in 1572 – March 31, 1631). He was a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period who wrote sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires, and sermons. He is best known as a master of conceit, an extended metaphor that combines two vastly unlike ideas into a single idea. His famous conceit is found in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning where he compares two lovers who are separated to the two legs of a compass. His witty, often ironic and cynical style is characterized by use of paradoxes and remarkable analogies. Common subjects of Donne's poems are love, death, and religion. He is also noted for his poetic metre, which was structured with changing and jagged rhythms that closely resemble casual speech. Main Literature Themes  Tragedies Comedies Sonnets Classical verse Allegorical poetry Main Characteristics An interest in the nature of life Rediscovery of Greco – Roman Culture Discovery of the Americas Interest in the world Urban influences Tendency towards perfection Excitement and variety of contemporary life Post Modernism Postmodernism is a term that encompasses a wide-range of developments in philosophy, film, architecture, art, literature, and culture. Postmodernism is a late 20th-century style of or relating to art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles. Originally a reaction to modernism, referring to the lack of artistic, intellectual, or cultural thought or organized principle. Postmodernist thinkers believe that there is no universal truth. Postmodernists were highly influenced by the events reported by the media, such as crimes and wars. Postmodernist Literature contains a broad range of concepts and ideas that include: Responses to modernism and its ideas Responses to technological advances Greater diversity of cultures that leads to cultural pluralism. (Small groups within a larger society maintain their culture identity). Reconceptualization of society and history Postmodernism emphasizes the role of language through the use of power, relations, and motivations. In particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, and white versus black. The postmodernist authors would put the characters of their stories into situations that would show the constant. The postmodernists do not believe that there is an absolute truth. This means they did not believe that every person believes in the same God, and they can believe whatever it they want to believe. Struggle between man vs. man, man vs. self, and man vs. society. Key Dates/Events 1939-1945 Second World War Holocaust Dropping of atomic bombs Revolution in Science 1951- 1st Computer invented 1952- 1st Animal cloned 1962- 1st Satellite to carry T.V broadcasts 1969- The Internet 1960’s Homosexuality Accepted 60’s 2ND Wave Of Feminism Freedom of the female body Sexual politics Pay issues Use of contraception Objectification of women Black Civil Rights Movement Main Characteristics Socio-cultural locatedness of moments in history Critical study of class, race, and gender; uses other perspectives Intertextuality, self-reflexivity, montage, pastiche Signs, image, reproductive social order Local accounts Description Generative, Genealogical, Archaeological Main Themes Topics dealing with the complex absurdity of contemporary life - moral and philosophical relativism, loss of faith in political and moral authority, alienation Employing black humour, parody, grotesque, absurdity, and travesty Erasing boundaries between "low" and "high" culture Lack of a grand narrative Avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations Condemning commercialism, hedonism, mass production, and economic globalism Reality represented through language While postmodernism had a little relevance to poetry and only a limited influence on modern drama (applied only to the Absurd Theatre), it had a huge impact on fiction, especially to the novel. It rejects to conform to popular taste and combines heterogeneous elements, making it cater to a more sophisticated readership. Joseph Heller - He was born on May 1, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. He is well known for his post-World War satires and playwrights; Catch 22 most well-known of his works. Other works include: Something Happened, Good as Gold, and Closing Time. Also wrote plays: We Bombed in New Haven, Catch 22, Clevinger’s Trail Kurt Vonnegut - He was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is known for using Patiche in his works. Normally, he blends satire, black comedy, and science fiction to create novels, such as Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions. As a former soldier and prisoner of war, many of his experiences influenced his later works. James Joyce - (Dublin, Ireland, 2 February 1882 – Paris, France, 13 January 1941). James Joyce was an Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century and credited, together with Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf, as a key figure in the development of the modernist novel. Victorian Period The Victorian Era was a time of social upheaval which heavily influenced on the development of literature at the time as authors tried to react to the new and frightening world. In the 1830-40s there were a series of reform bills which encouraged ideas of socialism as the working class gained more political power. The foundations of popular belief were being rattled by advancements in science and thinking such as Darwin’s theory of evolution and many authors were writing in reaction to a society which was undergoing radical changes. Literacy was also increasing at the time and there was an emergence of trying to speak to a popular audience. Great Britain was also quickly becoming a superpower with expansions of the Empire and the industrial revolution. The significance of the novel developed in the Victorian era and quickly overtook poetry as the main medium of literature. Publishers were able to bring out more material at a cheaper price and this encouraged the growth of the periodical which allowed novels to be published in serial form. Victorian writings were often analytical of their society and many novels attempted to offer solutions to political and social problems. Main Themes: An idealised model of what being English involved Social betterment through education or marriage Adoption of ‘proper’ behaviour for the improved social status However, later in the Victorian era these idealized forms of behaviour and stereotypes were the subjects of satire as authors began to take aim at Victorian pretence and hypocrisy. Key Events 1832 - Passage of the first Reform Act. 1850 - Restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Britain 1859 - Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species 1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published. 1870 – 1891 - Under the Elementary Education Act 1870, basic State Education becomes free for every child under the age of 10 1899 - The Second Boer War is fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics 1901 - The death of Victoria sees the end of this era. The ascension of her eldest son, Edward, begins the Edwardian era Courting in the Victorian Era Courtship was considered more a career move than an act of romance for young men, as all of a woman's property came to him upon marriage. Therefore courting was taken very seriously by both sides. Men and women were careful not to lead the other on unnecessarily. From the time she was young, a woman was groomed to be a dutiful wife and mother. Properly trained, she learned to sing, play piano or guitar, and dance. She also learned French and the rules of etiquette as well as the art of conversation. Coming out meant a young woman had completed her education and was officially available on the marriage mart. Financial or family circumstances might delay or move up a girl's debut, though typically, she came out when she was seventeen or eighteen. A girl was under her mother's wing for the first few years of her social life. She used her mother's visiting cards, or that of another female relative if her mother was dead. This same person usually served as her chaperone, as a single girl was never allowed out of the house by herself, especially in mixed company. Courtship advanced by many rules and steps that the couples had to follow, with couples first speaking, then walking out together, and finally keeping company after mutual attraction had been confirmed. But a gentleman had to take care in the early stages of courtship. If he was introduced to a lady at a party for the purpose for dancing, he could not automatically resume their acquaintance on the street. He had to be re-introduced by a mutual friend. And then, only upon permission of the lady. The lower classes had opportunities to socialize at Sunday Service, Church suppers and holiday balls, while upper classes held their social events throughout the season. The season ran from April to July. Main Writers Charles Dickens – (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870). Charles Dickens Oscar Wilde Many of his characters' names provide the reader with a hint as to the roles played in advancing the storyline His literary style is also a mixture of fantasy and realism. Dickens is famed for his depiction of the hardships of the working class, his intricate plots, and his sense of humour. But he is perhaps most famed for the characters he created. His novels were heralded early in his career for their ability to capture the everyday man and thus create characters to whom readers could relate.