Giáo trình Văn học Anh

A SHORT
INTRODUCTION TO
HISTORY OF BRITISH
HISTORY OF BRITISH
LITERATURE
3 main periods
1. Old English literature
2. Middle English literature
2. Middle English literature
3. Modern English literature
Old English literature
Historical background:
Anglo-Saxon, the earliest form of English, from
about A.D. 600 to about 1100.
about A.D. 600 to about 1100.
Christianity was brought to England -> Religion in
Poetry and Prose.
Old English literature
2 dominant literary forms:
Poetry: poems without rhyme (epic poetry-
alliterative lines), descriptions of God
(taken from the Bible)- Caedmon’s Hymn
(taken from the Bible)- Caedmon’s Hymn
and Boewulf.
Prose: early history of the country – Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle.
Old English literature
Famous works:
Beowulf: the earliest greatestreatest NationalNational epic
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Middle English literature
Historical background:
From about 1100 to about 1500.
Peasants’ Revolt and Wars of Roses began ->
descriptions of the poor in the war
(their sorrows and pilgrimages) in Poetry
Middle English literature
Genres: Many dialects (corresponding to the
region, history, culture & background of
individual writers)
2 dominant literary forms: (Long romances of
chivalry served the noble & the lyrical ballads/
alliterative poetry served the ordinary).
Middle English literature
The beginning of drama, mainly related to
religion:
- Miracle/ Mystery plays (based on stories of Saints
in Bible)
in Bible)
- Moral/ Allegorical plays (based on allegorical
stories) -> moral lessons and ideal guides for living
- The Interlude (short, played between the acts of
long Moralities) -> fun.
Middle English literature

Famous author:
Geoffrey Chaucer: The first great English poet-
the father of English poetry.
Famous works:
The Canterbury Tales:
- Epic story: first realistic and humorous works in
English Literature
- the panorama of the 14th century English
society.
Modern English literature
* The Elizabethan period (1500-1603) + (1603-
1660) - Early modern literature : Literature of
renaissance – William Shakespeare.
* The 17
th
century period (1660-1798): Literature
* The 17
th
century period (1660-1798): Literature
of restoration – Robert Burns.
* The 18
th
century period (1798-1832): Literature
of Romanticism – William Wordsworth.
Modern English literature
• The Victorian period (1832-1901): Literature of
Criticism – Charles Dickens.
• The 20
th
century period: Literature of

Modernism – Graham Greene, Doris Lessing.
The Renaissance (1485-1660)
Historical background:
From about 1485 to about 1660.
- War of Roses ends -> political stability
- War of Roses ends -> political stability
- Printing Press appears-> English as
stable language
- Farm-based -> international trade
The Renaissance (1485-1660)
• 3 literary forms:
- Drama (most important) (supported by royalty:
plays wi. secular plots, “interlude”, professional
plays wi. Euphuism pattern).
plays wi. Euphuism pattern).
- Poetry (lyric, sonnet, narrative poetry,
metaphysical poetry).
- Prose (translation works, beginning of E
novels).
• Writing styles:
- L of Renaissance led by humanists, scholars
and poets.
- Theme: Humanism- the greatest cultural
achievement of this period- man: the source of
achievement of this period- man: the source of
value in the world
• Major authors and works:
1. Christopher Marlowe: first great English and
most important Elizabethan dramatist-
foundation for Shakespeare

Plays: Tamburlaine the Great, Edward II, the
Tragical History of Doctor Fautus
Tragical History of Doctor Fautus
2. William Shakespeare: the greatest of all
dramatists
Plays (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet), sonnets
3. Edmund Spenser: famous for allegorical
romance “the Faerie Queen”
4. Sir Philip Sidney: sonnet “Astrophel and Stella”
(first sonnet interspersed with songs), prose
romance “the Arcadia” (interspered with many
romance “the Arcadia” (interspered with many
poems and songs)
5. John Lyly: establish a new pattern for
sophisticated English prose “Euphuism”→
influence on Shakespeare’s romantic comedies.
The Restoration
(1660-1798)
1. 3 literary forms:
- Drama: purely comic / tragic (heroic plays), new
kind of comedy (Comedy of manners).
- Poetry (minor): invention of heroic couplet (2
- Poetry (minor): invention of heroic couplet (2
rhymed pentameter).
- Pose (most important): novel- neoclassic style,
development of satire, emergence of letter-
writing, development of novel of terror (Gothic
fiction), beginning of newspaper.
2. Special feature:
Period of novelty, change &

refoundation (no great writing)
- Writing style: from the head, not the
- Writing style: from the head, not the
heart - reason over emotion, form
over content.
- Theme: Literature of wit (civilization
and social relationship).
3. Major authors:
- John Dryden: dominant author, had influences
on many great writers of the 18
th
century
(Absalom and Achitophel- Bible story to attack
politicians, The Conquest of Granada – one of
his best heroic plays).
- Alexander Pope: leader of neoclassical
literature (An Essay on Man, A Tale of Tub).
- Daniel Defoe: creator of modern novel
(Robinson Crusoe).
The Romanticism
(1798-1832)
* 2 major literary forms: parallel growth
- Poetry: lyrical ballads
- Prose: personal essays, autobiographies,
introduction of terror stories/novels
* Writing styles:
- The romanticism: Emotion than reason
2 trends in poetry - The conservative and the
progressive;
Horror novels as the main genre of literary

Horror novels as the main genre of literary
expression.
- Theme: disillusionment, love of nature, desire
for personal freedom, good nature of human
beings, idealization of patriarchal feudal past.
*Major authors and works:
1. William Blake: A poetic genius, famous with
symbolism (Songs of Innocence and
Experience)
2. William Wordsworth: a founder of Romanticism
(The lyrical ballads)
(The lyrical ballads)
3. George Gordon: romantic but influenced by
the classical form of Pope (Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage and Don Juan)
4. Jane Austen: first important woman English
novelist (Sense and sensibility, pride and
Prejudice, Emma )
The Criticism (1832-1901)
• 3 literary forms:
- Prose: novel becomes popular for first time;
mass produced for the first time (“coming of
age”; political novels; detective novels -
Sherlock Holmes; serialized novels)
Sherlock Holmes; serialized novels)
- Poetry: easier to understand - dramatic
monologues
- Drama: comedies of manner
* Writing styles:
- The Critical socialism : trend to criticize the

society and social evils
The development of fancy writing: new genres
of science fiction, detective stories, ghost
of science fiction, detective stories, ghost
stories, utopian writing.
- Theme: love of humanity & nature, sympathy
for the misery, satire of the upper class’ pride &
their hypocrisy & snobbishness, selfishness &
wickedness.
*Major authors and works:
1. Charles Dickens: sense of humor, keen
observation and human sympathy (Oliver
Twist, David Copperfield)
2. Thomas Hardy: Pictures of human beings
struggling against fate (Jude the Obscure)
struggling against fate (Jude the Obscure)
3. Oscar Wilde: the author of theatrical
comedies, a brilliantly provocative critic (The
Truth of Masks)