British Literature

English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England English literature began with the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England. The study of English literature usually begins with the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf.

The Anglo-Saxons first brought to England the Germanic language and culture. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Normans bought to England a fresh wave of Mediterranean civilization, which includes Greek culture, Roman law, and the Christian religion. It is the cultural influences of these two conquests that provide the source for the rise and growth of English literature. The English at that time was called Old English, which is quite hard to recognize today.

Geoffrey Chaucer, father of English literature, is a great representative of the Mediaeval Age. He’s the first person to use English to write stories.

By the time of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign (1558-1603), English was basically as it is today. In the works of Shakespeare and later in the King James version of the Bible, English reached its peak of purity and beauty. In all the centuries since, the English language has undergone gradual changes. Shakespeare lives in this age but he belongs to all ages. He is the greatest playwright and poet

. His masterful plays have dominated English-speaking stages ever since they were written. They have been translated into every major language. Among all his 38 plays, the well-known four greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth.

17th century witnesses the Great Revolution in England 17th century witnesses the Great Revolution in England. In this period, John Milton finished writing his masterpieces Paradise Lost, Paradise regained, and Samson Agonistes after he became blind.

The 18th century English literature is marked by a rather large shift from the mood and tone of the 17th century. In this period, Jonathan Swift was one of the greatest figures. His Gulliver’s Travels not only satirized the political circle but also entertained many children with his fantastic stories. Daniel Defoe, father of English novels, was also worth mentioning. Robinson Crusoe is the most famous tale of shipwreck and solitary survival in all literature.

Roughly the first third of the 19th century makes up English literature’s romantic period. Writers of romantic literature are more concerned with imagination and emotion than with the power of reason, which marked the 18th century. Wordsworth and Coleridge published their Lyrical Ballads in 1798, which was called romantic poetry’s Declaration of Independence.

Wordsworth

Together with Robert Southey, they were called “Lake Poets” since all of them lived in the lake district and admired nature very much. Byron, keats and Shelly are all well-known figures in this period. Jane Austen was the only famous woman novelist, with her graceful novels, like Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma.

The romantic period shades gradually into the Victorian age, which takes its name from Queen Victoria. She came to the throne in 1837 and reigned until 1901. Historical and philosophical writing continued to flourish along with poetry and fiction. At the same time, satire and protest against evils in society became strong elements.

Among the famous novelists of the time were the critical realists like Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Bronte sisters. In Charles Dickens’ novels, he combines a rare comic gift and a power to reduce the readers to tears. Thomas Hardy lived well into the 20th century, but did his major work as a novelist in the 19th century, as a poet he belongs to the 20th.

20th century is the most difficult to summarize 20th century is the most difficult to summarize. It has witnessed wars and revolutions. And the postwar economic dislocation and spiritual disillusion produced a profound impact upon the British people, who came to see the prevalent wretchedness in capitalism.

Britain suffered heavy losses in the war: thousands of people were killed; the economy was ruined; and almost all its former colonies were lost. The sun-never-set Empire finally collapsed. 20th century has marked the end of the British Empire.

With the development of science and technology, various ideas and theories have been printed or passed on, through newspapers, radio and TV. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels put forward the theory of scientific socialism; Darwin’s theory of evolution caused many people to lose their religious faith; the social Darwinism, under the cover of “survival of the fittest”, strongly advocated colonialism and jingoism

; Freud’s analytical psychology drastically altered people’s conception of human nature; Friedrich Nietzsche went further against rationalism by advocating the doctrines of power and superman and by completely rejecting the Christian morality.

All in all, modernism rose out of skepticism and disillusion of capitalism. New ideas in writing were mixed with the old, to follow the changing times. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted, alienated and ill relationships between man and nature, man and society, man and man, and man and himself.

All kinds of literary trends of modernism appeared: symbolism, expressionism, surrealism, futurism, Dadaism, imagism, and stream of consciousness, Theater of the Absurd, black humor. Many outstanding men of letters emerged, James Joyce, D.H.Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, E.M.Forster, T.S.Eliot, to name a few.

D.H.Lawrence