A
BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
by Dillan Kibar Dzikrika, Priska Amalia, and Erma Velanda
1. Old English
Period (the earliest time—1066)
Social background of english
literature in old period is affected on
the making of England, the invasion of Roman Empire in 4th AD,
and the attacks of Danish Vikings.
Example of the literature: Beowulf ,
the earliest literature, the national epic of the Anglo-Saxon, one of the
striking features—the use of alliteration
Epic is a long narrative poem in
elevated style presenting characters of high position in a series of adventures
which form an organic whole. The earliest epic: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey,
and In alliterative verse, certain accented words in a line begin with the
same consonant sound.
Beowulf refers back to an
age of monster slayings in Scandinavia, but it interprets them as struggles
between good and evil, between humanity and the destructive force which undo
human order. Grendel, the first monster of the poem, is seen as ‘Godes andasca’,
the enemy of God. Other old english literature is The Battle of Maldon and
the Elegie, and The Biblical Poems and The Dream of the Rood.
2.
Middle
English Periode (1066—1898)
Starting from the death of
Edward the Confessor because of he did
not have a child who is able to replace him as king, so the king of the time
was William French descent normandia was around in 1066, thus the British
empire ruled by a French.
Literature on the same day
are religious which is carried by the priest but there is one person who
carries a different theme that works layamon histories. That carries the legend
of King Arthur along with his knights, there also born "ballad" that
which is poems spread through word of mouth, usually these poems Stray example
Robin hood story. All of these are connected by a strong French influence
either of the language that has been widely used French vocabulary but also a
little genre bright and beautiful.
Became the latest drama of
this era, which was introduced by the priest
in the church, for the first time they play them in the church but over
time the drama began to spread and cause widespread that the drama is
originally the story of Christ or it are taken from scripture.
There are 2 kinds of drama
pad then the "Miracles" are acting out the life stories of saints
continued to exist also "mysteries" is the theme of the Bible .
This era is born a great
writer Shakespeare and chaucher therefore at this time because a lot of
displacement is called the transition between middle English to modern English.
Core at this time is the
result many works of literature that are so beautiful but the most inspiration
comes from French writers as their works are widely accepted by the English
poet but the biggest impact falling on Chaucer is widely recognized as a poet
of all time in Scotland.
Drama
at this time has developed very well all around the 15th century was born a new
drama that carries a stream of stories about good and bad of human nature which
is called the "Moralities", stands in stark contrast with all the
drama in the Middle Ages, but my goal is still the moral teach the human race.
Modernity is
as slippery a term as postmodernity; indeed, some scholars date the modern as
emerging as early as the Renaissance. Usually, though, when someone refers to
the "modern period", they mean the period from about 1898 to the
second world war. This is a time of wild experimentation in literature, music,
art, and even politics. Modernists therefore participate in a general
questioning of all the values held dear by the Victorian period (narrative,
referentiality, religion, progress, bourgeois domesticity, capitalism,
utilitarianism, decorum, empire, industry, etc.). Many modernists also tend to
take the Romantic exploration of the irrational, for example, Joseph Conrad's Heart
of Darkness (1899), James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, or Antonin
Artaud's surrealism. Some of the features of modernist work include:
a. Self-reflexivity (as in Picasso's
Woman)
b. Alternative ways of thinking about
representation (e.g., cubism, which attempts to see the same event or object
from multiple perspectives at the same time).
c. Radical experimentation in form,
including a breakdown in generic distinction (e.g., between poetry and prose)
d. Extreme ambiguity and simultaneity in
structure (e.g., William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury)
e. Some experimentation in the breakdown
between high and low forms (e.g., Eliot's and Joyce's inclusion of folk and
pop-cultural material in their work).
f.
The
use of parody and irony in artistic creation (e.g., James Joyce's Ulysses
or the creations of the surrealists and dadaists).
4.
Postmodern
Period (1945—present)
One of the problems in dealing with postmodernism is
in distinguishing it from modernism. In many ways, postmodern artists and
theorists continue the sorts of experimentation that we can also find in
modernist works, including the use of self-consciousness, parody, irony,
fragmentation, generic mixing, ambiguity, simultaneity, and the breakdown
between high and low forms of expression. One that is a result of new ways of
representing the world including television, film (especially after the
introduction of color and sound), and the computer. Many date postmodernity
from the sixties when we witnessed the rise of postmodern architecture;
however, some critics prefer to see WWII as the radical break from modernity.
The very term "postmodern" was, in fact, coined in the forties by the
historian, Arnold Toynbee.
Some of the things that distinguish postmodern
aesthetic work from modernist work are as follows:
a. Extreme
self-reflexivity. Postmodernists tend to take this even further than the
modernists but in a way that tends often to be more playful, even irreverant
(as in Lichtenstein's "Masterpiece" on the left).
b. Irony and
parody. Connected to the former point, is the tendency of postmodern artists,
theorists, and culture to be playful or parodic. Pop culture and media
advertising abound with examples; indeed, shows or films will often step
outside of mimetic representation altogether in order to parody themselves in
mid-stride.
c. A breakdown
between high and low cultural forms. Whereas some modernists experimented with
this same breakdown, even the modernists that played with pop forms (e.g.,
Joyce and Eliot) tended to be extremely difficult to follow in their experimentations.
d. Retro.
Postmodernists and postmodern culture tend to be especially fascinated with
styles and fashions from the past, which they will often use completely out of
their original context.
e. Visuality.
Given the predominance of visual media (tv, film, media advertising, and the
computer).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the period of english literature is deviding into four
periods as we mention above. In each period have any differences and an
invention. The development itself make us arrived in this period of lterature
which everyartist, develop their idea in various media.
REFERENCE
Barnard, Robert. A
Short History of English Literature. Blackwell: Australia, 1994.
Donoghue, Daniel. Old
English Literature. Blackwell: Australia, 2004.
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