Lecture 3 - British Literature

Medieval English

The Renaissance/Early Modern Period

Restoration (beginning of the Long 18th Century)

18th Century (Enlightment)

Romanticism

Victorian Age

Modernism

Postmodernism

• separation into different periods

  • contextualize texts and make sense of them

  • learn about historical periods (movements within society)

  • essential as a framework for orientation

  • no hard lines

  • might limit our viewpoints

  • Arbitrary constructs based on the ascription of allegedly typical features

  • Literature is problematic due to historiographic source material

• Sonnet

  • 14 lines

  • Sonnet invented in Italy ( 4 -4 - 3 - 3) but Shakespeare altered it (did not invent it)

  • 3 quatrains (3 x 4 lines)

  • 1 heroic couplet (1 x 2 lines)

• Iambic Pentameter (5 x unstressed - stressed)

• rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

  • B as an eye rhyme

• volta in the 3rd quatrain introduces a twist (division into 2 parts)

• Speaker (I) and addressee (thou)

• Conceit (a metaphor that runs through the entire poem often about the poem of the speaker)

• Metatext (poem about the poem)

• age of form

• rebirth of Greek and Roman culture

  • Idea that human matters was reborn (before that time only the king was important)

  • Each individual is important (Humanist approach as a return to humanism)

  • Humanism is a focus on the universal human on a general level (superior figures vs the others)

• rise of England as a naval power

• age of exploration and colonialism

• not only art for the upper class (everybody can attend the plays as you don’t have to be able to read)

• One of the first professional woman writers

  • was ahead of their time therefore more part of the 18th century then Restoration)

• First novel of ideas

• Long 18th Century

• Text with the point of few of a slave (first text about slavery)

  • problematic as she is a white woman

  • Realist writing as it is writing concerned with everyday problems of the common people

  • Create a political point through fiction (realistic writing) - reality effect so that British people can understand what’s going on

  • long sentences to give extra information to make it plausible and realistic enough

  • makes herself a character in the story and writes some passages in first person, switching her role between author, narrator, and character to make it even more realistic

  • Pause as we get extra information

  • extradiegetic level

  • homodiegetic (I do not pretend to give you…)

• Giving you the truth even though it’s not (if u believe the story its good enough and plausible enough)

• Teaching through fiction (get rid of slavery)

  • Massive contradictions between the idea and the reality in times of Enlightenment

• Enlightenment

• rise of the novel

• reality effect

• realistic writing

• slavery (transatlantic slave trade)

• continuation of the renaissance to make sense of the world

• Rise of the middle class (about the individuals thinking for themselves)

• Industrialization

• Rise of capitalism

• women are improving their status

• beginning of western capitalism

• Humanism

  • individual human experience (what it meant to be human)

  • each individual thinks for themselves (king is not that important)

• New consumer culture and literature mass market connected to the rise of the middle ranks in the 18th century

• Normal life and more complex individualized characters

• Talking about the life experiences of the middle class (middle class  can identify with it)

  • write something people are interested in

• New consumer culture which included literature

• Make more money write longer text which results in the rise of the novel

• Long description indicating Reality Effect (using long descriptions that are not necessary to make it feel more real and plausible)

• radical writing

• sounds normal (banal character)

• readers of the book is similar to the character in the book)

• creating a back story to make it feel more real

• Realism is not the opposite of fiction instead it’s a form of fictional writing using different conventions and features

• realism talks to a group of people

• not about things that happen but could possibly happen

  • mimics our sense of reality

• characters which are very specific and detailed depiction of external reality

• Emphasis on individualized characters are more complex and have an identity (makes it relatable for the reader)

• is based on various authentic accounts of experiences, including those of the sailor Alexander Selkirk, who lived for several years on a deserted island

• fantastic style in favor of a realistic narrative

• Long description indicating Reality Effect (using long description that are not necessary to make it feel more real)

• creating a back story to make it feel more real (reality effect)

• radical writing

• sounds normal (banal character)

• readers of the book is simlar to the character in the book

• unnesseray information to make it more realistic and make it more plausible

• strong emotions

  • not everything is supposed to be beautiful

• spirutuality

• nature

  • mysterious

  • larger than humans (explore the limits)

  • Confronts the individual with something which is bigger than them

  • Critic of rationalism and industrialization

• Reaction to the period of Enlightenment (science can't explain it all)

  • Enlightenment went to far due the disconnection to nature

• ·Romanticism ≠ everything is supposed to be beautiful

• Common trope – alone in the wilderness

• Individuum (Humanist approach)

• female Gothic

  • beginning of horror texts

• Sonnet 14 lines

• ABBA ABBA CDCDCD as the rhyme scheme (European Sonnet not in the Style by Shakespeare)

  • octave

  • sestet

• Iambic Pentameter

  • 5 x unstressed - stressed

• Enjambment

  • verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line

• Personification

  • attribute human characteristics to non-human

• Allusion

  • indirect or direct reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, political or literary significance

• metaphor

  • comparison of things (represents the mother)

• World is too much for us

  • Humans are too much for the world

  • Critic on rationalism and industrialization

• We are disconnected from nature

  • Nature is beautiful and we don’t even realize it

  • We don’t own nature

• Nature is above us

• Different gods and religious views

  • Spirituality is everywhere and not just in religion

• Talking about the individual (individual I)

• Romanticism

• Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings

• chosen to reflect in peace

• Age of invention, Industrialization, reform, and empire

• Technical advances speeding up

• Political answer slowing down morals (back to conservative morals)

• Very conservative and rigid moral systems

• Strong female voice (conflict with society)

• Morals are very strict

  •  Separate spheres

  • moral expectations and negotiates extremes

  • Victorian realism often concerned with social and political themes

• Talking about taboos such as sex or attraction in general

  • talking about it without talking about it

• Coming of Age novels (talking about young people and how they find their place in society), Rite of passage stories (spiritual education)

• Victorian Literature

  • Fairy tail structure

  • showing social problems in an entertaining way

  • Best of life vs bad things (inventions and suffering people)

  • Royalty has the best life without even working for it (the ones that suffer do the work)

  • critical enough to be relevant

  • offers a little critic on social constructs

• "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" The year is 1775, a time that the narrator describes through a set of contradictions

  • full of promise and threat

  • novel's use of the past to comment on the present

• The narrator tells an allegory of the Woodman and the Farmer—figures of the coming revolution who are silently at work

  • The Woodman stands for Death and the Farmer for Fate

  • allegory (reveal a hidden meaning - political)

• Realism in the Victorian Period

  • political statements

• struggles caused by the French Revolution

• Focus on politics within society and social problems

• Contrary to the texts of Aphra Behn and Daniel Defoe (18th Century)

  • Text is metaphorical, and addresses social and political issues in a subtitle (two cities = political and social)

  • not in a straightforward way

• Common in the Victorian Period – Certain issues and or topics were not addressed openly (e.g., sex, Political and social issues)

• Uses fiction to tell the truth about reality

• Realist writing to make a point

• Recreate enough reality to make it plausible

• Idea of nature-based spirituality in Romanticism

  • nature is mysterious

  • celebarte the unknownability

  • larger than humans

  • confronts you (the individual) with something bigger than you

• God is part of our nature and not above it or us

• Nature is limitless and is everywhere

• Rise of England as a naval power

• Frequent rebellions & unrest

• God can’t explain it all

• Sonnett (Shakespeare as a common author)

• Plays with individual problems (individualism)

• Rise of the middle class

• Industrialization

• Women approved their status

• Realistic writing to make a point plausible

• Reality effect through long descriptions

• Rise of the Novel

• Humanism (I)